THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  ILLINOIS 

LIBRARY 


KUHOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


ALBUM  OF  GENEALOGY 


AND 


BIOGRAPHY 


COOK  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


WITH     PORTRAITS 


THIRTEENTH   EDITION,   REVISED    AND    IMPROVED. 


CHICAGO 
LA   SALLE    BOOK    COMPANY 

1900. 


THE  CALUMET  PRESS 


PRINTED  BY 

THE  CALUMET  COMPANY 
166-170  SOUTH  CLINTON  STREET 

CHICAGO 


PREFACE; 


'  E  BELIEVE  the  time  has  arrived 
when  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the 
people  of  this  county  to  perpetuate 
the  names  of  their  pioneers,  to  fur- 
nish a  record  of  their  early  settle- 
ment,   and   relate   the   story   of  their   progress. 
The  civilization  of  our  day,  the  enlightenment  of 
the  age,  and  the  duty  that  men  of  the  present 
time  owe  to  their  ancestors,  to  themselves  and  to 
their  posterity,  demand  that  a  record  of  their  lives 
and  deeds  should  be  made.    In  biographical  history 
is  found  a  power  to  instruct  man  by  precedent,  to 
enliven  the  mental  faculties,  and  to  waft  down 
^jj       the  river  of  time  a  safe  vessel,  in  which  the  names 
and   actions  of  the   people   who  contributed   to 
raise  this  country  from  its  primitive  state  may  be 
preserved.      Surely   and  rapidly  the  great  and 
aged  men,  who  in  their  prime  entered  the  wilder- 
ness and  claimed  the  virgin  soil  as  their  heritage, 
are  passing  to  their  graves.     The  number  remain- 
ing who  can  relate  the  incidents  of  the  first  days 
of  settlement  is  becoming  small  indeed,  so  that 
actual  necessity  exists  for  the  collection  and  pres- 
ervation of  events  without  delay,  before  all  the 
early  settlers  are  cut  down  by  the  scythe  of  Time. 
To  be  forgotten  has  been  the  great  dread  of 
mankind  from  remotest  ages.     All  will  be  forgot- 
ten soon  enough,  in  spite  of  their  best  works  and 
the  most  earnest  efforts  of  their  friends  to  preserve 
"1     the  memory  of  their  lives.     The  means  employed 
to  prevent  oblivion  and  to  perpetuate  their  mem- 
"**  ory  have  been  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  intel- 
ligence they  possessed.     The  pyramids  of  Egypt 
wo     were  built  to  perpetuate  the  names  and  deeds  of 
its    great    rulers.      The    exhumations  made   by 
the  archaeologists  of  Egypt  from  buried  Memphis 
^     indicate  a  desire  of  those  people  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  their  achievements.     The  erection  of 
the   great  obelisks    was    for  the  same  purpose. 
Coming  down  to  a  later  period,  we  find  the  Greeks 
and   Romans   erecting   mausoleums   and   monu- 


i° 


ments,  and  carving  out  statues  to  chronicle  their 
great  achievements  and  carry  them  down^  the 
ages.  It  is  also  evident  that  the  Mound-builders, 
in  piling  up  their  great  mounds  of  earth,  had  but 
this  idea — to  leave  something  to  show  that  they 
had  lived.  All  these  works,  though  many  of 
them  costly  in  the  extreme,  give  but  a  faint  idea 
of  the  lives  and  characters  of  those  whose  memory 
they  were  intended  to  perpetuate,  and  scarcely 
anything  of  the  masses  of  the  people  that  then 
lived.  The  great  pyramids  and  some  of  the 
obelisks  remain  objects  only  of  curiosity;  the 
mausoleums,  monuments  and  statues  are  crumb- 
ling into  dust. 

It  was  left  to  modern  ages  to  establish  an  intel- 
ligent, undecaying,  immutable  method  of  perpet- 
uating a  full  history— immutable,  in  that  it  is  al- 
most unlimited  in  extent  and  perpetual  in  its  ac- 
tion; and  this  is  through  the  art  of  printing. 

To  the  present  generation,  however,  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  introduction  of  the  admirable  sys- 
tem of  local  biography.  By  this  system  every 
man,  though  he  has  not  achieved  what  the  world 
calls  greatness,  has  the  means  to  perpetuate  his 
life,  his  history,  through  the  coming  ages,  for  the 
benefit  of  his  posterity. 

The  scythe  of  Time  cuts  down  all;  nothing  of 
the  physical  man  is  left.  The  monument  which 
his  children  or  friends  may  erect  to  his  memory 
in  the  cemetery  will  crumble  into  dust  and  pass 
away;  but  his  life,  his  achievements,  the  work  he 
has  accomplished,  which  otherwise  would  be  for- 
gotten, is  perpetuated  by  a  record  of  this  kind. 

To  preserve  the  lineaments  of  our  companions 
we  engrave  their  portraits;  for  the  same  reason 
we  collect  the  attainable  facts  of  their  history. 
Nor  do  we  think  it  necessary,  as  we  speak  only 
truth  of  them,  to  wait  until  they  are  dead,  or  un- 
til those  who  knew  them  are  gone;  and  we  need  be 
ashamed  only  of  publishing  the  history  of  those 
whose  lives  are  unworthy  of  public  record. 


1 0  I  2604 


PREFACE. 


The  greatest  of  English  historians,  MACAU- 
LAY,  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  writers  of  the 
present  century,  has  said:  "The  history  of  a 
country  is  best  told  in  a  record  of  the  lives  of 
its  people."  In  conformity  with  this  idea,  the 
GENEALOGICAL,  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  ALBUM  of 
this  county  has  been  prepared.  Instead  of  going 
to  musty  records,  and  taking  therefrom  dry  sta- 
tistical matter  that  can  be  appreciated  by  but  few, 
our  corps  of  writers  have  gone  to  the  people,  the 
men  and  women  who  have,  by  their  enterprise 
and  industry,  brought  the  county  to  a  rank  sec- 
ond to  none  among  those  comprising  this  great 
and  noble  State,  and  from  their  lips  have  ob- 
tained the  story  of  their  life  struggles.  No  more 
interesting  or  instructive  matter  could  be  pre- 
sented to  an  intelligent  public.  In  this  volume 
will  be  found  a  record  of  many  whose  lives  are 
worthy  the  imitation  of  coming  generations.  It 
tells  how  some,  commencing  life  in  poverty,  by 
industry  and  economy  have  accumulated  wealth. 
It  tells  how  others,  with  limited  advantages  for 
securing  an  education,  have  become  learned 
men  and  women,  with  an  influence  extending 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land.  It  tells  of  men  who  have  risen  from  the 
lower  walks  of  life  to  eminence  as  statesmen,  and 
whose  names  have  become  famous.  It  tells  of 
those  in  every  walk  in  life  who  have  striven  to  suc- 
ceed, and  records  how  success  has  usually  crowned 
their  efforts.  It  tells  also  of  many,  very  many, 
who,  not  seeking  the  applause  of  the  world,  have 
pursued  "the  even  tenor  of  their  way,"  content 
to  have  it  said  of  them,  as  Christ  said  of  the 
woman  performing  a  deed  of  mercy — "They  have 
done  what  they  could."  It  tells  how  that  many 


in  the  pride  and  strength  of  young  manhood  left 
the  plow  and  the  anvil,  the  lawyer's  office  and 
the  counting-room,  left  every  trade  and  pro- 
fession, and  at  their  country's  call  went  forth 
valiantly  "to  do  or  die,"  and  how  through  their 
efforts  the  Union  was  restored  and  peace  once 
more  reigned  in  the  land.  In  the  life  of  every 
man  and  of  every  woman  is  a  lesson  that  should 
not  be  lost  to  those  who  follow  after. 

Coming  generations  will  appreciate  this  vol- 
ume and  preserve  it  as  a  sacred  treasure,  from 
the  fact  that  it  contains  so  much  that  would  never 
find  its  way  into  public  records,  and  which  would 
otherwise  be  inaccessible.  Great  care  has  been 
taken  in  the  compilation  of  the  work,  and  every 
opportunity  possible  given  to  those  represented  to 
insure  correctness  in  what  has  been  written;  and 
the  publishers  flatter  themselves  that  they  give 
to  their  readers  a  work  with  few  errors  of  conse- 
quence. In  addition  to  the  biographical  sketches, 
portraits  of  a  number  of  representative  citizens 
are  given. 

The  faces  of  some,  and  biographical  sketches 
of  many,  will  be  missed  in  this  volume.  For  this 
the  publishers  are  not  to  blame.  Not  having  a 
proper  conception  of  the  work,  some  refused  to 
give  the  information  necessary  to  compile  a  sketch, 
while  others  were  indifferent.  Occasionally  some 
member  of  the  family  would  oppose  the  enter- 
prise, and  on  account  of  such  opposition  the 
support  of  the  interested  one  would  be  withheld. 
In  a  few  instances  men  could  never  be  found, 
though  repeated  calls  were  made  at  their  resi- 
dences or  places  of  business. 

L,A  SALLE  BOOK  COMPANY 


ADDENDA. 


The  preparation  of  this  volume  has  involved  the  labor  of  several  years.      Since  the  pages 
were  stereotyped,  time  has  wrought  many  changes. 

Several  of  the  subjects  of  biographies  have  passed  away.     Among  these  are  : 

ELLIOTT  ANTHONY page  375 

A.  G.  BURLEY,  .        . 227 

DR.  A.  W.  BURNSIDE 205 

I.  N.  CAMP .         346 

E.  H.  CASTLE, 544 

J.  D.  CATON,  .  115 

SILAS  B.  COBB, 143 

.  JACOB  FORSYTH,          .  87 

C.  M.  HENDERSON, .  391 

JOHN  JENKINS  208 

EDSON  KEITH, 149 

T.  E.  LEWIS 297 

ORRINGTON  LUNT, 503 

JAMES  MCMAHON,  .........         181 

GEORGE  M.  PULLMAN 231 

WILLIAM  A.  RAY, 405 

REV.  MINER  RAYMOND, 178 

K.  G.  SCHMIDT, 535 

WILLIAM  B.  SNOW .         .         .    '     .  540 

JOHN  SOLLITT,  199 

CAPT.  J.  F.  STAFFORD, 341 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINr 


JOHN  WENTWORTH. 


(JOHN  WENTWORTH.  Probably  no  man 
I  was  held  in  more  affectionate  remembrance 
(2/  by  the  early  settlers  of  northern  Illinois  than 
he  whose  name  heads  this  article.  Nor  could  an 
individual  be  chosen  who  could  more  fittingly  be 
called  a  type  of  American  growth  and  greatness. 
Towering  to  a  height  of  six  feet  six  inches  and 
being  in  his  younger  days  rather  slender,  he  ac- 
quired the  name  of  "  Long  John,"  by  which  he 
was  still  familiarly  known  after  he  had  gained  a 
more  portly  figure  and  a  most  imposing  presence. 
The  ffamptonia,  published  at  New  Hampton 
Academy,  thus  epitomizes  his  public  life  : 

"Mr  Wentworth,  all  through  his  editorial  and 
official  life,  has  shown  himself  not  only  a  man 
of  decided  convictions,  but  has  proved  on  many 
notable  occasions  that  he  had,  under  the  most 
adverse  circumstances,  the  courage  to  follow 
them.  He  has  ever  looked  upon  parties  as  only 
necessary  organizations  for  the  accomplishment 
of  desirable  ends,  and  he  has  no  party  attachments 
beyond  his  assurance  of  right,  always  having 
principles  that  he  wished  sustained  by  the  legis- 
lation of  his  country,  and  always  seeking  po- 
litical organization  that  would  promote  this  object. 
Mr.  Wentworth  has  been  remarkable,  as  a  writer 
and  speaker,  for  conveying  his  ideas  in  the  fewest 
possible  words,  and  for  his  success  in  command- 
ing the  closest  attention  of  promiscuous  audi- 
ences; also  for  his  habits  of  untiring  industry, 


and  for  keeping  such  control  of  his  private  busi- 
ness that  he  was  ever  independent  of  political 
action." 

The  Domesday  Book  of  1066  shows  that  Regi- 
nald Wentworth — then  called  Rynold  de  Wynter- 
wade — the  ancestor  of  the  Wentworth  family  in 
America,  was  proprietor  of  the  fief  of  Wentworth 
in  the  Wapentake  of  Strafford,  West  Riding  of 
Yorkshire.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  grand- 
son of  John  Wentworth,  junior,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Continental  Congress  from  New 
Hampshire,  and  signed  the  Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion. He  was  also  a  grandson  of  Col.  Amos 
Coggswell,  who  joined  the  Continental  Army 
under  the  historic  elm  at  Cambridge,  fought  with 
his  six  brothers  through  the  Revolution,  and  aided 
in  forming  the  Society  of  Cincinnati  at  its  close. 

John  Wentworth,  of  whom  this  sketch  is 
written,  was  born  in  the  White  Mountain  region 
of  New  Hampshire,  sometimes  called  the  "Swit- 
zerland of  America,"  at  Sandwich,  Strafford 
County,  the  date  of  his  birth  being  March  15, 
1815.  His  parents  were  Honorable  Paul  and 
Lydia  (Coggswell)  Wentworth.  He  attended 
various  public  and  private  schools  and  academies 
during  his  youth,  where  he  was  ever  ready  with 
new  and  original  work.  In  1830,  while  attending 
New  Hampton  Academy,  he  was  influential  in 
organizing  a  literary  society  for  the  benefit  of  the 
younger  students,  in  which  he  developed  the 


JOHN  WENTWORTH. 


basis  of  that  forensic  talent  for  which  he  was  after- 
wards noted.  As  early  as  1832  he  wrote  articles 
for  the  Democratic  press,  in  defense  of  President 
Jackson's  financial  policy,  which  attracted  favor- 
able attention.  In  that  year  he  entered  Dart- 
mouth College  and  was  graduated  in  1836,  hav- 
ing paid  a  portion  of  his  way  by  teaching.  He 
cast  his  first  vote  for  Isaac  Hill,  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  governor  in  New  Hampshire, 
and  the  same  year,  with  good  recommendations 
and  $100  in  his  pocket,  he  left  home  with 
the  idea  of  settling  somewhere  in  the  West. 
After  a  varied  journey,  made  partly  by  stage, 
partly  by  cars  and  partly  by  canal  and  steani- 
boa'ts,  he  arrived  in  Chicago  October  25,  1836. 
He  soon  made  arrangements  to  continue  his  study 
of  law  with  Henry  Moore,  a  pioneer  lawyer  of 
the  city,  but  on  November  23  was  induced  to 
take  editorial  charge  of  the  Chicago  Democrat. 
His  influence  was  so  strong  in  this  stern  advocate 
of  the  people  that  both  citizens  and  owners  urged 
him  to  secure  permanent  charge,  to  which  he 
soon  consented  and  within  three  years  had  paid 
the  purchase  price  of  $2800.  During  these  first 
years  he  was  active  in  city  affairs  and  held  vari- 
ous offices,  writing  on  many  political  subjects, 
besides  makinghis paper  apolitical  power  through- 
out the  Northwest. 

In  spite  of  these  demands  upon  his  time  he  con- 
tinued his  law  studies  and  in  1841  attended  lec- 
tures at  Harvard  College.  He  returned  in  time 
to  take  part  in  the  campaign  of  1842  and  was 
soon  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  election  which 
should  have  been  held  in,  1842  was  not  held  until 
August  of  the  next  year,  when  Mr.  Wentworth 
was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  Fourth  Dis- 
trict by  a  large  majority.  Although  but  three 
years  above  the  legal  age  and  without  experience 
in  legislative  bodies,  he  attended  to  his  duties 
as  successfully  as  an  old  parliamentarian  and  was 
re-elected  in  1844,  1846  and  1848.  He  declined 
the  office  in  1850,  but  was  again  elected  in  1852, 
from  the  Second  District.  The  Democratic  Re- 
view said  of  his  congressional  career:  ' '  Colonel 
Wentworth's  political  career  has  been  marked  by 
untiring  industry  and  perseverance,  by  inde- 
pendence of  thought,  expression  and  action,  by  a 


thorough  knowledge  of  human  nature,  by  a  moral 
courage  equal  to  any  crisis,  by  a  self-possession 
that  enables  him  to  avail  himself  of  any  chance  of 
success,  when  on  the  very  threshold  of  defeat, 
and  by  a  steady  devotion  to  what  he  believes  to 
be  the  wishes  and  interests  of  those  whose  repre- 
sentative he  is. ' ' 

In  1857  Mr.  Wentworth  was  elected  mayor  oi 
Chicago  by  a  large  majority,  and  during  his  term 
and  another  which  he  served  in  1860,  he  adhered 
to  his  old  watch  ward  of  "Liberty  and  Economy." 
In  each  case  he  found  the  city  in  debt  and  went 
out  of  office  with  money  in  the  treasury.  Dur- 
ing his  first  term  the  first  steam  fire  engine  was 
bought  for  the  city  and  named  "I,ong  John,"  in 
his  honor.  In  1860  he  had  the  honor  of  enter- 
taining the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  was  assured 
that  in  no  city  were  the  arrangements  more  per- 
fect. In  1 86 1  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  conven- 
tion to  revise  the  state  constitution,  and  in  the 
same  year  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education.  He  was  ever  a  friend  of  education 
and  used  his  influence  to  defend  the  school  funds 
and  school  system  from  various  attacks. 

Concerning  Mr.  Wentworth's  action  on  the 
slavery  question,  the  famous  abolitionist,  Zebina 
Eastman,  wrote:  "In  politics  Colonel  Wentworth 
has  ever  acted  with  the  old-line  Democratic 
party;  but  when  the  old  parties  became  split  up, 
he  went  with  such  other  Democrats  as  Hamlin, 
Wilmot,  King,  Trumbull,  Fremont,  Blair  and 
others,  into  what  is  known  as  the  Republican 
movement.  To  the  success  of  this  movement 
Colonel  Wentworth  has,  by  public  speeches,  by 
writing  in  his  newspaper,  and  by  efforts  in  every 
other  way,  bent  all  his  energies.  And  if  there  is 
any  truth  in  the  old  adage  that  the  tree  which 
bears  the  best  fruit  is  always  known  by  its  re- 
ceiving the  greatest  number  of  clubs,  Colonel 
Wentworth  is  singled  out  as  one  of  the  most 
effective  laborers  in  the  ranks  of  the  opposition 
to  slavery  extension." 

After  leaving  Congress  Mr.  Weutworth  passed 
many  happy  hours  on  his  extensive  stock  farm  at 
Summit,  Cook  County,  though  he  was  often 
called  upon  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  fill  some 
public  office.  He  was  an  able  writer  on  histori- 


ELIZABETH  SIMON. 


cal  and  genealogical  subjects  and  a  valued  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.  One  of  his 
important  contributions  in  this  line  is  the  Went- 
worth  Genealogy,  in  three  volumes.  He  joined 
the  Masons  and  Odd  Fellows  soon  after  coming 
to  Chicago  and  was  a  member  of  the  Calumet 
Club.  He  died  October  16,  1888. 
On  November  13,  1844,  Mr.  Wentworth  was 


married  to  Roxanna  Marie,  only  daughter  of 
Riley  and  Roxanna  (Atwater)  Looruis,  of  Troy, 
New  York.  Five  children  were  born  of  this 
marriage,  but  only  one,  Roxanna  Atwater, 
reached  maturity.  She  became  the  wife  of  Clar- 
ence Bowen  January  27,  1892.  Mrs.  Wentworth 
passed  away  after  many  years  of  delicate  health, 
February  5,  1870. 


ELIZABETH  SIMON. 


IV  /IRS.  ELIZABETH  SIMON.  For  more  than 
IV I  half  a  century  has  Mrs.  Simon,  now  in  her 
\(£\  sixtieth  year,  been  a  resident  of  Chicago. 
Coming  here  a  little  maiden  of  ten  years,  in  com- 
pany with  her  parents,  she  has  been  an  eye  wit- 
ness of  the  man}'  wonderful  changes  and  surpris- 
ing developments  which  have  marked  each  decade 
of  the  city's  history  since  1848. 

Mrs.  Simon's  life  history  is  interesting.  Her 
parents  were  natives  of  Rhenish  Prussia,  where 
she  was  born,  August  29,  1838,  and  immigrated 
to  America  in  1842.  Her  father  was  Frederick 
Kurth,  and  her  mother's  maiden  name  was  Mar- 
garet Engel.  She  was  their  first  child,  and  their 
only  one  when  they  settled  in  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, in  1842.  Her  father  invested  his  money 
in  a  saloon  and  boarding  house,  which  he  con- 
ducted with  varying  success  six  years.  Three 
other  children  were  born  to  him  there,  but  all 
died  in  infancy  or  early  childhood.  Mr.  Kurth 
became  dissatisfied  with  his  surroundings,  and 
June  26,  1848,  he  transferred  himself  and  his  be- 
longings to  Chicago.  Two  other  children  were 
born  here,  Julia  and  Frederick,  the  former,  becom- 
ing the  wife  of  Herman  Fretchie.  Mrs.  Fretchie 
resides  at  No.  5630  South  Paulina  Street. 

On  reaching  Chicago  Mr.  Kurth  again  em- 
barked in  the  hotel  business.  For  a  few  years 
he  conducted  the  old  "Rio  Grande,"  onLaSalle 


Street.  Within  a  short  time  he  began  to  invest 
in  suburban  property,  notably  at  Riverside,  and 
for  a  little  while  he  made  his  home  at  East 
Lyons.  Country  life,  however,  presented  few  at- 
tractions to  him,  and  he  soon  returned  to  Chi- 
cago, once  more  opening  a  boarding  house. 

He  was  always  earnestly  and  intensely  loyal, 
and  in  1862  he  enlisted  in  the  Union  volunteer 
army,  receiving  a  commission  as  captain  of  Com- 
pany F,  Fifty-eighth  Illinois  Volunteers.  At 
Pittsburgh  Landing  he  was  captured,  and  for 
eight  months  was  a  prisoner  within  the  Con- 
federate lines.  The  rigors  of  his  confinement, 
added  to  previous  exposure  in  the  field,  under- 
mined his  health,  and  shortly  after  the  surrender 
of  Vicksburg  he  was  honorably  discharged  on 
the  score  of  physical  disability.  He  died  at  Chi- 
cago, August  27,  1880,  and  Mrs.  Simon's  mother 
followed  him  to  the  grave  April  19,  1883.  Both 
now  sleep  at  Graceland. 

Mrs.  Simon's  early  training  at  school  was 
rather  desultory  and  imperfect,  and  was  mainly 
acquired  before  coming  to  Chicago.  At  the  age 
of  eighteen  years  (November  28,  1855),  she  mar- 
ried Louis  Pfeif,  a  young  draughtsman  of  excel- 
lent promise.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
her  husband,  like  her  father,  was  fired  with 
patriotism,  and  Mr.  Pfeif  responded  to  the  first 
call  for  ninety-day  volunteers.  Not  long  after 


10 


C.  N.  CODE. 


his  term  had  expired  he  re-enlisted  for  the  war 
and  February  3,  1862,  was  commissioned  as  sec- 
ond lieutenant  in  his  father-in-law's  company, 
which  he  assisted  in  recruiting.  He  was  killed 
at  Shiloh  two  months  later,  and  his  widow 
brought  his  body  home  for  interment. 

Through  her  marriage  to  Lieutenant  Pfeif  she 
became  the  mother  of  four  children,  only  two  of 
whom  are  yet  living,  Louise,  Mrs.  Henry 
Jaernecke,  of  Chicago,  and  Wilhelmina,  Mrs. 
E.  C.  Suter,  of  Ireton,  Iowa. 

Three  years  after  the  death  of  her  first  hus- 
band, she  married  Joseph  Simon,  the  date  of  their 
nuptials  being  December  4,  1865.  Mr.  Simon 
was  born  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  but  settled  at  Chi- 
cago in  1855.  His  trade  was  that  of  a  baker. 
He,  too,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Union  army  during 
the  war,  serving  gallantly  as  a  private  in  Com- 


pany G,  Twenty-fourth  Illinois  Infantry  Vol- 
unteers for  three  years.  After  being  mustered 
out  (August  6,  1864),  he  enlisted  in  the  naval 
'arm  of  the  service,  and  served  therein  until  Au- 
gust 26,  1865,  when  he  was  honorably  discharged 
and  returned  to  Chicago.  His  death  occurred 
November  25,  1889. 

The  issue  of  Mrs.  Simon's  second  marriage 
was  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  Fred,  Julius  and 
Josephine.  The  last-named  is  the  wife  of  Fred- 
erick Weickart,  a  brass  finisher,  residing  in  Chi- 
cago. 

Notwithstanding  the  sixty  years  of  an  honor- 
able and  useful  life  which  have  passed  over  her 
head,  Mrs.  Simon  is  still  hale  of  body  and  keen 
in  intellect.  Her  faculties  are  unimpaired,  and 
her  recollection  of  early  and  prominent  events  in 
the  city  is  vivid. 


CHARLES  N.  CODE. 


EHARLES  N.  CODE  is  foreman  in  the  re- 
pair shop  of  the  passanger  ca£  department 
of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway 
Company.  He  is  a  native  of  the  County  of  Kent, 
England,  where  he  was  born  about  November 
18,  1840,  and  is  the  son  of  James  and  Ann  Code, 
both  of  whom  spent  their  lives  in  England. 
Their  family  consisted  of  three  sons  and  one 
daughter,  two  of  whom  became  residents  of  the 
United  States,  Charles  N.,  of  this  sketch,  and 
William,  an  engineer  in  the  employ  of  the  Chi- 
cago &  Northwestern  Railway  Company,  resid- 
ing in  Chicago. 

Charles  N.  Code  was  educated  in  a  private 
school  in  England,  and  later  learned  the  trade  of 
carpenter  and  joiner,  partly  with  his  father,  who 
died  when  Charles  was  sixteen  years  old,  and 
partly  with  others  after  the  death  of  that  worth}'. 


About  January  20,  1872,  he  sailed  from  Liver- 
pool in  the  steamship  "City  of  London,"  and  ar- 
rived in  New  York  February  10,  following.  He 
came  direct  to  Chicago  and  at  once  began  work- 
ing at  his  trade  as  a  journeyman,  and  continued 
in  that  occupation  for  several  years.  In  1874  he 
entered  the  employ  of  the  old  Chicago  &  Pacific 
Railway  Company  in  their  car  shops  then  located 
on  Goose  Island,  where  he  had  charge  of  the 
shops.  He  remained  in  the  employ  of  that  com- 
pany until  it  became  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
&  St.  Paul  Railway  Company,  after  which  he 
worked  for  the  last  named  company  for  one  year, 
as  inspector  of  the  construction  of  cars,  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  and  Cambridge  City,  Indiana. 

In  1881  he  became  foreman  of  the  freight  de- 
partment of  repairs  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwest- 
ern Railway.  Six  months  later  he  was  trans- 


G.  A.  BOESENBERG. 


ii 


ferred  to  the  coach  department,  shop  No.  4, 
from  which  time,  until  the  present,  he  has  had 
general  supervision  of  the  repairing  in  that  de- 
partment. 

December  25,  1875,  he  married  Mary  Penny,  a 
native  of  Northamptonshire,  England.  They 
have  six  children,  namely:  James  Oscar,  Annie, 
Harry,  Fred,  Lily  and  Isabelle.  The  religious 
faith  of  this  family  is  Episcopalian. 

Mr.  Code  is  in  no  sense  a  politician,  but  keeps 
himself  informed  upon  the  politics  of  the  day  and 
current  topics  of  the  times.  In  local  politics  he 


acts  independently,  giving  his  support  to  the 
candidate  who  he  thinks  will  best  serve  the  peo- 
ple, while  in  national  politics  he  votes  for  the  Re- 
publican party.  He  belongs  to  one  fraternal 
organization,  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters. 
Mr.  Code's  life  has  been  progressive,  always 
advancing  and  never  retrograding.  He  has  ever 
used  his  best  efforts  to  make  himself  deserving  of 
higher  positions  and  more  substantial  rewards, 
and  in  doing  so  he  has  served  his  employers  prof- 
itably and  with  fidelity,  as  is  shown  by  his  life 
record. 


GEORGE  A.  BOESENBERG. 


ADOIvPH   BOESENBERG,    a  re- 

b  tired  merchant  and  an  old  and  highly  re- 
spected citizen,  has  been  a  resident  of  Chi- 
cago for  fifty  years.  He  has  been  a  witness  of 
many  marvelous  changes  during  this  half  century 
of  an  active,  useful  life,  and  throughout  the  en- 
tire period  has  borne  his  full  share  of  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  which  devolve  upon  a  public, 
spirited  citizen. 

He  was  born  in  Stockendreber,  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, April  15,  1822.  His  parents  were  Henry 
and  Mary  (Magers)  Boesenberg,  and  his  father 
was  a  man  of  prominence  and  substance,  owning 
and  operating  a  flouring  mill.  As  a  boy  he  at- 
tended the  parochial  school  until  he  received  con- 
firmation in  the  Lutheran  Church,  and,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  he  began  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  cabinet  maker.  As  opportunity  afforded,  he 
helped  his  father  at  the  mill,  thus  acquiring  a 
good  knowledge  of  the  milling  business,  as  well. 
In  January,  1848,  having  resolved  to  seek  a 
new  home  in  a  new  country,  he  took  passage  in 
a  sailing  vessel  at  Bremen,  and  after  a  voyage 
lasting  six  weeks  landed  at  New  York.  Another 
fortnight  was  spent  in  the  journey  to  Chicago. 


On  arriving  in  this  city  he  went  out  to  Leyden, 
Cook  County,  where  for  nearly  two  years  he 
worked  as  a  carpenter.  Returning  to  the  city 
he  found  employment  at  cabinet-making,  and  for 
nearly  twenty  years  he  worked  at  his  trade,  as  a 
journeyman.  At  the  end  of  that  time  his  in- 
dustry and  thrift  had  enabled  him  to  save  a  suf- 
ficient amount  of  money  to  embark  in  some  busi- 
ness of  his  own,  and  he  determined  to  become  a 
grocer. 

He  opened  a  store  on  Chicago  Avenue,  and 
soon  built  up  a  profitable  trade.  For  eighteen 
years  he  did  a  prosperous  business  at  this  loca- 
tion, winning  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  his 
customers  and  neighbors,  by  his  unswerving 
rectitude  and  his  kindly  demeanor.  In  1887  he 
retired,  and  since  that  date  has  been  enjoying 
that  ease  and  comfort  which  is  the  fitting  reward 
of  a  well  spent  life.  Mr.  Boesenberg  has  invested 
considerably  in  real  estate,  buying  property  first 
on  Fulton  Street,  afterward  on  Milwaukee  Ave- 
nue, and  still  later  on  North  Wood  Street,  where 
he  now  resides. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  although  he  has 
never  been  in  any  sense  of  the  word  a  political 


12 


FREDERICK  KOLZE. 


worker  or  an  aspirant  for  office.  He  was  for 
many  years  active  in  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  but  is  not  now  affiliated  with  any 
lodge  of  that  order. 

In  1851  he  married  Miss  Dorothee  Seemann,  a 
native  of  Suttorf,  Hanover,  the  province  in  which 
was  the  home  of  his  boyhood.  Twelve  children 
have  been  born  to  them,  six  of  whom  are  yet  liv- 


ing. They  are:  Henry,  a  real  estate  and  loan 
agent;  Margaret,  the  wife  of  Henry  Stillman;  Al- 
vina,  now  Mrs.  Henry  Hartmann;  George,  who 
is  engaged  in  the  grocery  business  in  this  city; 
John,  a  resident  of  Chicago;  and  Lillian,  wife  of 
William  Eickenberg.  The  family  has  a  wide  ac- 
quaintance, and  enjoys  a  full  measure  of  respect 
in  the  community  at  large. 


FREDERICK  KOLZE. 


P~  REDBRICK  KOLZE  was  born  July  4,  1836, 
rft  in  the  village  of  Nienhagen,  Hanover,  Ger- 
I  many.  His  parents  were  Frederick  and 
Louisa  (Koch)  Kolze,  and  an  extended  account 
of  his  ancestry  and  family  connections  may  be 
found  in  the  biographical  sketch  of  his  brother, 
Henry  D.  Kolze,  on  another  page.  He  came 
with  his  parents  to  America  and  lived  at  home 
until  his  marriage,  which  took  place  in  1863.  In 
April  of  that  year  he  took  up  his  home  at  the 
place  where  his  widow  still  resides,  buying  eighty 
acres  on  the  east  half  of  the  southwest  quarter  of 
section  20,  in  Leyden  Township,  from  the  Illinois 
Agricultural  Society.  On  this  land  stood  a  small 
cottage,  built  by  Henry  Strohmeier.  The  claim 
to  the  property  passed  from  him  to  Fritz  Bier- 
mann,  and  from  the  latter  to  Frederick  Kolze, 
Senior,  father  of  Frederick.  When  Mr.  Kolze 
bought  it  in  1863  most  of  the  land  had  already 
been  placed  under  cultivation  and  he  paid  two 
thousand  dollars  for  the  tract.  In  1877  he  erected 
the  house  which  was  his  home  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  and  in  1891  he  put  up  new 
and  commodious  barns.  Mr.  Kolze  attended 
school  in  the  old  country,  improving  to  the  utmost 
such  educational  advantages  as  he  enjoyed.  He 
was  a  consistent  and  devout  member  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  Church  and  an  active  worker  in 
the  cause  of  religion.  He  liberally  aided  the 


erection  of  St.  John's  Evangelical  Church,  of 
which  Rev.  Heinrich  Wolf  is  now  pastor. 
His  life  was  one  void  of  offense,  and  he  com- 
manded the  affectionate  esteem  of  all  who  knew 
him. 

He  was  married,  April  10,  1863,  to  Caroline 
Wilhelmina,  a  daughter  of  Ludwig  Banger  and 
his  wife,  Wilhelmina  Maier.  Ludwig  Banger 
was  born  in  1800.  His  father,  Herman,  was  a 
carpenter  and  a  prosperous  building  contractor, 
employing  a  large  number  of  men.  Ludwig 
Banger,  with  his  wife  and  five  children  came  to 
America  in  the  spring  of  1849,  on  the  vessel 
"Little  Eagle."  The  ship  was  a  small  craft 
manned  by  a  crew  of  seven  men  -and  carrying 
only  seventy-five  passengers,  but  the  voyage 
passed  pleasantly  and  occupied  only  thirty-five 
days.  His  son  Frederick  had  preceded  him  in 
1847,  and  had  settled  at  Schenectady,  New  York, 
where  he  was  working  on  a  railroad.  Ludwig 
accordingly  made  that  his  objective  point,  intend- 
ing to  make  it  his  permanent  home,  and  had 
bought  a  sawmill,  when  he  was  attacked  by 
cholera  in  such  violent  form  as  to  cause  his  death 
within  six  hours.  His  widow,  with  her  children, 
then  came  on  to  Chicago,  whefe  she  had  friends, 
the  Fischer  family,  of  Elmhurst,  whom  she  had 
known  in  the  fatherland.  Mrs.  Banger  bought  a 
farm  of  eighty  acres  near  Lombard,  Du  Page 


J.  F.  BORGLUM. 


County,  but  after  three  years  sold  it  and  removed 
to  Chicago,  where  her  boys  readily  found  employ- 
ment. Mrs.  Banger  was  born  October  24,  1806, 
at  the  same  village  as  her  husband;  she  died 
January  27,  1891,  at  the  home  of  her  daughter 
Wilhelmina,  with  whom,  she  had  passed  the 
closing  years  of  her  long  and  useful  life. 

Mrs.  Kolze's  paternal  grandfather  was  twice 
married.  By  his  first  wife  he  was  the  father  of 
three  girls  and  of  Ludwig,  the  father  of  Caroline 
Banger.  He  was  a  farmer  and  landowner,  and 
a  soldier  in  the  German  army.  The  maternal 
grandfather  of  Mrs.  Kolze  owned  a  chicory  mill, 
which  his  son  operated  after  his  death. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kolze  were: 
Herman  Ludwig,  born  February  13,  1864,  mar- 
ried Matilda  Franzen,  daughter  of  Henry  Fran- 
zen.  The  second  son  was  Edward  Diedrich,  born 
March  30,  1866,  married  Augusta  Gruenwald 


June  18,  1890,  and  resides  at  No.  305  Ontario 
Street,  Oak  Park.  Gustav  Heinrich  is  the  third 
son,  born  May  23,  1868,  married  Emma  Schroe- 
der  November  5,  1893;  she  is  the  daughter  of 
August  Schroeder,  of  the  town  of  Maine,  and 
was  born  December  29,  1871.  Frank  Karl  was 
the  next  in  order  of  birth,  born  May  24,  1870, 
married  Clara  Louise,  daughter  of  Henry  Kolze, 
of  Turner  Park,  April  10,  1896.  Amanda  Louise 
was  born  July  29,  1872,  and  died  March  17, 
1893.  Robert  August  was  born  March  29,  1874, 
and  now  resides  in  California.  George  Leonhard 
came  into  the  world  May  4,  1877,  and  makes  his 
home  with  his  mother.  Matilda  Wilhelmina 
was  born  September  27,  1879,  and  lives  at  home 
with  her  mother.  Julius  Frank,  the  youngest 
son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frederick  Kolze,  was  born 
on  the  3d  of  January,  1885,  and  is  still  a  school 
boy. 


JAMES  F.  BORGLUM. 


Q  AMES  FIELD  BORGLUM.  Mr.  Borglum's 
I  place  of  business  is  at  Nos.  90  and  92  West 
G)  Ohio  Street,  where  he  conducts  a  well  ordered 
saloon.  He  is  a  well  known  and  popular  man  in 
that  section  of  the  city,  as  well  as  among  Danish- 
Americans  in  all  quarters  of  Chicago,  in  which 
city  he  has  resided  since  1865.  He  is  the  young- 
est of  a  family  of  two  sons  and  three  daughters, 
of  whom  mention  will  be  made  later.  His  father 
was  Soren  N.  Borglum,  of  Fauborg,  Fyen,  Den- 
mark, where  James  Field  was  born  April  22, 
1839.  The  elder  Borglum  was  a  man  of  some 
local  prominence  and  followed  a  sea-fairing  life 
all  his  days,  dying  after  serving  for  several 
years  as  captain  on  a  merchantman.  He  served  in 
the  navy  during  the  war  of  1814,  and  died  in  his 
native  country,  at  the  age  of  about  sixty-seven 
years.  His  widow  reached  the  extraordinary 


age  of  ninety-two  years  before  she  followed  him 
to  the  grave.  The  eldest  son,  Galson,  died  in 
Denmark,  after  passing  life's  eighty-second  mile- 
stone. Two  daughters  are  also  living  in  the  old 
country,  and  one  has  passed  away.  James  Field 
Borglum  is  the  only  living  son,  and  the  sole 
representative  of  the  family  in  America. 

His  life  has  been  by  no  means  devoid  of  ex- 
periences abounding  in  interest.  As  a  boy  he 
attended  the  public  school,  and  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen years  set  out  to  see  the  world.  He  first 
went  to  Hamburg,  where  he  shipped  before  the 
mast,  on  the  sailing  vessel  "Emily  Farmen." 
His  first  voyage  was  to  Calcutta,  where  he  re- 
mained ten  months,  a  portion  of  which  time  he 
spent  in  the  hospital,  a  victim  of  yellow  fever. 
He  left  Calcutta  as  a  sailor  on  a  vessel  bound  for 
New  York.  From  that  port  he  went  to  Boston, 


H.  H.   HANN. 


where  heshippedon  the  sailing  vessel  "Ceylon," 
bound  for  Melbourne,  which  carried  passengers 
as  well  as  freight,  and  touched  all  East  Indian 
ports.  After  two  and  one-half  years  thus  spent 
he  returned  to  Boston,  and  for  nine  months  was 
employed  in  the  revenue  service,  coming  to  Chi- 
cago in  1865.  His  love  for  the  water  was  still 
strong,  and  for  a  year  he  sailed  as  one  of  the 
crew  of  a  vessel  navigating  the  lakes.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  he  returned  to  Denmark,  where 
he  remained  five  years,  and  then  determined  to 
re-visit  Chicago.  This  time  he  came  as  the 
leader  of  a  party  of  seventy-five  immigrants. 
Once  more  his  fondness  for  a  sailor's  life  over- 
came him  and  he  spent  another  year  as  a  common 
sailor  on  the  great  inland  seas.  But  his  love  of 
adventure  and  desire  for  new  scenes  was  not  yet 
satisfied,  and  he  made  a  trip  overland  to  San 
Francisco,  the  journey  occupying  five  months. 

He  remained  in  California  for  some  two  and 
one-half  years,  devoting  himself  to  salmon  fish- 
ing. He  spent  some  time  at  Sacramento  and 
Santa  Rosa,  and  in  the  spring  of  1871  returned 
to  Chicago.  During  the  following  summer  he 
was  mate  upon  a  schooner  engaged  in  the  lake 


carrying  trade.  In  the  season  of  1872  he  com- 
manded the  scljponer  "Cecelia,"  as  captain,  sail- 
ing from  Chicago  to  Detroit  and  Buffalo,  and  this 
position  he  held  eight  years.  For  one  year  he 
was  captain  of  the  schooner  "Clara,"  and  for  the 
next  eight  commanded  the  "Olga."  His  next 
vessel  was  the  "Nellator,"  which  he  sailed  a 
year,  when  the  schooner  was  lost,  during  a  vio- 
lent storm  in  December.  With  this  experience 
his  life  as  a  sailor  came  to  an  end.  He  resolved 
henceforth  to  be  a  landsman,  and  to  make  Chi- 
cago his  home,  and  he  embarked  in  the  saloon 
business,  which  he  has  followed  nine  years. 

In  1872,  at  Chicago,  he  married  Christina  Jel- 
strup,  a  lady  born  in  Denmark.  They  are  the 
parents  of  twelve  children,  ten  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing: Edward,  James,  Annie,  Augusta,  Henry, 
Minnie,  Lelia,  George,  Elizabeth  and  Edna. 

Mr.  Borglum  is  a  charter  member  of  Chicago 
Lodge  No.  91,  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men, and  has  been  an  active  member  thereof  for 
twenty-three  years.  He  also  belongs  to  Court 
No.  58,  Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  and  was 
formerly,  and  for  several  years,  a  member  of  the 
Society  Dania. 


HERMAN  H.  HANN. 


HERMAN  HENRY  HANN,  the  son  of  Lud- 
wig  Dietrich  Hann,  is  one  of  those   young 
business  men  of   Chicago  who,  while  yet 
standing  at  the  threshold  of  man's  estate,   have 
already  given  convincing  proof  of  the  possession 
of  those  qualities  which  command  respect  and  in- 
sure success. 

He  was  born  on  section  31,  Ley  den  Township, 
July  i,  1875,  and  received  his  early  education  in 
the  public  and  parish  schools  of  Harlem,  Cook 
County.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  began  the 
actual  work  of  life  as  clerk  for  Martin  Damman, 


of  Harlem,  with  whom  he  remained  for  eighteen 
months.  His  next  employment  was  with  Cook 
&  Chick,  of  Chicago,  steam  fitters,  and  after  a 
year  thus  spent  he  was  admitted  into  partnership 
in  the  firm  of  Hann  Brothers,  grocers,  August 
31,  1895,  and  at  present  has  charge  of  the  Madi- 
son Street  branch  of  their  business.  He  is  un- 
married, and  makes  his  home  with  his  parents. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Turner  and  Low  German 
Societies  and  of  the  Plattedeutchen  Gilden.  In 
politics  he  acts  independently,  paying  little  atten- 
tion to  the  dictates  of  partisanship. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
i;NIVERSITY  OF  ILLIN 


:   ^I 


W.  T.  JOHNSON. 


WILLIAM  T.  JOHNSON. 


THOMAS  JOHNSON  is  one  of 
Chicago's  well-known  and  eminently  re- 
spected  citizens.  He  is  a  native  of  West- 
moreland, Oneida  County,  New  York,  born 
November  16,  1835,  being  a  son  of  Thomas  and 
Hannah  (Temple)  Johnson,  the  former  born  in 
Scarboro,  England,  in  1805.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  years  he  was  married  to  Hannah  Temple. 
He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and,  being  am- 
bitious for  the  attainment  of  better  things  than 
his  intelligence  and  energy  were  likely  to  produce 
in  his  native  land,  on  account  of  lack  of  opportu- 
nity, he  decided  to  go  to  America,  where  oppor- 
tunities commensurate  with  his  enterprise  were 
to  be  embraced. 

Accordingly,  soon  after  his  marriage,  he,  with 
his  young  wife,  crossed  the  ocean  and  settled  on 
a  farm  in  Oneida  County,  New  York.  His  in- 
dustrious habits  soon  won  for  him  a  substantial 
start  and  in  time  he  became  quite  wealthy  for  a 
tiller  of  the  soil.  To  him  and  his  estimable  wife 
were  born  nine  children:  George,  now  of  Marshall- 
town,  Iowa;  John,  deceased;  Mary  Ann,  wife  of 
John  Holland,  of  Oneida  County,  New  York; 
William  T.,  of  this  notice;  Henry,  deceased; 
Juniette;  James,  of  Oneida  County,  New  York; 
Charles,  deceased;  and  Edward,  also  of  Oneida 
County,  New  York.  Both  parents  lived  to  at- 
tain a  ripe  age,  the  father  dying  April  7,  1880, 
aged  seventy-five  years,  and  the  mother,  March 
29,  1885,  aged  seventy-seven  years  and  two 
months. 

William  T.  Johnson  was  reared  on  his  father's 


farm,  one  of  the  best  in  the  famed  Mohawk 
Valley.  His  educational  advantages  were  limited 
to  the  public  schools,  where  he  was  instructed  in 
the  primary  branches  of  an  English  education. 
When  twenty  years  of  age  he  went  out  from  his 
parental  home  to  seek  fortune  and  position  in 
Chicago,  then  as  now,  the  "Eldorado"  of  the 
west.  He  arrived  in  that  city  a  total  stranger, 
without  even  a  letter  of  recommendation  in  his 
pocket,  but  he  had  what  was  better — unlimited 
capacity  for  work,  and  a  keen  discriminating  in- 
telligence. He  at  once  secured  work  in  the  lum- 
ber yard  of  Hayes  &  Morris,  where  he  worked  a 
year,  first  as  a  common  laborer,  and  later  as 
foreman. 

His  observing  mind,  in  the  meantime,  noted 
that  certain  young  men  of  his  acquaintance  were 
filling  positions  more  desirable  than  the  one  he 
was  in,  and  it  was  then  ambition  urged  him  to 
aspire  to  be  something  more  than  a  lumber  piler. 
With  that  purpose  in  view  he  employed  a  teacher 
to  instruct  him  in  the  intricacies  of  book-keeping, 
and  so  closely  did  he  apply  himself  to  his  task, 
that,  after  a  few  months,  he  was  qualified  to  take 
a  position  at  the  books  of  another  lumber  firm, 
that  of  Shearer  &  Payne,  for  whom  the  well- 
known  W.  W.  Strong  was  general  manager.  In 
this  position  he  continued  a  number  of  years, 
and  then  resigned  to  accept  a  better  position  with 
Mason  &  McArthur,  proprietors  of  the  Excelsior 
Iron  Works.  While  there  he  acquired  much 
practical  knowledge  of  the  iron  business;  and  as 
well,  acquired  an  intelligent  comprehension  of 


16 


W.  T.  JOHNSON. 


the  methods  employed  in  the  safe  conducting  of  a 
large  business  enterprise,  in  which  he  was  almost 
equally  chargeable,  with  the  members  of  the 
firm,  with  the  conduct  of  the  business.  This 
close  relation  with  the  members  of  the  firm  ac- 
quainted him  with  many  of  the  leading  business 
men  of  Chicago  and  the  Northwest,  whose 
confidence  and  esteem  he  possessed  long  before 
he  went  into  business  for  himself.  His  em- 
ployers, recognizing  his  business  ability,  and  his 
strict  loyalty  to  their  interests,  advanced  him  in 
every  way,  and  ere  long  he  had  accumulated  a 
snug  little  fortune,  the  savings  from  his  liberal 
salary.  His  correct  business  and  social  habits, 
and  his  frugality  and  thrift,  observed  of  all  his 
acquaintances,  were  as  good  as  cash  capital  in 
hand,  as  it  commanded  for  him  an  almost  un- 
limited line  of  credit  when  he  came  to  arrange 
for  a  manufacturing  establishment  of  his  own. 

In  1864  he  formed  an  association  with  a  Mr. 
Holden,  and  together  they  built  the  Phoenix 
foundry,  at  that  time  the  largest  in  the  city, 
which  they  profitably  conducted  for  two  years. 
In  1866  Mr.  Johnson  entered  into  a  co-partner- 
ship with  H.  P.  Kellogg,  to  carry  on  a 
wholesale  and  retail  hardware  business  on  Clark 
Street,  near  Monroe  Street,  where  they  were 
when  the  great  fire  of  October,  1871,  swept  away 
the  store.  This  inflicted  a  loss  which  consider- 
ably impaired  their  individual  assets.  As  soon 
thereafter  as  possible,  they  established  a  similar 
establishment  on  Randolph  Street,  where  a  suc- 
cessful business  was  carried  on  until  1891,  when 
the  firm  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Johnson  retired  from 
merchandising.  The  success  of  his  career  in  a 
business  and  financial  sense  may  now  be  partly 
measured  by  his  large  property  holdings. 

Mr.  Johnson  now  spends  his  time  chiefly  in 
planning  and  erecting  building  improvements  on 
such  vacant  lots  and  blocks  as  remain  in  his 
possession  unimproved.  He  has  built  up  many 
entire  blocks  in  business  and  flat  buildings,  and 
is  still  carrying  on  improvements.  "I  was  a 
pioneer  on  this  ground,"  he  has  been  heard  to 
say,  "and  I  shall  not  desert  it  until  every  lot 
feels  the  weight  of  a  good  building." 

Although  Mr.  Johnson's  life  has,  almost  since 


his  arrival  in  Chicago,  been  fraught  with  weighty 
and  incessant  business  cares,  he  has,  withal,  been 
personally  identified  with  many  official  positions 
of  trust.  As  early  as  1890,  he  became  interested 
in  politics  and  in  that  year  took  an  active  part  in 
the  local  campaign  for  Mr.  Lincoln.  Unaided, 
he  succeeded  in  raising  in  the  settled  portions  of 
the  West  Side,  enough  young  men  to  form  a  re- 
spectable company  of  "Wide- Awakes,"  the  first 
company  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States.  The 
night  of  their  initial  appearance  they  marched 
down  Lake  Street,  on  which  street  the  Honorable 
Joseph  Medill  then  lived,  in  a  small  frame  house, 
and  gave  him  a  rousing  serenade.  Mr.  Medill 
evinced  his  appreciation  of  the  honor  by  making 
a  short  speech  to  the  boys,  complimenting 
them  with  a  donation  of  $5  and  a  suggestion 
that  they  could  partake  of  liquid  refreshments  at 
his  expense  at  a  nearby  bar.  That  exciting 
campaign  introduced  Mr.  Johnson  into  politics 
and  he  soon  appeared  in  the  councils  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  as  a  delegate  to  conventions  and 
as  committeeman.  He  very  soon  became  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  a  very  enthusiastic  fol- 
lowing, and  in  1878,  entirely  without  solicitation 
on  his  part,  he  was  nominated  for  the  State 
Senate  and  was  triumphantly  elected.  He  was 
well  received  by  his  associates  in  the  Senate,  and 
assigned  to  some  of  the  important  committees.  He 
soon  won  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  debater, 
and  by  his  logic  and  eloquence  secured  the 
passage  of  every  measure  for  which  he  became 
responsible,  some  of  which  were  of  great  im- 
portance. The  bill  for  registration  of  voters 
was  his,  and  was  passed  and  became  the  first  law 
on  the  subject  in  this  State.  Of  even  more  local 
importance  was  his  park  refunding  bill  for  the 
West  Side,  whose  passage  he  secured  and  which 
proved  of  immense  benefit  to  the  parks  and 
people  of  that  division  of  the  city.  Successful 
as  he  had  been  as  a  Senator,  he  was  not  a  candi- 
date for  re-election. 

In  1880  he  received  the  nomination  for 
county  treasurer  and  was  elected  by  a  large 
majority.  At  the  time  of  his  election  the  tenure 
of  that  office  was  two  years,  but  during  his  in- 
cumbency the  legislature  passed  an  act  extending 


FRANK  SCHWEINFURTH. 


the  time  to  three  years.  He  was  appointed 
railroad'  commissioner  by  Governor  Oglesby  in 
1884,  and  so  satisfactorily  did  he  discharge  the 
duties  of  this  somewhat  difficult  position  that  he 
received  the  warmest  commendation  of  all  parties. 
He  also  held  the  office  of  indian  commissioner, 
having  been  appointed  to  that  position  by  Presi- 
dent Garfield. 

Subsequent  to  Mr.  Cleveland's  inauguration, 
the  commissioners  were  holding  a  session  in 
Washington  and,  although  Mr.  Johnson  believed 
the  civil  service  law  a  good  thing,  he,  at  that 
time,  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  new  president 
should  be  allowed  to  choose  his  own  indian  com- 
missioners and  accordingly  he  offered  a  reso- 


lution that  the  commissioners  resign  in  a  body. 
To  this  his  colleagues  demurred,  but  he  acted 
upon  his  own  convictions  and  tendered  his  resig- 
nation to  the  President,  which  was  accepted. 

Mr.  Johnson  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, being  connected  with  Lafayette  Chapter, 
Royal  Arch  Masons,  and  Chicago  Commandery, 
No.  19,  Knights  Templar.  He  was  married  May 
21,  1862,  to  Miss  Kate  A.  E.,  adopted  daughter 
of  Judge  Nathan  Allen.  Three  children  have 
resulted  from  this  union,  namely:  Catherine 
Grace,  wife  of  H.  L.  Bleecker,  of  Los  Angeles, 
California;  Etta  Alice,  who  died  in  1898;  and 
Mabel,  wife  of  Dr.  W.  B.  Marcusson,  of  Rush 
Medical  College. 


FRANK  SCHWEINFURTH. 


[""RANK    SCHWEINFURTH,    SENIOR. 

to  This  veteran  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion ,  who 
I  has  been  identified  with  the  history  of  Chi- 
cago since  1852,  was  born  at  Wiesloch,  Baden, 
Germany,  May  29,  1837.  His  father,  who  was 
the  proprietor  of  a  noted  bakery,  was  named 
John,  and  his  mother,  Mary.  Both  died  in  the 
Fatherland  they  loved  so  well,  but  the  six  of 
their  children  who  reached  maturity  emigrated 
to  America.  Mary,  the  first  born,  arrived  in 
1846.  She  was  the  wife  of  Victor  Jones,  and 
both  she  and  her  husband  are  now  deceased.  In 
1852  came  Barbara,  who  fell  victim  to  the  chol- 
era shortly  after  her  arrival.  Clara,  the  young- 
est daughter,  married  Frederick  Edler,  and  died 
in  1863.  George  is  a  flour  merchant,  doing  busi- 
ness at  Nos.  377  and  379  West  Lake  street,  and 
Philip  is  deceased. 

Mr.  Frank  Schweinfurth,  after  receiving  an  el- 
ementary education  in  the  public  schools,  learned 
the  baker's  trade,  and  followed  that  pursuit  some 
years,  after  which  for  five  years  he  drove  a  bak- 


er's wagon.  When  President  Lincoln  issued  his 
first  call  for  volunteers  in  April,  1861,  young 
Schweinfurth  joined  the  ranks  of  the  ninety-day 
recruits,  in  the  Turners'  Union  Cadets.  He  re- 
enlisted  for  three  years  in  the  Twenty-Fourth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  with  such 
gallantry  that  January  i,  1862,  he  was  promoted 
to  a  second  lieutenancy  in  Company  K,  and  in 
the  following  June  was  commissioned  first  lieu- 
tenant of  Company  E.  He  commanded  his  com- 
pany at  Chickamauga,  in  which  battle  he  was 
made  a  prisoner.  For  ten  months  he  was  con- 
fined in  Libby  Prison,  and  was  then  taken  to 
Macon,  Georgia,  and  later  to  Charleston  and  Co- 
lumbia, South  Carolina,  and  to  Raleigh  and  Wil- 
mington, North  Carolina,  spending  eighteen 
months  in  rebel  prisons.  At  Wilmington  he  was 
exchanged,  and  in  March,  1865,  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service  by  general  order  of  the  War 
Department,  at  Annapolis,  and  was  paid  off  at 
Washington. 
Returning  to  Chicago  he  engaged  in  business 


i8 


CHRISTOPH  VOELKER. 


on  his  own  account,  purchasing  an  interest  in  his 
brother's  bakery  at  No.  413  South  Clark  Street. 
Soon  afterward  he  disposed  of  this  place  and  em- 
barked in  the  wholesale  flour  business,  in  part- 
nership with  his  brothers,  George  and  Philip. 
For  a  year  the  firm  was  located  on  West  Erie 
Street  and  was  then  dissolved.  The  second  year 
Philip  and  Frank  reopened  business  at  No.  28 
Market  Street.  Thence  they  removed  to  Nos. 
250  and  252  South  Water  Street,  and  just  before 
the  great  fire  of  1871  they  established  themselves 
at  No.  403  South  Clark  Street,  where  they  opened 
a  bakery  in  connection  with  their  flour  store. 
Here  business  was  not  so  good  as  Mr.  Schwein- 
furth  wished,  and  for  several  years  he  has  not  been 
engaged  in  the  trade,  living  quietly  in  retirement. 
Mr.  Schweinfurth  cast  his  first  presidential 
vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1860,  and  until 
within  recent  years  has  been  an  active  worker  in 
the  Republican  party,  standing  high  in  its  coun- 
cils, but  never  seeking  reward  in  the  shape  of 
political  preferment.  In  his  earlier  years  he  was 


fond  of  social  pleasures  and  a  member  of  numer- 
ous organizations,  among  them  being  Hose  Com- 
pany No.  3,  of  the  old  Volunteer  Fire  Depart- 
ment, which  he  joined  in  1855;  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, the  order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  various 
singing  societies.  He  was  also  a  charter  member 
of  Lyon  Post  No.  9,  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic. He  is  still  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Turn- 
Gemeinde,  with  which  he  has  been  connected 
since  1855.  When  this  society  built  its  present 
hall  he  was  treasurer  and  a  member  of  the  build- 
ing committee. 

December  5,  1865,  he  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Eva  Margaret  Walter,  who  has  borne  him  sev- 
en children,  six  of  whom  are  yet  living:  Anna, 
Katharine,  George  J.,  Frank,  Junior,  Clara  (who 
died  May  i,  1897),  Julia  and  Philip. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schweinfurth,  with  their  chil- 
dren, are  members  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  and  the  family  is  universally  held  in 
high  esteem  in  the  community  in  which  they 
have  lived  so  long. 


CHRISTOPH   VOELKER. 


/7JHRISTOPH  VOELKER.  For  forty-six 
|(  years  Mr.  Voelker  has  been  a  resident  of 
U  Chicago,  having  accompanied  his  father's 
family  on  their  emigration  from  Germany  in  the 
fall  of  1853.  He  was  born  at  Rockwitz,  Meck- 
lenburg-Schwerin,  Germany,  January  30,  1844. 
His  father's  name  was  Ernst  Voelker,  of  whom  a 
more  extended  mention  may  be  found  in  the 
biographical  sketch  of  William  Voelker,  brother 
of  Christoph.  The  latter  was  educated  at  the 
parish  school  of  Saint  Peter's  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Church  in  this  city,  and  at  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen years  began  learning  the  cooper's  trade, 
serving  his  time  as  apprentice  with  Mr.  Barr, 
since  the  completion  of  which  he  has  worked  at 


his  trade  as  a  journeyman.  He  has  been  indus- 
trious and  economical,  painstaking  and  temper- 
ate, and  through  judiciously  investing  his  earn- 
ings he  has  accumulated  a  competence.  In  1886 
he  bought  the  property  at  No.  336  North  Paulina 
Street,  where  he  now  resides,  whose  value  has 
greatly  increased. 

He  was  married  September  16,  1863,  to  Louise 
Goetzke.  Mrs.  Voelker  is  a  daughter  of  Gilbert 
and  Marie  Goetzke,  and  was  born  at  Kesslin, 
Germany.  Both  the  parents  died  in  the  Father- 
land, but  all  the  children  emigrated  to  this  coun- 
try. The  family  is  scattered,  however,  only 
Mrs.  Voelker  and  another  sister,  Lena,  Mrs. 
August  Schwerdfeter,  of  No.  125  Cleveland 


C.  H.  BOESENBERG. 


Avenue,  residing  in  Chicago.  The  others  are: 
Henrietta,  of  Colehour,  Indiana,  who  married 
Charles  Davis,  of  Dundee,  Illinois;  Hannah, 
wife  of  John  Thons,  of  that  place;  Etnelia, 
widow  of  August  Daus,  of  Clintonville,  Illinois; 
Rica,  now  Mrs.  Volkstroff,  of  Elgin;  Albert, 
a  resident  of  Saint  Paul;  and  Mrs.  Augusta 
Rickow,  of  Crete,  Illinois. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Voelker  have  two  bright,  intelli- 
gent daughters,  Anna  and  Ida.  The  former  is 
the  widow  of  Adolph  Schwank,  and,  with  her 


daughter,  Mabel,  lives  in  Elgin,  Illinois.  Ida 
is  the  wife  of  William  Moffatt,  a  stationary  engi- 
neer of  Chicago.  They  have  one  son,  named 
Thomas. 

Mr.  Voelker  and  his  family  are  members  of 
Saint  Peter's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  and 
take  a  deep  interest  therein,  being  active  in  both 
church  and  Sunday  School  work.  Mr.  Voelker 
is  a  Republican,  but  has  never  taken  any  active 
interest  in  politics,  beyond  exercising  his  right 
of  suffrage. 


CHARLES  H.  BOESENBERG. 


QHARLES  HENRY  BOESENBERG,  who 

b  takes  a  prominent  place  among  the  business 
men  of  western  Cook  County,  was  born  July 
9,  1844,  at  Plum  Grove,  in  the  Town  of  Palatine, 
Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  Ferdinand  and 
Marie  (Heinsoth)  Boesenberg.  The  family  has 
long  been  known  as  one  of  intelligence  and  good 
business  sense.  Henry  F.  Boesenberg  was  born 
September  23,  1819,  in  Stockendreber,  Amt 
Neustadt,  Ruebenberg,  in  the  kingdom  of  Han- 
over, Germany.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Henry 
Boesenberg,  also  a  native  of  Hanover,  who  died 
in  1852,  aged  eighty  years.  He  owned  a  mill 
and  a  small  farm  of  ten  acres.  His  mill  was  run 
by  wind  power,  and  was  patronized  by  the  farm- 
ers of  the  locality.  It  is  still  in  the  possession  of 
one  of  his  descendants.  The  original  owner 
worked  and  earned  the  money  with  which  he 
bought  the  property,  three  years  after  his  mar- 
riage. His  farm  was  worked  by  oxen,  as  his 
tract  was  too  small  to  support  horses.  He 
married  Louisa  Magars,  a  native  of  the  village 
of  Welwelah,  Hanover,  who  was  about  the  same 
age  as  her  husband,  and  who  died  at  the  age  of 
forty-five  years.  They  had  several  children,  ac- 
counted for  as  following  paragraphs  relate. 


Henry  John  married  Mary  Grossman  and 
succeeded  his  father  in  the  old  mill.  His  chil- 
dren were:  Henry,  Mary,  Alvina,  George  and 
August.  The  last-named  came  into  possession 
of  the  mill  and  remained  there  until  his  death, 
about  1889.  A  daughter  who  married  a  Mr. 
Robbe  now  has  the  property. 

Frederick  learned  the  trade  of  miller,  but 
never  followed  it.  He  entered  the  army,  where 
he  remained  forty  years,  gaining  the  rank  of 
sergeant.  One  of  his  sons  emigrated  and  lives  in 
Missouri.  Rudolph  and  Karl  died  while  still 
young,  the  latter  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years. 
William  married  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  years. 
He  was  a  miller  and  rented  a  mill  until  his  death. 
Henry  Ferdinand  is  the  father  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  George  Adolph,  born 
April  15,  1822,  was  baptized  May  19,  the  same 
year,  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Batchen.  He  married, 
January  29,  1851,  Katharine  Louise  Dorothea 
Seeman,  daughter  of  Philip  and  Margarita 
(Leseberg)  Seeman,  who  was  born  January  14, 
1831,  in  the  village  of  Suttorp,  Amt  Neustadt, 
Hanover,  Germany.  Their  children  were: 
George  August,  born  January  7,  1852,  died 
August  15,  of  the  same  year;  Heinrich  Herman, 


20 


C.  H.  BOESENBERG. 


born  January  24,  1853,  who  is  mentioned  on  an- 
other page  of  this  work;  Marie  Frauzista,  born 
February  19,  1855,  died  in  January,  1880;  Mar- 
guerita  Helena,  born  October  29,  1856,  married 
June  18,  1876,  Heinrich  Stellman,  and  has  the 
following  children:  George,  Herman,  Stella, 
Francis  and  Lydia;  Louise  Marie,  born  January 
i,  1859,  died  May  20,  1881;  Frederick,  born 
February  24,  1861,  died  within  forty-eight  hours; 
Alvina  Louisa,  born  February  18,  1862,  married 
Henry  Hartmann,  a  wholesale  merchant  residing 
in  Irving  Park,  Chicago;  George  Frederick,  born 
October  18,  1864,  resides  at  No.  505  Lincoln 
Street,  Chicago;  Sophia  Wilhelmina,  born  April 
12,  1867,  married  Henry  Damm,  and  died  Au- 
gust 14,  1898,  leaving  three  children,  Leonard, 
Alma  and  George;  Johann  Heinrich,  born  Oc- 
tober 2,  1869,  married  Lydia  Luther  and  has  two 
children,  Earl  and  Beatrice.  Sophia  was  married 
to  Frederick  Fabbe  and  remained  in  her  native 
land.  They  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 
Louise  (Magars)  Boesenberg  was  the  daughter 
of  a  farmer.  She  had  a  brother,  Henry. 

Henry  F.  Boesenberg  remained  at  home  until 
he  was  of  age,  learning  the  miller's  trade.  He 
left  his  home  in  1841  and  journeyed  to  Chicago, 
which  was  then  but  a  small  city.  He  tilled 
much  wild  land  in  the  vicinity,  which  was  not  at 
all  inviting.  He  was  acquainted  with  Mr.  Fred 
Rosemond,  who  settled  in  Du  Page  County,  but 
otherwise  had  few  acquaintances.  He  hired  out 
to  a  physician  as  hostler,  and  remained  with  him 
for  some  time. 

March  23,  1843,  he  married  Katherine  Marie 
Heimsoth,  in  Chicago,  and  at  once  proceeded  to 
Plum  Grove,  in  the  township  of  Palatine,  where 
he  bought  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  much 
broken  land,  of  Mr.  York,  for  three  hundred  dol- 
lars. He  erected  a  log  house  and  after  two  years 
sold  to  Henry  Kreiter.  He  then  removed  to 
Leyden,  where  he  bought  eighty  acres  of  gov- 
ernment land  at  a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per 
acre.  In  1845116  built  a  small  house,  which  is 
still  standing,  being  the  sitting  room  of  the 
residence  of  his  son,  William.  Later  he  made 
additions,  one  to  the  north  and  one  to  the  east. 
He  bought  sixty-nine  acres  in  the  northwest 


quarter  of  section  28,  twenty-nine  acres  of  the 
Government  and  forty  acres  of  Fred  Schmidt. 
He  also  purchased  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
where  his  son  George  now  lives,  of  Henry  Hart- 
man.  He  built  a  house  now  occupied  by  a 
tenant,  and  lived  there  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
He  gave  up  active  farming  in  1875.  He  was  a 
large,  broad-shouldered,  smooth-shaven  man, 
weighing  about  two  hundred  pounds,  and  pos- 
sessed of  considerable  education  and  great  in- 
telligence. He  was  a  good  judge  of  agricultural 
matters  and  his  opinion  was  much  sought.  For 
many  years  he  acted  as  auctioneer  among  the 
farmers  for  several  miles  around.  He  was  of  a 
kindly  disposition  and  ever  ready  to  do  a 
neighborly  act.  He  was  trusted  by  all  his  asso- 
ciates and  frequently  honored  with  public  office. 
He  held  most  of  the  township  offices  and  was 
assessor  for  the  fifteen  consecutive  years  preced- 
ing his  death.  He  was  a  Republican  in  politics. 
A  member  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church, 
in  Addison,  Illinois,  he  found  his  last  resting- 
place  near  it.  The  date  of  his  death  was  Novem- 
ber 23,  1886. 

Katherine  Marie  (Heimsoth)  Boesenberg  was 
born  February  15,  1817,  in  the  village  of  Haven- 
averbergen,  Amt  Norden,  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Hanover,  Germany.  Her  father,  Karsten  Heim- 
soth, married  Elizabeth  Heimsoth,  a  distant 
cousin.  He  owned  a  farm  in  Germany,  where 
he  remained.  His  children  were:  Herman,  a 
farmer  and  land  owner,  married  Margarita 
Mueller;  Margaret  married  Henry  Docker  and 
has  two  children — Mary  and  Henry;  Henry 
married  Meta  Heimsoth,  a  distant  relative,  and 
emigrated  in  1841,  locating  in  Elk  Grove,  Illi- 
nois, where  his  son,  and  only  living  child,  Will- 
iam, how  resides;  Karsten  came  to  America  in 
1842  and  located  in  Leyden,  where  he  bought 
eighty  acres  of  land.  Twenty  years  ago  Kar- 
sten, Junior,  removed  to  St.  Louis.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Civil  War.  His  wife's  name  was 
Minnie  and  their  children  were  named  Caroline 
and  Elizabeth.  Odelheit,  another  child  of  Kar- 
sten and  Elizabeth  Heimsoth,  married  Herman 
Heimsoth,  a  farmer,  and  with  her  children — 
Henry  and  Elizabeth — remained  in  Germany. 


E.  H.  HANN. 


21 


Elizabeth,  next  in  order  of  this  family,  also  re- 
mained in  Germany.  Maria,  the  youngest,  was 
mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The  last 
named,  in  company  with  her  brother  Karsten, 
left  Germany  in  the  ship  "  Paulina,"  and  after 
spending  seven  weeks  on  the  ocean  and  three 
weeks  on  the  Erie  Canal  and  Great  Lakes,  arrived 
in  Chicago  in  November,  1842.  Henry  F.  and 
Marie  Boesenberg  were  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren. Charles  Henry's  name  heads  this  article. 
Louisa  Rosetta,  born  August  9,  1846,  married 
Diedrich  Muenstermann  and  lives  on  section  5, 
Leyden  Township.  Louise  Maria,  born  January 
1 6,  1849,  died  five  days  later.  Louise  Maria,  the 
second  by  that  name,  was  born  August  29,  1851, 
and  died  September  24,  1853.  Herman,  born 
December  3,  1853,  married  Albertina  White  and 
resides  at  Rockford,  Missouri.  He  is  an  attorney. 
He  has  six  children  living  and  has  lost  four. 
George  Adolph  and  William  will  be  found  repre- 
sented elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

Charles  H.  Boesenberg,  whose  name  heads  this 
notice,  remained  on  the  old  farm  until  his  mar- 
riage in  1871.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  farm 
work  and  resolved  to  enter  into  business.  Ac- 
cordingly he  went  to  Chicago  and  started  a 
grocery  at  No.  266  West  Chicago  Avenue,  where 
he  continued  two  years.  He  followed  the  same 
business  at  No.  279  West  Chicago  Avenue  six 
years.  He  then  sold  the  establishment  to  his 
uncle,  George  Boeseuberg,  and  removed  to  Man- 
heim.  He  erected  a  cheese  factory  which  proved 


very  successful,  turning  out  as  high  as  twenty 
cases  of  cheese  per  day.  This  enterprise  he  con- 
tinued eight  years.  At  the  same  time  he  opened 
a  store  which  he  still  owns.  This  he  has  con- 
ducted very  successfully  and  carries  a  large  and 
varied  stock  of  general  merchandise,  including 
coal  and  farm  machinery.  His  various  enter- 
prises have  ever  been  established  on  strict  busi- 
ness principles  and  have  been  uniformly  success- 
ful. His  judgment  concerning  value  is  of  the 
best,  and  his  advice  is  frequently  asked  and 
always  carries  weight.  He  still  possesses  twenty- 
three  acres  of  the  sixty-three  which  he  received 
from  his  father,  the  other  forty  having  been  sold 
to  the  Franklin  Park  Land  Association.  In  1890 
Mr.  Boesenberg  was  chosen  township  assessor 
and  has  served  continuously  since.  He  is  a 
Republican  in  national  affairs,  and  served  as 
postmaster  during  the  Harrison  administration. 
He  and  his  family  are  members  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church. 

Octobers,  1871,  was  celebrated  the  marriage 
of  the  subject  of  this  biography  and  Miss  Matilda 
Hann,  daughter  of  Ludwig  Hann,  of  whom  a 
sketch  will  be  found  on  another  page  of  this 
work.  Mrs.  Boesenberg  was  born  March  8,  1852. 
Four  children  were  born  of  this  marriage  and  all 
those  living  reside  at  home.  Their  names  with 
dates  of  birth  are:  Edgar  Herman,  May  2,  1872; 
Ernil  George,  August  19,  1873,  died  March  4, 
1874;  Othelia  Margareta,  June  4,  1875;  and 
Adolph  George,  April  9,  1878. 


EDMUND  H.  HANN. 


f~  DMUND  HENRY  HANN.  A  detailed  ae- 
ry count  of  the  parentage  and  family  connec- 
I  tions  of  Edmund  Henry  Hann  may  be  found 
in  the  sketch  of  his  father,  Ludwig  Dietrich 
Hann,  which  appears  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 


He  was  born  upon  his  father's  farm,  in  Leyden 
Township,  January  n,  1870.  He  attended 
school  at  Oak  Park  and  after  receiving  a  sound, 
rudimentary  education,  entered  the  employ  of 
John  Seeger,  grocer,  at  No.  244  West  Indiana 


22 


A.    C.  CALKINS. 


Street,  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  After  remaining 
with  Mr.  Seeger  for  four  years  he  entered  the 
employ  of  Edward  Drissinghaus  at  the  corner  of 
North  Avenue  and  Leavitt  Street;  and  seven 
months  later  that  of  Martin  Dammauer,  at  No.  2 
Franklin  Street,  Harlem,  where  he  remained  for 
three  years.  He  then  accepted  a  situation  with 
John  Gadin,  proprietor  of  a  restaurant,  but  after 
four  months  returned  to  Mr.  Dammauer,  by 
whom  he  was  again  employed  for  three  years, 
and  for  six  months  by  William  Wicke,  who 
bought  out  the  business.  August  31,  1895,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother,  Herman 
H. ,  and  under  the  firm  name  of  Hann  Brothers 
they  opened  a  grocery  at  No.  193  West  Madison 
Street.  Business  prospered  with  them,  and 
May  21,  1896,  they  opened  a  branch  store  at 
No.  319  Randolph  Street.  Since  January  i, 


1900,  Edmund  H.  has  been  proprietor  of  the  lat- 
ter establishment,  the  partnership  having  been 
dissolved  at  that  date. 

Mr.  Hann  was  baptized  and  reared  a  German 
Lutheran;  in  politics  he  is  independent.  He  is  a 
member  of  General  Grant  Lodge  No.  116,  of  the 
Royal  Arcanum,  and  of  the  Harlem  Singing 
Society. 

November  9,  1897,  he  was  married  to  Elvira 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  and  Matilde 
Boelke,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  March  26, 
1873.  A  daughter,  Clara  Amanda,  was  born  to 
them  August  8,  1898. 

Mr.  Hann's  business  prospects  are  of  the  best. 
To  the  performance  of  his  daily  duties  as  a  mer- 
chant and  a  man  he  brings  an  earnest  purpose, 
tireless  energy  and  unswerving  fidelity,  that 
rarely  fail  to  bring  success. 


ALLEN  C    CALKINS. 


(31  LLEN  CRAIG  CALKINS,  a  pioneer  lura- 
J  1  berman  of  Chicago,  was  born  March  27, 
/  |  1823,  at  Waterbury,  Vermont,  and  was  a 
son  of  William  and  Rosalinda  (Craig)  Calkins. 
The  father  was  a  teacher  at  Burlington,  Ver- 
mont, and  afterwards  a  lawyer  at  Ticouderoga, 
New  York,  where  he  settled  about  middle  life. 
He  was  for  many  years  a  deacon  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  His  father,  John  Prentice  Cal- 
kins, was  a  pioneer  settler  of  Vermont.  The 
amily  carries  some  of  the  blood  of  Elder  William 
Brewster  of  the  "  Mayflower." 

Allen  C.  Calkins'  education  was  obtained  in 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  in 
the  academy  of  Shoreham,  Vermont.  After 
leaving  school  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a 
general  store  for  some  years  by  Wilson  &  Calkins, 
the  junior  partner  being  a  brother  of,  Allen. 
Subsequently  he  engaged  in  business  for  himself 


at  Ticonderoga,  and  later  moved  to  Albany, 
where  he  remained  about  four  years.  He  then 
took  charge  of  a  lumber  business  at  Lockhaven, 
Pennsylvania,  which  he  was  obliged  to  give  up 
on  account  of  climatic  influences  at  the  end  of 
three  years. 

In  1855  he  came  to  Chicago  and  entered  the 
employ  of  Holt  &  Mason,  lumber  dealers,  which 
firm  was  succeeded  by  that  of  Holt  &  Calkins,  of 
which  Allen  C.  Calkins  was  junior  partner. 
This  was  succeeded  by  the  firm  of  Calkins  & 
Stone,  which  later  became  Calkins  &  Fisher,  and 
was  located  on  Archer  Avenue.  In  1873  Mr. 
Calkins  retired  from  the  lumber  trade. 

For  several  years  he  was  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  brick  at  Galesburg,  Illinois.  He, 
with  Judge  Tuthill,  Jesse  Hildreth,  George  N. 
Harlow  and  others,  organized  the  Consumers' 
Gas  Company  of  Chicago,  of  which  he  was  sec- 


H.  D.  KOLZE. 


retary.  Mr.  Calkins  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  under  Mayor  Heath,  and  also  served 
as  alderman  of  the  old  Fourth  Ward  in  the  ear- 
lier City  Councils. 

On  the  3oth  day  of  August,  1847,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Sophia  Jane  Larrabee,  at  Ticonde- 
roga,  by  Rev.  Henry  N.  Davis.  Miss  Larra- 
bee  is  the  daughter  of  Lucius  Callender  and 
Calista  W.  (Bugbee)  Larrabee.  Mr.  Larrabee 
was  a  teacher  and  surveyor,  and  was  for  a  period 
of  seven  years  captain  of  a  steamboat  on  Lake 
George,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sheets  of  water 
in  the  world.  The  Larrabees,  for  generations, 
had  been  citizens  of  Connecticut  and  Vermont. 
For  genealogy  see  biography  of  Charles  R.  Lar- 
rabee in  this  volume. 

Sophia  J.  Larrabee  was  born  on  the  first  day 
of  the  year  1827.  She  and  her  husband  were  the 
parents  of  seven  children,  one  of  whom  died  in 
infancy,  and  six  grew  to  adult  age.  Charles  R., 
one  of  these,  is  a  real  estate  dealer  of  Chicago. 
Mary  J.  resides  in  Racine,  Wisconsin.  Rosalind 
C.  passed  away  soon  after  attaining  her  majorhy. 
Lucius  A.  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Board  of 
Trade.  William  L.  is  a  partner  in  a  wholesale 
grocery  house  at  Freeport,  Illinois.  Edward  C. 
is  connected  with  Armour  &  Company  in  New 
York. 


Mr.  Calkins  was  one  of  the  first  Chicago  men 
to  build  a  summer  home  at  Lake  Geneva.  His 
death  occurred  there  in  the  early  hours  of  No- 
vember 19,  1899.  He  superintended  some  work 
about  his  summer  residence,  preparatory  to  clos- 
ing it  for  the  winter,  and  in  so  doing  contracted 
a  cold  which  developed  into  pneumonia,  which 
proved  fatal. 

He  was  a  life-long  Republican,  and  stood  high 
in  the  councils  of  his  party.  His  service  in  the 
offices  he  held  was  straightforward,  prompt  and 
unsullied  by  any  mercenary  act.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  were  members  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church.  The  latter  has  sustained  this 
relationship  ever  since  she  was  twelve  years  old. 
He  joined  in  1852,  and  for  many  years  past  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Diocese  of  Illinois.  For  a  period  of  forty  years 
or  more  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  annual  conven- 
tions of  the  church.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
active  and  efficient  members  of  Trinity  Church 
of  Chicago,  to  which  he  was  very  strongly  at- 
tached. 

He  was  a  man  of  strongly  marked  but  pleasing 
physiognomy,  of  attractive  and  entertaining  per- 
sonality; a  man  full  of  force  and  energy;  liberal 
and  kind,  and  devoted  to  his  friends  and  family. 
His  chief  pleasure  was  in  making  others  happy. 


HENRY  D.  KOLZE. 


HENRY    DIEDERICK    KOLZE  belongs  to 
that  class   of  worthy   German    emigrants 
who  have  been  able,  in  this  land  of  great 
opportunities,  to  win  wealth  and  comfort  for  them- 
selves and  great  advantages  for  their  children. 
He  was  born  July  7,  1839,  in  the  village  of  Nien- 
hagen,  Amt-Neustadt,  Ruebenberg,  Kingdom  of 
Hanover, Germany,  a  son  of  Frederick  and  Louisa 
(Koch)  Kolze.     The  former  was  a  son  of  Kurth 


Henry  Kolze  and  Anna  Marie  Luehrs.  This 
couple  were  also  grandparents  of  William  and 
Frederick  Kolze  and  Mrs.  Louisa  Wolff,  of  whom 
mention  is  made  elsewhere  in  this  work. 

They  are  parents  of  three  sons,  Frederick, 
John  Henry  and  Diederick  Henry.  A  history  of 
the  first  will  be  found  below.  The  second  is  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  Henry  Kolze.  Diederick 
Henry  emigrated  to  America  in  1846,  this  being 


H.  D.  KOLZE. 


the  first  of  the  family  to  leave  his  native  land. 
He  located  in  Chicago,  where  he  followed  the 
trade  of  a  cabinet  maker.  He  married  Margaret 
Fee  and  had  five  daughters  and  one  son.  The 
latter  is  a  painter  and  resides  at  No.  1386  Har- 
vard Street,  Chicago. 

Frederick  Kolze  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Nienhagen,  November  22,  1802,  and  passed  away 
in  the  town  of  Leyden,  Cook  County,  Illinois, 
November  28,  -1878.  He  is  buried  at  Saint  John's 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  Du  Page  County, 
Illinois,  where  his  faithful  wife  rests  beside  him. 
He  was  a  small  farmer  in  his  native  land,  own- 
ing about  ten  acres.  His  wife,  Louisa  Koch, born 
June  15,  1807,  in  the  village  of  Stocken,  Hanover, 
and  died  January  22,  1881,  was  the  daughter  of 
an  innkeeper.  She  had  one  sister,  Katharina 
Dorothea,  who  married  Diedrick  Hurfer  and  re- 
mained in  German}',  where  she  died  while  still  a 
young  woman. 

Frederick  Kolze  resolved  to  leave  the  Father- 
land and  seek  his  fortune  in  America,  where  so 
many  of  his  countrymen  had  already  found  wel- 
come and  homes.  With  his  wife  and  seven  children 
he  sailed  June  10,  1849,  on  the  ship  "Seneca," 
and  after  a  long  ocean  voyage  landed  in  New 
York.  He  arrived  in  Chicago,  his  objective  point, 
October  15  of  the  same  year.  He  proceeded  at 
once  to  Leyden  Township,  where  he  rented  several 
farms  in  succession,  first  of  Mr.  Draper,  then  of 
Robert  Duulop,  and  then  of  Fred  Krunwilde.  In 
1853  he  bought  eighty  acres  of  Christoph  Meyer, 
the  west  half  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  section 
7,  which  was  mostly  broken  up.  The  land  was 
originally  entered  by  M.  L.  Dunlop,  who  sold  his 
title  to  Meyer.  The  first  house  built  on  the  land 
is  still  standing,  being  used  as  a  storehouse. 

On  this  farm  Frederick  Kolze  made  his  home 
until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  a  prominent 
member  of  Saint  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  and  helped  build  the  edifice  near  which 
he  is  buried.  He  joined  the  Republican  party 
when  it  was  first  organized  and  continued  to  sup- 
port its  policy.  The  family  of  Frederick  and 
Louisa  Kolze  is  accounted  for  in  the  subsequent 
lines  of  this  paragraph.  Marie,  born  November 
28,  1828,  married  Elijah  Peacock  and  was  the 


mother  of  Charles  D.  Peacock ,  the  well  known  jew- 
eler of  Chicago.  Katherine  Dorothea,  born  July 
24,  1831,  married  Diedrick  Plesse  April  i,  1855. 
The  latter  was  born  May  8,  1810,  in  the  village  of 
Markendorf,  Hanover,  Germany,  came  to  America 
in  1849  and  died  in  Leyden,  Illinois,  July  7,  1893. 
Their  only  child  is  Emma,  born  October  30,  1856, 
who  married  Simon  Cronemeier,  April  10,  1892; 
Arthur  and  William  Cronemeier,  born  respectively 
October  24,  1893,  and  August  7,  1896,  are  her 
children.  Annie,  the  third  child  of  Frederick 
Kolze,  was  born  in  1833,  married  Lawrence  Bo- 
walskee  and  lives  in  Golden  City,  Colorado. 
Their  children  are:  Lawrence,  Elizabeth,  Max  and 
Henry.  Frederick,  the  fourth  child,  is  represented 
on  another  page  of  this  work.  Henry  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  notice.  Louisa  married  Professor  Gus- 
tav  Earhorn,  a  music  teacher  at  No.  3716  Wabash 
Avenue,  Chicago.  Dora,  born  in  1844,  died  at 
the  early  age  of  fifteen  years. 

Henry  Diederick  Kolze,  of  whom  this  sketch  is 
written,  always  remained  with  his  father.  He 
carried  on  farm  work  as  a  boy  and  later  took 
most  of  the  responsibility,  though  he  was  not 
nominally  placed  in  control  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-seven  years.  He  has  made  farming 
his  business  and  has  made  his  farm  among  the 
most  productive  in  his  locality.  He  erected  his 
present  convenient  and  comfortable  residence 
in  1894. 

December  i,  1865,  Mr.  Kolze  married  Mary 
Biermann,  who  was  born  September  23,  1845,  in 
Germany.  She  died  August  18,  1869,  leaving 
two  children,  Bertha  Caroline,  born  February 
it,  1867,  and  George  Diederick,  born  December 
31,  1868.  The  daughter  married  Ernest  Will 
and  lives  at  Richland,  Illinois.  The  son  married 
Freda  Geier  and  resides  in  Addison,  Illinois,  and 
has  two  children,  Ralph  and  Lawrence.  Mr. 
Kolze  was  married  a  second  time  July  22,  1870, 
to  Sophia  Henrietta  Frank,  daughter  of  Joachim 
and  Fredericka  (Hoppe)  Frank,  who  was  born 
June  30,  1847,  in  Dielsdorf,  Prussia.  Six  chil- 
dren were  born  of  this  union.  Anna  Marie,  born 
November  16,  1871,  married  Edwin  J.  Walters, 
lives  at  No.  777  Woodbine  Avenue,  Oak  Park, 
and  has  two  children,  Clarence  and  Edwin.  Henry 


F.  W.  MORRISON. 


Charles,  born  February  12,  1874,  lives  with  his 
parents.  Those  remaining  of  this  family  are: 
Ida,  born  January  21,  1877;  Frederick,  December 
31,  1878,  died  January  2,  1879;  Hulda  Marie  and 
Arthur  Herman,  twins,  September  19,  1882. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  connected  with 


Saint  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  as 
are  the  members  of  his  family.  He  is  a  Republi- 
can in  politics,  but  not  an  office  seeker,  preferring 
the  peace  of  private  life  to  the  turmoil  of  politics. 
He  takes  a  great  interest  in  the  common  schools 
and  was  four  years  a  school  trustee. 


FREDERICK  W.  MORRISON. 


f~  REDBRICK  WILLIAM  MORRISON,  a  na- 
rrf  tive  of  Chicago,  and  a  life-long  resident  of 
|  *  Cook  County,  was  born  in  Chestnut  Street, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  old  Ogden  School,  June  13, 
1866.  His  parents  were  of  good  American  stock 
and  were  named  James  Winthrop  and  Elizabeth 
(Lyman)  Morrison.  James  W.  Morrison  was 
born  in  East  Owego,  New  York,  and  at  the  early 
age  of  sixteen  years  was  called  upon  to  assist  in 
the  care  and  support  of  his  widowed  mother  and 
eight  small  brothers  and  sisters.  He  was  faith- 
ful to  this  trust,  and  guarded  the  interest  "of  those 
dependent  upon  him  with  a  wisdom  worthy  of  a 
much  older  man.  He  subsequently  removed  to 
Indiana  and  later  to  Chicago. 

During  three  years  he  was  a  clerk  in  the  office 
of  the  Michigan  Central  Railway,  and  then 
secured  a  position  in  the  postoffice  department, 
where  he  was  employed  over  twenty  years.  This 
long  term  of  service,  where  honesty  and  regu- 
larity were  essential,  is  a  sufficient  testimonial 
of  his  trustworthiness  and  integrity.  In  1882 
he  was  made  an  Odd  Fellow  in  Fort  Dearborn 
Lodge  of  Chicago,  and  soon  became  an  influ- 
ential member,  passing  through  the  successive 
offices  to  the  chair  of  Noble  Grand.  Later  he 
became  a  charter  member  of  American  Lodge  of 
the  same  order.  He  was  also  connected  with 
the  National  Union  and  the  Royal  Arcanum. 
He  passed  away  March  13,  1894. 

Mrs.   E.   L.   Morrison  survives    her  husband, 


and  has  been  for  several  years  superintendent  of 
the  Odd  Fellows'  Orphans'  Home  at  Lincoln, 
Illinois,  which,  under  her  efficient  management, 
has  been  a  great  source  of  good  to  the  homeless 
children  of  deceased  members  of  that  order.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Morrison  were  the  parents  of 
three  children:  Charles,  who  on  account  of  his 
health  resides  in  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico, 
where  he  is  employed  in  the  postoffice;  Fred- 
erick W.,  of  whom  this  sketch  is  written;  and 
Lillian,  wife  of  Joseph  Warner  Brown,  who  is  in 
the  employ  of  S.  T.  Fish  &  Company,  in  South 
Water  Street,  Chicago,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
noted  whist  players  in  the  state.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Brown  reside  at  No.  2199  Washington  Boule- 
vard. 

Frederick  W.  Morrison  received  his  elementary 
education  in  the  Washington,  Hayes  and  Skinner 
Schools  of  Chicago,  and  then  took  up  a  course  in 
pharmacy  in  the  Illinois  College  of  Pharmacy,  a 
department  of  Northwestern  University.  After 
completing  his  studies  he  had  practical  expe- 
rience in  various  drug  stores  of  this  city.  He 
was  with  C.  B.  Wilson,  at  the  corner  of  Madison 
and  Robey  Streets  five  years;  with  R.  M.  Barber, 
at  the  corner  of  Laflin  and  Van  Buren  Streets, 
over  four  years,  and  conducted  a  branch  store  for 
the  latter  two  years.  Wherever  he  was  engaged 
he  made  himself  valuable  to  his  employers  and 
became  popular' with  patrons,  besides  gaining  a 
valuable  experience  in  the  dispensation  of  drugs. 


26 


G.  N.  TOFT. 


About  fifteen  months  he  was  in  charge  of  sub- 
station No.  27  of  the  Chicago  postoffice,  at  the 
corner  of  Garfield  Boulevard  and  Wright  Streets, 
where  he  owned  and  conducted  a  drug  store  dur- 
ing that  period. 

In  April,  1895,  he  opened  a  pharmacy  at  the 
corner  of  Oak  Park  and  Windsor  Avenues  in  the 
new  suburban  village  of  Berwyn.  Since  that 
time  his  interests  have  been  united  with  those  of 
his  home  village,  and  he  has  been  active  in  every 
movement  for  its  improvement.  His  excellent 
business  methods  and  genial  personal  qualities 
have  made  him  one  of  the  most  popular  citizens 
of  Berwyn,  and  as  he  has  been  a  life-long  Repub- 
lican, it  was  very  natural  that  on  the  expiration 
of  the  term  of  the  Democratic  postmaster,  his 
name  should  be  mentioned  favorably  for  that 
office.  After  a  spirited  contest  between  the 
members  of  the  two  parties,  Mr.  Morrison. was 
appointed  through  the  influence  of  Congressman 
Lorimer,  and  took  charge  April  i,  1898.  He 
has  since  conducted  the  office  in  a  business-like 
and  considerate  manner,  which  has  been  satis- 
factory to  all  parties. 

On  September  14,  1892,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  married  to  Miss  Caroline  Esther 
Dodd,  daughter  of  Francis  Dodd  and  Boadicea 


M.  Hurssell.  Francis  Dodd  was  born  in  London, 
England,  February  4,  1835,  and  died  in  Toronto, 
Canada,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1894.  He  was 
a  manufacturer  of  shirts  and  the  pioneer  gen- 
tlemen's furnisher  of  the  west  side  of  Chicago, 
his  store  being  located  in  Madison  Street,  near 
the  corner  of  Morgan  Street.  Boadicea  M.  Dodd 
was  born  in  York,  Canada.  She  is  still  living, 
in  Greenwood  Avenue,  Chicago.  Five  children 
were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dodd,  as  follows: 
Caroline  E.,  Mrs.  Morrison;  Ethel  is  the  wife  of 
Dr.  William  J.  Brownlee,  of  Ottawa,  Canada; 
Genevieve;  Francis,  who  died  in  October,  1895, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  Lewis  Hurs- 
sell. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morrison  have  two  children, 
Genevieve  Lyman,  born  September  8,  1893,  and 
Elizabeth  Ethel,  June  13,  1897.  The  family  is 
connected  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  Berwyn. 

Mr.  Morrison  has  taken  part  in  many  of  the 
social  and  fraternal  organizations  of  his  commun- 
ity. He  is  a  member  of  Berwyn  Lodge,  Ancient 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  Berwyn  Council  of 
the  Royal  League,  Garden  City  Council  of  the 
Royal  Arcanum,  the  Berwyn  Republican  Club, 
the  Berwyn  Improvement  Club,  and  the  Church 
Club  of  Berwyn,  of  which  he  is  treasurer. 


GEORGE  N.  TOFT. 


N.  TOFT.     Mr.  Toft  has  been  a 

b  resident  of  Chicago  for  over  thirty  years. 
Coming  here  in  1868,  he  witnessed  the  all- 
devouring  conflagration  of  1871,  and  has  since 
seen  the  upbuilding  of  the  great  metropolis  from 
its  ruins.  Better  than  this,  he  has  seen  his  own 
fortune  rise  from  the  slender  resources  with 
which  he  reached  the  city  to  the  comfortable 
competence  which  he  enjoys  to-day;  a  competence 
which  he  has  achieved  through  his  own  unaided 


effort.  The  story  of  his  life  is  not  only  interest- 
ing in  itself,  but  at  the  same  time  instructive, 
as  punctuating  and  emphasizing  the  possibilities 
which  the  Great  West  holds  out  to  every  intelli- 
gent, earnest  worker. 

He  was  born  in  Schleswig-Holstein,  August  9, 
1848,  and  was  the  fifth  of  the  six  children  born 
to  Andrew  and  Mattie  C.  (Andersen)  Toft,  of 
the  same  duchy.  His  father,  who  was  a  farmer, 
died  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years;  his  mother 


J.  H.  HOLDT. 


27 


entered  into  rest  after  passing  her  seventy-second 
milestone.  Three  of  their  offspring  reside  in 
America. 

George  N.  Toft  received  the  usual  school 
training  given  to  the  boys  of  his  native  village, 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  began  active 
life  as  clerk  for  a  grocer.  For  three  years  he 
devoted  his  time  and  energy  to  familiarizing  him- 
self with  the  business.  Then — as  has  been  said — 
he  bade  adieu  to  his  native  land,  to  seek  fortune 
in  the  great  republic  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

For  a  short  time  after  reaching  this  city  he 
worked  for  a  firm  at  the  corner  of  North  Wells  and 
Kinzie  Streets,  and  then  resolved  to  acquire  the 
trade  of  a  mason.  Such  was  his  industry  and  so 
resolute  his  application  that  within  two  years  he 
was  able  to  command  journeyman's  wages. 
Later  he  was  able  to  take  contracts  in  his  own 
name,  and  through  industry  and  thrift  he  began 


to  accumulate  capital.  His  tastes,  however,  in- 
clined him  toward  mercantile  pursuits,  and  he 
chose  the  business  of  a  grocer.  For  seven  years 
he  conducted  a  store  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  but 
returned  to  Chicago  in  1892.  In  that  year  he 
erected  the  three-story  brick  building,  which  he 
yet  occupies,  at  No.  5649  Cottage  Grove  Avenue, 
where  he  still  carries  on  a  prosperous  business. 
He  had  previously  invested  in  real  property 
in  Des  Moines,  having  built  a  store  and  three 
dwellings,  which  he  still  owns. 

He  was  married,  at  Chicago,  July  24,  1875,  to 
Katharine  Hansen,  a  lady  born  in  Denmark. 
They  have  one  son — James  A.  Toft — who  is  in 
business  with  his  father. 

Mr.  Toft  has  been  a  member  of  the  society 
"  Walhalla "  for  twelve  years,  and  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood  and  of  the 
Independent  Order  Odd  Fellows. 


JACOB  H.  HOLDT. 


(JACOB  H.  HOLDT  was  born  in  North 
I  Schleswig,  Denmark,  on  March  i,  1873. 
Q)  He  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  seven 
children,  trained  in  the  public  schools,  and  re- 
ceived those  early  impressions,  which  go  so  far 
toward  moulding  character,  among  the  rugged 
landscapes  and  amid  the  sturdy,  stalwart,  honest 
peasantry  of  the  peninsula  which  gave  him  birth. 
In  1890,  when  but  a  boy  of  seventeen,  he  set  out, 
with  firm  resolve  and  a  courage  beyond  his  years, 
to  shift  for  himself  in  a  field  which,  though  yet 
to  be  explored  by  himself,  had  yielded  an  ample 
harvest  to  many  of  his  countrymen  who  had  pre- 
ceded him. 

His  brother-in-law,  Anders  Skau,  was  already 
in  Chicago  conducting  a  livery  business,  and  it 
was  to  this  city  that  he  came  immediately  after 


landing.  For  the  first  seven  months  after  his 
arrival  here  he  worked  for  him,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time  became  private  coachman  for  a 
lumber  merchant,  in  whose  service  he  continued, 
with  occasional  intermittent  interruptions,  for 
two  and  one-half  years. 

A  subservient  position,  however,  was  not  con- 
genial to  him,  and  he  resolved  to  invest  his  sav- 
ings in  the  establishment  of  a  milk  depot  and 
delivery  route.  The  location  which  he  selected 
was  at  No.  2914  Vernon  Avenue.  From  there 
he  removed  to  No.  4217  St.  Lawrence  Avenue, 
and  thence  to  his  present  situation  at  No.  3816 
Alden  Court.  To  the  conduct  of  his  business 
he  brought  pertinacity  and  pluck,  qualities 
which,  when  joined  to  sterling  honesty,  ensure 
success. 


28 


ALBERT  FOELSCH. 


Not  until  1897  did  he  take  to  himself  a  wife. 
In  that  year  he  married  Miss  Johanna  Nielsen,  a 
young  lady  of  Danish  birth.  She  died  Septem- 
ber 8,  1898,  leaving  a  baby  daughter  of  six 
months  to  his  care. 

Mr.  Holdt  has  been  a  member  of  the  Walhalla 
Society  since  1890,  the  year  of  his  arrival  in  Chi- 


cago. He  is  modest,  unassuming,  and  in  no 
sense  a  self-seeker,  yet  his  native  worth,  which 
cannot  be  concealed,  has  made  him  many  friends, 
while  those  who  know  him  best  hold  him  in  the 
highest  esteem.  He  has  been  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortunes,  and  his  success  is  attributable 
to  his  own  undaunted  efforts. 


ALBERT  FOELSCH. 


GILBERT  FOELSCH.  Of  .only  two  crucial 
LJ  facts  is  any  son  of  Adam  sure — that  he  has 
/  I  been  born,  and  that  he  must  die.  He 
may  or  may  not  rejoice  as  he  thinks  of  the 
former;  he  may,  perhaps,  shudder  if  he  ever  takes 
time  to  direct  his  thoughts  toward  the  latter. 
Yet  the  wings  of  the  Angel  of  Death  are  never 
folded.  He  kisses  alike  the  golden  curls  of  the 
sleeping  child  and  the  wrinkled  brow  of  old  age. 
But  to  the  mourning  friends  about  the  couch 
where  rests  all  that  was  once  precious  comes  the 
earnest  promise  of  the  future,  "I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life." 

Yet  the  silent  dead  mutely  demand  the  last 
offices  of  love,  and  to  the  appropriate  rendering 
of  these  the  task  of  the  undertaker — sad  and  sol- 
emn— is  an  indispensable  adjunct  in  modern  civ- 
ilization. It  is  to  this  profession  (for  it  is  vir- 
tually a  profession)  that  Albert  Foelsch  had  de- 
voted himself. 

He  was  born  in  Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  April 
24,  1848,  the  son  of  Carl  Foelsch,  who  emigrated 
from  Germany  and  settled  in  Chicago  in  1854. 
At  that  time  the  coming  metropolis  o'f  the  West 
gave  little  hint  of  its  potentialities.  It  was 
marshy,  dirty  and  altogether  unpleasant.  Such 
as  it  was,  however,  the  sturdy  German  resolved 
to  make  the  best  of  it.  For  two  and  one-half 
years  he  found  employment  in  a  brick  yard  at 
the  northwest  corner  of  Jackson  and  Clinton 


Streets.  From  Chicago  the  elder  Foelsch  removed 
to  Palos,  Cook  County,  whence  he  went  to  Le- 
mont  (then  called  Athens),  where  he  worked 
seven  years.  He  was  overtaken  by  two  great 
misiortunes:  his  wife  died,  and  he  became  totally 
blind,  in  which  pitiable  condition  he  remained 
about  thirty  years,  when  death  came  to  his  relief. 
He  was  the  father  of  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, Albert  being  the  second  child  in  order  of 
birth,  but  the  oldest  son.  A  brief  notice  of  the 
other  children  will  be  found  of  interest. 

Hannah  died  and  was  buried  at  sea  while  the 
family  was  en  route  to  New  York,  and  only  three 
days  before  landing  Christina  married  Joseph 
Windhausen,  but  is  now  a  widow.  Charles  died 
at  Chicago  when  only  one  year  old.  Philipina 
was  taken  from  earth's  troubles  at  the  age  of 
four  weeks.  William  died  before  he  had  seen 
his  eighth  birthday. 

Albert  was  in  his  fifth  year  when  his  parents 
brought  him  across  the  ocean.  He  attended 
school  at  Palos  and  Lemont,  but  after  his  moth- 
er's death  (1872)  came  to  Chicago  to  look  for 
work.  He  was  not  a  stranger.  Before  going  to 
Lemont  he  had  worked  for  several  parties  here, 
and  had  already  established  a  reputation  for  in- 
dustry, sobriety  and  honesty.  On  his  return  to 
the  city  he  found  a  place  with  Fairbank,  Peck  & 
Company,  at  the  corner  of  Eighteenth  and  Black- 
well  Streets.  Finally  he  found  congenial  employ- 


AUGUST  WILKEN. 


29 


ment  with  Mr.  Schneider,  at  No.  2125  Archer 
Avenue,  who  was  engaged  in  directing  funerals, 
and  Mr.  Foelsch  remained  with  him  three  3Tears. 

Meanwhile,  June  15,  1875,  he  had  married 
Miss  Bertha  Feldman,  who  was  born  on  Long 
Island  in  the  state  of  New  York.  Their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  nine  children,  of  whom  six, 
four  sons  and  two  daughters,  are  yet  living: 
Albert  J.  is  a  well  known  physician;  Charles  C. 
is  a  bookkeeper  and  cashier,  holding  a  position 
of  high  responsibility  and  trust;  Arthur  is  attend- 
ing school;  Robert,  Bertha  and  Maria  are  at 
home  with  their  parents. 

For  seven  years  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Foelsch 
worked  as  a  car  driver  on  the  West  Madison 
Street  line,  under  the  superintendency  of  James 
K.  Lake,  after  which  he  returned  to  the  employ 
of  Mr.  Schneider,  who  had  removed  to  No.  3825 
State  Street.  He  remained  with  him  three  years 
and  nine  mouths,  when  he  started  in  business  for 


himself.  For  three  years  he  had  a  partner,  but 
for  the  eight  years  continued  alone.  He  estab- 
lished himself  at  his  present  location,  No.  261 
Thirty-fifth  Street,  May  4,  1886.  That  same  year 
he  suffered  the  loss  of  all  that  he  had,  including 
a  considerable  sum  of  money,  through  a  fire.  He 
carried  no  insurance,  but  he  contrived  to  repair 
his  fortunes  and  start  in  business  anew.  Since 
then  he  has  greatly  prospered.  In  1900  he  ad- 
mitted'a  partner,  and  the  business  is  now  con- 
ducted by  Foelsch  &  Morton. 

He  is  a  member  of  Apollo  Lodge,  No.  642, 
Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons;  of  the 
American  Order  of  United  Workmen ;  a  deputy 
in  the  Independent  Order  of  Canadian  Foresters; 
and  belongs  to  Apollo  Tent,  No.  63,  Knights  of 
the  Maccabees.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  Lafayette 
College  of  Embalmers,  and  holds  a  certificate 
from  the  Chicago  Undertakers'  Association,  at- 
tested by  the  Chicago  Board  of  Health. 


AUGUST  WILKEN. 


Gl  UGUST  WILKEN.  Mr.  Wilken  has  been 
I  I  a  resident  of  Chicago  for  nearly  forty-five 
/  I  years,  having  taken  up  his  residence  here  in 
1855,  when  it  required  strong  faith  to  believe  in 
the  city's  future.  At  that  time  he  was  a  mere 
boy  of  but  fifteen  years,  baffling  against  the  world 
and  hewing  out,  with  patient  industry  and  untir- 
ing effort,  the  first  steps  on  his  road  to  success. 

He  was  born  August  12,  1840,  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  which  principality  was  then  tributary 
to  Denmark.  For  this  reason  he  calls  himself 
(and  with  natural  and  legitimate  pride)  a  Dane; 
and  among  the  Danish-American  colony  of 
Chicago  he  is  highly  esteemed.  It  is  a  trite 
saying  that  "nothing  succeeds  like  success,"  yet 
it  is  no  less  true  than  trite. 

His  parents,  Jurgeu    and   Henrietta    (Halter- 


mann)  Welken,  were  also  natives  of  the  same 
principality.  The  life  of  the  elder  Welken  had 
more  than  the  ordinary  tinge  of  romance.  As  a 
sailor  before  the  mast  he  spent  his  youth.  On 
one  of  his  voyages  he  touched  at  New  Orleans. 
Finding  a  promising  opening  at  that  port  he 
turned  landsman  and  engaged  in  business.  His 
venture  proved  prosperous,  and  from  New  Orleans 
he  went  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  he 
was  also  successful.  Gradually  he  accumulated 
a  competence,  yet  he  never  lost  his  inborn  love 
for  the  "Fatherland,"  and  after  a  while  once 
more  returned.  The  outbreak  of  the  war  of  1848 
turned  the  current  of  his  thoughts,  and  he  re- 
turned to  America,  bringing  his  family  with  him. 
He  was  a  man  of  considerable  financial  means, 
and  his  first  venture  after  reaching  Chicago  was 


H.  G.   MARTENS. 


the  purchase  of  a  farm  in  Elk  Grove  Township 
upon  the  advice  of  Mr.  Trussing.  After  five 
years  of  successful  farming  he  tired  of  the  life, 
and  came  back  to  Chicago,  where  he  died,  in 
1873.  His  wife  followed  him  to  the  grave  four 
years  later. 

Of  their  seven  children,  August  was  the  second 
in  order  of  birth.  Two  died  in  infancy,  but  five 
are  yet  living:  Doris  (widow  of  Andrew  Gill), 
August,  Emil,  Theodore  and  Ernst. 

The  early  school  advantages  of  Mr.  Wilken 
were  not  of  the  best,  although  he  improved  them 
fairly  well.  A  few  years  in  the  public  schools  of 
Denmark  comprised  the  course  which  the  judg- 
ment of  his  parents  permitted  him  to  take, 
although  the  curriculum  covered  English  as  well 
as  German.  He  began  the  battle  of  life  early, 
and  for  many  years  he  earnestly  combated  adverse 
circumstances.  The  first  seven  years  which  he 
passed  in  active  business  were  spent  in  the  con- 
duct of  a  grocery  at  Bridgeport.  From  that 
locality  he  moved  to  West  Chicago  Avenue, 
where  he  also  succeeded,  his  industry,  honesty 


and  '  'grit' '  always  aiding  him  in  forging  to  the 
front.  After  some  twenty-three  years  spent  in 
the  grocery  trade  he  opened  a  wine  store,  at  No. 
49  L/a.  Salle  Street,  which  has  proved  successful 
for  the  reason  that  he  has  brought  to  its  manage- 
ment the  same  sterling  qualities  which  have 
made  him  the  earnest,  successful  man  that  he  is 
to-day. 

While  affiliating  with  the  Republican  party  in 
national  issues,  he  is  in  no  sense  a  bigoted  parti- 
san. In  local  elections  he  votes  without  regard 
to  party  dictation.  His  nature  is  generous  and 
his  temperament  genial;  his  heart  always  sympa- 
thizing with  the  poor,  and  his  purse  strings  never 
tightly  tied  against  a  true  friend.  His  voice  is 
rich  and  sympathetic  in  tone,  and  he  is  in  request 
for  both  chorus  and  solo  singing  in  the  several 
singing  societies  of  which  he  is  a  valued  member. 

On  December  6,  1888,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Minnie  Tegge,  a  maiden  of  German  birth.  Four 
children  have  been  born  to  them.  Edward, 
Amanda,  Dora  and  Alma.  In  religious  faith  the 
family  is  I,utheran. 


HENRY  G.  MARTENS. 


HENRY  GEORGE  MARTENS,  a  prominent 
resident  and  tradesman  of  Franklin  Park, 
was  born  at  Chicago,  August  20,  1868,  his 
birthplace  being  the   premises   at    Nos.    591-93 
Wells  Street.     For  a  somewhat  extended  account 
of  his  ancestry,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  bi- 
ography of  his  father,  also  named  Henry  Martens. 
As  a  boy   he    attended    the   Chicago   public 
schools,  and  supplemented  the  education  obtained 
there  by  a  twelve  months'  commercial  course  in 
the  Metropolitan  Business  College.     He  entered 
his  father's  store,   and  remained  with  him  until 
the   elder    Martens  removed  to  Franklin   Park. 
Thereafter  he  continued  to  conduct  it  on  his  own 
account  for  three  years,  when  he  sold  out  and 


went  to  live  with  an  uncle,  Valentine  Ruh, 
where,  for  three  years,  he  devoted  himself 
chiefly  to  acquiring  a  knowledge  of,  and  profi- 
ciency in,  the  plumber's  trade.  A  severe  attack 
of  pleurisy  forced  him  to  abandon  this  line  of 
work,  and  he  gradually  picked  up  a  familiarity 
with  house  painting  and  decorating,  calcimining 
and  paper-hanging,  and  he  has  followed  these 
branches  of  business  ever  since. 

October  23,  1897,  he  was  married  to  MissEffa  B. 
Sibert,  a  daughter  of  James  and  Delilah  (Snyder) 
Sibert,  who  was  born  at  Shannon,  111. ,  August  26, 
1869.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martens  have  one  child, 
Sibert  William,  born  October  7,  1898.  In  politics 
Mr.  Martens  affiliates  with  the  Republican  party. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLIN' 


JACOB  LENGACHER. 


(From  Photo  by  W.  J.  ROOT). 


CAPT.  JACOB  LENGACHER. 


CAPT.  JACOB  LENGACHER. 


EAPT.  JACOB  LENGACHER,  who  has  been 
engaged     in     fire     insurance     in    Chicago 
ever  since  the  year   1865,    is  an   honored 
pioneer  of  this  city,  well  known  for  his  shrewd 
intellectual     endowments,    integrity     of    moral 
character,    suavity    of  manner  and   painstaking 
care  in  the  conduct  of  his  business.     A  common- 
wealth made   up  of  such  men  as  he  would  be  a 
"State"  indeed. 

Captain  Lengacher  is  a  native  of  that  ambitious 
and  prosperous  little  republic,  Switzerland,  born 
in  Diemtiten,  canton  of  Bern,  June  26,  1833. 
His  parents,  David  and  Magdalena  (Knute) 
Lengacher,  were  also  natives  of  that  canton,  and 
members  of  very  old  and  honored  Swiss  families. 
The  captain's  mother  passed  to  the  invisible 
world  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  forty- 
seven  years;  but  his  father  reached  the  venerable 
age  of  eighty-five  years.  They  had  eight  chil- 
dren, namely:  David,  who  was  clerk  of  the  circuit 
court  in  his  native  place  for  many  years  and  is 
now  deceased;  Johann,  also  deceased;  Jacob,  of 
this  sketch,  who  is  next  in  order  of  age;  Samuel, 
who  still  resides  in  Switzerland;  Christian; 
Gottfred;  Magdalena,  who  is  now  Mrs.  Karlen; 
and  Rudolph,  who  is  a  prominent  citizen  in  his 
native  canton,  being  now  sheriff  of  his  district. 

Capt.  Jacob  Lengacher,  the  only  member  of 
his  father's  family  who  emigrated  from  his  native 
land,  received  a  common-school  education  and 
after  tha  close  of  his  school  days  was  occupied  as 
a  coachman,  for  a  time  driving  the  mail  coach 
between  Bern  and  Kirchberg.  Conforming  to 
the  laws  and  usages  of  his  country,  he  served  his 
time  in  the  national  militia. 


Influenced  by  a  friend  who  was  coming  to  the 
United  States,  he  decided  to  cast  his  lot  in  the 
New  World,  the  land  of  opportunity,  and  accord- 
ingly, in  April,  1857,  launched  from  Havre  on  a 
sailing  ship,  and  after  a  voyage  of  forty-two  days 
was  landed  at  New  York.  In  June  he  arrived  in 
Chicago,  and  here  was  employed  as  a  day  laborer 
for  about  two  years;  next  he  was  engaged  in  a 
brewery  at  La  Porte,  Indiana,  until  August  24, 
1861,  when  he  demonstrated  his  patriotism  and 
love  for  his  newly  adopted  countr}'  by  enlisting 
for  the  term  of  the  war  in  support  of  the  regular 
government. 

Joining  Company  I  of  the  Thirty-second 
Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  a  German  regiment 
commanded  by  Colonel  Willich,  he  was  in  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland  and  participated  in  all 
the  engagements  in  which  that  regiment  took 
part.  May  26,  1864,  in  the  battle  of  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  he  was  very  painfully  injured  in  one 
of  his  lower  limbs  just  below  the  knee,  which 
wound  laid  him  up  in  the  hospital  for  two  months. 
Recovering,  he  rejoined  his  company,  at  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  served  until  January  28,  1865,  when, 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  resigned,  at  Chatta- 
nooga. He  was  so  brave  and  faithful  that  he  was 
promoted  from  the  ranks  as  a  private  through  the 
various  positions  in  line  to  that  of  captain. 

After  leaving  the  army  he  returned  to  La  Porte, 
Indiana,  where  he  was  married.  Coming  again 
to  Chicago,  he  was  employed  for  a  time  by 
George  Schneider,  who  was  then  collector  of 
customs.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  (1865)  he 
engaged  in  fire  insurance,  in  the  employ  of  the 
Garden  City  Fire  Insurance  Company,  which  in- 


JOHN  TELLING. 


stitution  was  wiped  out  in  the  great  conflagration 
of  1871.  His  own  residence  also,  at  No.  366 
Sedgwick  Street,  was  entirely  consumed  in  the 
same  fire.  The  following  year  he  erected  another 
building,  this  being  the  first  cottage  built  after 
the  fire,  and  he  resided  at  that  number  for  eight- 
een years,  when  he  sold  the  property  and  located 
at  his  present  home,  No.  277  Fremont  Street. 
He  has  continued  in  the  fire  insurance  business 
until  the  present  time,  representing  a  number  of 
the  best  American  and  English  companies  and 
enjoying  that  success  which  follows  industry  and 
good  judgment. 

On  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  the 
captain  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Republican 
party  and  in  1860  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
president  of  the  United  States,  and  ever  since 
then,  in  state  and  national  elections,  he  has 
uniformly  supported  that  party.  In  1871  he  was 
elected  alderman  of  the  Sixteenth  Ward,  which 
section  of  the  city  is  now  embraced  within  the 
Twenty-second  Ward,  and  he  was  re-elected  in 
1873  and  again  in  1875.  During  all  the  six  years 
of  his  service  in  the  city  legislature  he  served  his 
constituents  satisfactorily.  He  has  been  a 
delegate  to  many  district  and  state  Republican 
conventions,  also  attended  others,  and  has  always 
been  influential  in  the  interests  of  his  party. 


In  1866  Captain  Lengacher  became  a  member 
of  Robert  Blum  Lodge  No.  58,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  was  one  of  the 
charter  members  of  Lincoln  Park  Lodge  No. 
437,  on  its  organization  in  1873,  and  passed 
through  the  various  chairs,  and  was  its  repre- 
sentative at  the  Grand  Lodge  for  many  years. 
Fraternally  he  has  been  a  member  of  Mithra 
Lodge  No.  410,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  ever 
since  1867,  and  is  a  member  of  U.  S.  Grant  Post 
No.  28,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  of  the 
Sharpshooters'  Association.  In  1890  he  visited 
the  land  of  his  nativity,  spending  four  months 
among  the  scenes  of  his  childhood  and  among 
friends  and  relatives  there. 

March  5,  1865,  is  the  date  of  the  captain's 
marriage  to  Miss  Margaret  Haffer,  a  native  of 
Indiana  and  of  German  parentage,  her  parents 
being  Kasper  and  Margaret  (Kesselmann)  Haffer. 
Captain  and  Mrs.  Lengacher  have  three  sons, 
viz.:  William,  Robert  and  Oscar  F.  The  last- 
named  is  associated  with  his  father  in  business, 
the  firm  being  Lengacher  &  Son.  All  the 
members  of  the  family  are  highly  respected  by 
everyone  who  is  acquainted  with  them.  Sociall}' 
the  captain  is  an  exceedingly  pleasant  man,  with 
whom  it  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  hold  con- 
versation. 


JOHN  TELLING. 


(JOHN  TELLING,  one  of  the  successful  mer- 

I    chants  of  Chicago,  was  born  January  6,  1844, 

O  in    Kidderminster,    England.     His    father, 

Henry  Telling,  was  a  carpenter,  who  resided  all 

his  life  at  Kidderminster.    Elizabeth  Aliban,  wife 

of  the  last-named,  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early 

age  and  was  reared  by  and  made  her  home  with 

her  brother,  John  Aliban. 

John  Telling  was  placed  in  the  care  of  private 


tutors  until  he  was  twelve  years  old,  when  he 
went  into  the  office  of  Brinton  &  Son,  large  car- 
pet manufacturers  of  Kidderminster.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  years  he  came  with  his  parents  to 
America  and  located  at  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 
Here  he  was  assistant  bookkeeper  at  the  foundry 
office  of  Turton  &  Sercombe  two  years.  At  six- 
teen years  of  age  he  entered  the  employ  of  At- 
kins, Steele  &  White,  wholesale  shoe  dealers  of 


JOHN  TELLING. 


33 


the  same  city,  and  here  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
long  and  remarkably  successful  business  career. 
After  three  years  in  this  house  he  engaged  as 
traveling  salesman  with  Page  &  Crosby,  dealers 
in  the  same  goods. 

He  was  at  once  successful,  and  moved  with 
that  firm  to  Chicago  in  1868.  Here  the  house 
began  business  under  the  title  of  Page,  Lyman  & 
Company,  and  went  out  of  business  about  1870. 
Mr.  Telling  then  engaged  with  Greensfelder, 
Rosenthal  &  Company,  with  whom  he  continued 
seventeen  years,  being  a  partner  in  the  business 
during  the  last  three  years  of  that  period. 

His  next  connection  was  with  Guthman,  Car- 
penter &  Telling,  in  which  he  continued  as 
junior  partner  until  the  time  of  his  death — which 
occurred  November  16,  1895 — a  period  of  ten 
years.  At  the  time  of  his  demise  he  was  the 
oldest  commercial  traveler  on  the  road,  and  was 
still  able  to  excel  all  his  competitors  in  sales  in 
his  line  of  goods,  facts  of  which  he  was  justly 
proud. 

Mr.  Telling  was  very  popular  with  his  asso- 
ciates, was  a  most  genial  and  companionable 
man,  as  well  as  a  faithful  and  affectionate  hus- 
band and  tender  parent.  He  joined  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  becoming  a  member  of  Excel- 
sior Lodge  of  Milwaukee.  At  twenty-three  he 
was  made  a  Mason  by  St.  John's  Lodge  of  the 
same  city,  and  subsequently  affiliated  with  Me- 
dinah  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  of  Chicago. 
He  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Traveling  Men's 
Insurance  Association,  organized  in  1871,  and  a 
member  of  the  North  Shore  Club,  of  Lake  View. 
From  earliest  childhood  he  was  reared  in  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  continued  to  be  a  most 
devout  member  of  that  body  until  a  few  months 
before  his  death.  He  then  became  interested  in 
Christian  Science,  and  associated  himself  with 
the  propagation  of  that  faith,  giving  up  his 
church  ties  entirely.  He  was  always  an  en- 
thusiastic Republican  and  an  active  political 
worker,  especially  during  the  presidential  cam- 
paign of  1876. 

July  31,  1866,  Mr.  Telling  was  married  in  All 
Saints'  Church,  at  Milwaukee,  to  Miss  Annie 


Just,  eldest  daughter  of  Capt.  William  A.  Just 
and  Ellen  Bromley.  Captain  Just  was  a  son  of 
William  and  Anna  Just,  of  Mellin,  Prussia, 
where  they  lived  and  died.  Their  son  was  but 
ten  years  old  when  the  father  passed  away.  His 
wife  survived  him  but  two  years,  and  thus  the 
youthful  William  was  early  left  to  his  own  re- 
sources. Ellen  Bromley  was  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Eleanor  (Berry)  Bromley,  of  Liver- 
pool, England,  the  former  a  steward  in  a  gentle- 
man's family  in  Liverpool. 

Capt.  William  A.  Just  followed  the  sea  until 

1845,  making  his  home  at  Liverpool  in  the  mean- 
time, and  was  married  there  in  January,  1843,  to 
Miss  Bromley,  in  St.  Peter's  Church  of  that  city. 
He  came  to  America  in  1845  and  settled  in  Mil- 
waukee, and  immediately  became  a  navigator  on 
the  Great  Lakes,  where  he  commanded  vessels 
until  the  time  of  his  death,  being  then  owner  of 
the    schooner  "Wayne."     He   died   of  cholera 
October  10,  1854,  leaving  a  widow  and  five  chil- 
dren.    He  was  a  remarkable  man,  and  was  wide- 
ly mourned  in  Milwaukee,  where  his  family  oc- 
cupied a  prominent  social  position. 

Mrs.  Telling  was  born  in  Milwaukee  June  u, 

1846.  She  attended  the  Convent  of  Notre  Dame, 
of  that  city,  and  finished  her  education  at  the 
private  school  of  Professor  Roache,  from  which  she 
graduated  at  the  remarkably  early  age  of  four- 
teen years.     She  is  a  woman  of  rare  intelligence 
and  discrimination,  and  was  the  appreciated  com- 
panion of  her  husband  through  the  happy  years 
of  their  wedded  life.    Five  of  their  seven  children 
are  now  living.     Eleanor  Aliban,  the  eldest,   is 
the  wife  of  Mark  L.  Simpson,   a  son  of  E.   B. 
Simpson,   of  Milwaukee,   their  wedding  having 
occurred  January  16,  1889.     Daisy  Everton,  the 
second,  died  September  30,  1895.     She  was  the 
idol  of  her  family,  and  her  demise,  in  the  flower 
of  her  youth,   followed  in  a  few  weeks  by  the 
death  of  her  father,    was   a   severe  and   trying 
shock  to  the  devoted  wife  and  mother  and  the 
other  members  of  the  family.    Marion  Emily,  the 
sixth  child,   died  in  infancy.     The  others  are: 
John  Edward,   Henry   Irving,   Grace  Elsie  and 
Bessie  Irma. 

The  funeral  of  Mr.  Telling  was  held  at  St. 


34 


PHILIP  APFEL. 


James'  Church,  in  Milwaukee,  and  he  was  buried 
in  Forest  Home  Cemetery  of  that  city,  with  Ma- 
sonic honors.  He  was  a  thoroughly  self-made 
man,  and  the  example  of  his  perseverance,  in- 


dustry and  integrity  is  commended  to  the  youth 
of  the  land  as  worthy  of  their  emulation  and 
certain  to  bring  prosperity,  friends  and  a  peaceful 
life. 


PHILIP  APFEL, 


f^ HI tlP  APFEL  is  an  honored  pioneer  of 
LX  Chicago  who  has  resided  in  the  city  for  more 
[9  than  half  a  century.  He  has  witnessed  its 
changes  and  marvelous  growth  from  a  population 
of  about  twelve  thousand  to  the  second  city  in 
size  and  importance  on  the  continent.  He  was 
born  in  Sulz,  Alsace,  then  a  part  of  France,  Au- 
gust 19,  1830.  His  parents  were  Henry  and  Eva 
(Streng)  Apfel,  both  natives  of  Alsace.  The 
father  belonged  to  an  old  French  family  and  was 
a  nailsmith  by  trade.  In  1842  he  immigrated  to 
the  United  States,  leaving  his  family  in  the  old 
world  until  he  could  see  the  country  before  decid- 
ing to  bring  them  and  locate  permanently  in 
America.  After  arriving  at  New  York  he  soon 
found  employment  at  his  trade  and  was  so  well 
pleased  with  the  outlook  that  the  following  year 
he  sent  for  his  family. 

In  the  summer  of  1843  Mrs.  Apfel  and  her  two 
sons  sailed  from  Havre  in  the  good  ship  "Arago" 
and  after  a  voyage  lasting  twenty-eight  days 
joined  the  head  of  the  family  in  New  York.  They 
remained  in  that  city  and  Syracuse  about  a  year, 
and  then  removed  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  they 
spent  another  year,  all  of  which  time  Mr.  Apfel 
worked  at  his  trade.  In  1845  they  came  to  Chi- 
cago and  located  permanently.  Here  Mr.  Apfel 
engaged  in  the  retail  grocer}'  business,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  accumulating  a  valuable  property. 

To  the  union  of  Henry  Apfel  and  Eva  Streng 
were  born  four  children.  The  eldest  died  in  the 
old  country  at  the  age  of  eight  years;  Philip,  of 
this  sketch;  Henry,  of  Shellrock,  Iowa;  and 


George,  who  was  born  in  Chicago  and  still  resides 
here.  Mrs.  Apfel  died  April  26,  1854.  In  1856 
Mr.  Apfel  married  Miss  Anna  Hoffmann,  by  whom 
he  had  two  children,  but  both  are  deceased.  Mr. 
Apfel  died  in  1878,  aged  seventy-five  years.  His 
widow  is  still  living  and  resides  at  No.  74  Ham- 
mond Street,  Chicago. 

Philip  Apfel,  whose  name  heads  this  article, 
received  a  good  common-school  education  in  his 
native  town,  and  after  coming  to  Chicago  attended 
a.  night  school  one  winter,  but  the  most  impor- 
tant and  practical  part  of  his  education  was  ac- 
quired in  the  hard  school  of  experience.  He  is  a 
self-made  man  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word  and 
has  been  self-supporting  since  he  came  to  the 
United  States,  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years. 

While  the  family  lived  in  Syracuse,  New  York, 
he  worked  at  packing  salt,  and  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  at  heading  barrels  in  a  flouring  mill.  He 
began  his  business  career  in  the  year  of  his  arri- 
val in  Chicago  as  a  peddler,  and  after  accumula- 
ting a  little  money  in  that  way,  started  a  fruit 
stand  at  the  corner  of  South  Water  and  Clark 
Streets.  After  successfully  continuing  that  busi- 
ness a  couple  of  years  he  opened  a  fruit  and 
notion  store  at  No.  21  North  Clark  Street,  where 
he  carried  on  a  profitable  trade  five  years.  Sub- 
sequently he  engaged  in  the  commission  business 
at  No.  175  East  Kinzie  Street  for  two  years. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  but 
after  three  years  sold  his  membership. 

In  1868  Mr.  Apfel  started  a  boot  and  shoe 
store  at  the  corner  of  Division  and  Clark  Streets, 


WILLIAM  NIEMEYER. 


35 


where  he  bought  a  lot  and  erected  a  frame  build- 
ing, which  answered  the  double  purpose  of  store 
and  dwelling  house.  He  was  located  there  until 
the  fire  of  1871  destroyed  his  property,  losing 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  He  rebuilt  immediately 
after  the  fire,  and  six  weeks  afterward  resumed 
business  and  continued  at  the  same  location  until 
1888,  when  he  sold  his  stock  and  has  since  lived 
retired,  taking  care  of  his  property  interests.  In 
his  many  and  varied  business  ventures  he  has 
met  with  success.  He  has  always  taken  a  con- 
mendable  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  city  and 
nation  and  for  two  years  previous  to  the  great 
fire  faithfully  and  acceptably  filled  the  office  of 
supervisor  of  the  North  Town.  When  the  Re- 
publican party  was  organized  he  joined  its  ranks, 


and  for  many  years  supported  its  principles  and 
candidates,  but  of  late  years  acts  independent  of 
party,  giving  his  support  to  the  man  he  regards 
as  best  qualified  to  fill  the  office.  August  19, 
1852,  he  married  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Frederick  and  Barbara  (Hess)  Mahler,  natives 
of  Badeu,  Germany,  where  Mrs.  Apfel  was  born. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Apfel  have  three  sons  and  two 
daughters,  namely:  William  G.,  Arthur  H.; 
Emma  E., wife  of  Herman  Devermann;  Clara  Eliz- 
abeth, now  Mrs.  Charles  G.  Boening;  and  Philip 
F.  One  child  died  in  infancy.  The  members  of 
the  family  are  conn  ected  with  St.  Paul's  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church.  At  all  times  Mr. 
Apfel  has  done  all  in  his  power  to  advance  the 
best  interests  of  the  city. 


WILLIAM  NIEMEYER. 


fDQlLLIAM  NIEMEYER  was  one  of  the  in- 

\  A  I  dustrious  and  successful  German- American 
Y  V  citizens  which  the  Fatherland  contributed 
to  this  country.  For  nearly  half  a  century  he 
was  identified  with  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  dur- 
ing his  long  and  varied  business  career  was  active 
in  promoting  the  best  interests  of  the  place.  Mr. 
Niemeyer  was  born  August  18,  1828,  in  Han- 
over, Germany,  and  was  a  son  of  Deidrich  Nie- 
meyer. 

The  latter  and  his  wife  had  three  children, 
who  became  residents  of  Chicago,  namely:  Henry 
and  William,  both  deceased,  and  Dorothy,  now 
widow  of  Christian  Klinge,  who  is  still  living  in 
the  city.  The  mother  died  in  Germany,  and  the 
father  passed  away  in  Chicago  in  1861.  After 
acquiring  a  good  education  in  the  parish  school  of 
his  native  place,  William  Niemeyer  learned  the 
tailor's  trade  with  his  father. 

In   1847,  accompanied  by  his  father,   brother 


and  sister,  he  came  to  the  United  States  and  with 
them  located  in  Chicago.  Here  for  two  years  he 
worked  at  his  trade.  In  1849  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  William  Vollmer  and  embarked  in 
the  retail  grocery  business  on  the  corner  of  Lake 
and  Clark  Streets,  and  later  moved  to  Fifth  Ave- 
nue, between  Washington  and  Madison  Streets. 
November  9,  1850,  he  married  Sophia  Budde. 
Soon  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Niemeyer  sold  his  in- 
terest in  the  grocery  business  to  his  partner,  and 
started  a  boarding  house  on  the  corner  of  Kinzie 
and  Clark  Streets,  subsequently  moving  to  Wash- 
ington Street  near  Fifth  Avenue,  and  there  did  a 
prosperous  business  for  several  years. 

His  next  venture  was  keeping  the  Farmers' 
Hotel,  on  Franklin  Street  between  Randolph  and 
Lake  Streets,  and  in  connection  a  livery  and 
boarding  stable.  A  few  years  later  he  sold  out, 
and  for  a  time  kept  a  saloon  on  Randolph  Street, 
opposite  the  present  courthouse.  In  1867  he 


WILLIAM  NIEMEYER. 


established  an  undertaking  business  at  No.  117 
South  Clark  Street  and  the  following  year  moved 
to  the  North  Side  and  opened  an  undertaking 
house  at  Nos.  626  and  628  Wells  Street,  and  suc- 
cessfully operated  both  houses  until  they  were 
destroyed  by  the  great  fire  of  1871.  Although 
he  sustained  a  very  heavy  loss,  he  was  not  in  the 
least  discouraged,  for  two  days  after  the  fire  he 
established  temporary  quarters  on  Halsted  Street, 
at  the  corner  of  Canalport  Avenue  and  rebuilt  on 
Wells  Street  and  resumed  his  old  business  at  that 
location.  He  also  opened  a  store  at  No.  112 
North  Clark  Street  and  another  on  the  corner  of 
Chicago  Avenue  and  Market  Street,  and  contin- 
ued the  three  stores  until  1880,  when  he  discon- 
tinued the  last  two  and  carried  on  the  Wells 
Street  business,  having  in  connection  a  carriage 
livery.  There  he  did  an  increasing  and  profitable 
trade  until  his  death,  July  3,  1896. 

The  engrossment  of  his  various  undertakings 
left  little  time  to  engage  in  other  employment. 
He  gave  his  thought  and  attention  to  his  busi- 
ness and  left  public  affairs  and  the  conduct  of 
financial  concern  to  those  whose  tastes  or  leisure 
better  fitted  them  for  such  a  task.  He,  however, 
found  time  to  indulge  in  social  intercourse  and 
charitable  work  of  the  Odd  Fellows'  Order,  with 
which  he  was  identified  for  many  years.  He  was 
a  member  of  Robert  Blum  Lodge  and  a  member 
of  Encampment  No.  165,  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows.  He  also  belonged  to  the  Ancient 
Order  of  Druids  and  to  the  _Germau- American 
Association,  and  was  one  of  the  first  members  of 
St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  in  the 
success  of  which  he  always  felt  interested. 

Mrs.  Niemeyer  is  a  worthy  pioneer  of  Chicago. 
She  was  born  in  Hessen-Darmsdat,  Germany, 
November  26,  1829,  and  came  to  Chicago  with 
her  parents,  Christian  and  Dorothy  Budde,  in 
1846.  Her  father  was  a  farmer  and  a  man  of 
considerable  means  and  he  lived  in  retirement 
after  coming  to  Chicago.  He  died  in  1853,  an(i 
his  good  wife  survived  him  twenty  years,  dying 
in  1873.  They  had  but  two  children,  Sophia  and 
William,  of  Mankato,  Minnesota.  Mrs.  Nie- 
meyer received  a  good  rudimentary  education  in 
the  Fatherland,  which  has  been  supplemented  by 


reading  and  the  practical  affairs  of  a  busy  life. 
She  possesses  unusual  intelligence  and  business 
capabilities  and  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
women  in  Chicago  of  German  birth,  and  is  well 
known  in  fraternal  organizations  throughout  the 
state.  In  church  and  benevolent  work  she  takes 
a  lively  interest.  For  seventeen  years  she  has 
been  president  of  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of  Ulich 
Orphan  Asylum.  For  six  years  she  has  been 
on  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Odd  Fellows' 
Home  of  Lincoln,  Illinois,  having  been  on  the 
board  since  it  was  started,  and  is  the  only  Ger- 
man woman  who  has  occupied  that  position. 

Mrs.  Niemeyer  organized  a  Rebekah  Lodge, 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is  the 
present  chairman  of  the  Odd  Fellows'  Old  Folks 
Home  Advisory  Board.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Ladies  Society  of  St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Church  and  a  member  of  the  German  Hos- 
pital, also  of  the  Ladies'  Society  in  connection 
with  that  institution,  and  of  the  Ladies'  Chicago 
Turners  Society  and  devotes  much  of  her  time 
and  ample  means  in  advancing  the  interests  of 
these  worthy  institutions.  .  Mrs.  Niemeyer,  with 
the  assistance  of  her  son,  Henry  W.,  still  carries 
on  the  undertaking  business  which  was  founded 
by  her  husband  thirty  years  ago.  Her  life  has 
been  one  of  busy  usefulness  and  the  cares  of 
nearly  sixty-nine  years,  fifty-two  of  which  were 
spent  in  Chicago,  have  set  lightly  upon  her,  as 
she  still  enjoys  good  health  and  the  use  of  all  her 
faculties. 

Of  the  thirteen  children  born  to  this  worthy 
couple,  seven  died  in  childhood,  the  six  following 
grew  to  maturity  and  four  are  living  at  this  writ- 
ing. The  first-born,  William  H.,  was  born  Octo- 
ber 22,  1851,  and  March  19,  1876,  married  Miss 
Clara  Schuberth,  and  died  May  n,  1886,  leaving 
a  widow  and  two  sons,  William  and  Henry. 
Henry  William,  who  is  associated  in  business 
with  his  mother,  was  born  March  22,  1856. 
With  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  years  spent  in 
Denver,  Colorado,  he  has  always  lived  in  Chicago. 
He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  Dyren- 
furth  College.  He  assisted  his  father  in  business 
until  he  arrived  at  man's  estate.  While  in  Den- 
ver he  learned  the  art  of  embalming,  under  Prof. 


JOHN  FEHN. 


37 


Albert  Brown.  On  his  return  from  the  West  in 
1879,  he  joined  his  father  in  the  business,  and 
introduced  the  art  of  embalming  in  the  city, 
being  the  first  person  who  practiced  the  art  in 
Chicago.  He  is  an  enterprising,  progressive  and 
successful  business  man. 

Like  his  mother,  he  takes  a  lively  interest  in 
social  orders,  and  is  a  member  of  Olympia  Lodge 
No.  477,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and 
Koerner  Lodge  No.  54,  Order  of  Mutual  Protec- 
tion. In  politics  he  is  independent.  Julys,  1887, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Peters,  a  native  of 
Germany  and  daughter  of  Johanna  Peters.  They 
have  one  child,  Adeline.  Minnie,  born  August 
20,  1859,  is  the  wife  of  Frederick  Buscher. 
Charles  H.,  born  July  14,  1861,  on  April  n, 


1885,  married  Emma  Heisterkamp  and  has  two 
children,  Henry  and  Florence.  He  is  also  an 
undertaker  and  assisted  his  father  for  many  years, 
and  is  still  connected  with  the  business  in  assist- 
ing his  mother  and  brother,  Henry  W. 

He  is  a  member  of  Court  Vorwaerts  No.  25, 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters.  Anna  Chris- 
tina Louise  Augusta,  the  ninth  in  order  of  birth, 
was  born  May  9,  1863,  and  became  the  wife  of 
Charles  L.  Schrimer  and  died  December  2 1 ,  1891, 
leaving  an  infant  child  that  died  six  weeks  later. 
Barbara,  the  youngest,  was  born  January  29, 
1867,  is  the  wife  of  Edward  Koehler,  and  has 
two  children,  Edna  and  Hazel.  All  are  residents 
of  Chicago  and  are  useful  and  respected  members 
of  society. 


JOHN  FEHN. 


(lOHN  FEHN  is  a  representative  German- 
I  American  citizen  who  ranks  among  the  old 
G)  settlers  of  1857  and  has  been  connected  with 
the  business  interests  of  the  city  forty  years.  He 
was  born  November  24,  1835,  in  the  village  of 
Steinbach,  Province  of  Bavaria,  Germany,  and 
is  a  son  of  John  and  Margaret  (Neubauer)  Fehn, 
natives  of  Bavaria.  He  is  descended  from  some 
very  prominent  and  ancient  German  families  and 
has  a  lineage  of  which  he  may  well  be  proud. 
His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  man  of  education 
and  was  for  some  years  a  very  successful  instruc- 
tor. He  also  filled  the  office  of  burgomaster  in 
his  native  city. 

John  Fehn,  father  of  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  was  a  fanner  and  also  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  a  brewer  and  distiller. 
He  purchased  property  in  Windheim,  and  there 
resided  with  his  family  until  his  death,  in  1849. 
Mr.  Fehn,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  attended 
public  school  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twelve 


years  and  for  two  }rears  received  private  instruc- 
tion under  the  tutelage  of  the  parish  priest,  pre- 
paratory to  a  higher  course,  it  having  been  the 
intention  of  his  father  to  educate  him  for  the 
priesthood.  The  death  of  his  father  when  John 
was  fourteen  years  old  entirely  changed  his  plans, 
and  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  assist  his  wid- 
owed mother  in  the  care  and  cultivation  of  the 
farm.  September  27,  1853,  ne  sailed  from  Bremen 
Harbor  on  the  sailing;  ship  "Ocean"  and  after  an 
uneventful  sea  voyage,  landed  at  New  Orleans 
December  8.  He  was  destitute  of  capital  on  his 
arrival  in  that  city,  as  the  last  two  dollars  which 
he  possessed  he  generously  gave  to  a  passenger 
on  board  the  ship  who,  he  thought,  needed  it 
worse  than  he  did. 

Though  poor  in  purse,  he  was  rich  in  the  ele- 
ments of  health  and  industry  which,  with  well- 
directed  effort,  always  insures  success.  He  at 
once  found  employment  in  the  St.  Charles  Hotel, 
first  as  waiter,  then  as  bell  boy,  and  later  as  clerk 


FREDERICK  NUSSER. 


in  the  cigar  store  of  the  hotel.  He  remained  in 
the  St.  Charles  about  two  and  one-half  years. 
He  then  secured  a  position  as  bar  tender  in  the 
Boston  Club  and  while  there  became  personally 
acquainted  with  Generals  Pemberton  and  Taylor, 
and  Mr.  Benjamin,  who  afterward  became  secre- 
tary of  state  of  the  Confederacy.  In  1857  ne  left 
New  Orleans  for  the  North  and  after  spending  a 
couple  of  months  in  Shelbyville,  Indiana,  came 
on  to  Chicago. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  he  accepted  a  position 
as  bar  tender  for  Charles  Best,  on  East  Ran- 
dolph Street  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
short  intervals,  remained  in  his  employ  three 
years.  In  1860  he  purchased  the  business  of  Mr. 
Best  and  did  a  successful  trade  until  1864,  when 
he  sold  out.  He  then  bought  a  saloon  business 
at  No.  121-123  North  Clark  Street,  and  so  well  did 
he  prosper  that  in  1867  he  purchased  the  corner 
lot.  The  fire  of  1871  swept  away  his  building 
and  business.  Before  the  ground  had  grown 
cold  he  began  to  rebuild,  and  before  the  frame 
structure  was  complete  it  caught  fire  from  the 


smouldering  debris,  but  the  flame  was  easily  ex- 
tinguished. In  1872  he  purchased  the  adjoining 
lot  and  the  next  year  built  his  present  handsome 
business  block. 

Mr.  Fehn  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the 
oldest  saloon  keeper  in  the  city.  He  has  always 
been  a  peaceable,  law-abiding  citizen  and  con- 
ducted his  establishment  in  a  quiet,  orderly  man- 
ner. Being  himself  a  sober,  temperate  man,  he 
has  not  encouraged  dissipation  in  others.  He 
has  never  dabbled  in  politics  but  has  acted  inde- 
pendently, exercising  his  franchise  in  favor  of  the 
man  of  his  choice,  not  being  bound  by  any  po- 
litical party  or  leader. 

November  25,  1860,  he  married  Miss  Margaret 
Sauermann,  a  native  of  Bavaria.  Ten  children 
were  born  of  this  marriage,  four  of  whom  are  de- 
ceased. Those  living  are:  Paulina,  wife  of  Ernest 
Fischer;  Oscar  E. ;  Clara,  wife  of  Thomas  Sauer- 
mann; Tillie,  now  Mrs.  William  Curtis ;  Eleanore 
and  Arthur.  The  mother,  who  had  been  her  hus- 
band's faithful  companion  so  many  years,  died 
February  17,  1898. 


FREDERICK  NUSSER. 


f~  REDERICK  NUSSER,  now  living  retired, 
rft  is  a  prominent  representative  of  the  suc- 
|  *  cessful  German- American  pioneer  of  Chi- 
cago. He  was  born  December  12,  1824,  in 
Wurtemberg,  Germany,  and  is  a  son  of  Frederick 
and  Caroline  Nusser,  both  natives  of  Wurtem- 
berg. They  were  the  parents  of  five  children,  of 
whom  three  emigrated  to  America,  namely: 
Charles,  of  Carlinville,  Macoupin  County,  Illi- 
nois, Frederick  and  Christian,  the  last  of  whom 
died  in  Chicago. 

Frederick  Nusser  was  reared  on  a  farm  and, 
after  attending  public  school  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  fourteen  years,  attended  a  private  school, 


later  serving  a  three  years'  apprenticeship  to 
learn  the  trade  of  rope-maker.  He  then  returned 
home  and  assisted  in  the  cultivation  of  the  home 
farm.  March  28,  1850,  he  left  home  and  went 
down  the  River  Rhine  to  Rotterdam,  and  thence 
to  Liverpool,  England.  From  there  he  took 
passage  in  a  sailing  vessel  bound  for  New  York. 
With  favorable  weather  and  fair  winds  they 
made  the  trip  in  twenty-eight  days.  Mr.  Nusser 
spent  one  day  in  New  York  and  went  to  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  where  he  worked  four  months  in  a 
brick  yard.  He  returned  to  New  York  and  came 
to  Chicago,  arriving  September  28,  1850.  He 
was  employed  in  a  rope  walk  six  months  and 


J.  S.  DELSING. 


39 


subsequently  went  to  Louisville,  Kentucky.  He 
worked  in  the  brick  yards  in  that  city  and  also 
in  St.  Joseph  and  Vicksburg. 

In  the  spring  of  1856  he  returned  to  Chicago 
and  worked  in  a  brick  yard  for  wages  about  six 
years,  when  he  entered  into  a  business  venture, 
starting  a  brick  yard  for  himself,  in  the  portion 
of  the  city  known  as  Goose  Island.  Five  years 
later  he  removed  to  the  junction  of  Elston 
Avenue  and  the  Chicago  &  North-Western  Rail- 
road tracks.  At  this  location  he  conducted  a 
successful  business  seventeen  years,  when  he  was 
able  to  retire  with  an  ample  fortune  to  bless  his 
latter  days. 

Mr.  Nusser  has  always  been  a  public-spirited 
and  enterprising  citizen  since  coming  to  America, 
loyal  to  the  interests  of  the  country  and  doing  all 
in  his  power  to  promote  all  ventures  for  the 


benefit  of  the  population.  He  voted  for  Fremont 
in  1856,  and  has  voted  for  every  Republican 
presidential  candidate  since  that  time.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  since  1872.  December  13,  1860,  Mr. 
Nusser  was  married  to  Miss  Caroline  Binzow,  who 
was  born  February  24,  1844,  in  Gianzow,  Prov- 
ince of  Pommern,  Prussia.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Frederick  Binzow,  who  came  to  Chicago  with  his 
family  in  1853  and  died  of  cholera  in  1854. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nusser  are  the  parents  of  three 
children:  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Jacob  Reich;  Augusta, 
now  Mrs.  Edward  Fitzgerald;  and  Frederick, 
who  is  married  and  in  the  employ  of  the  Deering 
Company.  Mr.  Nusser  and  his  family  are 
members  of  St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  where  they  are  highly  honored  by  all 
others  of  the  congregation. 


JOHN  S.  DELSING. 


(JOHN  SERVATIUS  DELSING,  one  of  the 
I  retired  of  Chicago's  once  active  business 
O  men,  was  born  May  13,  1832,  in  the  village 
of  Dingden,  Westphalia,  Germany.  His  parents 
were  Hermann  and  Gertrude  (Bargrafer)  Delsing, 
and  the  family  name  was  for  many  genera- 
tions Barking,  the  name  being  a  very  old  one. 
Hermann  Delsing  was  born  in  1804,  and  died 
December  26,  1858,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four  years. 
He  kept  a  family  resort  and  hotel  at  Dingden  and 
the  mother  of  John  S.,  his  first  wife,  died  in  1839, 
when  about  thirty  years  old.  Her  children  were: 
John  S.,  Bernhardt  and  Ignatius.  Hermann 
Delsing  married  for  his  second  wife  Christina 
Terhart,  who  died  November  14,  1866.  She  was 
born  January  18,  1803,  and  became  the  mother 
of  three  daughters. 

John  S.  Delsing  reached  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
in  1852.  He  was  a  brush-maker  by  trade  and 
spent  some  time  at  this  occupation  in  that  city. 


In  1856  he  came  to  Chicago  and  did  some  house 
painting,  because  there  was  not  much  business 
being  done  in  the  making  of  brushes.  In  1858, 
however,  he  was  employed  by  Gertz&  Lombard, 
brush  manufacturers,  and  was  superintendent  of 
their  factory  ten  years. 

He  then  established  a  hardware  business  at 
No.  282  West  Twelfth  Street,  remaining  oc- 
cupied thus  five  years.  He  then  went  into  the 
bristle  business  with  Gertz  &  Lombard,  on  Archer 
Avenue,  near  Sanger  Street.  He  was  with  this 
firm  two  years,  later  being  nine  years  .in  the 
bristle  business  with  Armour  &  Company.  He 
subsequently  established  a  saloon  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  Root  Street  and  Wentworth 
Avenue,  which  he  conducted  four  years.  Since 
that  time  he  has  lived  retired.  In  1889  he 
erected  a  residence  at  No.  6710  Wabash  Avenue, 
and  has  since  resided  at  that  location. 

Mr.  Delsing  was  married  in  Baltimore  August 


J.  L.  STORMS. 


30,  1854,  to  Rosa  Unkelbach, daughter  of  Matthew 
and  Margaret  (Unkelbach)  Unkelbach.  Mrs. 
Delsing  was  born  April  28,  1831,  in  Bavaria.  Her 
parents,  with  ten  children,  emigrated  from  their 
native  land  in  1842,  and  located  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  and  remained  there.  Her  father  was 
a  musician  and  was  master  of  the  violin. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Delsing  are  ac- 
counted for  as  follows:  Frederick,  born  April  n, 
1856;  Charles,  August  23,  1858;  Mary,  February 
2,  1861;  Katharine,  February  19,  1863;  Rosa, 
March  13,  1865;  Louise,  March  10,  1867;  Anna, 


March  4,  1869;  Minnie,  March  3,  1871;  Winifred, 
August  31,  1873;  John  H.,  born  June  23,  1876, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  six  days;  and  Harry 
Leonard,  born  April  n,  1878. 

The  Delsings  are  connected  with  St.  Bernhard's 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  Mr.  Delsing  is  inde- 
pendent in  politics,  voting  for  the  men  who,  in 
his  estimation,  are  best  fitted  to  fill  offices  for  the 
interest  of  the  public  at  large.  He  is  a  very  con- 
scientious and  high-minded  man,  and  is  honored 
by  all  who  know  him,  whether  in  a  business  or 
social  manner. 


JOHN     L.  STORMS. 


(JOHN  LOW  STORMS  was  among  the  enter- 
I  prising  and  ambitious  citizens  of  Chicago, 
G)  who,  by  their  own  efforts  and  ideas  gained  a 
name  and  competence  worthy  of  emulation.  The 
name  was  originally  Storm,  without  the  final  "s" 
but  the  persistency  of  the  people  in  spelling  it  as 
it  is  now  induced  the  bearers  to  add  the  final  let- 
ter in  all  cases.  John  Low  Storms  was  christened 
without  the  middle  name,  but  to  prevent  further 
confusion  in  getting  his  mail  matter  he  adopted 
this  for  the  initial  it  gave.  He  was  born  Febru- 
ary 25,  1830,  in  Urquhart,  Murrayshire,  Scot- 
land, and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Margaret 
(Brown)  Storms.  For  further  ancestry  see  biog- 
raphy of  James  Storms  in  this  work. 

J.  L.  Storms  emigrated  from  his  native  land 
after  receiving  a  good  education  and  becoming 
efficient  in  the  trade  of  a  painter  and  decorator. 
He  landed  in  Quebec  in  May,  1854,  and  was  occu- 
pied at  his  trade  in  that  city  four  months.  In  the 
fall  he  removed  to  Medinah,  Ohio,  and  in  a  short 
time  went  to  Cleveland.  He  arrived  in  Chicago 
in  November  of  the  same  year  and  immediately 
entered  the  service  of  Thompson  &  Alston,  re- 
maining in  their  employ  a  year  and  one-half. 


He  subsequently  took  up  residence  in  Lock- 
port,  Illinois,  and  since  this  time  has  been  occu- 
pied by  his  own  interests.  He  removed  his  family 
to  that  town,  but  in  the  spring  of  1865  moved 
back  to  Cook  County  and  purchased  a  quarter 
interest  in  a  tract  of  ten  acres  of  land  in  what  is 
now  Grand  Crossing.  He  built  a  residence  at 
the  corner  of  Cottage  Grove  Avenue  and  Seventy- 
third  Street,  and  this  house  was  afterward  moved 
to  Langley  Avenue,  where  it  still  stands. 

Mr.  Storms  opened  a  decorating  establishment 
at  the  present  location  of  the  Fifty-third  Street 
Station  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  At  this 
time  there  were  only  seven  houses  in  sight  of  the 
station  (then  known  as  Hyde  Park)  and  those 
who  occupied  six  of  them  were  Messrs.  Bogue, 
Hibbard,  Cornell,  Noble,  Merrill  and  Mrs.  Waite, 
who  conducted  a  female  seminary.  The  other 
building  was  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 
Mr.  Storms  drove  to  and  from  his  place  of  busi- 
ness, which  was  about  three  miles  from  his  home, 
and  la  ter  took  up  his  residence  on  Jefferson  Ave- 
nue between  Fifty-second  and  Fifty-third  Streets, 
where  he  died  June  2,  1898.  From  the  fall  of  the 
year  1871  to  1875  Mr.  Storms  kept  an  establish- 


KARL  SCHMIDT. 


meiit  on  Wabash  Avenue,  near  Harrison  Street, 
employing  as  many  as  forty  men  at  times.  He 
subsequently  conducted  a  store  at  No.  5213  Jeff- 
erson Avenue  and  was  very  successful  in  the  en- 
terprise. 

J.  L.  Storms  was  married  in  1862,  to  Letitia  A. , 
daughter  of  John  Nicholson,  of  Lockport,  Illinois. 
She  is  a  native  of  Chatham,  Canada,  and  was  the 
widow  of  John  Harvey.  Her  children  by  her 
first  husband  were  named:  Alexander;  John  G. , 
now  located  on  Sixty-seventh  Street;  and  Robert 
who  resides  on  the  North  Side.  Mr.  Storms  was 
first  married  when  he  was  but  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  to  Miss  Isabella  Low,  of  Scotland,  and 
their  only  child  was  named  Eugene,  but  is  now 
deceased.  The  child  and  its  mother  died  in  Que- 
bec, of  cholera.  The  children  of  John  L.  and 
Letitia  A.  Storms  were  ten  in  number:  William 
H.  is  an  engineer  and  resides  in  Windsor  Park; 
George  is  a  painter  by  trade  and  was  associated 


with  his  father  in  business  interests,  but  is  now  a 
policeman;  Henry  is  married  and  resides  in 
Englewood,  on  Sixty-ninth  Street,  near  Halsted; 
he  is  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Knights  of  the 
Maccabees;  Oriole  married  Frederick  Harber,  a 
grocer  located  on  State,  near  Fifty-eight  Street; 
Irene  married  Harry  W.  Russell,  who  is  employed 
by  the  Denison  Manufacturing  Company  and  re- 
sides on  Monroe  Avenue,  near  Fifty -fifth  Street; 
Frank  is  married  and  resides  on  Fifty-fifth  Street 
near  Kimbark  Avenue;  he  conducts  a  livery  busi- 
ness in  Englewood;  James  and  Marion  are  twins; 
Delia  died  at  the  age  of  a  year  and  one-half. 

Mr.  Storms'  first  presidential  vote  was  cast  in 
favor  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  since  that  time  he 
held  himself  independent  of  party,  voting  for  the 
man  who,  in  his  estimation,  was  most  likely  to 
serve  the  people  to  their  advantage.  He  served 
as  judge  of  election,  and  though  much  interested 
in  political  matters  never  held  an  elective  office. 


KARL  SCHMIDT. 


RARL  SCHMIDT,  who  is  pastor  of  St.  James' 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  at  the  corner 
of  Garfield  Avenue  and  Fremont  Street, 
Chicago,  was  born  July  21,  1859,  m  Hessen- 
Darmsdat,  Germany.  He  is  a'  son  of  Rev. 
Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Bastian)  Schmidt,  who 
came  to  America  in  1862  and  located  in  Illinois. 
Rev.  Henry  Schmidt  was  pastor  of  a  church  at 
Schomburg,  Illinois,  fourteen  years.  He  died  in 
Elgin,  Illinois,  in  1897.  Mrs.  Henry  Schmidt 
still  resides  in  this  city. 

Karl  Schmidt  was  educated  at  the  gymnasium 
at  Ft.  Wayne,  Indiana,  and  Concordia  Seminary, 
at  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  He  was  graduated  from 
the  last- mentioned  institution  in  1881,  and  was 
ordained  the  same  year,  in  September,  at  Roch- 
ester, Minnesota.  He  was  called  by  the  con- 


gregation of  that  place  and  was  pastor  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  of  that  city,  where 
he  remained  two  years.  He  was  then  called  to 
Crystal  Lake,  Illinois,  and  was  there  fourteen 
successive  years,  when  he  received  a  call  to  his 
present  charge,  in  Chicago.  He  began  his  duties 
in  this  church  August  15,  1897. 

Mr.  Schmidt  is  a  very  studious  man,  devot- 
ing himself  assiduously  to  his  mission  and  pursu- 
ing his  work  with  the  idea  that  one  is  never 
possessed  with  too  much  knowledge.  He  is  a 
refined  gentleman,  and  has  been  educated  in  the 
practical  school  of  experience,  as  well  as  in 
colleges,  and  has  profited  by  all  his  chances  to 
obtain  knowledge  in  the  ways  of  the  world  and 
cultivation  of  his  mind. 

In  1885,  on  July  25,  Mr.  Schmidt  was  married 


PETER  BRACK. 


to  Miss  Louise,  daughter  of  Rev.  H.  Wunder. 
(For  further  ancestry  of  Mrs.  Schmidt,  see  biog- 
raphy of  H.  Wunder,  on  another  page  of  this 
work.)  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schmidt 
were  named  as  follows:  Otto,  Emil,  Herman 
(deceased),  Hugo  and  Dora. 

Mr.  Schmidt  is  a  member  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Synod  of  Missouri,  Ohio,  and  other 
states.  He  is  a  man  of  genial  temperament, 
pleasant  in  address  and  hospitable  in  manner. 


He  is  recognized  as  one  who  is  interested  in  the 
furthering  of  the  education  of  the  youth  of  to-day 
and  his  efforts  in  their  behalf  are  admirable  and 
serve  as  an  example  worthy  of  a  following.  He 
is  honored  and  respected  by  all  who  know  him 
and  alike  beloved  by  family  and  friends.  His 
teachings  are  so  successful  that  one  cannot  but 
believe  that  he  was  sent  to  this  world  to  accom- 
plish a  good  work  and  his  energies  are  put  forth 
to  fulfill  his  mission. 


PETER  BRACH. 


P^ETER  BRACH,  one  of  the  most  influential 
yr  and  respected  of  Chicago's  retired  citizens, 
\5  was  a  tailor  by  trade  and  one  of  the  finest 
workmen  in  his  line  of  business  of  the  day  and 
generation.  He  was  born  June  i,  1828,  in 
Prussia,  and  is  a  son  of  Johann  Peter  and  Susanna 
Elizabeth  (Berlges)  Brach. 

Johann  Peter  Brach,  father  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  article,  died  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
four  years,  in  the  year  1837.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried, and  the  children  of  his  first  wife  were 
named  as  follows:  Juliana,  Mary  Elizabeth,  Jacob, 
Nicholas,  Susan  and  Maria.  After  the  death  of 
his  first  wife  he  married  Susanna  Elizabeth 
Berlges.  By  this  marriage  he  had  five  children 
viz.:  Susanna  Katharine,  Peter,  Anna,  Mary  and 
Michael.  Mrs.  Brach  died  December  18,  1866, 
having  been  born  in  December,  1829,  and  her  re- 
mains were  interred  in  Racine,  Wisconsin. 
Peter  Brach,  of  this  sketch,  left  his  native  land 
in  1852,  and  landed  in  New  York  May  2  of  the 
same  year.  His  brother  Michael,  sister  Mary, 
and  his  mother  made  up  the  party.  They  came 
in  a  sail  boat  which  left  Antwerp  March  13,  1852, 
and  immediately  settled  in  Kenosha,  Wisconsin. 
In  that  city  Peter  Brach  worked  at  his  trade, 
that  of  a  tailor,  ten  years.  He  was  employed 


by  Frank  Comstock,  and  when  that  gentleman 
removed  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Brach  moved  with  him 
and  remained  in  his  service.  He  did  the  finest 
and  most  particular  of  the  work  and  commanded 
the  best  salary  of  any  of  the  men  employed  while 
he  was  with  Mr.  Comstock.-  In  1890  Mr.  Brach 
retired  from  active  life,  and  has  since  enjoyed  a 
well-earned  rest  from  business  cares. 

Mr.  Brach  married  December  25,  1855,  Miss 
Mary  Brust,  daughter  of  Mathias  and  Anna 
Marie  (Meurer)  Brust.  She  was  born  December 
26,  1837,  in  Prussia.  Mathias  Brust  was  born 
in  February,  1805,  and  died  in  June,  1869.  He 
was  a  farmer  and  also  worked  at  mining.  Mr. 
Brust  lived  his  entire  life  in  his  native  land. 
Mrs.  Mathias  Brust  was  born  in  1805,  and  died 
in  1871.  Her  children  were:  Jacob,  Peter, 
Susanna,  Mary  Elizabeth,  Katharine,  Anna  and 
Charles.  Jacob  Brust  lives  in  New  Ulm,  Min- 
nesota. He  is  married,  and  has  two  children,  the 
elder  being  named  William.  He  is  a  farmer 
and  also  conducts  a  hotel.  Susanna  lives  in 
Texas;  Katharine  did  not  come  to  America;  she 
married  John  Hahn  and  has  no  children.  Anna 
married  Frederick  Weyher  and  resides  at  No. 
164  Archer  Avenue.  Charles  Brust  is  now  in 
New  Ulm,  Minnesota,  and  is  extensively  inter- 


HENRY  RUSSER. 


43 


ested  in  politics,  and  with  his  brother,  Jacob,  is 
very  prominent  in  the  community  where  they  re- 
side. Anna,  Mrs.  Brach,  and  her  sister,  Susanna, 
emigrated  from  their  native  land  at  the  same 
time,  in  December,  1854.  The  others  of  the 
family  came  later. 

The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Brach  was 
Michael  Brust,  the  owner  of  extensive  lands,  the 
cultivation  of  which  he  superintended  personally. 
His  children  were:  Mathias,  Susanna,  Marie, 
Jacob  and  Michael.  The  maternal  grandfather 
was  Michael  Meurer,  and  his  children  were: 
Michael,  Anna  Marie,  Susanna  and  Dora.  The 
children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter  Brach  were  eleven 
in  number:  Peter,  born  November  21,  1856,  died 
February  15,  1892.  He  married  Marie  Drink- 
burg  and  their  children  are  named  Elsie  and 
Robert.  Charles,  who  was  born  November  17, 
1858,  died  June  28,  1882.  Frank,  born  January 


17,  1861,  died  January  25,  1892.  Florentina, 
born  April  2,  1864,  died  August  20,  1866.  Lou- 
isa was  born  December  28,  1866.  Edwin,  born 
February  25,  1868,  died  March  8,  1887.  William, 
born  July  2,  1870,  died  March  15,  1871.  Ma- 
tilda, born  February  3,  1872,  died  in  childhood. 
William,  born  June  20,  1876,  died  June  28, 1893. 
Emma,  born  October  29,  1878,  resides  at  home, 
and  is  an  expert  stenographer.  Arthur,  born 
February  15,  1883,  died  November  4,  1883. 

Peter  Brach  was  a  supporter  of  the  principles 
maintained  by  the  old  Whig  party,  but  at  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party,  joined  its 
ranks  and  has  since  been  loyal  to  its  principles. 
He  is  much  interested  in  political  matters,  but 
has  never  sought  public  favor  in  the  form  of 
election  to  an  office.  He  erected  a  residence  at 
No.  33  Elston  Avenue  in  1866,  and  has  since 
that  time  resided  at  this  location. 


HENRY  RUSSER. 


HENRY  RUSSER  is  a  native  of  Chicago 
and  a  member  of  an  old  pioneer  family. 
He  was  born  August  7,  1838,  where  he  now 
lives,  at  No.  214  Rush  Street,  then  the  old  Dutch 
settlement,  called  New  Buffalo.  His  parents  were 
George  and  Catherine  (Mock)  Russer.  George 
Russer  was  born  in  Baden  Weil,  Germany,  but 
his  parents  died  when  he  was  small,  and  a  friend 
of  the  family,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Hagel,  a  Lutheran 
preacher,  adopted  him,  his  sister  and  his  brother, 
Joseph,  and  took  them  to  Basle,  Switzerland,  and 
they  were  well  reared  there  and  received  a  fair 
education.  George  learned  the  trade  of  a  shoe- 
maker and  became  prominent,  being  an  inspector 
for  a  regiment  of  soldiers  in  Carlsruhe,  Baden. 

Catherine  Mock  was  born  in  Weiseburg, 
Germany,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1831. 
She  located  in  Buffalo,  New  York.  George 


Russer  came  about  the  same  time  and  settled  in 
the  same  location.  In  that  city  he  worked  at 
his  trade  and  she  was  for  a  time  in  the  employ  of 
a  Mr.  Sherman,  the  man  who  kept  the  first 
Sherman  House  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Russer  became 
acquainted  with  his  wife  in  Buffalo  and  they  were 
married  there  about  the  year  1832. 

In  1837  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Russer  came  to  Chicago, 
bringing  with  them  their  children,  Charles, 
George  and  Valentine.  They  came  on  the  old 
steamboat,  "Madison."  Mr.  Russer  had  previous- 
ly traded  property  inBuffalo,  at  the  corner  of  Main 
and  Genesee  Streets,  for  property  on  La  Salle 
Street,  in  Chicago,  between  Randolph  and  Lake 
Streets.  He  there  kept  the  "Farmers'  Home," 
and  his  wife  being  possessed  of  some  money  he 
purchased  property  in  what  was  known  as  New 
Buffalo,  locating  a  residence  there.  He  opened 


44 


ANDREW  SPOHRER. 


a  shoe  store  and  at  one  time  carried  on  a  very 
profitable  business.  In  1841  George  Russer 
went  to  St.  Louis  and  died  in  that  city  a  few 
months  later.  He  left  his  widow  with  six  chil- 
dren and  she  struggled  along  the  best  she  could, 
keeping  her  children  as  well  as  was  possible  and 
training  them  to  go  in  the  paths  of  right.  She 
died  in  Chicago  July  4,  1882,  at  the  age  of  eighty 
years.  All  her  children  are  deceased  except  the 
man  whose  name  heads  this  article  and  May, 
who  is  now  Mrs.  Mock,  of  Fulton,  Ohio. 

Henry  Russer  grew  to  manhood  in  Chicago 
and  received  his  education  in  the  McKinzie 
School.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  began  to 
serve  an  apprenticeship  at  the  trade  of  a  tinner 
and  after  having  learned  the  trade,  worked  at  it 
for  a  time.  He  then  entered  the  employ  of  the 
North  Branch  Rolling  Mill,  under  O.  W.  Potter, 
and  was  thus  occupied  nine  years.  Nearly  all  of 
this  period  he  was  in  charge  of  the  furnace  of  the 
mill  and  his  services  were  valuable  and  he  re- 
ceived financial  recompense  accordingly.  For  a 
short  time  subsequently  he  conducted  a  catering 
establishment,  after  which  he  was  employed  by 
Gen.  Fitz  Simon,  superintending  the  filling  up 


of  the  lake  front,  also  being  occupied  in  the 
same  capacity  for  J.  V.  Farwell,  N.  K.  Fair- 
bank  and  the  Newberry  Estate.  For  the  past 
ten  years  he  has  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Newberry  Library,  having  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  grading  and  filling  up  the  lake 
front. 

Mr.  Russer  is  an  ardent  Republican  and  voted 
for  Lincoln  in  1860,  having  since  supported  that 
party's  candidates.  He  is  a  member  of  the  order 
of  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.  In  1859 
he  married  Caroline  Kern,  daughter  of  Peter  and 
Caroline  (Gibe)  Kern.  Mrs.  Russer  was  born  at 
the  Summit,  on  Archer  Road,  where  her  parents 
were  very  early  settlers.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Russer 
are  the  parents  of  three  children  and  three  died 
in  infancy.  The  living  are:  Emma,  Louise  and 
Henry.  The  members  of  the  family  are  com- 
municants of  Mr.  Moody's  church  and  are  pos- 
sessed of  religious  views  and  the  highest  of 
principles. 

Mr.  Russer  has  witnessed  the  growth  of  the 
city  from  a  small  town  and  in  the  time  of  his 
childhood  his  family  had  Indians  for  neighbors 
and  wild  game  was  abundant. 


ANDREW  SPOHRER. 


GlNDREW  SPOHRER,  now  living  retired, 
LJ  is  a  native  of  Chicago,  born  of  German 
I  |  parents  January  i,  1838,  on  Rush  Street, 
near  the  waterworks.  His  parents  were  Andrew 
and  Katharine  (Schremp)  Spohrer  and  were  both 
born  in  Baden,  Germany,  of  old  German  families. 
Andrew  Spohrer,  senior,  was  a  mason  by  trade 
and  came  to  America  with  his  family  in  1834. 
They  spent  two  years  in  Buffalo,  New  York, 
where  Mr.  Spohrer  worked  at  his  trade.  In  1836 
they  came  to  Chicago  and  he  still  worked  at  his 
trade  and  claimed  a  tract  of  land  on  Rush  Street, 


at  Chicago  Avenue.  At  this  location  he  raised 
vegetables  for  the  market  and  also  kept  cows  and 
sold  the  milk.  He  was  a  frugal  and  industrious 
man,  and  accumulated  much  property. 

He  purchased  two  and  one-half  acres  of  land 
on  North  Clark  Street,  and  cultivated  this  tract 
also,  succeeding  remarkably  until  1865,  the  year 
of  his  death.  His  wife  survived  him  until  1879. 
They  were  the  parents  of  sixteen  children,  only 
two  of  whom  are  now  living:  Christina,  the  wife 
of  Patrick  O'Connor,  and  Andrew,  of  this  notice. 
The  latter  received  a  limited  education  in  the 


F.   M.  JOHNSON. 


45 


public  school,  and  while  growing  to  manhood  car- 
ried on  gardening,  assisting  his  father  until  the 
fire  of  1871,  when  they  sustained  a  heavy  loss. 

After  the  fire  they  divided  the  property  among 
the  members  of  the  family  and  since  that  time 
Mr.  Spohrer  has  not  engaged  in  any  business  but 
has  taken  care  of  his  large  property  interests.  In 
1882  he  purchased  a  farm  near  Chicago  Heights, 
which  is  still  in  his  possession.  He  has  never 
sought  public  office  of  any  kind,  but  has  taken 
an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  native  city,  which 
he  has  seen  grow  up  twice.  He  is  independent 
in  politics,  supporting  the  man  whom  he  thinks 
best  qualified  for  office. 

September  5,  1871,  he  married  Miss  Katharine, 
daughter  of  Mathias  and  Anna  Reich ert,  who 
came  to  Chicago  from  Wurtemberg,  Germany. 
The  parents  of  Mrs.  Spohrer  came  to  Cook 
County  in  early  days  and  after  their  marriage 
lived  on  a  farm  three  miles  from  Chicago 
Heights,  in  the  Town  of  Bloom.  Mr.  Reich- 
ertdiedin  1865,  and  Mrs.  Reichert  is  still  living. 
They  had  eleven  children,  all  of  whom  are  now 
living.  Mathias  resides  at  Shannon,  Illinois. 


Helen  is  the  wife  of  Stephen  Thometz,  of  Shan- 
non. Henry  is  on  a  farm  near  Chicago  Heights. 
Mrs.  Spohrer  is  next  in  order  of  birth.  Barbara 
is  Mrs.  Michael  Kloss,  of  Will  County.  Mary  is 
the  wife  of  Valentine  Marthaler,  who  conducts  a 
hardware  store  in  Chicago  Heights.  August  is  a 
farmer  residing  on  the  old  homestead.  Maggie 
is  Mrs.  Charles  Miller,  of  Chicago  Heights. 
Joseph  resides  in  the  same  region,  and  is  a  tiller 
of  the  soil.  Anna  is  the  wife  of  Henry  Marthaler 
and  resides  in  Lakefield,  Minnesota.  Rosa  is 
now  Mrs.  Joseph  Loehmer,  living  on  a  farm  in 
Dyer,  Indiana. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spohrer  have  had  eight  children, 
those  living  are:  Anna;  Mamie,  who  was  married 
June  29,  1898,  at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  to  Dr. 
Augustine  A.  Flick,  who  has  an  office  at  No. 
448  North  Clark  Street,  and  resides  at  No.  454 
North  Clark  Street;  Margaret,  Josephine  and 
Edward,  and  three  died  in  childhood.  Mr. 
Spohrer  and  his  family  are  members  of  St. 
Joseph's  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  the  family 
is  highly  respected  and  honored  by  all  who  be- 
come acquainted  with  any  of  its  members. 


FRANCIS  M.  JOHNSON. 


|~~RANCIS  MORTIMER  JOHNSON,  who 
r^  was  born  on  Sunday,  May  8,  1842,  in  Hick- 
|  *  ory  Lane,  Niles,  Michigan,  is  one  of  the 
most  valued  and  highly  respected  employes  of 
the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad 
Company,  having  been  in  the  employ  of  that 
company  since  1865.  His  parents  were  Alfred 
Wells  and  Dezire  (Howe)  Johnson,  and  both 
came  from  very  old  families.  The  paternal 
grandfather  was  John  Johnson,  and  the  maternal 
grandfather  of  F.  M.  Johnson  was  Frederick 
Howe.  Mr.  Howe  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  and  he 
was  born  in  Vermont.  He  settled  in  Syracuse, 


New  York,  subsequently,  and  later  removed  to 
Michigan,  being  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Ber- 
rien  County. 

Mr.  Howe  traveled  through  the  country  with 
horse  teams,  there  being  no  steam  railway  at  that 
time.  His  children  were  named  as  follows:  Alonzo, 
Dezire,  Lucinda,  Francis,  Hezekiah,  Adeline, 
Mary,  Nancy,  Charlotta,  Charles  and  George. 
His  wife's  name  was  Polly  Bliss  before  her  mar- 
riage to  Mr.  Howe.  Alfred  W.  Johnson  was 
born  June  26,  1810,  in  Burlington,  Vermont.  He 
came  to  Michigan  in  1831.  He  had  learned  the 
trade  of  a  carpenter  and  joiner,  and  erected  a  res- 


F.  M.  JOHNSON. 


idence  in  Niles,  Michigan,  in  Hickory  Lane.  All 
his  children  were  born  in  this  house.  Mr.  John- 
sou  did  a  great  deal  of  contracting  in  the  vicinity 
of  Niles,  for  building  of  residences  and  other 
erections.  He  was  a  Democrat  as  to  political 
views  and  served  in  the  legislature  two  years 
about  1847-1849.  He  died  June  9,  1889.  His 
wife  was  born  at  Truxton,  New  York,  Friday, 
May  5,  1815,  and  died  October  18,  1896.  Her 
children  were  nine  in  number:  John  Frederick 
was  born  Monday,  December  17,  1838, .and  resides 
at  No.  5140  Wabash  Avenue;  Richard  Marian 
was  born  Wednesday,  May  13,  1840,  married 
Hattie  L-  Barker,  at  Chillicothe,  Missouri,  and 
now  resides  at  No.  5140  Wabash  A  venue,  Chicago; 
Francis  M.  is  the  next  in  order  of  birth;  Julia 
Estelle,  born  Saturday,  March  9,  1844,  married 
Henry  T.  Kimmell  December  14,  1865.  Her 
children  are:  George  Alfred,  born  February  i , 
1867,  and  Edna  Estelle,  born  December  3,  1869; 
George  Franklin,  born  Thursday,  March  5,  1846, 
died  August  5,  1893.  He  married  Annie  C. 
Cook,  at  Tiskilwa,  Illinois,  December  22,  1885; 
Oliver  Howell,  born  February  12,  1848,  died 
March  24,  1848;  Helen  Isabella,  born  Saturday, 
August  n,  1849,  married  John  A.  Montague 
October  6,  1873,  an<^  nas  one  child,  Charles  M., 
born  March  23,  1876.  Her  'home  is  at  Niles, 
Michigan,  where  her  husband  is  a  hardware 
dealer;  Mary  Francis,  born  Friday,  November  3, 
1853,  married  Orson  McKay  October  2,  1883. 
Mr.  McKay  is  an  employe  of  the  Santa  Fe  Rail- 
road Company  and  they  reside  at  No.  4735  Evans 
Avenue;  Charles  Alfred,  born  Friday,  February 
8,  1856,  was  married  at  Marshall,  Michigan, 
August  20,  1883,  to  Bertha  Hopkins  Perritt.  He 
is  the  father  of  one  child,  Alfred  Hopkins,  born 
September  6,  1892.  The  family  resides  at  Niles, 
Michigan,  where  C.  A.  Johnson  is  cashier  at  the 
First  National  Bank. 

Francis  Mortimer  Johnson  occupied  himself  at 
the  same  trade  as  his  father  until  sixteen  years  of 
age.  He  enlisted  in  the  army  October  17,  1862, 
in  Company  E,  Twelfth  Michigan  Regiment. 
He  was  sick  a  large  part  of  the  time  and  served 
in  the  reserve  corps  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  for  eight- 
eefi  months.  He  was  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh  and 


his  regiment  was  the  first  one  fired  upon.  He 
was  also  in  battles  along  the  Chickahominy  River. 
November  3,  1865,  he  was  mustered  out  of  serv- 
ice. Mr.  Johnson  was  taken  prisoner  at  Bolivar, 
Tennessee,  but  was  paroled.  After  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War  Mr.  Johnson  located  in  Chicago 
and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Lake  Shore  & 
Michigan  Southern  Railway  Company  and  has 
since  been  occupied  in  the  interest  of  that  con- 
cern. He  entered  as  clerk  in  the  freight  office 
and  remained  in  that  capacity  eighteen  years.  He 
then  took  charge  of  the  out  freight  house  at  Polk 
Street  and  Pacific  Avenue  and  after  eight  years 
was  transferred  to  the  Englewood  east  bound 
freight,  but  at  the  end  of  four  years  this  house 
was  discontinued  and  he  was  returned  to  the  Polk 
Street  house,  where  he  is  at  the  present  writing. 
Mr.  Johnson  was  married  February  15,  1862, 
to  Miss  Marilla  Alwilda  Chipman,  daughter  of 
Holton  and  Lucy  (Hopkins)  Chipman.  Mrs. 
Johnson's  great-grandfather  was  born  in  England, 
and  emigrating  to  America  in  1840,  located  in 
Eugene,  Indiana,  later  removing  to  Bristol,  of 
that  state,  where  he  died  in  1847,  at  the  age  of 
forty- nine  years.  Holton  Chipman  was  born  in 
Vermont,  as  was  also  his  wife.  She  was  married 
in  Ohio  and  died  January  24,  1893.  She  was 
born  April  24,  1809.  Her  children  were  eight  in 
number.  Lucy  Hopkins  married  Caleb  Nash,  of 
South  Bend,  Indiana,  and  their  children  are: 
Alice,  Helen,  Delia  and  Adell;  Philenia  Rosalie 
married  Dr.  J.  N.  Roe,  of  South  Bend,  and 
their  children  are:  Lelia,  Crestus  and  Lennie; 
Rachel  Parthenia  married  John  Brown,  of  Val- 
paraiso, Indiana,  and  their  children  are:  Blanch, 
William  and  Agnes;  Cynthia  Florilla  married 
C.  S.  Payne,  of  Goshen,  Indiana,  and  their  chil- 
ren  are:  Lola,  Hiram,Chauncey,  Emma  and  Mag- 
gie; Austia  lanthe  married  Joseph  F.  Thomas, 
of  Edwardsburg,  Indiana,  and  their  one  child  is 
Ella;  Delia  Alice  married  John  Hudson,  of  Sac- 
ramento, California;  Cassius  Holton  married 
Wealthy  Rouse,  at  Kendallville,  Indiana,  and 
their  one  child  is  Millie;  Marilla  Alwilda  is  the 
wife  of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this  article, 
and  was  born  November  17,  1843,  at  Eugene, 
Indiana. 


L13KAF5Y 

OF  THE 

DIVERSITY  OF  ILLIN 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


r 


1 


MRS.  FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
.^SVERSITV  OF  RUM 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


47 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


j~  RANKLIN  PIERCE,  who  was  a  well-known 
|W  resident  of  Chicago,  was  a  member  of  a  very 
I  old  and  respectable  New  England  family, 
of  English  origin.  From  a  genealogical  history 
of  the  Pierce  family  it  is  learned  that  Capt. 
William  and  Capt.  Michael  Pierce,  brothers, 
were  conspicuous  persons  in  the  early  history  of 
New  England.  Capt.  William  Pierce  was  the 
most  celebrated  master  of  ships  that  came  into 
the  waters  of  New  England  in  the  infancy  of  the 
colonies.  He  was  on  very  intimate  terms  with 
all  the  leading  colonists,  and  a  warm  friend  of 
Winslow  and  Bradford.  He  was  first  noticed  in 
the  early  records  of  the  colony  in  1622,  when  he 
was  master  of  the  '  'Paragon,"  the  owner  of  which 
ship  was  his  brother,  John  Pierce,  of  London, 
England.  In  1623  Capt.  William  Pierce  brought 
over  to  Plymouth  the  "Anne"  with  her  note- 
worthy crew.  In  1624  he  came  in  the  "Charity," 
conveying  Winslow  with  his  cattle,  which  were 
the  first  brought  into  New  England.  In  1625 
he  was  at  Plymouth  in  the  "Jacob,"  again 
bringing  Winslow  and  more  cattle.  In  1629  he 
commanded  the  renowned  "Mayflower,"  and  in 
her  took  a  company  from  Holland  as  far  as  the 
bay,  on  their  way  to  Plymouth.  Jn  February, 
1630,  he  came  with  the  "Lion"  from  Bristol, 
England,  and  brought  sixty  passengers,  includ- 
ing Roger  Williams  and  his  wife,  Mary. 

He  brought  the  first  cotton  into  New  England, 
from  the  West  Indies,  in  1633.  The  records 
show  that  he  owned  a  house  and  lot  in  Boston  in 
1634,  and  in  1636  he  brought  the  first  sweet  po- 
tatoes into  New  England  from  the  West  Indies. 


He  was  shipwrecked  in  1641,  and  found  a  grave 
in  the  sea  which  he  had  navigated  so  long  and 
successfully. 

Capt.  Michael  Pierce,  the  founder  in  America 
of  that  branch  of  the  family  to  which  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  belonged,  was  born  in  England 
about  1615.  He  emigrated  to  America  about 
1645,  and  in  1646  located  in  Hingham,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  removed  to  Scituate,  where  he  lived 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  commissioned 
captain  by  the  colonial  court  in  1669,  and  served 
with  distinction  in  King  Philip's  war,  and  was 
slain  in  battle  in  March,  1676. 

Franklin  Pierce,  whose  name  heads  this  ar- 
ticle, was  of  the  ninth  generation  in  direct  de- 
scent from  Capt.  Michael  Pierce.  He  was  born 
August  16,  1827,  in  Durham,  Greene  County, 
New  York.  His  parents,  Royal  and  Mary 
(Clark)  Pierce,  were  born  in  Durham  and  Athens 
respectively,  in  Greene  County,  New  York. 
Royal  was  a  son  of  Mica  Pierce,  who  was  in 
turn  a  son  of  Jobe  Pierce. 

Royal  Pierce  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  was 
very  successful  in  collecting  this  world's  goods, 
following  this  occupation  for  many  years.  In 
the  year  1854  he  purchased  a  farm  near  Belvi- 
dere,  Illinois,  and  the  year  following  removed  his 
family  from  the  Empire  State  to  this  farm.  After 
ten  years  spent  in  this  location  he  retired  from 
active  life,  and  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years, 
died  in  Belvidere,  April  25,  1878.  His  beloved 
wife  survived  him  until  1888,  and  died  in  the 
eighty-first  year  of  her  life,  at  Winona,  Minne- 
sota. Her  remains  were  brought  to  Belvidere 


48 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


and  interred  beside  her  husband.  The  family 
of  this  worthy  couple  numbered  six,  and  were 
named  as  follows:  Franklin,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch;  Jemima,  who  is  Mrs.  Bartlett,  of  Winona, 
Minnesota;  Wallace,  of  the  last-named  town; 
Marshall,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Union  forces, 
in  the  late  Civil  War,  and  died  in  a  hospital  at 
Nicholasville,  Kentucky;  Mary  Imogene,  who  is 
now  the  wife  of  I,.  B.  Starkweather,  of  Lake 
County,  Illinois;  and  Clark,  who  died  in  the  year 
1861,  inBelvidere,  Illinois. 

Franklin  Pierce  grew  to  manhood  on  his 
father's  farm,  assisting  in  its  culture  during  the 
summer  months,  and  attending  the  district 
school  in  winter.  He  was  a  studious  young 
man,  and  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  to  enable 
him  to  instruct  others,  and  followed  this  profes- 
sion many  years.  At  the  age  of  twenty -three 
years  he  went  to  New  York  City,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  steam -boating  in  the  East  River,  and 
later,  for  one  season,  was  on  the  North  River, 
between  Albany  and  New  York.  He  was  then 
employed  as  fireman  on  the  Troy  &  Schenectady 
Railroad  one  year,  and  later  on  the  Troy  &  Bos- 
ton Railroad. 

April  25,  1853,  at  Troy,  New  York,  Mr. 
Pierce  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Ann 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Gilbert  Curtis  Bristol. 
Mrs.  Pierce  was  born  in  Columbia  County,  New 
York.  After  his  marriage,  Mr.  Pierce  removed, 
with  his  wife,  to  Rutland,  Vermont,  where  they 
remained  two  years.  In  March,  of  the  year 
1855,  Mr.  Pierce  moved  west,  and  was  soon  em- 
ployed by  the  Chicago  &  North-western  Railway 
Company,  as  engineer,  and  his  wife  followed  in 
the  July  succeeding.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
engineers  of  the  now  important  system,  and  ran 
the  first  passenger  train  into  Harvard  Junction. 
After  remaining  in  the  employ  of  this  company 
until  1861,  he  located  on  a  farm  near  Belvidere, 
abandoning  the  same  after  a  few  months.  He  then 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Western  Union  Railroad 
Company  and  had  charge  of  its  shops  at  Savanna, 
Illinois,  for  a  period  of  four  and  one-half  years. 
He  again  entered  the  service  of  the  Chicago  & 
North-western  Railway  Company,  and  for  two 
years  ran  a  steamboat  for  it  on  Lake  Superior , 


after  which  he  was  on  one  of  the  stock  trains  of 
the  company,  remaining  with  the  same  until 
March,  1873.  He  was  large  in  stature  and  of 
fine  personality,  exemplary  in  his  life  and  habits. 
On  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  he  offered  his 
services  to  the  Union  cause,  but  was  rejected  by 
the  medical  examiner.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order,  having  attained  to  the  degree  of 
Knight  Templar,  and  his  remains  were  interred 
with  Masonic  honors.  Mr.  Pierce  was  a  strong, 
athletic  man.  On  one  occasion,  while  engineer 
on  the  Chicago  &  North-western  Railway,  he  saw 
a  man  lying  on  the  track,  fast  asleep.  Unable  to 
stop  the  train  he  rushed  forward  and  taking  a 
secure  position  on  the  cow-catcher  he  reached 
forward  and,  with  one  hand,  threw  the  man  from 
the  track  and  thus  saved  his  life. 

He  then  purchased  an  interest  in  a  flour  mill 
at  Harvard  Junction,  which  interest  he  retained 
four  years.  After  he  sold  this  interest  he  was  a 
number  of  years  engineer  in  the  Air  Line  Ele- 
vator near  the  North-western  depot,  in  Chicago, 
until  the  year  1893.  He  lived  to  the  venerable 
age  of  seventy  years,  and  died  August  19,  1897, 
three  days  after  hisbirthday  anniversary.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Pierce  were  blessed  with  four  children,  three 
of  whom  died  when  infants.  The  only  surviving 
child,  Jennie  Irene,  married  Henry  Millard. 
She  is  a  musician  of  recognized  ability,  being 
able  to  instruct  in  the  art,  as  well  as  a  very  fine 
singer.  She  has  a  daughter,  Marion,  who  has 
inherited  her  mother's  musical  talents  in  a 
marked  degree,  and  is  a  vocalist  of  a  high  order. 

Mrs.  Pierce's  parents  were  Gilbert  Curtis  and 
Ursula  Elizabeth  (Loomis)  Bristol.  The  family 
was  of  English  origin,  and  Mrs.  Pierce  was  born 
in  Columbia  County,  New  York.  Her  grand- 
father was  Israel  Bristol,  and  he  was  married  to 
Anna  Blinn. 

Franklin  Pierce  was  a  Whig  at  the  time  of  the 
existence  of  that  party,  and  afterward  a  Repub- 
lican. He  was  a  prosperous  as  well  as  a  worthy 
man,  and  was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him,  and 
mourned  by  his  family  and  friends  at  his  death. 
His  name  will  long  be  remembered,  and  his 
deeds  of  kindness  and  thoughtfulness  to  his  fel- 
low-creatures were  not  in  vain. 


ISAAC  SCHAFFNER. 


49 


ISAAC  SCHAFFNER. 


«VSAAC  SCHAFFNER,  who  is  a  dealer  in 
cigars  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  comes  of  a 
JL  good  old  German  stock,  whose  descendants 
have  been  known  in  Germany  from  time  far 
back  in  history.  Mr.  Schaffner  has  adopted 
for  his  country  the  Land  of  the  Free,  and  is 
as  loyal  to  it  as  he  is  to  the  memory  of  his 
native  Fatherland.  Nothing  can  erase  the  coun- 
try of  the  Rhine  from  his  mind  and  at  the  same 
time  he  labors  in  the  interest  of  the  free  United 
States.  He  was  born  March  23,  1832,  in  the 
village  of  Eppelsheim,  Hessen-Darmsdat,  Ger- 
many, and  his  parents  were  Abraham  and  Mary 
(Hart)  Schaffner. 

The  paternal  grandfather  of  Isaac  Schaffner 
was  Nathan  Schaffner,  and  his  children  were 
named  Moses  and  Abraham.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  Henry  Hart,  had  eleven  daughters 
and  two  sons.  Abraham  Schaffner  died  in  1857, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  He  was  a  dealer 
in  horses,  cattle  and  grain.  His  widow  died  in 
1865,  at  the  age  of  se vent y- five  years.  The  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abraham  Schaffner  were 
named  as  follows:  Nathan,  Michael,  Yetta,  Solo- 
mon, Jacob,  Lazarus,  Lena,  Moses,  Isaac  and 
Barbara. 

Solomon  Schaffuer  was  the  first  of  his  father's 
family  to  emigrate  from  their  native  land,  and 
arrived  in  America  in  1839.  He  located  in  Man- 
chester, Ohio,  and  later  removed  to  Cleveland. 
He  settled  in  Chicago  in  1871,  and  died  here  in 
1883.  He  married  Henrietta  Schwab,  who  sur- 
vived until  1894.  Their  children  were  named: 
Joseph,  Nathan,  Caroline,  Henry,  Abraham, 
Rachel  and  Clarence. 

Lazarus  and  Moses  were  the  next  of  the  family 
to  come  to  America,  arriving  in  1845.  They 


located  in  Reedsburg,  Ohio,  and  Lazarus  died 
there  in  1848,  unmarried.  Moses  removed,  a 
short  time  later,  to  Warsaw,  Ohio,  where  he  re- 
sided twenty-two  years,  before  he  came  to  Chica- 
go. Here  he  established  himself  in  business  and 
died  about  ten  years  since.  He  married  Miss 
Fannie  Joseph,  and  their  children  are  named: 
Minnie  H.,  Abraham  J.,  Nettie  J.,  Hannah  R. 
and  Morris.  One  child,  Harvey  N.,  is  deceased. 
The  family  is  residing  at  No.  459  Forty-fifth 
Street. 

Isaac,  Michael  and  the  sister,  Yetta,  were  the 
next  to  come  to  America,  and  reached  New  York 
in  September,  1847.  They  located  in  Reedsburg, 
Ohio.  Michael  remained  two  years  and  then 
changed  his  location  to  Richland  County,  Ohio, 
and  still  later  to  Summit  County,  and  conducted 
a  store  at  Randolph  until  1877,  when  he  died. 
He  married  Mollie  Hahn,  and  their  children 
were:  Abraham,  Henry,  Nathan  and  Fyetta. 

Yetta,  sister  to  Isaac  Schaffner,  married  Nathan 
Becker,  having  removed  to  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
They  located  in  Warsaw  and  subsequently  re- 
moved to  Chicago,  where  she  died  in  October, 
1895.  Her  children  were  named:  Rachel,  Viola 
and  Abraham  G.,  the  latter  now  residing  at  No. 
5132  East  End  Avenue.  The  father,  Nathan 
Becker,  resides  with  his  daughter,  Rachel,  at 
No.  4911  Grand  Boulevard. 

Nathan,  another  of  the  sons  of  Abraham 
Schaffner,  came  to  America  in  1864,  and  located 
immediately  in  Chicago.  He  conducted  a  meat 
market,  and  married  Hannah  Baum.  Their 
children  were  named:  Herman,  Bertha,  Yetta, 
Simon,  Solomon,  Lena,  Ida,  Paulina  and  Ada. 
Yetta,  Simon  and  Ida  are  the  only  ones  living  at 
the  present  writing,  Simon  residing  at  No.  307 


J.  L.  UBELLAR. 


Clareniont  Avenue.  Nathan  Schaffuer  died  No- 
vember 14,  1892.  His  wife  died  September  28, 
1890. 

After  Isaac  Schaffner  had  lived  in  Reedsburg, 
Ohio,  two  years. he  went  to  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
where  he  remained  two  years.  He  was  a  clerk 
there  and  subsequently  a  commercial  traveler 
two  years.  He  then  located  in  Warsaw,  Ohio, 
and  opened  a  general  merchandise  store  at  that 
place.  He  went  into  business  with  his  brother, 
Moses,  the  firm  name  being  Schaffner  Brothers. 
They  conducted  the  business  from  1855  until 
1875  and  then  sold  out  to  Clark  &  Bucklin.  On 
his  arrival  in  Chicago,  in  1875,  Mr.  Schaffner 
dealt  in  horses  one  year.  He  then  went  to  work 
for  Hart  Brothers  two  years,  and  was  subse- 
quently in  the  fur  business  three  years.  He  was 
in  the  bank  of  Henman,  Schaffner  &  Company 
until  the  year  1893,  when  he  started  in  the  cigar 
business.  He  is  doing  a  brokerage  business,  and 
has  made  a  success  from  the  start  to  the  present 
day. 

Mr.  Schaffner  built  a  residence  at  No.  6613 
Michigan  Avenue  in  1892.  He  married  Miss 
Yetta  Hecht,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Caroline 
(Schwab)  Hecht,  August  2,  1868.  Mrs.  Schaff- 


ner was  born  May  9,  1842,  in  the  village  of 
Weimerschmitten,  Bavaria,  Germany,  and  came 
to  America  in  1862.  Her  brother,  David  Hecht, 
emigrated  from  his  native  land  in  1855  and  lo- 
cated in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  died  in  California 
August  12,  1883.  He  was  born  August  17,  1840. 
He  conducted  a  business  in  Cleveland  and  in  St. 
Marys,  California.  He  was  married,  but  had  no 
children.  Mrs.  Schaffner' s  paternal  grandparents 
were  David  and  Rebecca  Hecht.  Their  children 
were:  Abraham,  Alexander,  Matilda,  Esther, 
Caroline,  Rosa,  Sarah,  Emanuel,  Simon,  Joseph 
and  Herman. 

Mrs.  Schaffner's  mother  died  in  1886,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-five  years.  Her  children  were: 
Caroline,  Solomon,  Moses,  Alexander,  Henry, 
Yetta,  Lena  and  Rachel. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Isaac  Schaffner 
are:  Albert,  David  Hecht,  Maud  Violet  and 
Erma.  Mr.  Schaffner  was  made  a  Mason  in 
Warsaw  Lodge  No.  255,  and  served  as  senior 
warden.  He  never  cared  particularly  to  hold 
public  office,  but  occupied  the  position  of  treas- 
urer of  the  local  township  where  he  resided  for 
one  term.  He  votes  and  argues  in  favor  of  the 
principles  of  the  Democratic  party. 


JAMES  L.  UBELLAR. 


(I  AMES  LINCOLN  UBELLAR.  Among  the 
I  youngest  and  most  prominent  of  prac- 
Q)  ticing  dentists  in  the  city  of  Chicago  who 
has  a  promising  future  before  him,  is  James  L. 
Ubellar.  He  was  born  March  12,  1866,  at  No. 
753  West  Lake  Street,  Chicago.  For  ancestry 
see  biography  of  C.  G.  Ubellar,  in  this  work. 

James  L.  Ubellar  received  an  ample  education 
and  is  a  highly  refined  and  intelligent  man,  of 
good  standing  among  those  of  his  profession  and 
held  in  deep  regard  by  all  with  whom  he  comes 


in  contact.  He  attended  school  in  Chicago  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  twelve  years,  after  which 
time  he  was  at  school  in  Kankakee,  Illinois.  He 
later  attended  the  business  college  of  Bryant 
&  Stratton  three  months.  He  began  a  course  in 
the  Chicago  College  of  Destal  Surgery  in  1887, 
finishing  the  course  March  25,  1890.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1889,  he  took  a  state  examination  and  at 
once  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
He  is  now  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  Union 
Dental  College  of  Chicago. 


ALEXANDER  SYMONS. 


Mr.  Ubellar  was  married  March  5,  1885,  to 
Miss  Jennie  Louise,  daughter  of  William  H.  and 
Jane  (Lee)  Hamilton.  Mrs.  Ubellar  was  bom 
in  New  York.  Mr.  Ubellar  is  a  Mason,  being 
affiliated  with  Englewood  Lodge.  He  is  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason,  having  taken  the  degrees  in  Kan- 
kakee  Chapter,  and  is  a  member  of  Ivanhoe 


Kankakee,  Illinois.  He  is  one  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  and  he,  with  his  wife,  is 
connected  with  the  Eastern  Star  Lodge  of  Kan- 
kakee. Mr.  Ubellar  is  not  actively  engaged  in 
politics,  but  is  in  sympathy  with  the  principles 
of  the  Republican  party.  He  is  one  of  the  rising 
young  men  of  the  present  day,  and  his  value  is 


Commandery     No.    33,     Knights    Templar,    of     recognized  generally  by  the  public  and  his  friends. 


ALEXANDER  SYMONS. 


(31  LEXANDER  SYMONS.  Among  the  en- 
I  I  terprising  citizens  of  our  United  States,  and 
/  |  those  who  gain  a  name  for  themselves  among 
the  people  of  the  country  they  adopt,  many  are 
of  foreign  birth  and  immigrate  to  the  Land  of  the 
Free  for  the  purpose  of  taking  advantage  of  its 
opportunities,  which  are  not  equalled  in  any 
other  country  on  the  globe.  Though  we  boast 
inhabitants  of  all  races,  the  most  sturdy  and  ener- 
getic of  all  are  those  of  Scotch  lineage.  Of  this 
people  of  the  Highlands  who  located  in  the  great 
metropolis  of  the  west,  Alexander  Symons  is  one 
of  the  most  respected  and  highly  honored.  He 
was  born  December  20,  1828,  in  the  town  of 
Rothiemay,  BanSshire,  Scotland,  and  is  a  son  of 
James  and  Margaret  (Block)  Symons. 

John  Symons,  father  of  James  Symons  and 
grandfather  of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this 
article,  served  in  the  English  army,  and  died  in 
1809,  aged  about  thirty-five  years.  He  married 
Anna  Currie,  and  their  only  children  were  James 
and  John.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Alexan- 
der Symons,  John  Watt,  was  the  father  of  Alex- 
ander, John,  Margaret  and  some  other  children, 
of  whom  record  cannot  now  be  obtained. 

James  Symons  was  born  June  20,  1800,  in 
Banffshire,  Scotland.  He  died  in  June,  1876,  and 
his  remains  were  interred  at  Rothiemay,  Scotland. 
He  was  a  stone  mason  and  worked  as  a  journey- 


man and  contractor.  The  mother  of  Alexander 
and  the  first  wife  of  James  Symons  died  when 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  Alexander  being  her  only 
child.  James  Symons  married  for  his  second 
wife  Jane  McRobbie,  and  their  children  were: 
Annie  (William,  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two  years),  John,  James,  Isabel,  Jane,  George 
and  Robert.  Annie,  Jane,  John  and  James  came  to 
America,  but  returned  again  to  their  native  land. 

Alexander  Symons  was  the  first  of  his  father's 
family  to  emigrate  from  Scotland,  and  reached 
Illinois  in  November,  1857.  He  located  in  Lock- 
port,  on  a  farm  near  the  towu  of  that  name,  and 
for  seven  years  worked  in  the  interests  of  another 
man,  receiving  a  salary.  In  the  spring  of  the 
year  1865  he  removed  to  Grand  Crossing  and 
purchased  two  and  one-half  acres  of  land  border- 
ing on  Langley  Avenue,  Seventy-fourth  Street 
and  Champlain  Avenue.  He  built  a  residence  at 
this  time,  and  in  1895  erected  his  present  resi- 
dence at  No.  7410  Langley  Avenue.  From  1864 
to  1873  Mr.  Symons  was  employed  at  Oakwoods 
Cemetery  and  was  then  given  charge  of  the  Paul 
Cornell  School  building,  being  in  the  same  posi- 
tion at  the  present  writing. 

Mr.  Symons  took  for  his  life  partner,  on  April 
9,  1859,  Miss  Jane  Storms,  daughter  of  James 
Storms  (for  further  mention  of  the  ancestry  of 
Mrs.  Jane  (Storms)  Symons,  see  biography  of 


ANTON  TEMPEL. 


James  Storms,  on  another  page  of  this  work). 
Mrs.  Symons  was  born  February  12,  1836,  in 
Urquhart,  Murrayshire,  Scotland.  The  children 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Symons  are  five  in  number,  two 
having  died  while  still  very  young.  James 
Storms,  the  eldest,  resides  at  No.  7424  Langley 
Avenue  and  follows  the  occupation  of  painter; 
John  resides  in  West  Pullman,  at  the  corner  of 
One  Hundred  Twenty-first  Street  and  Emer- 


ald Avenue;  Annie  married  James  A.  Martin,  a 
clerk  in  the  South  Town  Assessor's  office,  and 
resides  at  No.  7425  Champlain  Avenue;  Alexan- 
der, who  is  a  carpenter,  and  Margaret  are  at 
home  with  their  parents. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Symons  are  among  the  valued 
and  influential  members  of  the  Ingleside  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  and  he  upholds  the  politi- 
cal principles  of  the  Republican  party. 


ANTON  TEMPEL, 


GlNTON  TEMPEL,  now  living  retired  at 
|  1  his  pleasant  home,  No.  1022  North  Hal- 
/|  sted  Street,  is  an  old  resident  of  Chicago. 
He  was  born  May  2,  1830,  in  Steinheim,  Prov- 
ince of  Westphalia,  Prussia.  He  received  his 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
place,  after  which  he  served  four  years'  apprentice- 
ship at  cabinet-making,  at  which  he  worked  un- 
til he  emigrated  to  America.  In  the  spring  of 
1852  he  sailed  from  Hamburg  on  the  "Marquis 
of  Queensbury,"  an  English  vessel,  and  after 
nearly  eight  weeks  on  the  voyage  he  was  landed 
at  New  York.  On  his  arrival  he  spent  about  two 
years  in  New  York  and  Connecticut,  working  at 
his  trade.  In  the  spring  of  1854  he  was  joined 
at  New  York  by  his  brothers,  William  and 
Christian  Tetnpel,  and  all  three  continued  west 
to  Chicago.  After  one  year  at  carpenter  work 
he  opened  a  small  fruit  store  at  the  corner  of 
Sherman  and  Van  Buren  Streets.  He  continued 
three  years  at  this  location  and  then  removed  to 
North  Clark  Street  and  continued  in  the  same 
business.  Early  in  the  year  1861  Mr.  Tempel 
removed  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  there  estab- 
lished a  fruit  and  grocery  business.  He  served 
for  a  short  time  in  the  Missouri  militia,  during 
the  Civil  War,  but  owing  to  poor  health  was 
obliged  to  secure  a  substitute.  He  spent  a  year 


in  New  Orleans  previous  to  the  war.  He  lived 
in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  seven  years,  and  on  his 
return  to  Chicago  opened  a  store  on  Twelfth 
Street.  In  1873  he  removed  to  South  Water 
Street  and  continued  in  the  commission  business 
until  1 88 1,  when  he  retired  from  active  business 
life  to  enjoy  a  much-needed  and  well-earned  rest. 
During  his  business  career  he  was  successful  in 
all  his  undertakings,  being  naturally  of  an  ener- 
getic character  and  bound  to  profit  by  his  efforts. 

Though  he  never  held  public  office,  Mr.  Tempel 
voted  for  the  representatives  of  the  Democratic 
party,  believing  that  this  was  the  most  worthy  of 
handling  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Tempel 
married,  in  1861,  Miss  Katheriue  Kohle,  a  native 
of  Prussia.  Mrs.  Tempel,  who  had  proved  her- 
self a  very  worthy  helpmate  and  a  noble  wife, 
passed  beyond  the  border  in  March,  1895.  Mr. 
Tempel  is  a  very  valuable  and  prominent  member 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Franz  Tempel,  the  father  of  Anton,  was  a 
bookbinder  by  occupation  and  a  man  of  consider- 
able education  and  prominence.  He  served  as  a 
soldier  in  the  Prussian  army  and  fought  against 
Napoleon.  He  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife 
was  Mary  Stidl,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 
Anton,  whose  name  introduces  this  article,  and 
William,  whose  biography  appears  on  another 


PHIUP  KUSSEL. 


53 


page  of  this  work.  After  the  death  of  his  first 
wife  he  married  Elizabeth  Laraers.  To  this  union 
seven  children  were  born,  namely:  Christian; 
Clements,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Union  army, 
and  lost  his  life  in  the  Civil  War;  Julius,  Frank, 
John;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  a  Mr.  Bebee  of  Chicago; 


and  Mary,  deceased.  The  mother  of  this  family 
died  in  Prussia  in  1866,  and  the  following  year 
Anton  visited  his  native  land,  and  when  he  re- 
turned brought  with  him  his  father  and  the  re- 
maining members  of  the  family.  Franz  Tempel 
died  in  Chicago  in  1869. 


PHILIP  KUSSEL, 


|"^  HllyIP  KUSSEL.  This  gentleman,  a  retired 
yf  wholesale  grocery  merchant  of  Chicago,  is  a 
[3  prominent  representative  of  those  German- 
American  citizens  who  have  achieved  success  by 
industry,  good  judgment  and  legitimate  business 
methods.  Of  a  lithe  physical  constitution,  active 
mind,  vivacious  disposition  and  perfect  suavity  of 
manner,  he  has  always  enjoyed  the  esteem  of 
many  friends.  His  success  in  life  has  been  in  a 
great  measure  due  to  these  qualities. 

Mr.  Kussel  was  born  November  n,  1827,  near 
Bingen  on  the  Rhine,  Germany,  the  city  made 
famous  by  an  eminent  English  author  in  that 
beautiful  poem  entitled  "Bingen  on  the  Rhine." 
He  is  the  eldest  son  of  John  and  Sophie  (Schmuck) 
Kussel,  natives  of  that  section  of  Germany.  By 
occupation  his  father  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  and 
a  baker.  As  he  grew  up  he  received  a  good  pri- 
mary education  in  the  place  of  his  nativity,  after- 
ward supplementing  this  by  a  commercial  course, 
and  completing  this  at  a  comparatively  early  age. 
When  about  fifteen  years  of  age  he  entered  an 
apprenticeship  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Bin- 
gen and  served  four  years.  He  remained  a  year 
after  the  term  of  his  apprenticeship  had  expired, 
filling  the  position  of  clerk  and  receiving  a  salary. 

During  the  troublous  period  of  1848,  when  a 
national  revolution  was  attempted,  he  found  it 
difficult  to  procure  a  satisfactory  position,  and 
thinking  the  opportunities  for  promotion,  or  to 
rise  through  his  own  individual  efforts,  were  not 


good,  he  determined  to  cast  his  lot  with  the 
people  of  the  New  World.  Accordingly,  he  took 
passage  June  9  of  that  year  on  a  sailing  vessel 
at  Havre,  bound  for  the  United  States,  and 
thirty  days  later  arrived  in  New  York,  where, 
according  to  previous  arrangement,  he  was  to 
meet  a  friend  coming  over  in  another  vessel  from 
the  Old  Country.  Although  his  friend  set  sail 
at  the  same  time,  he  was  a  month  later  in  finish- 
ing the  voyage.  After  his  arrival  they  remained 
in  New  York  City  about  four  weeks,  hoping  to 
find  employment  there,  but  failed.  The  friend, 
in  despair,  abandoned  the  hope  of  finding  a  posi- 
tion as  clerk  and  decided  to  learn  the  baker's 
trade,  while  Mr.  Kussel  remained,  still  deter- 
mined to  search  longer  for  a  position  in  the  mer- 
cantile line  or  return  to  Germany,  having  brought 
money  with  him  for  that  emergency. 

At  length  he  too  was  about  to  succumb  to  de- 
spair, when  he  was  advised  by  the  German  so- 
ciety to  go  farther  west.  Accordingly  he  started, 
with  the  intention  of  locating  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
On  his  way  he  stopped  a  few  days  in  Albany  and 
also  in  Rochester,  New  York,  and  on  his  arrival 
in  Buffalo,  in  August,  he  was  so  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  appearance  of  that  place  and 
with  its  business  outlook  that  he  decided  to 
locate  there.  He  spent  two  months  in  that  city, 
devoting  most  of  his  time  to  the  study  of  the 
English  language,  under  the  instruction  of  a 
private  tutor,  and  in  this  time  his  progress  was 


54 


PHILIP  KUSSEL. 


so  great  that  lie  could  converse  in  English  to 
some  extent.  He  obtained  a  position  as  clerk  in 
a  small  grocery  store  and  attended  night  school 
for  a  period  of  two  months,  after  which  he  con- 
tinued in  the  same  position  and  in  the  evenings 
instructed  his  employer's  children  in  the  German 
language. 

After  seven  months  he  obtained  a  more  satis- 
factory position  in  a  larger  store  on  Main  Street 
and  was  employed  there  for  fifteen  months.  On 
the  expiration  of  this  time  he  secured  a  position 
in  a  grocery  and  general  store  as  bookkeeper  and 
confidential  clerk.  Desiring  to  see  more  of  the 
country,  he  decided  to  go  farther  west,  but  as 
there  were  no  railroads  west  of  Buffalo  at  that 
time,  the  trip  had  to  be  made  by  steamboat,  and 
as  navigation  was  not  yet  open,  he  was  detained 
in  the  city,  during  which  time  he  was  employed 
in  assisting  to  compile  the  city  directory.  The 
work  was  being  done  by  the  publishing  house  of 
Jewett,  Thomas  &  Company,  who  were  also  pub- 
lishers of  the  Commercial  Advertiser  and  were 
wholesale  dealers  in  stationery  and  printers'  sup- 
plies. On  completion  of  the  directory  work  the 
firm  gave  him  a  position  as  salesman  in  their 
stationery  and  printers'  material  department. 

In  1852,  when  he  desired  to  see  the  west,  the 
firm  suggested  that  he  carry  their  samples  and 
solicit  orders  for  them,  and  should  he  fail  in  find- 
ing a  suitable  place  to  locate,  he  should  continue 
in  their  employ.  Remaining  in  the  service  of 
the  company  he  returned  to  Buffalo.  The  next 
year  he  again  went  west  to  Chicago,  with  the 
same  understanding  as  on  the  former  trip.  On 
his  arrival  in  the  city  he  was  more  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  place,  and  decided  to  remain. 
Here  he  was  employed  for  six  months  by  Allan 
Vane  &  Company,  a  commission  firm  on  South 
Water  Street.  Meanwhile  he  became  acquainted 
with  Gage  &  Haines  on  South  Water  Street,  who 
afterward  did  him  a  favor  by  recommending  him 
as  worthy  of  credit.  While  in  the  employ  of 
Allan  Vane  &  Company  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Fred  Fischer,  of  the. firm  ofSatterley, 
Cook  &  Company,  wholesale  grocers,  and  fre- 
quently spent  his  evenings  in  their  office.  These 
associations  doubtless  assisted  him  to  decide  as 


to  his  future  avocation.  Having  informed  Mr. 
Fischer  of  his  intention  of  starting  a  grocery 
business,  that  gentleman  gave  him  every  encour- 
agement and  sold  him  his  first  bill  of  goods.  He 
had  saved  up  a  few  hundred  dollars  with  which, 
through  the  recommendation  of  Allan  Vane  & 
Company  and  Gage  &  Haines,  he  was  enabled  to 
buy  a  well-assorted  stock  of  goods. 

About  this  time  he  was  joined  by  his  brother, 
Christian,  and  they  ojened  a  grocery  store  on 
West  Madison  Street,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Kussel  Brothers.  From  the  start  the  business 
prospered  even  beyond  their  expectations  and 
they  made  money  rapidly.  Two  years  later  they 
opened  another  store,  at  the  corner  of  Randolph 
and  Clinton  Streets,  and  conducted  the  two  stores 
one  year.  They  then  rented  a  store  building  at 
No.  236  East  Randolph  Street  and  began  a 
jobbing  trade.  Christian  Kussel  conducted  the 
store  at  the  corner  of  Clinton  Street,  while  Philip 
Kussel  attended  to  that  on  East  Randolph  Street. 
The  business  grew  so  rapidly  that  two  years  later 
they  removed  to  No.  208  East  Randolph  Street. 
At  this  time  they  were  carrying  a  stock  of  about 
sixty  thousand  dollars.  The  next  year  they  re- 
moved to  No.  191  South  Water  Street,  and  con- 
fined their  operations  to  the  wholesale  trade. 

June  9,  1866,  the  store  was  consumed  by  fire 
and  they  suffered  a  total  loss.  They  wound  up 
their  business,  intending  to  resume  operations 
again  in  the  same  building.  Rebuilding  was  con- 
siderably delayed  and  the  next  autumn  they 
bought  out  Bennett  &  Gregory,  wholesale  gro- 
cers, at  No.  58  South  Water  Street;  but  in  one 
year  they  found  their  business  had  outgrown  the 
capacity  of  their  space  accommodations  and 
bought  out  Boynton  &  Leek,  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  South  Water  Street  and  Michigan  Ave- 
nue, where  they  had  a  very  large  establishment 
for  that  day,  in  fact  one  of  the  most  complete  of 
the  kind  in  the  city.  They  continued  business 
at  this  location  until  Ma}-,  1871,  when  they  re- 
moved to  No.  97  South  Water  Street,  but  while  en- 
gaged here,  in  October  following,  the  great  con- 
flagration caused  them  a  heavy  loss.  Immedi- 
ately after  that  fire  they  opened  temporarily  on 
Canal  Street. 


R.   M.  JOHNSON. 


55 


Purchasing  a  lot  at  No.  135-137  South  Water 
Street,  they  built  the  house  which  now  stands 
there,  and  in  October,  1872,  moved  into  it.  They 
continued  there  until  May,  1887,  when,  owing 
to  the  failing  health  of  the  senior  partner,  they 
closed  business  and  rented  the  store;  and  since 
that  time  both  brothers  have  lived  retired. 

In  his  political  views,  Philip  Kussel  was  in 
early  life  a  Whig  and  since  the  dissolution  of 
that  party  he  has  been  steadily  a  Republican, 
and  has  always  kept  himself  well  informed  on 
the  questions  of  the  day.  His  taste,  as  well  as 
the  nature  of  his  business,  has  always  forbidden 
a  position  in  public  office.  Since  retiring  from 
trade  he  has  spent  nearly  two  years  in  his  native 
land  and  has  also  traveled  extensively  in  the 
United  States. 

In  September,  1855,  Mr.  Kussel  visited  Ger- 
many, remaining  until  March,  1856,  and  while 


there  persuaded  his  father  to  sell  out  and  emi- 
grate to  the  United  States.  In  October,  1856, 
he  again  went  to  Germany,  and  on  his  return  was 
accompanied  by  his  parents  and  sister.  They 
arrived  at  New  York  December  31,  1856.  His 
father  died  here  in  1886,  aged  ninety-one  years, 
and  his  mother  in  1881,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
eight  years.  His  eldest  sister,  Mary,  also  died 
in  Chicago,  in  December,  1866.  In  the  year 
1857  h-e  built  the  residence  on  Madison  Street, 
which  he  sold  in  1872.  In  1870  he  purchased  a 
residence  on  Michigan  Avenue  near  Fourteenth 
Street  and  made  that  his  home  for  seventeen 
years. 

Knowing  how  to  enjoy  life,  Mr.  Kussel  im- 
proves the  opportunity  before  it  is  too  late,  as  is 
the  case  with  many  business  men,  and  he  well 
merits  the  rest  he  is  now  taking  in  the  evening  of 
life.  He  has  never  married. 


RICHARD  M.  JOHNSON. 


RICHARD    MARION  JOHNSON,    who    is 
chief  engineer  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway 
Company,    and   has   charge   of  the   power 
house  of  that  company  at  the  corner  of  Fifty-sec- 
ond and  State  Streets,  has  had  many  and  varied 
experiences  in  railroad  life.     Born  May  13,  1840, 
he  is  a  son  of  Alfred  Wells  and  Dezire  (Howe) 
Johnson.     For  further  mention  of  the  ancestry  of 
R.  M.  Johnson  note  the  biography  of  Francis  M. 
Johnson,  on  another  page  of  this  work. 

Richard  M.  Johnson  lived  with  his  parents 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  thirteen  years  and 
then  was  taken  for  a  time  by  his  grandfather 
Howe,  but  returned  to  his  father's  roof  when  he 
was  nineteen  years  old.  He  learned  the  carpen- 
ter's trade,  being  with  his  father  three  years  at  the 
same.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  in  the  army 
one  year,  entering  in  1862.  The  next  year  he 


returned  to  Chicago  and  in  the  winter  of  1863 
went  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  and  was  employed  on  a 
bridge  which  was  being  made  by  the  American 
Bridge  Company.  He  then  went  to  Quincy, 
Illinois,  where  he  was  fireman  on  an  engine  on 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad  Com- 
pany. After  one  year  with  that  company  he  be- 
came hostler  from  Brookfield,  Missouri,  on  the 
Hannibal  &  St.  Joe  Railroad.  He  held  this  po- 
sition one  year,  subsequent  to  which  time  he  was 
engineer  for  that  concern  eleven  years,  and  from 
1867  to  1877;  during  this  time,  he  was  on  a  pas- 
senger engine.  He  returned  to  Chicago  at  the 
end  of  this  time,  and  until  the  spring  of  1880  was 
engineer  for  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany. 

Entering  the  service  of  the  Chicago  City  Rail- 
way Company,  he  was  engineer  on  one  of  the 


WILLIAM  BAGNALL. 


dummies  that  ran  from  Thirty-ninth  Street,  on 
Cottage  Grove  Avenue,  into  the  city  proper. 
Since  1887  he  has  had  charge  of  the  power  house 
and  has  been  chief  engineer. 

R.  M.  Johnson  was  married  January  i,  1868, 
to  Harriett  Leslie,  daughter  of  Thomas  Fisher 
and  Frances  (Lewis)  Barker.  Mrs.  Johnson  was 
born  May  13,  1848,  at  Walkersville,  Missouri. 
Their  one  child  is  an  adopted  one,  and  her  name 


is  Lottie  May.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order,  being  identified  with  Cameron 
Chapter  No.  67,  and  Vincil  Lodge  No.  63.  He 
is  a  member  of  Robert  Fulton  Association  No. 
28,  National  Association  of  Stationary  Engineers. 
Though  never  active  in  politics,  he  does  not  miss 
an  opportunity  to  vote  in  favor  of  the  Democratic 
party  and  is  strong  in  his  arguments  for  the  up- 
holding of  the  party. 


WILLIAM  BAGNALL 


BAGNALL  was  born  in  1831, 
in  New  Castle-Upon-Tyne,  England.  He 
was  reared  in  his  native  town,  obtaining  a 
common-school  education.  He  early  learned 
the  trade  of  carpenter  and  builder,  serving  an 
apprenticeship  of  six  years. 

In  this  he  was  engaged  until  nearly  nineteen 
years  of  age  and,  in  1850,  with  two  companions, 
he  ran  away  from  home,  with  a  trip  to  Australia 
in  view.  Owing  to  financial  straits  incurred  by 
the  spending  of  too  much  money  while  in  the 
city  of  Liverpool,  they  decided  on  emigrating  to 
America.  They  took  passage  for  New  York  on 
the  sailing  vessel,  "Mary  &  John,"  and  after  a 
tempestuous  voyage  of  seven  weeks,  the  ship 
landed  this  small  party  in  the  American  harbor. 
Mr.  Bagnall  was  employed  by  one  man  for  two 
years,  at  his  trade,  while  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  He  was  married  about  this  time,  while 
in  this  city,  to  Miss  Hannah  Tynd,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  year  1853.  He  removed  shortly  after, 
with  his  wife,  to  the  city  of  Chicago,  where  he 
took  up  his  trade  on  his  own  responsibility  for 
some  time. 

This  business  not  proving  profitable,  owing  to 
the  failure  of  a  man  for  whom  he  erected  a  build- 
ing, he  sought  work  at  his  trade  in  Iowa,  but  not 


finding  a  satisfactory  location,  he  returned  to 
Chicago.  Eventually  he  took  a  trip  to  New 
York,  from  thence  to  Jersey  City,  and  here  es- 
stablished  a  business  for  himself,  remaining  until 
1862.  During  this  time  he  erected  buildings  for 
the  Marion  Building  Association,  in  Marion, 
New  Jersey. 

In  October,  1862,  Mr.  Bagnall  was  actively  in- 
strumental in  the  organization  of  a  company  of 
men  numbering  one  hundred  and  ten,  succeeding 
in  getting  them  together  in  three  and  one- 
half  days,  for  the  Civil  War,  which  was  then  in 
progress.  He  marched  with  the  company  to 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  from  which  city  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 
This  body  of  men  was  given  the  name  of  Com- 
pany B,  Twenty-first  New  Jersey  Infantry.  Al- 
though he  was  tendered  a  captain's  commission, 
Mr.  Bagnall  declined,  owing  to  his  lack  of  knowl- 
edge regarding  military  matters,  and  went  into 
the  ranks.  The  company  went  from  Washing- 
ton to  Frederick,  Maryland,  and  became  incor- 
porated in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Baker- 
ville.  It  was  affixed  to  the  Sixth  Army  Corps, 
Third  Brigade  of  the  Second  Division,  and  par- 
ticipated in  many  hard-fought  engagements, 
among  which  a  few  are  mentioned:  Two  days 


WILLIAM  BAGNALL. 


57 


battle  at  Antietam  and  three  days  battle  of 
Fredericksburg,  under  Burnside,  after  which 
came  the  event  known  to  all  soldiers  who  par- 
ticipated in  the  same  as  "Burnside'sMad  March." 
This  company  then  fought  in  the  battle  of 
Chancellorsville,  the  corps  taking  Mary 's'Heights, 
and  in  the  fight  of  three  days'  length,  Colonel 
Van  Houten  was  killed,  and  Captain  Kendall  of 
the  company  lost  a  leg.  Orderly  Sergeant 
Hathaway  was  one  of  the  number  of  men  who 
were  lost  in  this  battle. 

The  next  battle  participated  in  by  this  company 
was  at  Gettysburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  which 
many  were  killed,  Mr.  Bagnall  receiving  a  severe 
wound  through  a  musket  ball  entering  his  left 
leg.  At  Chancellorsville  he  was  wounded  by  a 
saber,  in  the  hands  of  a  rebel  soldier,  thrust  into 
his  right  shoulder,  at  his  third  refusal  to  sur- 
render. Three  comrades  and  himself  were  sepa- 
rated from  the  command  and  one  was  killed,  but 
only  eight  of  the  assailants  escaped,  however. 
After  the  siege  at  Gettysburg,  Mr.  Bagnall  was 
in  hospital  from  the  results  of  the  bullet  wound 
in  his  leg,  and  at  his  return  to  duty  was  assigned 
a  position  on  private  duty  as  assistant,  serving 
as  such  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  At 
'Boonesborough  Mr.  Bagnall  fell  ill  and  upon 
asking  for  food  at  a  farm  house,  was  given  the 
same  and  was  not  allowed  to  pay  anything  for 
it.  The  farmer  told  him  that  General  Lee 
had  mustered  four  of  his  sons  into  service, 
and  if  Mr.  Bagnall  was  to  come  across  any  of 
them  and  do  them  a  favor,  the  debt  would  be 
considered  cancelled.  At  Fredericksburg,  Mary- 
land, he  saw  a  young  man  that  resembled  the 
farmer  in  feature,  and  when  he  called  him  by  the 
same  name  (Redding),  he  found  him  to  be  the 
only  living  one  of  the  sons,  the  rest  having  been 
killed.  Mr.  Bagnall  suggested  a  plan  for  the  re- 
lease of  the  young  man,  and  before  his  return 
home  from  the  war  he  received  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Redding,  senior,  which  contained  the  thanks  of 
the  father  and  a  cordial  invitation  to  Mr.  Bagnall 
to  make  them  an  extended  visit  to  their  home. 

At  Fredericksburg  a  rebel  sharpshooter  was 
lodged  in  a  tree,  dealing  death  in  the  shape  of 
sure-aimed  bullets  to  the  Union  soldiers,  and  Mr. 


Bagnall  was  requested  by  his  division  com- 
mander, General  Howe,  to  station  himself  in  a 
position  to  shoot  the  rebel.  He  received  fire 
three  times,  one  shot  clipping  a  lock  of  his 
hair.  He  then  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  man, 
and  after  one  shot  from  his  weapon,  quiet  reigned 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  said  tree.  He  was  an  ex- 
pert shot  and  at  Fredericksburg,  when  his  corps 
was  about  to  storm  Mary's  Heights,  he  saw  a 
rebel  sharpshooter  aiming  and  making  ready  to 
fire  on  General  Howe.  Not  having  time  to  secure 
his  gun,  he  called  sharply  to  the  general,  causing 
the  latter  to  start  suddenly,  thereby  changing 
his  position  and  the  bullet  whizzed  past,  the 
life  of  the  general  having  been  saved  by  Mr. 
Bagnall's  prompt  action. 

Mr.  Bagnall  was  discharged  at  the  close  of  the 
war  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  after  serving  three 
years  and  nine  months  in  the  cause  of  the  right. 
He  returned  to  his  business  as  carpenter  and 
builder  at  Jersey  City,  following  the  same  until  the 
year  1872,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago  and  en- 
tered the  commission  business  on  South  Water 
Street.  He  was  successfully  engaged  in  the  same 
for  a  period  of  eighteen  years,  and  in  1890  he 
established  a  business,  with  his  son,  William, 
in  the  manufacture  of  cigars,  continuing  in  the 
business  up  to  the  present  date  and  making  a 
financial  success.  The  name  of  the  firm  was 
originally  Bagnall  &  Company,  but  was  later 
changed  to  Bagnall,  Diaz  &  Company.  A  very 
extensive  business  is  conducted  in  the  city  and 
the  same  is  represented  in  other  cities  by  travel- 
ing salesmen.  Previous  to  the  insurrection  in 
Cuba,  the  firm  purchased  largely  of  Cuban 
tobacco,  and  has  made  a  specialty  in  high-grade 
work  on  choice  brands  of  tobacco. 

Mr.  Bagnall  is  a  member  of  General  George 
A.  Custer  Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  in 
which  he  is  post  surgeon,  which  position  he  has 
filled  for  many  years.  To  Mr.  Bagnall  were 
born  three  children:  William  J.;  Annie,  now 
Mrs.  Frederick  Wetherel,  of  Memphis,  Ten- 
nessee; and  one  daughter  who  died  in  New  Jer- 
sey, aged  eight  years.  Mr.  Bagnall  is  a  son  of 
James  and  Abigail  (Hughes)  Bagnall,  the  former 
a  native  of  England  and  the  latter  of  Irish  de- 


PHILIP  KROECK. 


scent.  The  remotest  of  the  ancestors  which  can 
be  traced  of  the  family  of  Mr.  Bagnall  came  from 
Normandy  to  England,  with  William  the  Con- 
queror. Sir  William  Bagnall,  a  member  of  the 
English  peerage,  was  a  direct  descendant  of  that 
noted  general. 

James  Bagnall  was  a  son  of  James  Bagnall, 
senior,  and  Belle  Bagnall.  James  Bagnall, 
junior,  was  a  traveling  buyer  for  a  dry-goods 
house  and  died  at  the  age  of  forty  years,  when 
his  son,  William,  was  ten  years  of  age.  Mrs. 
James  Bagnall,  mother  of  the  man  whose  name 


heads  this  article,  immigrated  to  America  and 
died  in  Jersey  City.  The  family  of  Hughes  was 
from  the  northern  part  of  England,  and  the  men 
were  tillers  of  the  soil. 

William  Bagnall  has  proven  himself  a  stanch 
Republican  and  has,  since  his  majority  was 
reached,  taken  a  vast  interest  in  the  principles  of 
the  party  and  of  all  public  matters.  In  Jersey 
City  he  was  judge  of  election  seven  terms.  He 
has  acted  the  part  of  a  just  man  at  the  polls  and 
is  recognized  as  a  worthy  and  highly  honored 
citizen. 


PHILIP  KROECK. 


P  KROECK,  an  old  soldier  and  pio- 
yr  neer  of  Chicago,  is  a  native  of  Guesen, 
[3  Hessen-Darmsdat,  Germany.  He  was  born 
May  10,  1837,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Kathe- 
rine  Elizabeth  (Rinu)  Kroeck.  John  Kroeck 
was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  and  the  father  of  Jacob, 
Louis  and  Philip  Kroeck.  In  1861,  on  April 
14,  John  Kroeck,  with  his  family,  sailed  for  the 
United  States  on  the  steamer  "Brahmen,"  and 
landed  in  New  York  May  i .  On  the  sixth  the 
family  arrived  at  Chicago  and  John  Kroeck  died 
here  May  18,  1863,  and  Mrs.  Kroeck,  his  beloved 
wife,  died  March  12,  1889.  January  24,  1867, 
Louis,  the  second  son  of  John  Kroeck,  died  also. 
Philip  Kroeck,  the  man  whose  name  heads 
this  article,  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  land  and  after  leaving  school  learned 
the  trade  of  a  cigar-maker,  serving  a  three  years' 
apprenticeship.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  years 
he  joined  the  Second  Regiment  of  Infantry  of 
Hesseu-Darmsdat,  and  served  three  years.  After 
coming  to  Chicago  he  worked  at  his  trade  in  the 
employ  of  Beck  &  Worth,  who  were  located  at 
No.  14  South  Clark  Street.  He  was  thus  em- 


ployed until  August  8,  1862.  On  the  event  of 
Lincoln's  second  call  for  troops  he  enlisted 
August  8,  1862,  in  Scripps  Guard  and  participated 
in  many  engagements.  After  the  fall  of  Gettys- 
burg they  spent  much  time  looking  after  guerril- 
las. He  was  under  General  McPherson  for  some 
time,  and  after  his  death  he  was  under  General 
Howard.  Mr.  Kroeck  never  flinched  in  the  time 
of  danger  and  was  valued  as  a  well-trained 
soldier  and  a  man  with  a  cool  head.  He  was 
never  wounded  nor  taken  prisoner  and  was  mus- 
tered out  at  Washington,  May  18,  1865. 

After  leaving  the  army  Mr.  Kroeck  returned 
to  Chicago  and  accepted  a  position  with  Beck  & 
Worth,  who  were  then  located  at  No.  95  Water 
Street.  He  continued  in  the  service  of  this  con- 
cern until  they  went  out  of  the  cigar  business. 
He  subsequently  became  employed  by  Heller  & 
Mower,  on  Madison  Street,  and  after  one  year 
occupied  thus,  he  started  in  business  for  himself 
at  No.  401  North  Clark  Street,  where  he  built  up 
a  profitable  trade.  He  was  burned  out  by  the 
great  fire  of  1871,  losing  all  his  possessions  or,  to 
use  one  of  Mr.  Kroeck's  expressions  on  the  sub- 


J.  F.   JOHNSON. 


59 


ject,  "Everything  was  burned  except  my  debts." 
After  the  fire  he  continued  his  former  business  on 
the  West  Side,  locating  at  No.  360  West  Twelfth 
street,  and  remained  there  until  May,  1872,  when 
he  returned  to  the  North  Side. 

He  opened  at  No.  753  Wells  Street  and  was  lo- 
cated at  this  number  for  some  years.  In  1876  he 
started  a  saloon  at  the  corner  of  Wells  Street  and 
Lincoln  Avenue  and  continued  a  profitable  busi- 
ness until  1884,  when  he  built  his  present  busi- 
ness block  and  continued  his  former  business  until 
1890  and  since  that  time  has  lived  in  comparative 
retirement.  Mr.  Kroeck  voted  for  Lincoln  while 
he  was  in  Georgia  and  has  since  that  time  sup- 
ported the  Republican  party.  He  is  a  member  of 


the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  also 
the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

February  4,  1866,  Mr.  Kroeck  was  married  to 
Miss  Marie  Tiegler,  who  was  born  in  Germany. 
Their  children  are:  Katherine,  who  is  the  wife 
of  Henry  Wagner;  Carl  and  Marie.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kroeck  were  married  by  that  old  and  vener- 
able member  of  the  ministry,  Dr.  Hartman, 
and  has  attended  the  church  wherein  this  worthy 
man  preached,  since  the  date  of  his  marriage. 
Mrs.  Kroeck  passed  out  of  this  life  July  16, 
1896.  She  was  mourned  by  many  friendsas  well 
as  doubly  missed  by  her  relatives.  Her  memory 
is  held  in  deepest  respect  by  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  her  genial  nature. 


JOHN  F.  JOHNSON. 


(JOHN  FREDERICK  JOHNSON,  who  was 
I  one  of  the  first  men  connected  with  the  Chi- 
G)  cago  City  Railway  Company,  rose  from  a 
mere  clerical  position  to  the  one  of  great  respon- 
sibility which  he  now  holds.  He  has  succeeded 
through  his  own  energies  and  merits  this  and 
much  more.  He  was  born  December  17,  1838, 
in  Niles,  Michigan.  For  ancestry,  see  biography 
of  F.  M.  Johnson,  on  another  page  of  this  volume. 
Mr.  Johnson  was  educated  in  Niles,  Michigan, 
attending  school  until  he  reached  the  age  of  six- 
teen years.  October  i,  1854,  he  obtained  a  posi- 
tion in  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  freight 
office,  remaining  until  1862.  For  a  short  time 
subsequently  he  was  employed  with  John  Berry, 
and  in  1863  he  entered  the  freight  office  of  the 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad  Company,  changing 
later  to  the  service  of  the  Merchants'  Union  Ex- 
press Company  until  1868,  when  he  was  employed 
by  the  American  Express  Company.  December 


of  the  year  1869  he  became  clerk  for  the  Chicago 
City  Railway  Company,  and  after  seven  years  in 
that  capacity  was  six  years  treasurer  and  secre- 
tary. Since  1881  he  has  been  in  the  president's 
office  as  assistant  auditor  and  fills  the  position  to 
the  complete  satisfaction  of  all  interested. 

He  has  proven  in  all  circumstances  a  compe- 
tent, energetic  and  trustworthy  man  and  has 
gained  the  admiration  of  all  who  have  come  in 
contact  with  his  fresh,  genial  mind,  whether  in 
one  surrounding  or  another. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  are  the  parents  of  two 
children,  who  have  done  credit  to  the  rear- 
ing they  received  and  to  the  family  name,  which 
has  never  known  a  tarnish.  Frank  Rollo  was 
born  December  2,  1862,  in  Harris  Township, 
Elkhart  County,  Indiana.  More  extended  no- 
tice of  him  appears  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 
Ernest  Mortimer  was  born  March  23,  1866,  and 
has  also  space  on  another  page  of  this  volume. 


6o 


HENRY  ACKHOFF. 


Though  never  an  office  seeker,  Mr.  Johnson  is 
interested  very  deeply  in  the  welfare  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  in  whose  interest  he  casts  a  vote  at 
all  favorable  opportunities.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Royal  Arcanum. 

Mr.  Johnson  erected  a  residence  at  No.  5817 


Wabash  Avenue  in  the  spring  of  1882.  This  was 
the  first  house  in  the  locality,  and  the  nearest 
house  to  it  at  that  time  was  on  State  Street.  The 
family  is  one  of  the  well-known  and  honored  ones 
of  the  community,  and  each  member  is  a  credit 
to  the  neighborhood  in  which  they  reside. 


HENRY  ACKHOFF. 


HENRY  ACKHOFF,  who  is  now  living  re- 
tired, is  a  member  of  a  very  old  and  pio- 
neer Germany  famity.  He  was  born  in 
Hanover,  Germany,  November  14,  1830,  and  is 
a  son  of  Claus  Eckhoff,  which  was  the  original 
spelling  of  the  name,  but  was  changed  by  Isaac 
Cook,  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislature. 

Claus  Eckhoff  was  twice  married,  Henry  being 
of  the  first  family.  His  mother  died  when  Henry 
was  a  small  boy  and  subsequent  to  his  father's 
second  marriage,  the  family,  then  including  three 
children,  started  in  June,  1834,  from  Bremen,  in 
a  sailing  ship,  and  landed  in  New  York  in  Au- 
gust of  the  same  year.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation  and  was  an  old  soldier,  having 
fought  in  the  Battle  of  Waterloo.  Mr.  Eckhoff 
was  possessed  of  some  means  and  on  his  arrival 
in  the  United  States  his  objective  point  was  Texas, 
but  not  getting  his  just  dues  from  land  sold  in 
his  native  country,  he  was  obliged  to  locate  in 
Chicago. 

The  family  spent  one  year  in  New  York  State, 
during  which  time  Mr.  C.  Eckhoff  visited 
Georgia,  remaining  there  the  entire  winter.  In 
the  summer  of  1835  he  went  to  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  remained  one  year,  and  came  to  Chicago 
in  1836.  His  first  work  was  on  the  old  canal, 
and  in  the  summer  of  1837  he  cut  a  large  quan- 
tity of  hay  for  Mr.  Gage.  He  was  a  few  years 
superintendent  of  the  Brunster  Reservation,  and 
early  in  1844  purchased  eighty  acres  of  that  land, 
which  was  in  Niles  Township  and  was  heavily 


timbered,  and  later  bought  forty  acres  of  prairie 
land,  now  in  Jefferson  Township,  from  the  gov- 
ernment at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents 
per  acre.  He  moved  his  family  to  this  location 
the  same  year  and  cleared  a  fine  farm,  where  he 
built  a  residence  and  lived  the  remainder  of  his 
days,  dying  in  1874,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine 
years,  six  mouths  and  sixteen  days.  He  was  a 
Democrat  previous  to  1856,  but  at  the  formation 
of  the  Republican  party  became  an  upholder  of 
its  principles.  His  wife  survived  him  until  1893. 

The  children  of  Claus  Eckhoff  were  six  in 
number.  John  and  Henry  were  the  offspring  of 
the  first  wife,  and  the  former  served  until  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War  in  Company  K,  Eighty- 
ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  is  now 
deceased.  Caroline,  wife  of  C.  Seegers;  George 
J.,  deceased;  Katharine,  deceased,  and  two  that 
died  in  infancy  were  children  of  his  second  wife. 

Henry  Ackhoff  enjoyed  but  limited  educational 
advantages,  having  attended  a  school  but  about 
two  months.  Since  the  extremely  youthful  age 
of  eight  years  he  has  been  self-sustaining.  While 
he  was  at  home,  on  winter  evenings,  a  Mr. 
Bartlett,  an  instructor,  taught  him  the  rudiments 
of  an  education  and  whatever  else  he  learned  he 
got  by  untiring  devotion  to  books  without  the 
aid  of  anyone.  He  is  in  the  truest  sense  of  the 
expression  a  "self-made  man."  While  still  a 
small  boy  he  worked  for  Mr.  Cook  and  until  the 
age  of  twenty,  subsequent  to  this  time,  he  worked 
for  his  father.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  paid  one 


NICHOLAS  SCHNITZIUS. 


61 


hundred  fifty  dollars  for  the  privilege  of  embark- 
ing on  the  sea  of  life  for  his  own  interests.  He 
immediately  engaged  in  the  enterprise  of  buying 
and  selling  wood,  produce  and  grain  of  all  kinds, 
and  was  very  successful.  He  had  much  talent 
for  business  and  was  a  natural  trader. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-two  years  he  engaged  as 
fireman  on  the  Chicago  &  North-western  Rail- 
way, the  Galena  division.  In  1855,  having  ac- 
quired some  knowledge  of  the  carpenter's  trade, 
he  began  contracting  for  building  and  erected  a 
residence  on  Halsted  Street,  where  he  conducted 
a  boarding  house.  This  was  a  success  financially 
and  he  began  investing  in  real  estate,  but  the 
crash  of  1857  nearly  ruined  him.  In  1861  he 
started  a  catering  establishment  at  the  corner  of 
Halsted  Street  and  Milwaukee  Avenue.  In 
1862  he  purchased  land  at  Nos.  208  and  210 
North  Halsted  Street  and  erected  a  double  house 
for  a  tenement.  In  1865  he  started  a  grocery 
store  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Halsted  Street 
and  Milwaukee  Avenue,  which  he  conducted 
profitably  several  years.  He  sold  out  in  1880 
and  retired  from  business. 

Mr.  Ackhoff  has  been  engaged  in  political 
matters  to  some  extent.  In  1866  he  was  elected 
alderman  for  the  Eleventh  Ward,  now  the 
Seventeenth  Ward.  In  1869-70  he  was  super- 
visor for  the  town  of  West  Chicago,  and  from 


1885  to  1889  was  superintendent  of  the  North- 
west Postal  Station,  during  the  first  administra- 
tion of  President  Cleveland.  His  first  presidential 
vote  was  cast  in  favor  of  Franklin  Pierce,  and  he 
supported  the  candidates  of  the  Democratic  party 
up  to  the  time  of  the  election  of  President  Mc- 
Kinley.  In  local  politics  Mr.  Ackhoff  does  not 
strictly  adhere  to  any  party,  but  casts  his  vote  for 
the  man  who,  according  to  his  opinion,  is  best 
fitted  to  serve  the  people.  He  has  always  taken 
a  commendable  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
country  and  his  home  city. 

Mr.  Ackhoff  is  a  member  of  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
lass Council  No.  66,  National  Union,  and  Fort 
Dearborn  Lodge  No.  214,  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows. 

In  1852  he  married  Mary  Seegert,  a  native  of 
Germany.  Of  the  six  children  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ackhoff  two  are  deceased.  Those  still  in 
the  land  of  the  living  are:  Henry  W.,  Louise, 
Mary  and  Charles  F.  The  mother  died  in  1872. 
Mr.  Ackhoff  is  a  man  of  strong  convictions,  and 
on  all  occasions  has  the  courage  of  his  convic- 
tions. He  is  as  fearless  in  his  advocacy  of  right 
as  he  is  in  his  denunciation  of  wrong.  In  his 
dealings  he  is  strictly  honorable  and  in  the 
legitimate  channels  of  trade  has  won  success,  and 
is  spending  the  evening  of  his  life  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  handsome  competence. 


NICHOLAS  SCHNITZIUS. 


lOlCHOLAS  SCHNITZIUS  is  a  very  old  set- 
Py  tier  of  Chicago  and  has  been  engaged  in  the 
I  Is  cooperage  business  several  years.  He  was 
born  in  Mosal,  Prussia,  September  19,  1833,  an<^ 
is  a  son  of  Mathias  and  Katherine  Schnitzius, 
both  of  whom  died  in  their  native  land,  she  in 
1842  and  he  in  1893.  Mathias  Schnitzius  was 
nearly  ninety  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  de- 
cease. Nicholas  Schnitzius  came  of  a  very  old 


German  stock,  his  ancestors  having  been  German 
as  far  back  as  is  traced  to-day. 

He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  his  native 
town  and  assisted  his  father  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  farm  and  growing  grapes  and  making  wine. 
He  was  thus  occupied  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
eighteen  years,  when  he  began  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  cooper,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  three 
years.  In  the  fall  of  the  year  1854  he  left  the 


62 


J.  S.  SYMONS. 


Fatherland  and  embarked  from  Antwerp  in  a 
sailing  vessel  bound  for  New  York.  After  ten 
weeks  spent  on  the  ocean  he  was  landed  and  went 
directly  to  Ontario,  Canada,  arriving  at  the  sus- 
pension bridge  on  Christmas  day. 

For  five  months  he  worked  at  his  chosen  trade 
in  the  village  of  Chippewa,  which  is  five  miles 
from  Niagara  Falls.  From  this  locality  he  re- 
moved to  Merrittsville,  where  he  remained  two 
years.  In  August  of  the  year  1857  he  came 
west  to  Chicago  and  worked  two  years  for  a 
brick  mason,  for  the  small  salary  of  seventy-five 
cents  per  day.  He  went  to  Evansville,  Indiana, 
and  worked  in  that  town  two  years,  after  which 
period  he  returned  to  Chicago.  At  this  time  the 
West  Side  was  being  built  up  to  some  extent  and 
for  some  years  he  was  employed  to  work  in  that 
section  of  the  city.  In  1881,  however,  he  estab- 
lished a  business  for  himself  on  Burling  Street, 
and  two  years  later  purchased  property  at  Nos. 
803  and  805  North  Halsted  Street,  and  built  a 


shop  for  his  own  use.  At  this  place  he  carried 
on  a  profitable  business  and  it  is  still  increasing. 

Mr.  Schnitzius  has  visited  his  native  land  three 
times,  once  in  1871,  again  in  1872,  and  returned 
there  in  1893,  when  his  father  died.  He  is  still 
in  possession  of  the  old  homestead  in  the  Father- 
land. He  is  a  sympathizer  with  the  principles  of 
the  Democratic  party  but  has  never  sought  favor 
from  the  public  in  the  form  of  an  office. 

August  28,  1858,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Angeline  Klein,  a  native  of  the  same  town  as 
himself,  in  Germany.  Of  the  four  children  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schnitzius  but  two  are  still  in 
the  land  of  the  living,  Martin  and  Fritz.  The 
latter  is  a  druggist  in  Austin,  Illinois.  Mr. 
Schnitzius  is  a  highly  respected  and  valuable 
member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  He 
was  a  comparatively  poor  man  when  he  came  to 
America  and  deserves  much  credit  for  his  perse- 
verance and  success,  which  came  to  him  entirely 
through  his  own  efforts. 


JAMES  S.  SYMONS. 


(I  AMES  STORMS  SYMONS.  Among  the 
I  most  enterprising  and  energetic  of  the  busi- 
O  ness  men  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  one  of 
the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Brookline.is  James 
Storms  Symons.  He  was  born  January  17,1860, 
in  L,ockport,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Alexander 
Symons.  For  further  mention  of  his  ancestors 
see  biography  of  Alexander  Symons  in  this  work. 
J.  S.  Symons  attended  school  in  Woodlawn  and 
also  at  the  Cornell  School,  but  left  school  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years  to  enter  the  world  of  experi- 
ence and  labor.  He  began  to  learn  the  trade  of 
painting  with  John  L.  Storms,  and  after  five 
years  with  him  entered  the  Wilson  Sewing  Ma- 
chine factory  at  Grand  Grossing.  He  occupied 
a  position  in  the  ornamenting  room  one  year, 
and  was  two  years  in  the  trimming  room.  He 


was  subsequently  employed  by  different  people 
at  painting,  and  was  three  years  with  the  Michi- 
gan Central  Railroad  Company,  doing  special 
painting.  He  spent  some  time  working  as  jour- 
neyman, and  then  began  to  contract  for  his  own 
interests  and  is  thus  employed  at  the  present  time, 
being  associated  with  J.  B.  Storms.  His  work 
has  always  given  complete  satisfaction,  and  he  is 
looked  upon  by  all  as  an  honest,  upright  man  in 
all  matters  pertaining  to  business  or  social  prin- 
ciples. 

On  May  2,  1889,  Mr.  Symons  was  married  to 
Helen  R.  Whiles,  a  daughter  of  Edward  Winles, 
the  latter  being  a  native  of  New  York  state.  Mr. 
Symons  is  not  an  active  politician,  but  upholds 
the  Republican  party  at  every  favorable  op- 
portunity. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

.'IVERSITY  OF  ILLIN 


JACOB  GROSS 


JACOB  GROSS. 


JACOB  GROSS. 


/1ACOB  GROSS,  who  lives  in  retirement,  in 
I  his  pleasant  and  luxurious  home  at  No. 
@)  1730  Deming  Place,  has  resided  in  Chicago 
since  1855.  He  was  at  one  time  connected  with 
one  of  the  largest  banking  and  real-estate  firms 
in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  in  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  all  duties  or  trusts  imposed  upon  him 
and  the  life  of  industry  which  he  has  led,  has  justly 
earned  all  his  honors.  Whether  as  a  brave  soldier 
or  an  able,  ambitious,  public  servant,  he  has  ever 
shown  himself  a  gentleman  and  that  fact  has  thor- 
oughly established  him  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
Jacob  Gross  was  born  February  n,  1840,  in 
Jacobsweiler,  Rhenish  Bavaria,  Germany,  and  is 
a  son  of  Henry  and  Barbara  (Lotz)  Gross. 
Henry  Gross  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  died 
when  Jacob  was  but  thirteen  years  old.  He  and 
his  good  wife  had  four  children,  namely:  Kath- 
arine (now  deceased) ;  Gertrude,  now  Mrs.  Adam 
Miller,  Henry  and  Jacob,  of  this  article.  The 
mother  died  in  Richton,  Cook  County,  Illinois,  in 
1860.  In  May,  1855,  Mrs.  Gross  with  her  four 
children  sailed  from  Havre,  in  the  sailing  ship 
"Elizabeth,"  and  twenty-eight  days  later  landed 
in  New  York.  They  came  directly  to  Chicago, 
arriving  July  i . 

Jacob  Gross  was  well  educated  in  the  parish 
school  of  his  native  place  and  after  coming  to 
Chicago  attended  Brown's  School,  on  the  West 
Side,  and  passed  a  credible  examination  for  the 
high  school;  but  did  not  enter.  He  learned  the 
trade  of  tin-smith,  at  which  he  served  a  reg- 
ular apprenticeship,  and  afterwards  worked  six 


months  as  journeyman.  He  then  went  to  Rich- 
land  and  was  clerk  in  the  store  of  his  brother-in- 
law  until  the  Civil  War  broke  out.  In  August, 
1862,  he  enlisted  for  service  in  the  Union  Army, 
joining  Company  B,  Eighty-second  Illinois  Volun- 
teer Infantry.  He  served  continuously,  partici- 
pating in  many  of  the  hardest -fought  battles  of 
the  war,  until  May  25,  1864,  when  he  was 
severely  wounded,  at  the  battle  of  New  Hope 
Church,  Georgia,  by  a  rifle  ball,  which  so  shat- 
tered the  bones  of  his  right  leg  that  amputation 
became  necessary.  He  lay  in  a  hospital  in  Chat- 
tanooga until  February,  1865,  when  he  was 
honorably  discharged  in  Chicago,  February  14, 
1865.  In  1866  he  was  appointed  deputy  police 
clerk  and  served  two  years,  and  was  elected 
West  Town  collector  for  three  terms.  He  was 
then  elected  in  1872  clerk  of  the  circuit  court, 
and  was  twice  re-elected  and  served  until  1884, 
when  he  was  elected  state  treasurer  and  served 
one  term  of  two  years.  He  has  always  been  a 
Republican  and  has  attended  state  conventions 
and  other  gatherings  since  he  became  a  citizen. 
In  1883  he  became  a  member  of  the  banking 
firm  of  Felsenthal,  Gross  &  Miller,  which  was 
made  a  state  bank  in  1891.  After  serving  as 
state  treasurer  he  became  actively  engaged  in  the 
bank  and  was  vice-president  until  1896,  when, 
owing  to  failing  health,  he  resigned  and  has 
since  lived  in  retirement.  Mr.  Gross  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Lessig  Lodge  No.  557,  Ancient  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  also  Columbia  Post  No.  708, 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 


SARGENT  FIELD. 


October  20,  1870,  he  married  Miss  Emma 
Schade,  a  native  of  New  York,  but  of  German 
parentage.  They  became  the  parents  of  three 
children,  namely:  Mamie,  now  Mrs.  William 


Falk,  William  H.  and  Flora.  The  family  is  con- 
nected with  St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  among  the  congregation  of  which  each 
one  is  highly  honored. 


SARGENT  FIELD. 


(ej  ARGENT  FIELD.  Among  the  foremost  of 
7\  the  citizens  of  our  United  States  are  those 
Vi/  men  who  can  relate  a  history  reaching  back 
to  the  time  that  their  ancestors  were  among  the 
early  settlers  of  the  colonies.  They  inherit  stur- 
diness,  ambition  and  love  of  country  in  almost 
every  case.  In  removing  westward  in  the  early 
days  of  the  western  part  of  the  country,  they  fur- 
ther proved  their  interest  in  the  welfare  and  growth 
of  the  nation.  Sargent  Field  could  boast  a  lineage 
of  which  any  man  might  be  proud.  From  the 
fact  that  his  father  was  born  in  the  town  of  Sur- 
rey, New  Hampshire,  in  1765,  is  shown  that  his 
people  were  among  the  early  pioneers  of  the  col- 
onies. 

Sargent  Field  was  born  June  25,  1802,  in 
Peacham,  Vermont,  a  son  of  Nathan  and  Hepzi- 
bah  Field.  His  father  removed  to  Peacham  in 
1788,  and  in  1794  became  an  active  and  valuable 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  that 
section,  with  which  body  he  was  connected  until 
his  death.  Nathan  Field  was  a  sincere  Christian 
and  endeavored  to  rear  his  children  in  the  paths 
of  right.  His  children  were:  Sargent;  Ann 
Eliza,  who  married  Milo  Lodgett;  Charles  and 
Nathan,  who  lived  in  Neponset,  Illinois.  His  wife 
died  August  16,  1857,  aged  eighty  years,  and  was 
buried  in  Hardwick.  November  10,  1859,  his  own 
death  followed,  after  he  had  reached  the  remark- 
able age  of  ninety-four  years  and  three  months. 

In  1856  Sargent  Field,  with  his  family,  moved 
westward,  remaining  a  short  time  in  Chicago, 
but  settling  in  Ashkum,  Illinois.  He  conducted 


a  hotel  in  this  town  for  one  year,  and  subsequent- 
ly became  a  tiller  of  the  soil  near  that  town,  and 
continued  in  this  occupation  until  1862,  when  he 
removed  to  Grand  Crossing.  He  traded  his  farm 
to  Paul  Cornell  for  an  acre  and  one-half  of  land 
lying  between  Cottage  Grove  and  Drexel  Ave- 
nues and  making  the  southeast  corner  of  Cottage 
Grove  Avenue  and  Seventy -third  Street.  Mr. 
Cornell  had  removed  a  house  from  the  corner  of 
Sixtieth  Street  to  this  location,  and  a  part  of  the 
house  is  still  standing.  This  was  the  first  resi- 
dence in  this  section. 

Mr.  Field  was  married  May  14,  1829,  in  Hard- 
wick,  Vermont,  to  Sarah  Bailey,  daughter  of 
John  and  Abigail  (Bailey)  Cobb.  She  was  born 
February  4,  1809,  in  Hardwick,  and  died  Octo- 
ber 28,  1863,  and  was  buried  in  Rosehill  Cem- 
etery. The  children  of  John  Cobb  were  as  fol- 
lows: Florilla,  who  married  Paris  Coates;  Sarah, 
Mrs.  Field;  and  Abigail,  who  married  Charles 
Field.  Florilla  removed  westward  and  lived  in 
Chicago,  and  her  son,  Calvin  Coates,  is  still  in 
the  city. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sargent  Field  were  the  parents 
of  five  children:  Charles  Porter,  the  eldest,  born 
April  21,  1831,  married  Miss  Charity  Elizabeth 
Hudson,  and  removed  west  three  years  before 
his  father.  He  located  in  Chicago,  but  returned 
east  and  settled  in  Brooklyn  in  1864.  He  had 
no  children  and  died  September  12,  1879,  and 
was  buried  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  Orville  Jenson  Field,  the  second 
child  of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this  article, 


CAPT.  J.  MACAULEY. 


was  born  May  21,  1834,  and  married  Cecelia  Em- 
eline  Orcutt.  He  settled  in  Chicago  in  1863, 
died  March  29, 1889,  and  his  remains  were  interred 
in  Oakwood  Cemetery.  His  children  are  as  fol- 
lows: William,  who  is  in  Chicago;  Sarah  Elvi- 
rah,  Mabel  and  Louisa. 

John  Cobb  Field,  born  May  26,  1839,  married 
Sarah  McCombie  and  came  to  Chicago  with  his 
father,  Sargent  Field.  He  removed  to  Kansas 
in  1871,  returned  to  Chicago  in  1893,  and  died 
March  2,  1894.  His  children  are:  Frederick, 
William  and  Minnie  Estelle.  Sarah  Aurora 
Field  was  born  January  7,  1842,  in  Peacham, 
Vermont,  and  was  married  November  3,  1864,  to 
Charles  Augustus  Boughton.  He  was  a  son  of 
William  Boughton,  of  New  Jersey,  and  was  born 
July  13,  1841.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C. 
A.  Boughton  were  named  as  follows:  Anna 
Luella,  Charles  Herbert,  Eugene,  Helen  Eliza, 


Edna  Aurora,  who  died  at  the  age  of  four  months; 
and  Clifford  LeRoy.  Alvah  Eugene  Field  was 
born  November  6,  1849,  and  January  13,  1873, 
was  married  to  Isabella  Storms.  The  children 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  E.  Field  were:  Arthur  Sar- 
gent, Esther  Aurora,  Isabella  Irene  and  Lily.  Of 
these,  the  son,  Arthur,  is  the  only  one  living. 
A.  E.  Field  is  the  proprietor  of  a  grocery  store  at 
the  corner  of  Seventy-third  Street  and  Cottage 
Grove  Avenue. 

Sargent  Field  was  a  man  of  noble  and  refined 
character  and  was  an  influential  and  valued  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  a  strict 
upholder  of  the  principles  and  interests  of  the 
Republican  party  and  for  eight  years  held  the 
office  of  sheriff  of  Caledonia  County,  Vermont. 
He  died  July  n,  1863,  and  was  buried  in  Rose- 
hill  Cemetery.  His  loss  was  mourned  by  his 
many  friends  and  relatives. 


CAPT.  JOHN  MACAULEY. 


EAPT.  JOHN  MACAULEY  was  born  July 
13,  1829,  at  Rathfriland,  County  Down,  Ire- 
land, and  was  the  second  son  of  John   Mac- 
auley,    a   carpenter  and  resident  of  [that  town. 
His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Patrick 
Brigharu,  a  resident  of  Rathfriland,  of  Scottish 
ancestry. 

John  Macauley,  senior,  became  convinced  that 
the  Western  Hemisphere  offered  better  induce- 
ments to  industry  than  his  native  land,  and  in 
1847  he  came  with  his  family  to  the  United 
States,  landing  in  New  York  May  22.  He  re- 
mained in  that  city  until  1853,  when  he  removed 
to  Chicago,  where  both  he  and  his  wife  died  in 
1860,  the  former  surviving  the  latter  only  one 
day.  One  funeral  served  for  both,  and  both  were 
interred  in  the  same  grave  at  Graceland  Ceme- 
tery. Each  had  attained  the  age  of  seventy-six 


years.  They  were  the  parents  of  three  sons  and 
three  daughters,  namely:  Mary  Ann,  Susannah, 
Margaret,  George,  John  and  William. 

John  Macauley,  in  common  with  his  brothers 
and  sisters,  was  educated  in  private  schools  in  his 
native  town,  and  he  acquired  the  trade  pursued 
by  his  father.  This  trade  afforded  him  occupa- 
tion and  a  livelihood  until  the  year  1858,  when 
he  was  appointed  a  detective  on  the  police  force 
of  the  city  of  Chicago.  He  continued  in  this  serv- 
ice twenty  years,  with  the  exception  of  a  short 
period  during  the  Civil  War,  when  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  secret  service  of  the  United  States 
government  in  the  south.  In  this  arduous  serv- 
ice he  had  many  narrow  escapes.  On  one  occa- 
sion, while  in  pursuit  of  his  duty  in  Kentucky, 
he  was  pursued  by  several  mounted  men  and  was 
shot  at  seven  times,  one  bullet  tearing  a  hole 


66 


AUGUSTUS  BAUER. 


through  his  saddle.  In  1878  he  resigned  from 
che  police  force  and  lived  a  life  of  quiet  retire- 
ment until  his  demise,  which  occurred  February 
10,  1898.  His  body  was  deposited  in  Graceland 
Cemetery  with  Masonic  honors.  Rev.  J.  A.  Rond- 
thaler,  assisted  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rusk,  officiated 
at  the  funeral. 

Mr.  Macauley  was  made  a  Mason  in  1863,  in 
Kilwinnig  Lodge  No.  311,  Chicago,  and  sub- 
sequently became  a  life  member  of  that  body. 
He  was  among  the  faithful  members  of  the  Ful- 
lerton  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  and  acted  in 
political  matters  with  the  Republican  party.  He 
was  a  great  lover  of  rifle  shooting  and  was  cap- 
tain of  the  Englewood  and  Lake  View  Rifle 
Clubs.  Among  his  trophies  were  three  gold 
medals,  won  in  contests  in  marksmanship.  In 
disposition,  Mr.  Macauley  was  very  generous 
and  he  died  as  did  the  father  of  the  Scottish  bard, 
"owing  no  man  a  penny." 

He  was  married  on  Wednesday,  June  22,  1859, 
to  Miss  Emily  A.  Shrigley,  in  Chicago.  Mrs. 
Macauley  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Emily 
(Knight)  Shrigley.  John  Shrigley  was  an  Eng- 


lishman by  birth,  and  came  to  America  in  his 
youth,  locating  in  Chicago  in  1832.  One  year 
later  he  was  followed  by  his  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren, whom  he  had  left  in  Vermont,  where  he 
was  married.  In  the  early  history  of  Cook 
County  he  served  as  its  sheriff  and  was  keeper 
of  the  county  jail.  He  died  August  15,  1853, 
and  his  remains  were  buried  in  Graceland  Ceme- 
tery. He  was  born  November  22,  1802,  in  the 
parish  of  Saddleworth,  Yorkshire,  England.  His 
wife,  Emily  Adaline  Knight,  was  born  May  7, 
1801,  in  Dumuierston,  Windham  County,  Ver- 
mont, and  was  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  Knight,  a 
paper  and  woolen  manufacturer  of  Dummerston. 
Her  mother,  Emma  Perry,  was  a  relative  of  the 
famous  commodore,  whose  exploits  on  the  inland 
lakes  won  a  proud  portion  of  American  history. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Macauley  were  the  parents  of 
three  children:  Rollin  Parker,  Emily  Adaline 
and  Harriet  Mae.  The  son  married  Miss  May 
Bullard,  of  Sterling,  Illinois.  They  have  three 
beautiful  boys,  John  Chester,  Julian  Mannington 
and  Kenneth  Rich.  Emily  A.  Macauley  became 
the  wife  of  Elmer  Hill,  of  Chicago. 


AUGUSTUS  BAUER. 


GJUGUSTUS  BAUER,  an  early  resident  of 
I  I  Chicago  who  was  many  years  conspicuous 
/  I  in  the  business  and  social  life  of  the  city, 
was  a  native  of  Germany  and  received  the 
thorough  business  training  which  is  vouchsafed 
to  every  artisan  in  that  country.  He  was  born 
June  16,  1827,  in  Offenbach,  near  the  capital 
city  of  Frankfort,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  Bauer. 
The  father  being  a  teacher,  young  Bauer  had 
especially  advantageous  opportunities  for  obtain- 
ing an  education,  opportunities  which  he  im- 
proved to  the  utmost,  being  industrious  and  apt 
as  a  student.  After  completing  his  school  course, 


he  took  up  the  study  of  architecture  under  a 
skillful  tutor  at  Darmstadt,  Germany,  and  became 
an  adept  in  planning  and  conducting  building 
operations. 

Like  many  other  ambitious  citizens  of  his 
country,  he  turned  his  eyes  toward  the  setting 
sun,  in  the  hope  of  finding  better  opportunities 
for  advancement  than  were  afforded  by  the 
crowded  condition  of  all  lines  of  effort  in  the 
Old  World.  About  1852  he  arrived  in  America, 
and  spent  two  years  in  New  York  City.  Here 
he  shortly  found  employment  in  his  profession, 
and  was  occupied  in  planning  and  directing  the 


W.  H.  CARMAN. 


67 


erection  of  the  dome  upon  the  famous  Crystal 
Palace  of  that  city,  in  which  the  first  World's 
Fair  was  held. 

Again  he  moved  westward,  and  arrived  at 
Chicago  in  1854,  and  here  the  balance  of  his  life 
was  spent.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Thomas  B.  Carter,  a  connection 
which  continued  for  a  period  of  twelve  years. 
From  1867  to  1874  he  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Loebnitz.  He  was  a  heavy  loser  by  the  great 
fire  of  1871,  being  extensively  interested  in  local 
insurance  companies,  which  were  ruined  by  that 
catastrophe.  He  continued  the  industry  which 
characterized  his  youth  throughout  his  life,  and 
executed  many  important  labors  in  the  city 
which  was  honored  in  being  his  home,  ceasing 
only  when  his  life  terminated,  February  8,  1894. 
The  vault  in  the  old  Fidelity  Building,  which 
was  constructed  under  his  direction,  withstood 
the  terrible  ordeal  of  the  great  fire  and  preserved 
the  valuable  papers  it  contained,  a  remarkable 
circumstance  amidst  the  universal  ruin  of  that 
time. 

Mr.   Bauer  was  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and 


nobly  performed  any  duty  to  his  fellow-citizens 
which  devolved  upon  him.  He  was  a  consistent 
member  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church, 
and  exemplified  the  true  Christian  in  his  daily 
walks  of  life.  Being  actuated  by  high  moral 
principles,  he  was  universally  respected  and  be- 
loved. He  took  an  intelligent  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  his  adopted  country  and  city  but  never 
sought  public  place  for  himself.  He  continued 
to  support  the  political  principles  of  the  Republi- 
can party  from  the  time  he  became  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  about  the  time  that  this  party 
came  into  existence. 

March  24,  1860,  Mr.  Bauer  was  married  to 
Miss  Anna  Apel,  a  native  of  Berlin,  Germany, 
and  a  daughter  of  John  and  Augusta  Apel,  who 
came  to  Chicago  in  1849.  Mr.  Apel  passed  away 
in  California,  and  his  widow  still  resides  in  Chi- 
cago. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bauer  became  the  parents 
of  five  children,  namely:  Max  F.,  Herman  A., 
Robert  A. ,  Clara  and  Hertha,  all  of  whom  are 
now  living,  to  be  an  aid  and  comfort  to  their 
widowed  mother.  The  entire  family  is  held  in 
high  esteem  in  the  circles  in  which  they  move. 


WILLIAM   H.  CARMAN. 


HENRY  CARMAN,  who  has 
been  a  resident  of  Chicago  for  nearly  four 
decades,  celebrated,  with  his  faithful  wife, 
the  golden  anniversary  of  their  wedding,  at 
their  home  on  Lincoln  Avenue,  April  19,  1898. 
Mr.  Carman  was  born  December  9,  1828,  in  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  where  his  grandparents 
— Lewis  and  Catherine  Carman — were  highly  re- 
spected residents.  Lewis  Carman  was  a  slave- 
holder and  was  many  years  cashier  of  the  Far- 
mers' and  Mechanics'  Bank  of  New  Brunswick. 
Abraham  Voorhees  Carman,  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  was  born  November  18,  1805, 


in  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  and  was  a 
schoolteacher  in  New  York  City  from  1830  to 
1845.  During  his  leisure  moments  he  pursued 
the  study  of  dentistry,  which  profession  he  prac- 
ticed in  the  same  city  until  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred November  3,  1858,  just  before  completing 
the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the'Universalist  Church  and  was  buried  in 
the  Dutch  Reformed  Churchyard  at  New  Bruns- 
wick. His  wife,  Ellen  Oppie,  mother  of  William 
H.  Carman,  was  born  May  14,  1806,  in  Borden- 
town,  New  Jersey,  was  married  to  A.  V.  Carman 
September  7,  1826,  and  died  February  7,  1864, 


68 


W.  H.  CARMAN. 


while  on  a  visit  to  her  son  in  Chicago.  Her  re- 
mains were  deposited  in  Graceland  Cemetery. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  attended  the  public 
school  in  his  native  town,  in  which  his  father  was 
a  teacher.  In  1845  he  took  up  the  study  of  den- 
tistry with  his  father  and  subsequently  practiced 
with  him  two  years.  He  came  to  Chicago  in 
1860  and  entered  mercantile  life  as  a  clerk  with 
John  Ellis,  commission  merchant,  located  at  No. 
14  State  Street,  in  whose  service  he  continued 
three  years. 

In  1863  he  was  appointed  on  the  city  police 
force  and  continued  in  the  police  department  suc- 
cessively as  patrolman,  custodian  of  stolen  prop- 
erty, clerk  and  desk  sergeant,  until  his  retire- 
ment, October  26,  1897.  He  served  under  all 
chiefs  of  police  from  Cyrus  Bradley  to  Joseph 
Kipley,  during  a  period  of  thirty-four  years,  and 
participated  in  all  the  rough  experiences  of  the 
department  in  that  time,  including  the  great 
holocaust  of  1871,  and  the  anarchist  riot  of  1886. 
During  the  Civil  War  he  was  on  duty  under  Isaac 
Milliken  in  the  provost  marshal's  office,  with 
Chief-of-Police  C.  P.  Bradley,  Mr.  Carman's 
duty  being  the  charge  of  permits  granted  to  per- 
sons leaving  the  city. 

He  was  on  duty  one  month  as  inside  guard 
over  Confederate  prisoners  at  Camp  Douglas. 
After  the  war  he  was  stationed  at  the  armory, 
corner  of  Adams  and  Franklin  Streets,  taking  care 
of  returning  soldiers.  He  assisted  in  the  capture 
of  Colonel  Marmaduke  and  others  concerned  in 
the  great  Northwestern  conspiracy,  to  liberate 
Confederate  prisoners  from  Camp  Douglas. 

Mr.  Carman  was  made  a  Mason  in  1854,  in 
Hope  Lodge,  New  York  City,  was  demitted  in 
1863,  and  affiliated  with  Kilwinnig  Lodge  No. 
311,  of  Chicago,  in  which  he  was  elected  a  life 
member  December  24,  1894. 

April  19,  1848,  Mr.  Carman  was  married  to 
Miss  Sarah  Elizabeth  Jennings,  the  ceremon)' 
being  conducted  in  New  York  City  by  Rev.  W. 
S.  Balsh.  Mrs.  Carman  was  born  November  19, 
1832,  in  Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  Her  father, 
Eli  Jennings,  was  born  January  22,  1805,  near 
Bridgeport,  Connecticut.  He  was  a  carpenter  by 
trade  and  came  to  Chicago  in  1857  from  New 


York  City.  He  died  here  November  8,  1876, 
and  his  remains  were  taken  to  Danbury,  Con- 
necticut, and  laid  away  in  Wooster  Cemetery. 
He  was  married  May  23,  1826,  at  Danbury,  Con- 
necticut, to  Miss  Almira  Mallory,  who  was  born 
February  2,  1808,  and  is  still  living,  in  August, 
1898.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Ezra  Mallory  and 
Eliza  Andrews- Mallory.  May  23,  1876,  her  fif- 
tieth wedding  anniversary  was  celebrated  at  the 
home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Carman,  No.  191 
Lincoln  Avenue.  On  that  occasion  were  present 
two  of  her  children,  ten  grandchildren  and  one 
great-grandchild.  Mr.  Jennings  survived  this 
event  a  little  less  than  six  months. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carman  are  the  parents  of  three 
children.  The  eldest,  Harriett  Elizabeth,  born  in 
New  York  City,  June  10,  1849,  married  Levi  M. 
Peck,  of  Danbury,  Connecticut,  January  i,  1866. 
They  have  eight  children:  Lillian  Starr,  Will- 
iam Carman,  Sarah,  Eli,  Edward  Clayton, 
Charles  Arthur,  Walter  Stanley  and  Mamie 
Alice.  The  eldest  of  these  is  now  the  wife  of 
Miles  Desbrow,  of  Danbury,  Connecticut.  The 
third  married  his  brother,  David  Desbrow,  and 
is  the  mother  of  one  child,  Phoebe. 

Elmira  Ellen  Carman,  born  in  Chicago  No- 
vember 25,  1861,  is  the  wife  of  James  Thomson, 
of  Rogers  Park,  Chicago.  They  have  a  son 
named  Harry  Carman.  Frank,  third  child  of 
William  H.  and  Elizabeth  Carman,  born  Decem- 
ber 8,  1866,  married  Mary  Charlotte  Austgen 
and  has  two  children,  William  Austgen  and 
Esther  Catherine. 

The  golden  wedding  anniversary  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Carman  was  a  notable  event  in  Chicago 
society.  There  were  living  on  this  occasion  all 
of  their  children,  eleven  grandchildren  and  one 
great-grandchild.  About  two  hundred  of  their 
friends  and  neighbors  were  present  and  the  occa- 
sion was  rendered  especially  notable  by  the  pres- 
ence of  Mrs.  Carman's  mother,  whose  golden 
wedding  anniversary  had  been  celebrated  in  the 
same  house  twenty-two  years  before.  The  prin- 
cipals in  this  joyful  event  bore  every  evidence  of 
sound  health,  and  it  was  difficult  for  those  pres- 
ent to  believe  that  the  bride  of  fifty  years  ago  is 
already  a  great-grandmother.  When  her  eldest 


E.  D.    SPOONER. 


69 


child  was  born  there  were  living  four  of  its 
grandfathers  and  six  grandmothers — these,  in- 
cluding two  each  of  paternal  ancestors,  preceding 
the  father  and  mother  and  three  maternal  ances- 
tors on  each  side.  The  day  was  celebrated  after 
the  fashion  of  an  old  "New  England  calling  day" 
and  visitors  paid  their  respects  in  a  steady  stream 
from  noon  until  midnight.  Refreshments  and 


music  aided  in  giving  pleasure  to  the  occasion, 
and  all  joined  in  the  wish  that  many  future  anni- 
versaries might  be  thus  celebrated.  Numerous 
letters  of  regret  were  received  from  distant 
friends.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carman  may  well  feel 
proud  of  the  evidences  of  friendship  and  esteem 
vouchsafed  to  them  in  many  ways  at  this  notable 
festival. 


EDMUND  D.  SPOONER. 


IT  DMUND  D.  SPOONER,  who  is  senior  vice 
ry  national  commander  of  the  Union  Veteran 
I  Legion,  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  is  a  native  of 
Connersville,  Indiana,  where  he  was  born  Au- 
gust 9,  1843.  He  is  a  son  of  Judge  William  L. 
and  Catherine  (Smith)  Spooner,  natives  of  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.  William  L.  Spooner  was  a  son  of 
Reed  Spooner,  born  in  Cincinnati,  who  came  of 
a  colonial  family  of  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts. 
Judge  W.  L.  Spooner  was  a  pioneer  in  Cincinnati, 
and  was  a  merchant  in  that  city  in  the  days  of 
its  early  history.  He  was  very  successful  in  this 
venture.  He  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  for  a  period  of  thirty-five  years 
practiced  in  the  courts  of  Ohio  and  Indiana.  He 
was  elected  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas 
of  Hamilton  County,  and  served  one  term.  He 
was  prominent  in  political  affairs,  a  fine  orator  and 
a  man  of  strong  character  and  natural  abilities. 

He  was  deputy  collector  of  internal  revenue 
under  President  Lincoln's  administration  in  Cin- 
cinnati, serving  under  his  brother,  Thomas 
Spooner,  who  was  the  first  collector  under  this 
administration  in  the  first  district  of  Ohio. 
During  the  Morgan  raid  he  raised  a  regiment, 
of  which  he  became  colonel,  and  served  in  Ken- 
tucky till  after  the  scare  was  over.  He  support- 
ed Lincoln  and  after  the  organization  of  the  Re- 
publican party  upheld  its  principles  and  interests 
by  his  voice  and  vote.  He  married  Catherine 


Smith,  daughter  of  John  L.  Smith,  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  She  was  a  niece  of  Caleb  B.  Smith, 
Lincoln's  secretary  of  the  interior,  and  afterward 
judge  of  the  United  States  court  in  the  Indian- 
apolis district,  who  died  suddenly,  of  hemorrhage, 
in  his  consultation  rooms. 

Judge  Spooner  was  the  father  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  three  daughters  and  two  sons  are  still 
living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spooner  are  both  deceased. 
Edmund  D.  Spooner  is  the  second  of  his  father's 
family,  and  he  was  but  two  years  old  when  his 
father  removed  from  Connersville.  He  grew  to 
manhood  in  Cincinnati  and  there  received  the 
preliminaries  of  his  education.  He  subsequently 
entered  a  college  near  the  city  and  had  just  en- 
tered the  junior  year  when  the  war  broke  out,  in 
1 86 1.  He  enlisted  in  the  seventy-five  thousand 
three-month  call,  April  19,  1861,  in  Company 
G,  Fifth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  went  in- 
to camp  at  Camp  Denison.  June  19  of  the  same 
year  the  regiment  re-enlisted  as  a  body  in  the  call 
for  three  hundred  thousand  men  for  three  years. 
He  was  sworn  in  as  sergeant,  but  on  July  5,  1861, 
received  an  appointment  from  President  Lincoln 
as  second  lieutenant,  to  date  from  May  14,  1861, 
in  the  Fifth  United  States  Artillery.  He  was 
discharged  from  the  volunteer  service  at  Camp 
Denison,  to  accept  a  position  offered  him  by 
President  Lincoln,  and  reported  to  his  regiment 
at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania.  For  two  months 


E.  D.   SPOONER. 


he  was  located  at  that  place  and  at  Williamsport 
and  New  York  City,  in  recruiting  and  organizing 
the  regiment.  He  then  reported  to  General 
Wood,  at  Baltimore,  with  his  command,  and  un- 
til the  fall  of  1862  was,  with  his  regiment,  on 
duty  guarding  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  from 
Baltimore  to  Monocacy  Bridge,  Maryland.  This 
was  an  arduous  and  important  duty  and  involved 
hardships  and  dangers.  In  the  fall  of  1862  he 
was  ordered  to  report  to  Maj.-Gen.  Robert  H. 
Milroy,  at  Winchester,  Virginia,  with  his  com- 
mand. From  this  time  until  January,  1863, 
he  was  actively  engaged  in  raiding  the  enemy's 
country,  as  far  south  as  New  Market,  Virginia, 
in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  taking  'part  in  many 
small  engagements.  June  13-14-15,  1863,  they 
fought  under  General  Milroy,  with  a  force  of  ten 
thousand  men,  against  the  rebel  General  Swell's 
thirty  thousand  men.  The  Union  troops  were 
forced  to  retreat  to  Harper's  Ferry,  but  on  the 
night  of  June  15,  1863,  they  fought  Ewell  the 
second  time  and  had  a  wild  night's  fight  of  it. 
At  Harper's  Ferry  the  company  joined  the  Third 
Army  Corps,  commanded  by  Major-General 
French,  and  arrived  in  Gettysburg  in  time  to 
partake  in  the  excitement  and  bloodshed  of  the 
last  days  of  this  great  battle.  Lieutenant  Spoon- 
er's  company  lost  heavily  in  this  battle  and  he 
had  two  horses  killed  under  him.  He  was  on 
detached  duty  for  some  time  after  this  in  the 
vicinity  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 

He  was  promoted  July  i,  1863,  to  the  position 
of  first  lieutenant,  .and  reported  to  Battery  H, 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  Fourteenth  Army 
Corps,  under  Gen.  George  H.  Thomas,  reach- 
ing his  command  immediately  after  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga,  the  army  being  stationed  at 
Chattanooga,  Tennessee.  From  this  time,  Sep- 
tember, 1863,  to  the  battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  he 
was  with  the  army.  In  this  battle  his  battery  was 
posted  on  Orchard  Knob.  He  received  special 
orders  from  General  Grant  to  fire  his  six  pieces 
simultaneously,  to  give  the  signal  to  advance  the 
army  of  General  Thomas  in  the  center.  Three 
days'  fighting  followed  and  Lieutenant  Spooner 
was  in  the  saddle  during  this  entire  length  of 
time.  After  the  battle  of  Mission  Ridge  he  was 


ordered  back  to  Nashville, Tennessee,  to  recruit 
his  battery,  but  was  not  idle  and  participated  in 
many  marches,  among  which  was  the  one  after 
Forrest  into  Alabama. 

During  the  early  months  of  1864  his  battery 
became  so  thinned  out  that  it  was  consolidated 
with  Battery  K,  the  ranking  officers  assuming 
command.  The  non-commissioned  officers  were 
sent  to  Fort  Hamilton,  New  York.  Here  Lieu- 
tenant Spooner  organized  a  new  battery  with  full 
complement  of  men,  and  was  sent  to  the  Dry 
Tortugas  to  guard  political  prisoners.  About  this 
time  he  was  married,  and  not  caring  to  enter  into 
active  service  in  the  front,  he  resigned  his  com- 
mission, January  26,  1865,  and  returned  to  Cin- 
cinnati. Here  he  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits 
and  has  thus  been  occupied  to  the  present  time. 
He  has  always  taken  an  active  interest  in  politics, 
and  held  the  position  of  deputy  auditor  of  Hamil- 
ton County,  Ohio,  at  one  time.  In  all  orders 
arising  from  military  operations,  Lieutenant 
Spooner  has  taken  an  active  interest  and  aided  in 
every  possible  manner. 

In  the  Union  Veteran  Legion  he  is  past  nation- 
al adjutant  general,  and  at  the  present  time, 
1897-98,  is  senior  vice  national  commander  of 
the  same.  He  has  been  actively  engaged  in  aid- 
ing the  progress  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, and  has  been  prominent  in  committee 
work  in  the  Loyal  Legion.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
western  society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
also  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  He  is  past 
grand  of  Magnolia  Lodge  No.  83,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
also  of  Encampment  No.  42,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
of  Cincinnati. 

Mr.  Spooner  was  married  February  28,  1865, 
to  Miss  Mary  Humphre3'S.  They  became  the 
parents  of  three  sons:  Elmont  H.,  Alexander 
and  Charles  E.,  now  deceased.  Mrs.  Spooner 
died  in  1890.  Mr.  Spooner  is  a  true  type  of  the 
old  soldier  and  is  proud  to  bear  the  title.  He 
bravely  did  his  duty  in  time  of  war  without 
shrinking.  In  the  life  of  a  citizen  he  has  proved 
himself  loyal  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
people,  and  will  always  be  honored  and  respected 
as  a  man  of  noble  character  and  upright  principle. 


OF  THE 
•'VERSITY  OF 


J.  R.  HOXIU. 


JOHN  R.  HOXIE. 


flOHN  RANDOLPH  HOXIE.  Chicago,  the 
I  Queen  of  our  Great  West,  is  indebted  for  its 
(2)  marvelous  growth  and  rapid  development, 
which  have  caused  the  whole  world  to  acknowl- 
edge its  commercial  greatness,  to  a  few  men, 
who,  to  lay  the  foundations  of  metropolitan  su- 
premacy, gave  the  best  of  their  heart's  blood, 
their  brain  power,  and  nerve  forces.  The  ma- 
jority have  as  their  reward  wealth  or  honor,  but 
few  have  both.  Among  the  active  business  men 
who  have  acquired  both  was  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  who  obtained  it  through  close  attention 
to  business,  and  unswerving  integrity  and  up- 
rightness of  character. 

John  R.  Hoxie  was  born  December  13,  1831, 
in  Macedon,  near  Rochester,  New  York,  and  his 
parents  were  Cornelius  and  Anna  (Brawuell) 
Hoxie.  He  received  a  partial  education  in  the 
Macedon  Academy,  but  as  his  tastes  impelled 
him  to  use  every  opportunity  for  learning  busi- 
ness ways,  his  school  days  were  thus  cut  short. 
Many  stories  of  his  youthful  trading  propensities 
illustrate  his  ability  in  doing  well  for  himself,  and 
in  him  could  plainly  be  seen  the  future  financier 
and  business  man.  On  one  occasion  he  wished 
to  buy  a  fish-hook,  but  as  his  finances  were  low, 
he  applied  to  the  banker  of  the  town,  who  lent 
him  three  cents.  After  catching  and  disposing  of 
the  fish  he  very  promptly  paid  his  debt,  thus 
winning  the  esteem  of  his  creditor.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  years  he  bought  all  the  turkeys  in  the 
neighborhood  and  realized  a  handsome  profit  on 
them.  At  seventeen  years  of  age  he  was  able  to 
buy  his  "time"  or  independence  from  his  father, 
for  one  thousand  dollars.  He  was  always  pru- 


dent with  his  earnings,  and  many  times  walked 
from  Albany  to  Rochester  to  save  the  fare  by 
stage. 

Mr.  Hoxie  became  a  sub-contractor  on  the 
Niagara  Falls  Railroad  at  an  early  age,  and  later 
was  in  the  same  position  on  the  Staten  Island 
Railroad.  While  in  the  latter  position  the  yellow 
fever  began  raging  and  he  was  quarantined,  but 
finally  escaped  to  the  mainland.  After  spending 
nearly  two  years  in  Virginia  he  returned  to 
Rochester,  New  York,  where  he  became  a  dealer 
in  live  stock,  which  he  shipped  over  the  Michigan 
Southern  and  other  railroads.  His  fame  as  a 
man  of  great  business  tact  and  ability  spread 
over  many  States,  and  in  1857  he  received  an 
offer  to  assist  in  the  management  of  the  shipping 
business  of  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad,  with 
headquarters  in  Chicago.  This  offer  was  re- 
ceived by  telegram,  and  hastily  packing  his 
satchel,  he  told  his  mother  he  would  return  in  a 
few  days;  but  the  days  lengthened  into  weeks, 
months,  and  years,  and  he  did  not  return  home 
until  1862.  The  officers  of  the  company  recog- 
nized his  ability,  and  the  position  of  stock  agent 
was  offered  him,  which  he  accepted  and  retained 
during  his  connection  with  the  road. 

At  this  time  the  company  was  almost  bankrupt, 
but  Mr.  Hoxie  infused  new  life  into  the  business 
by  building  up  the  freight  traffic,  thus  saving  it 
from  financial  ruin.  For  this  service  the  com- 
pany was  ever  truly  grateful,  and  he  was  retained 
in  office  long  after  his  active  interest  ceased. 
Largely  through  his  influence  the  railroad  was 
able  to  retain  its  controlling  interest  in  the  Union 
Stock  Yards,  and  the  profits  from  the  tremendous 


J.  R.  HOXIE. 


traffic  in  live  stock  thus  brought  to  it.  When  a 
combined  effort  was  made  by  the  other  roads  to 
induce  Mr.  Hoxie  to  retire  from  the  service  of  the 
Michigan  Southern,  he  declined  every  consider- 
ation offered  him,  and  remained  faithful  through 
all  temptation. 

From  early  morning  until  late  eve  did  he  labor 
in  the  interest  of  this  road,  and  this  was  practi- 
cally his  life  work.  He  foresaw  great  possibilities 
in  its  future,  and  steadily  strove  to  carry  it  for- 
ward to  its  destiny.  His  nature  rejoiced  in 
victory  over  opposition,  and  the  sharp  competition 
he  often  met  was  refreshing  to  his  restless  spirit, 
and  a  stimulus  to  greater  exertions.  He  loved 
work  for  its  own  sake,  not  for  praise  and  reward. 
In  the  end,  however,  he  paid  the  usual  penalty 
for  living  under  such  high  pressure,  by  the  in- 
vasion of  sickness  and  premature  death.  His 
nature  could  not  rest,  and  though  his  life  was 
shorter,  he  accomplished  much  more  than  the 
majority  of  business  men. 

Though  an  extremely  busy  man,  he  was  al- 
ways cheerful,  and  liked  the  society  of  his  fel- 
lows. He  was,  however,  a  stranger  to  the 
fashionable  clubs,  and  made  his  home  the  scene 
of  his  rest  and  recreation.  His  wife  was  a 
worthy  life  companion,  and  her  delight  was  to 
make  the  home  pleasant,  having  a  serene  manner, 
a  contented  disposition,  and  being  a  great  help  to 
her  husband  in  curbing  his  great  ambition  and 
teaching  him  the  lessons  of  patience. 

As  soon  as  he  was  able  Mr.  Hoxie  began  to 
invest  money  in  securities,  and  so  good  was  his 
foresight  that  he  became  wealthy.  In  1878  he 
bought  a  large  grant  of  land  from  the  heirs  of 
Dr.  Hoxie,  a  veteran  of  the  Texan  and  the  Mexi- 
can Wars,  and  an  army  surgeon  under  General 
Houston.  This  grant  embraced  ten  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  Williamson  County,  Texas,  to 
which  he  added  another  purchase  of  seven  thou- 
sand acres.  It  is  situated  thirty-five  miles  from 
Austin,  and  six  thousand  acres  of  it  have  been 
cultivated,  and  fifty  families  reside  on  it. 

Mr.  Hoxie  also  bought  fifty-two  thousand 
acres  of  land  at  Midland,  Texas,  in  the  Counties 
of  Martin  and  Andrews,  this  land  being  used  for 
grazing.  Beside  his  mansion  on  Michigan  Ave- 


nue, he  had  a  country  home  twenty-one  miles 
south  of  Chicago,  which  included  seven  hundred 
fifty-seven  acres  of  land.  Here  he  spent  many 
hours  away  from  the  cares  of  business  life,  and 
lived  close  to  the  heart  of  Nature.  On  all  his 
farms  he  has  kept  the  buildings  in  excellent 
repair,  having  built  many  new  ones.  Unlike 
most  business  men,  he  early  instructed  his  wife 
in  the  details  of  his  affairs,  being  animated  by  the 
principle  that  what  was  his  also  belonged  to  her. 
To  this  wise  precaution  his  widow  now  largely 
owes  her  ability  to  manage  the  property  with 
such  success. 

Mr.  Hoxie  made  annual  trips  to  his  possessions 
in  the  South,  and  to  every  one  of  these  Texas 
owed  some  improvement,  and  he  many  times 
used  his  influence  in  opening  some  avenue  of 
commerce.  In  1887  he  decided  to  retire  from 
business,  but  never  fully  carried  out  his  intention. 
When  he  was  in  Texas  he  made  his  headquarters 
at  Fort  Worth  and  there  he  was  held  in  high  es- 
teem by  all  the  inhabitants,  and  especially  the 
business  men.  Prior  to  his  coming  to  this  town 
the  business  was  very  dull,  but  he  inspired  confi- 
dence by  organizing  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics' 
National  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  one  million 
dollars.  He  was  the  president  of  this  bank  and 
also  of  the  First  National  Bank  at  Taylor, Texas. 
He  was  connected  with  twenty  other  banks  in  this 
State,  his  influence  and  standing  giving  them 
power  to  exist. 

In  1891,  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  citizens 
of  Fort  Worth,  he  organized  stock  yards  and 
packinghouses,  and  the  next  year  passed  through 
a  strike  which  made  his  presence  at  the  yards 
necessary.  This  was  such  a  severe  strain  on  his 
finely  organized  nervous  constitution  that  he 
never  recovered  his  former  health.  A  small  bene- 
fit was  gained  at  Carlsbad  Springs,  Germany, but 
nothing  could  entirely  stay  the  ravages  of  the 
disease,  diabetes,  from  which  his  death  resulted. 
He  passed  away  November  21,  1896. 

Mr.  Hoxie  was  a  talented  man,  and  had  many 
charming  traits  of  character.  His  influence  was 
ever  for  good  and  his  advice  in  municipal  affairs 
was  often  sought  and  freely  given.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Hyde  Park  and  a 


LEONARD  SWETT. 


73 


school  trustee  in  the  town  ol  Lake.  During  the 
centennial  year  he  was  a  candidate  for  Congress 
on  the  Democratic  ticket,  but  was  defeated. 
Though  he  never  afterward  held  any  office  his  in- 
fluence was  such  that  he  controlled  many  positions 
of  trust  and  responsibility.  His  rare  wit  and 
skillful  repartee  may  be  said  to  be  gifts  inherited 
from  his  mother,  well-known  for  her  good  sense 
and  quick  perception. 

Mr.  Hoxie  became  interested  in  the  Chicago 
City  Railway  Company  and  was  instrumental  in 
extending  the  cable  lines,  being  for  many  years 
one  of  the  largest  individual  stockholders.  He 
was  many  times  the  youngest  member  of  various 
boards  of  management,  where  he  was  neverthe- 
less recognized  as  a  born  leader.  His  associates 
often  called  him  "Boy,"  among  these  being  such 
men  as  Silas  B.  Cobb,  Daniel  Jones,  Solomon 
Sturges,  Lyman  Blair,  John  De  Koven,  Samuel 
Nickerson,  Lyman  J.  Gage,  John  B.  Sherman, 
P.  D.  Armour,  Samuel  Allerton,  and  others 
equally  well-known .  He  was  called  the  ' '  Mogul' ' 
of  the  Stock  Yards  Railroad  along  Fortieth  Street, 
which  was  secured  by  his  indefatigable  energy. 


In  his  business  methods  Mr.  Hoxie  was  unlike 
the  average  man.  Though  possessed  of  sufficient 
ability  to  carry  on  numerous  vast  business  enter- 
prises at  the  same  time,  he  never  used  books  to 
record  his  transactions,  but  so  carefully  was 
everything  systematized  that  he  suffered  no  loss 
from  this  fact.  His  was  an  eccentric  character, 
but  he  was  no  recluse,  and  enjoyed  rare  friend- 
ships. He  was  well-known  in  Masonic  circles, 
having  attained  the  thirty-second  degree.  His 
wealth  was  accumulated  in  a  legitimate  way,  and 
his  only  extravagance  was  indulged  in  providing 
for  the  comfort  of  his  family.  In  religious 
belief  he  was  a  Quaker,  and  helped  build  and 
maintain  the  church  at  Twenty-sixth  Street  and 
Indiana  Avenue.  The  principles  of  his  forefathers 
seemed  to  be  the  guide  and  rule  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Hoxie  was  married  October  22,  1872,  to 
Mary  J.,  daughter  of  P.  D.  Hamilton.  Among 
the  Quakers  she  was  known  as  "John's  wife, "but 
her  husband  always  spoke  of  her  with  deference 
as  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Hoxie.  Their  union  was  blessed 
by  three  children,  namely:  John  R.,  junior, 
Gilbert  H.  and  Anna  C. 


LEONARD  SWETT. 


I  EONARD  SWETT  was  born  August  n, 
It  1825,  near  the  village  of  Turner,  Oxford 
i_y  County,  Maine,  on  what  was  known  as 
Swett's  Hill.  This  hill  slopes  in  all  directions, 
and  constitutes  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  in 
New  England,  and  has  ever  since  been  owned 
by  the  family.  His  father,  John  Swett,  was  born 
in  Buckfield,  Maine,  February  4,  1789,  and  mar- 
ried Remember  Berry,  on  August  29,  1816.  The 
latter  was  born  at  Buckfield,  Maine,  December 
22,  1794.  They  settled  after  their  marriage  on 
the  above-named  hill,  and  lived  and  died  there. 
The  father  was  seventy  years  old,  and  the  mother 
in  her  eighty-ninth  year  at  the  date  of  their 
respective  deaths — June  25,  1859,  and  May  19, 


1883.  They  had  six  children.  Mr.  Swett  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  farming  many  years,  but 
subsequently  traveled,  selling  patent  rights  for 
different  men,  and  for  several  years  before  his 
death  was  an  agent  for  R.  B.  Dunn,  a  scythe 
manufacturer,  at  Wayne,  Maine.  He  was  a  good 
business  man  and  had  the  confidence  of  his  em- 
ployers. He  was  a  strict  temperance  man,  he 
and  his  wife  being  members  of  the  first  temper- 
ance society  formed  in  Turner.  Mr.  Swett  was 
also  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812,  being  a  private 
of  Captain  Richmond's  company  of  Massachusetts 
Militia,  his  widow  receiving  a  pension  in  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  services. 

The  story  of  this  home  is  thus  simply  told  by 


74 


LEONARD  SWETT. 


one  of  its  members:  "We  each  had  our  daily 
tasks,  which  we  were  always  ready  and  willing 
to  perform;  our  daily  fare  was  always  an  abun- 
dance of  plain,  well  cooked  food,  eaten  with  a 
relish  known  only  to  the  industrious.  The  twi- 
light hour  was  almost  invariably  spent  in  song. 
How  well  I  remember  those  concerts,  of  our  eight 
voices,  as  we  joined  in  singing  our  hymns  of 
praise.  It  was  a  happy,  peaceable,  religious, 
industrious,  frugal  home.  Sickness  seldom  in- 
vaded it,  and  its  blessed  memory  is  a  source  of 
joy  to  me  yet."  Here  in  the  midst  of  a  grandly 
rolling  country  Leonard  Swett  grew  to  manhood, 
developing  a  character  sweet  and  healthful  as  the 
balsamic  odor  of  the  pines,  yet  strong  and  rugged 
as  his  native  hills. 

Leonard  Swell's  great-grandfalher  was  Dr. 
Slephen  Swell,  of  Gorham,  and  surgeon  of  Col. 
Edmund  Phiimey's  315!  Regimenl  of  Foot  of 
1775,  in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Pierce,  in  his  history  of  Gorham,  says,  "Dr. 
Stephen  Swett  came  from  North  Hampton  in 
1770.  He  was  the  tenth  physician  in  the  town. 
He  was  patriolic  and  possessed  greal  energy." 
He  died  al  Otisfield,  Maine,  January  6,  1807, 
aged  sevenly-nve  years  or  over.  Dr.  Swell's 
wife  was  Sarah  Adams.  Tradition  says  she  was 
a  cousin  (probably  second  cousin)  of  President 
John  Adams. 

Dr.  Stephen  Swett  and  Sarah  Adams  Swett, 
his  wife,  had  fourteen  children,  the  fourth  of 
whom — John  Swett,  born  at  Durham,  New 
Hampshire,  June  23,  1763,  and  who  was  married 
at  Gorham,  Maine,  March  27,  1788,  lo  Belsey 
Warren — was  Leonard  Swell's  grandfather.  "He 
setlled  in  Buckfield,  Maine,  Ihe  year  he  was 
married  and  resided  Ihere  until  his  death,  July 
14,  1844.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  everything 
aboul  his  premises  was  a  pallern  of  neatness  and 
thrift.  He  had  a  good  property  and  enough  of 
everylhing  for  Ihe  comforls  of  life.  He  and  his 
wife  were  bolh  industrious,  prudent,  temperate, 
moral  and  religious.  He  brought  Ihe  first  wagon 
owned  in  Ihe  lown  from  Gorham.  II  was  very 
much  admired  and  considered  quile  wonderful  in 
Ihose  days.  II  was  used  to  carry  the  family  lo 
church.  Bolh  he  and  his  wife  died  of  old  age, 


respecled  and  beloved,  and  cared  for  by  Iheir  sou 
and  sixlh  child,  David  Warren  Swell."  Betsey 
Warren  Swell  was  born  June  28,  1763,  and  died 
June  3,  1846. 

As  lo  Ihe  origin  of  Mr.  Swell's  family  nothing 
is  known  definitely  back  of  Dr.  Slephen  Swell, 
bul  as  he  came  from  towns  in  New  Hampshire 
(Durham  and  North  Harnplon) ,  bul  a  few  miles 
from  Newbury  and  Hampton,  which  was  the 
home  in  1642  of  John  Swett,  of  England,  who, 
through  his  son,  Benjamin  Swell,  left  a  large 
family,  il  is  thought  probable  thai  Dr.  Slephen 
Swell  is  one  of  his  numerous  descendanls. 

Remember  Berry  Swell  was  born  December 
22,  1794;  she  was  Ihe  daughter  of  William  Berry 
and  Joanna  Doane;  granddaughter  of  George 
Berry  and  Sarah  Stickney;  greal-granddaughler 
of  Maj.  George  Berry  and  Elizabelh  Frink; 
great-great-granddaughter  of  George  Berry  and 
Deliverance  Haley. 

Mr.  Swell,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  died 
June  8,  1889.  He  married  Laura  R.  Quigg,  of 
Bradford,  Massachusells,  July  20,  1854,  and  Ihey 
had  one  son,  Leonard  H.  Swett.  March  5,  1886, 
his  wife  died,  and  July  14,  1887,  he  married 
Marie  A.  H.  Decker,  who  survives  him. 

Leonard  Swett  was  the  second  son  and  fourth 
child  of  his  parents,  and  they  conceived  Ihe  idea, 
al  an  early  dale,  of  giving  him  a  beller  educalion 
than  the  lown  afforded,  consequenlly  he  was  senl 
to  selecl  schools  in  Ihe  vicinity,  and  completed 
his  educalion  al  North  Yarmouth  Academy  and 
Waterville  College,  now  Colby  Universily.  He 
then  read  law  for  two  years  with  Messrs.  How- 
ard &  Shepley,  at  Portland,  Maine,  and  slarled 
in  the  world  lo  seek  his  fortune.  Al  firsl  he 
Iraveled  in  Ihe  South  for  nearly  a  year,  then,  with 
the  spirit  of  adventure,  he  volunteered  as  a  sol- 
dier in  Ihe  Mexican  War,  and  was  under  General 
Scoll  from  Vera  Cruz  lo  Ihe  City  of  Mexico. 
The  war  closed  in  May,  1848,  when  Mr.  Swell 
relurned  and  seltled  al  Bloomington,  Illinois.  He 
commenced  the  praclice  of  his  profession  in  Ihe 
fall  of  1849,  and  gave  lo  that  profession  the  labor 
of  a  life.  He  was  in  indifferent  health,  on  ac- 
count of  a  disease  conlracled  in  Mexico,  which 
rendered  il  impraclicable  for  him  lo  sil  in  an  office 


LEONARD  SWETT. 


75 


and  do  office  work,  and,  therefore,  at  first  he 
commenced  to  travel  the  circuit.  The  bar  of  that 
circuit,  the  eighth  at  that  time,  embraced  many 
men  of  marked  ability,  some  of  whom  have  since 
acquired  a  national  reputation.  David  Davis, 
since  distinguished  as  a  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  and  a  senator  of  the  United  States,  was  the 
judge  from  1849  to  1862.  Abraham  Lincoln,  for 
two  years  a  member  of  congress,  and  afterwards 
known  to  the  world  as  the  martyred  President 
and  the  emancipator  of  a  race,  was  one  of  its 
lawyers.  Edward  D.  Baker,  a  member  of  con- 
gress from  the  Sangamoii  District,  also  afterward 
from  the  Galena  District,  later  a  distinguished 
citizen  of  California,  and  a  senator  of  the  United 
States  from  Oregon,  who  died  leading  his  men  at 
the  battle  of  Ball's  Bluff,  in  the  Civil  War,  was 
also  one  of  its  lawyers.  There  were  also  Edward 
Hannagan  and  Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  since  sena- 
tors from  Indiana,  who  attended  the  eastern  part 
of  the  circuit,  and  Stephen  T.  Logan,  John  T. 
Stuart,  U.  F.  Linder  and  Oliver  L.  Davis.  The 
sessions  commenced  the  ist  of  September,  and 
ended  about  the  ist  of  January.  The  spring 
circuit  commenced  about  February  and  ended  in 
June.  In  a  life  with  these  men  and  upon  this 
circuit,  Mr.  Swett  spent  his  time  from  1849  to 
1862.  The  lawyers  would  arrive  at  a  county  seat 
of  from  five  hundred  to  two  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  the  clients  and  public  came  in  from  the  coun- 
try adjoining  at  about  the  same  time.  The  law- 
yers were  employed  in  such  suits  as  were  then 
pending  in  court,  and  the  trials  were  immediately 
begun.  After  from  three  days  to  a  week  spent 
in  this  manner,  the  court  would  adjourn  and  the 
cavalcade  start  for  the  adjoining  county  seat,  when 
the  same  processes  would  be  repeated.  Twice 
a  year  fourteen  counties  were  traversed  in  this 
way,  and  in  this  manner  Mr.  Swett  received  his 
earlier  legal  education.  David  Davis,  in  a  speech 
at  Springfield,  said  in  substance  that  this  time 
constituted  the  bright  spot  of  his  life.  In  this 
expression  he  would  doubtless  be  joined  by  every 
man  named,  most  of  whom  now  live  beyond  the 
river. 

In  1865  Mr.  Swett  moved  to  Chicago,  where 
he  soon  acquired  a  prominent  and  leading  position 


as  a  lawyer.  During  his  life  in  the  country,  in 
Illinois,  he  took  an  active  part  in  politics,  taking 
part  in  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  and 
canvassed  nearly  the  whole  state  in  the  years 
1852,  1854,  1856,  1858  and  1860.  He,  however, 
held  but  one  office,  which  was  that  of  member  of 
the  legislature,  in  1858  and  1859,  and  this  was  at 
the  special  request  of  Lincoln  himself,  to  save  to 
the  latter  the  vote  of  McLean  County.  That 
county  at  the  previous  election  had  been  carried 
by  four  votes.  Lincoln  thought  Swett  could  be 
elected,  and  asked  him  to  run.  He  did  so,  car- 
rying the  county  by  nearly  five  hundred  majority. 
He  then  engaged  earnestly  in  the  work  of  secur- 
ing the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  Pres- 
ident, writing  to  public  men  and  organizing  other 
workers.  The  three  men  who  did  more  than  all 
others  to  make  Mr.  Lincoln  the  nominee  in  1860 
were  Leonard  Swett,  David  Davis  and  Norman 
B.  Judd;  and  the  two  men  who  were  closest  of  all 
to  Mr.  Lincoln  until  his  death  were  Swett  and 
Davis.  Norman  B.  Judd  was  given  a  foreign 
mission,  David  Davis  was  made  supreme  judge, 
but  Leonard  Swett  declined  to  take  office  under 
the  administration.  He  was  closer  to  Lincoln's 
innermost  thoughts  and  sympathies  than  any  man 
in  the  world.  He  was  much  like  Lincoln  in  per- 
son, complexion  and  manner,  so  much  so  that  he 
was  often  mistaken  for  the  President  in  Washing- 
ton, and  he  was  much  of  the  Lincoln  mould,  in- 
tellectually. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  that  intimate  as 
Lincoln  was  with  Leonard  Swett,  he  never  gave 
him  any  office,  and  Swett  was  often  asked  the 
reason  why.  He  always  evaded  the  question, 
but,  in  a  letter  to  W.  H.  Herndon,  the  author  of 
the  ' '  Life  of  Lincoln ,"  written  a  short  time  before 
Mr.  Swett  died,  the  latter  explained  this  fact: 
When  David  Davis  was  a  candidate  for  the  su- 
preme bench,  soon  after  Lincoln's  election  to  the 
presidency,  he  was  opposed  by  a  senator  of  great 
influence,  named  Browning,  whom  Lincoln  was 
almost  ready  to  appoint.  Leonard  Swett  was  a 
warm  friend  of  David  Davis,  and,  going  to  the 
president,  he  said:  "  If  you  will  give  that  place 
to  Davis  I  will  take  it  as  one-half  for  him  and 
one-half  for  myself,  and  never  again  will  ask  you 


76 


LEONARD  SWETT. 


for  anything."  David  Davis  got  the  appoint- 
ment, and  Leonard  Swett  was  true  to  his  word. 
He  said,  not  long  before  his  death,  that  he  was 
always  glad  he  kept  out  of  office. 

After  his  removal  to  Chicago,  he  devoted  him- 
self exclusively  to  his  profession,  and  absolutely 
ignored  politics.  Mr.  Swett  was  distinguished  as 
successful  in  the  trial  of  causes,  in  fact,  he  did 
little  else  during  his  professional  life.  In  Chicago 
the  most  important  cases  were  intrusted  to  him, 
and  it  was  a  rare  thing  that  he  lost  one  of  them. 
The  reason  of  this  was,  that  he  attended  to  the 
details  of  the  preparation  personally,  himself  see- 
ing and  talking  with  his  witnesses,  so  that  when 
the  cause  was  heard  in  court  it  fitted  together 
"without  noise  of  axe  or  hammer." 

His  business,  in  the  main,  was  in  civil  cases; 
for  instance,  Thomas  A.  Scott,  during  the  war, 
employed  him  for  the  Quicksilver  Mining  Com- 
pany to  go  to  California  to  get  possession  of 
the  great  quicksilver  mine  near  San  Jose,  after 
an  adverse  decision  in  reference  to  the  Almaden 
claim.  This  country  acquired  by  the  treaty  of 
Guadeloupe  Hidalgo,  at  the  close  of  the  Mexican 
War,  a  large  tract  of  land,  now  embracing  many 
States  and  Territories,  described  by  boundaries, 
and  our  Government  agreed,  wherever  individu- 
als owned  lands  within  these  boundaries,  it  would 
issue  to  such  parties  a  patent.  Under  the  Mexi- 
ican  law  there  were  two  kinds  of  titles,  a  mineral 
title,  or  a  right  to  what  the  land  contained  under 
the  surface,  and  a  surface  title.  One  man  might 
own  one  title  and  another  man  the  other.  We 
have  but  one,  the  surface,  and  one  owning  that 
owns  all  above  and  below.  The  Barons  had  a 
mineral  title  to  what  they  called  the  Almaden 
mine,  and  had  made,  prior  to  the  decision,  im- 
mense improvements.  Justos  Larios  owned  the 
surface  title,  and  this  was  bought,  and  the  Quick- 
silver Mining  Company  was  organized  upon  this 
title.  In  1863  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  decided  that  the  Baron  title  was  a  forgery. 
The  quicksilver  claim  of  Justos  Larios  had  not 
been  heard,  and  this  left  this  property  of  immense 
value  belonging  either  to  the  Government  or  to 
the  quicksilver  company.  A  contract  was  made 
between  the  Government  and  the  quicksilver 


company,  by  which  a  possession  might  be  taken, 
which  should  be  joint  as  between  the  Government 
and  said  mining  company,  and  Mr.  Swett  was 
appointed  by  President  Lincoln  to  go  to  California 
and  acquire  this  joint  possession,  it  being  under- 
stood that  he  would  offer  the  Barons  one  million 
dollars  for  their  improvements.  It  was  also  a  con- 
dition of  this  agreement  that  the  proceeds  of  the 
mine  should  be  deposited  in  the  mint  at  San  Fran- 
cisco until  the  termination  of  the  litigation  between 
the  Government  and  the  Quicksilver  Mining  Com- 
pany. He  went  to  California,  arriving  there 
May  19,  1863,  and  leaving  September  14,  having, 
by  aid  of  the  courts  and  negotiations,  secured  the 
possession  of  the  mine.  Although  Mr.  Swett 
maintained  a  large  office  at  Chicago,  he,  occasion- 
ally, at  home  and  abroad,  defended  persons  from 
criminal  accusations,  when  the  defense  presented 
something  attractive.  In  the  vindication  of  honor, 
or  if,  upon  the  common  frailty  of  the  race,  an  act 
was  done,  he  was  a  most  accomplished  and  effect- 
ive advocate  for  the  accused.  He  dealt,  like  a 
mental  philosopher,  with  the  purposes  of  the 
mind  of  the  accused,  and  revealed  to  the  compre- 
hension of  the  court  and  jury  the  mysterious  in- 
fluences which  produced  the  act  of  the  party. 
He  tried  the  will,  purpose  and  intent,  and  not  the 
mere  physical  act  upon  which  the  charge  was 
founded.  His  mind  delighted  in  the  beautiful 
philosophy  of  the  law;  he  dealt  with  its  spirit,  not 
with  its  letter.  In  this  manner,  in  thirty-six 
years,  he  defended  twenty  men  for  murder,  en- 
tirely clearing  eighteen  and  two  escaping  with 
light  punishment  in  the  penitentiary. 

He  was  called  out  of  the  city  in  criminal  cases 
from  Hartford,  Connecticut,  to  defend  the  officers 
of  the  Charter  Oak  Life  Insurance  Company  for 
conspiracy;  to  Denver,  where,  with  Hon.  Thomas 
Patterson,  he  defended  Stickney,  who  shot  a  man 
in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  killing  also  a  young  and  at- 
tractive woman;  and  to  Yankton,  where  he  de- 
fended Wintermute  for  the  killing  of  McCook. 

His  style  in  a  trial  was  simply  the  abnegation 
of  every  consideration  except  winning  that  case. 
To  this  he  sacrificed  everything.  His  style  of 
speaking  was  earnest  and  convincing.  He  was 
the  Chicago  counsel  for  the  Union  Mutual  Life 


LEONARD  SWETT. 


77 


Insurance  Company,  of  Maine,  and  distinguished 
himself  by  gaining  a  suit  for  that  company  against 
the  Chicago  University,  which  had  become  fa- 
mous in  the  legal  reports  for  its  knotty  problems 
of  law  and  equity. 

On  the  2ist  of  June,  1888,  he  made  the  nom- 
inating speech  for  Walter  Q.  Gresham  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Swett's  address 
was  an  independent  utterance,  touching  in  an 
extremely  effective  manner  the  salient  qualities 
of  the  individual  eulogized,  and  also  those  points 
in  his  public  career  which  had  brought  him  so 
prominently  before  the  people  as  a  possible  presi- 
dential candidate. 

In  private  life  Mr.  Swett  was  a  man  of  social 
disposition  and  strong  attachments.  He  was  a 
pleasant  companion  and  a  warm  and  steadfast 
friend,  and  was  generous  almost  to  a  fault.  His 
nature  was  kind,  genial  and  sympathetic,  and  his 
social  intercourse  was  enlivened  by  so  many  gen- 
erous and  endearing  qualities,  that  it  won  for  him 
the  affectionate  regard  of  those  who  knew  him 
intimately  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  In  person 
he  was  imposing;  six  feet  two  inches  in  height, 
and  weighing,  when  in  health,  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  pounds  or  more.  He  possessed  a 
strong  face,  with  heavy,  bushy,  black  eyebrows, 
over-hanging  deep-set  brown  eyes,  sparkling  and 
brilliant,  but  kindly  withal.  An  expansive,  in- 
tellectual forehead  betokened  his  strength  of 
character.  His  voice  was  extremely  rich  and 
musical,  and  always  pleasant  to  listen  to. 

The  Chicago  Bar,  by  Frank  B.  Wilkie,  said  of 
him  the  following: 

' '  As  a  speaker  he  had  few  or  no  superiors  at 
the  bar.  He  required  scarcely  any  preparation  to 
make  a  speech  on  any  subject.  He  saw  a  case 
clearly,  and  had  the  faculty  of  presenting  it  with 
equal  clearness.  He  had  that  tendency  toward 
amplification  found  in  all  true  orators,  and  by 
whose  aid  he  presented  a  single  point  in  so  many 
salient  aspects,  that  it  became  as  apparent  as  sun- 
light to  his  auditory.  This  ability  to  not  only 
clearly  present  a  point,  but  to  restate  it  and  reit- 
erate it  under  a  slightly  changed  form  up  to  a 


boundary  where  it  becomes  thoroughly  under- 
stood, and  yet,  which  is  not  carried  beyond  into 
the  region  of  verbosity  and  tiresome  and  useless 
reiteration,  is  one  of  a  high  order,  and  it  is  one 
which  Mr.  Swett  seemed  to  possess  to  perfection. 
Its  due  and  judicious  exercise  requires  an  accur- 
ate knowledge  of  the  men  whom  it  is  employed 
upon,  and  the  precise  ideas  and  illustrations  which 
are  demanded  by  their  comprehension.  Mr.  Swett 
had  all  these  qualities,  and  the  additional  one  of 
being  an  excellent  logician  and  an  admirable 
manager,  who  thus  not  only  knew  what  should 
be  presented,  but  the  very  best  form  in  which  the 
presentation  should  be  made. 

"  Possibly  the  not  least  remarkable  feature  of 
his  oratorical  power  was  his  ability  to  employ 
pathos.  Herein,  when  occasion  required,  he  rose 
to  a  most  effective  level.  He  was  both  rhetorical 
and  natural  in  this  direction,  the  former  being  to 
some  extent  a  sequence  to  the  latter,  in  that  he 
felt  what  he  said,  and  therein,  as  usually  happens, 
was  eloquent.  He  was  exceedingly  happy  in  the 
use  of  this  powerful  element.  When  in  this  mood 
he  smote  the  rock  of  men's  hidden  emotions,  and 
obediently,  as  in  the  case  of  Moses,  the  waters 
gushed  forth  in  response  to  the  summons.  From 
the  possession  of  this  subtle  power  to  touch  ef- 
fectively men's  emotional  natures,  Mr.  Swett  had 
what  the  world  would  suspect  from  seeing  him, 
and  that  was  a  powerful  element  of  poetry  in  his 
character.  This  was  true;  and  its  existence  was 
not  only  the  source  of  his  power  to  touch  the 
hearts  of  others,  but  it  refined  his  nature  and 
gave  him  a  chivalry  that  exhibited  itself  in  a  lofty 
regard  for  women,  an  integrity  in  business  mat- 
ters that  could  not  be  disturbed,  and  a  kindly  con- 
sideration that  leavened  all  his  intercourse  with 
others.  In  fine,  the  poetical  quality,  while  it  in- 
troduced no  element  of  effeminacy  in  his  char- 
acter, while  it  did  not  detract  from  his  masculine 
vigor  or  interfere  with  his  comprehensive  ability, 
softened  his  naturally  rugged  make-up,  and  gave 
him  an  efficient  refinement."  Leonard  Swett  was 
one  of  nature's  noblemen,  and  worthy  to  be  re- 
membered as  Abraham  Lincoln's  most  trusted 
friend. 


LESLIE  LEWIS. 


LESLIE  LEWIS. 


I  ESLIE  LEWIS,  who  is  assistant  superin- 
I  C  tendent  of  schools  of  the  city  of  Chicago, 
l~/  has  been  one  of  the  prime  factors  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  comprehensive  school  system  of 
the  city.  Coming  from  a  direct  line  of  educated 
and  refined  ancestors,  Mr.  Lewis  has  devoted  his 
entire  life  to  educational  work.  He  was  born  at 
Otsego,  New  York,  December  10,  1838.  When 
Leslie  was  ten  years  of  age,  his  father,  Corydon 
Lewis,  removed  his  family,  consisting  of  his  wife 
and  three  children,  to  Freeport,  Illinois. 

Leslie  Lewis  was  graduated  from  the  Freeport 
High  School,  and  subsequently  attended  for  two 
years  Phillips  Academy,  at  Andover,  Massachu- 
setts. After  completing  the  course  at  the  last- 
named  institution  in  1862,  he  was  graduated  from 
a  four  years'  course  at  Yale  College,  finishing  in 
1866.  He  soon  after  accepted  a  position  as 
principal  of  the  Washington  Academy.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1867,  he  was  elected  principal  of  the  old 
Dearborn  School,  Chicago,  which  was  on  Madison 
Street,  opposite  McVicker's  Theater.  Mr.  Lewis 
was  next  made  principal  of  the  Haven  School, 
which  position  he  held  until  1876,  when  he 
resigned  to  enable  him  to  take  up  the  duties  of 
superintendent  of  schools  of  Hyde  Park,  to  which 
office  he  had  previously  been  elected. 

He  had  taken  up  his  residence  in  this  town  a 
short  time  before  the  fire  of  1871,  having  pre- 
viously resided  in  a  house  which  was  located 
near  where  the  Lelaud  Hotel  now  stands.  He 
has  been  re-elected  to  the  office  mentioned  every 
year  since  that  time,  but  the  office  became 
subordinate  to  the  city  of  Chicago  when  Hyde 
Park  was  annexed,  in  1889.  He  has  now  held 
the  office  twenty-two  years,  and  under  his  super- 
vision the  growth  in  number  of  pupils,  as  well 


as  number  and  quality  of  teachers,  has  been 
phenomenal.  The  examinations  were  not  so  rigid 
then  as  now,  and  as  teachers  were  not  so  numer- 
ous, the  requirements  were  less.  Over  five  thou- 
sand teachers,  who  have  passed  through  the  pres- 
ent rigid  system  of  examinations,  are  at  present 
employed.  The  school  buildings  have  been 
greatly  improved,  and  in  the  place  of  wooden 
and  poorly  ventilated  buildings,  stand  fine  brick 
structures  of  the  most  modern  pattern.  The 
schools  are  now  conducted  with  the  view  to  fur- 
thering the  physical  as  well  as  mental  welfare  of 
the  pupils. 

Leslie  Lewis  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E., 
daughter  of  John  Waterman,  of  Chicago.  She 
was  born  in  Grafton,  Worcester  County,  Mas- 
sachusetts, her  father  being  a  native  of  Vermont. 
Mrs.  Lewis  is  the  mother  of  two  children,  Mary 
Catherine  and  Susan  Whipple,  who  are  now 
young  ladies. 

The  Lewis  family  is  of  very  old  American 
stock,  and  the  grandfather  of  Leslie  Lewis  served 
with  distinction  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
His  name  was  Justus  Lewis,  and  his  son,  Corydon 
Lewis,  was  the  father  of  Leslie,  whose  name 
heads  this  article. 

Mr.  Lewis  is  a  thorough-bred  American,  and 
believes  in  upholding,  at  any  price,  the  good 
name  of  his  country.  He  is  a  man  of  sturdy 
character,  and  believes  that -what  is  worth  doing 
at  all  is  worth  doing  well.  He  affiliates  with  the 
Republican  party  in  national  politics,  but  in 
municipal  matters  is  always  thoroughly  inde- 
pendent. He  owns  his  pleasant  residence  at  No. 
5605  Madison  Avenue.  Being  a  man  of  pleasant 
personality,  he  is  alike  beloved  by  friends  and 
relatives. 


ELISHA  GRAY 


EUSHA  GRAY. 


79 


ELISHA  GRAY. 


QROF.  EUSHA  GRAY,  whose  inventive 
LX  genius  and  persevering  industry  have  played 
Y$  no  inconspicuous  part  in  revolutionizing  the 
business  methods  of  the  modern  world,  bears  in 
his  veins  the  sturdy  and  vigorous  blood  of  some 
of  America's  founders.  His  grandfather,  John 
Gray,  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  was  a 
farmer  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  died.  Mary  Moore,  wife  of  John  Gray,  was  a 
native  of  Delaware,  presumably  of  English  blood. 
She  survived  her  husband  and  moved,  with  her 
younger  children,  to  the  vicinity  of  Georgetown, 
Ohio,  and  afterward  to  Monroe  County,  in  the 
same  State,  where  she  died.  She  was  the  mother 
of  Thomas,  Elijah,  Elisha,  David,  John  and 
Samuel  Gray. 

David  Gray  was  an  Orthodox  Quaker;  a  quiet 
man,  of  noble  character,  and  beloved  by  all  who 
came  within  his  benign  influence.  He  was  a 
fanner,  and  lived  near  Barnesville,  Ohio,  whence 
he  moved  to  Monroe  County,  in  that  State,  where 
he  died,  in  1849,  in  the  prime  of  life,  at  the  age 
of  about  forty  years.  His  wife,  Christiana  Edg- 
ertoti,  was  a  native  of  Belmont  County,  Ohio, 
where  her  parents,  Richard  and  Mary  (Hall) 
Edgerton,  were  early  settlers.  Richard  Edgerton 
was  born  in  North  Carolina,  of  English  descent, 
and  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  The  family  was  noted  for  the  large  size 
of  its  members,  all  being  six  feet  or  more  in 
height.  They  were  also  brainy  people.  John 
Edgerton  was  a  noted  leader  of  the  "Hicksite" 
Quakers,  and  a  powerful  anti-slavery  agitator  in 
Ohio  and  Indiana.  His  brother,  Joseph  Edger- 
ton, was  the  leading  Orthodox  Quaker  of  his  day, 
and  a  great  preacher.  He  was  vigorous  to  the 


end  of  his  life,  which  came  after  he  had  attained 
the  age  of  eighty  years.  The  Halls  were  also  a 
vigorous  and  intelligent  people,  and  prominent 
among  the  Quakers. 

David  Gray  and  wife  were  well-read  and  intell- 
igent, and  engaged  in  teaching  in  early  life. 
Mrs.  Gray  was  liberally  educated  for  that  day  in 
Ohio,  and  her  influence  went  far  in  preparing  her 
son  for  the  prominent  part  he  was  destined  to 
take  in  the  development  of  modern  practical 
science.  She  survived  her  husband  many  years, 
reaching  the  venerable  age  of  seventy-eight,  and 
died  at  the  home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Cope,  in  New  Sharon,  Iowa. 

Elisha  Gray  was  born  near  Barnesville,  Bel- 
mont County,  Ohio,  August  2,  1835.  From  a 
recent  work,  entitled  "Prominent  Men  of  the 
Great  West, ' '  the  following  elegant  and  carefully 
prepared  account  of  Professor  Gray's  life  is  taken: 
"When  young  Gray  was  but  twelve  years  of 
age,  he  had  received  three  or  four  months  of  dis- 
trict schooling  and  the  usual  industrial  training 
given  to  farmers'  lads  of  his  age  and  condition  of 
life.  Over  forty  years  ago  his  father  died,  leav- 
ing Elisha  in  a  large  measure  dependent  upon  his 
own  resources  for  a  living.  When  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  apprenticed  himself  to  a  blacksmith, 
and  partly  mastered  that  trade,  but,  his  strength 
being  greatly  overtaxed,  he  was  forced  to  give  it 
up  and  joined  his  mother,  who  had  removed  to 
Brownsville,  Pennsylvania.  Here  he  entered  the 
employ  of  a  boat-builder,  serving  three  and  a- 
half  years'  apprenticeship,  learning  the  trade  of 
ship-joiner. 

"At  the  end  of  this  time  he  was  a  first-class 
mechanic  and  began  to  give    evidence  of   his 


8o 


ELISHA  GRAY. 


inventive  genius.  He  was  handicapped,  how. 
ever,  by  the  meagreness  of  his  education,  and 
was  little  more  than  able  to  experiment  with  the 
simplest  contrivances.  The  testimony  of  one 
who  knew  him  intimately  at  this  time  indicates 
that  he  had  a  consciousness  of  his  own  resources 
and  was  of  the  belief  that  Nature  had  destined 
him  to  accomplish  some  important  work  in  life. 
He  had  a  great  desire  to  acquire  that  funda- 
mental knowledge  which  would  open  for  him  the 
way  to  intelligent  research,  investigation  and 
ultimate  achievements. 

"While  working  as  an  apprentice,  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Prof.  H.  S.  Bennett,  now 
of  Fisk  University,  then  a  student  at  Oberlin 
College,  Ohio,  from  whom  he  learned  that  at 
that  institution  exceptional  opportunities  were 
afforded  to  students  for  self-education;  and 
immediately  after  he  had  completed  his  term  of 
service  he  set  out  for  the  college,  with  barely 
enough  money  in  his  possession  to  carry  him  to 
his  destination.  He  arrived  in  Oberlin  in  the 
summer  of  1857,  at  once  going  to  work  as  a 
carpenter,  and  supported  himself  by  this  means 
during  a  five-years  course  of  study  in  the  college. 
As  a  student  he  gave  especial  attention  to  the 
physical  sciences,  in  which  he  was  exceptionally 
proficient,  his  ingenuity  being  strikingly  mani- 
fested from  time  to  time  in  the  construction  ot 
the  apparatus  used  in  the  classroom  experiments. 
His  cleverness  in  constructing  these  various 
appliances  made  him  a  conspicuous  character 
among  the  students.  While  pursuing  his  college 
course  he  was  not  fully  decided  as  to  what  pro- 
fession he  would  take  up,  and,  at  one  time,  he  is 
said  to  have  contemplated  entering  the  ministry, 
finally  deciding,  however,  not  to  do  so.  Perhaps 
the  course  of  his  life  was  decided  by  a  remark  of 
the  mother  of  the  young  lady  who  afterwards 
became  his  wife.  This  was  in  a  joking  spirit, 
to  the  effect  that  '  it  would  be  a  pity  to  spoil  a 
good  mechanic  to  make  a  poor  minister.'  In 
fact,  to  this  casual  remark  the  now  famous  in- 
ventor has  declared  himself  to  be,  in  great  meas- 
ure, indebted  for  what  he  has  since  accomplished. 
Truly,  the  worthy  lady  must  have  been  of  a 
sound  and  discriminating  judgment,  to  discover 


the  hidden  worth  of  the  young  man,  and  she, 
doubtless,  more  than  any  one  else,  in  his  earlier 
days,  fanned  the  latent  sparks  of  genius  into  the 
flame  which,  in  later  days,  revealed  to  his  brain 
the  contrivances  which  have  made  his  name 
famous,  and  which  have  proved  of  inestimable 
value  to  civilization. 

"From  1857  to  1861  the  Professor  devoted 
himself  to  unremitting  toil  and  study,  and  the 
result  was  that  his  naturally  delicate  constitution 
was  impaired  by  the  great  strain  upon  his  mental 
powers.  In  1861,  just  when  the  future  was 
brightening  with  the  promise  of  success,  and 
when  he  thought  his  days  of  struggling  were 
past,  he  was  stricken  with  an  illness  from  which 
he  did  not  recover  for  five  years.  After  his  mar- 
riage, in  1862,  to  Miss  Delia  M.  Sheppard,  of 
Oberlin,  and,  with  a  view  to  the  betterment  of 
his  health,  Mr.  Gray  devoted  himself  for  a  time 
to  farming  as  an  occupation.  This  experience 
was  disappointing,  both  in  its  financial  results 
and  in  its  effects  upon  his  health,  and  he  returned 
to  his  trade,  working  in  Trumbull  County,  Ohio, 
until  he  was  again  prostrated  by  a  serious  illness. 
Following  this,  came  two  or  three  years  of  strug- 
gle and  privation;  of  alternate  hope  and  disap- 
pointment, during  which  he  experimented  with 
various  mechanical  and  electrical  devices,  but 
was  prevented  by  his  straitened  circumstances 
from  making  any  headway  in  profitable  invention. 
Pressed  by  his  necessities,  he  was  once  or  twice 
on  the  point  of  giving  up  his  researches  and 
investigations  entirely  and  devoting  himself  to 
some  ordinary  bread-winning  industry;  but  he 
was  stimulated  by  his  faithful  and  devoted  wife 
and  her  mother,  both  of  whom  had  an  abiding 
faith  in  his  genius,  and  who  aided  him  in  his 
work  with  all  the  means  at  their  command,  and 
to  whose  influence  was  largely  due  the  fact  that 
he  continued  his  efforts  in  the  field  of  invention. 

"In  1867  a  more  prosperous  era  dawned  upon 
him,  with  the  invention  of  a  self-adjusting  tele- 
graph relay,  which,  although  it  proved  of  no 
practical  value,  furnished  the  opportunity  of  in- 
troducing him  to  the  late  Gen.  Anson  Stager,  of 
Cleveland,  then  General  Superintendent  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  who  at  once 


ELISHA   GRAY. 


81 


became  interested  in  him  and  furnished  him  facil- 
ities for  experimenting  on  the  company's  lines. 
Professor  Gray  then  formed  a  co-partnership  with 
E.  M.  Barton,  of  Cleveland,  for  the  manufacture 
of  electrical  appliances,  during  which  time  he 
invented  the  dial  telegraph. 

"  In  1869  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
continued  the  manufacture  of  electrical  supplies, 
General  Stager  becoming  associated  with  him. 
Here  he  perfected  the  type-printing  telegraph,  the 
telegraphic  repeater,  the  telegraphic  switch,  the 
annunciator  and  many  other  inventions  which 
have  become  famous  within  the  short  space  of  a 
few  years.  About  1872  he  organized  the  West- 
ern Electrical  Manufacturing  Company,  which  is 
still  in  existence  and  is  said  to  be  the  largest 
establishment  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  In  1874 
he  retired  from  the  superintendency  of  the  elec- 
tric company  and  began  his  researches  in  teleph- 
ony, and  within  two  years  thereafter  gave  to 
the  world  that  marvelous  production  of  human 
genius,  the  speaking  telephone.  Noting  one  day, 
when  a  secondary  coil  was  connected  with  the 
zinc  lining  of  the  bath  tub,  dry  at  the  time,  that 
when  he  held  the  other  end  of  the  coil  in  his  left 
hand  and  rubbed  the  lining  of  the  tub  with  his 
right,  it  gave  rise  to  a  sound  that  had  the  same 
pitch  and  quality  as  that  of  the  vibrating  contact- 
breaker,  he  began  a  series  of  experiments,  which 
led  first  to  the  discovery  that  musical  tones  could 
be  transmitted  over  an  electrical  wire.  Fitting 
up  the  necessary  devices,  he  exhibited  this  inven- 
tion to  some  of  his  friends,  and  the  same  year 
went  abroad,  where  he  made  a  special  study  of 
acoustics  and  gave  further  exhibitions  of  the 
invention,  which  he  developed  into  the  harmonic, 
or  multiplex,  telegraph.  While  perfecting  this 
device,  in  1875,  the  idea  of  the  speaking  tele- 
phone suggested  itself,  and  in  1876  he  perfected 
this  invention  and  filed  his  caveat  in  the  Patent 
Office  at  Washington.  That  another  inventor 
succeeded  in  incorporating  into  his  own  applica- 
tion for  a  telegraph  patent  an  important  feature 
of  Professor  Gray's  invention,  and  that  the  latter 
was  thereby  deprived  of  the  benefits  which  he 
should  have  derived  therefrom,  is  the  practically 
unanimous  decision  of  many  well  informed  as  to 


the  merits  of  the  controversy  to  which  conflict- 
ing claims  gave  rise;  and  the  leading  scientists 
and  scientific  organizations  of  the  world,  accord- 
ing to  a  certain  periodical,  have  accredited  to  him 
the  honor  of  inventing  the  telephone.  In  recog- 
nition of  his  distinguished  achievements,  he  was 
made  a  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  at  the 
close  of  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1878,  and  Amer- 
ican colleges  have  conferred  upon  him  the  degrees 
of  Doctor  of  Laws  and  Doctor  of  Science. 

"For  several  years  after  his  invention  of  the 
telephone  he  was  connected  with  the  Postal  Tel- 
egraph Company,  and  brought  the  lines  of  this 
system  into  Chicago,  laying  them  underground. 
He  also  devised  a  general  underground  telegraph 
system  for  the  city,  and  then  turned  his  attention 
to  the  invention  of  the  'telautograph,'  a  device 
with  which  the  general  public  is  just  now  becom- 
ing familiar  through  the  public  accounts  of  its 
operation.  On  March  21,  1893,  the  first  exhibi- 
tions of  the  practical  and  successful  operation  of 
this  wonderful  instrument  were  given  simultane- 
ously in  New  York  and  Chicago,  and  on  the 
same  day  the  first  telautograph  messages  were 
passed  over  the  wires  from  Highland  Park  to 
Waukegan,  Illinois.  The  exhibitions  were  wit- 
nessed by  a  large  number  of  electrical  experts, 
scientists  and  representatives  of  the  press,  who 
were  unanimous  in  their  opinion  that  Professor 
Gray's  invention  is  destined  to  bring  about  a 
revolution  in  telegraphy. 

"One  of  the  beauties  of  electrical  science  is  the 
expressiveness  of  its  nomenclature,  and  among 
the  many  significant  names  given  to  electrical 
inventions  none  expresses  more  clearly  the  use 
and  purpose  of  the  instrument  to  which  it  is 
applied  than  the  term,  'telautograph.'  As  its 
name  signifies,  it  enables  a  person  sitting  at  one 
end  of  the  wire  to  write  a  message  or  a  letter 
which  is  reproduced  simultaneously  in  fac  simile 
at  the  other  end  of  the  wire.  It  is  an  agent 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  skilled  operator  and 
the  telegraphic  alphabet.  Any  one  who  can 
write  can  transmit  a  message  by  this  means,  and 
the  receiving  instrument  does  its  work  perfectly, 
without  the  aid  of  an  operator.  The  sender  of 
the  message  may  be  identified  by  the/at  simile  of 


82 


ELISHA   GRAY. 


his  handwriting  which  reaches  the  recipient,  and 
pen-and-ink    portraits    of  persons    may    be    as 
readily  transmitted  from  one  point  to  another  as 
the   written   messages.       In   many  respects   the 
telautograph  promises  to  be  more  satisfactory  in 
its  practical  operations  than  the  telephone.     Com- 
munications can  be  carried  on  between  persons  at 
a  distance  from  each  other  with  absolute  secrecy, 
and    a  message  sent  to  a  person  in   his  absence 
from  his  place  of  business  will  be  found  awaiting 
him  upon   his  return.     These   and  many  other 
advantages   which    the    telautograph   seems  to 
possess   warrant  the   prediction   that  in  the  not 
very  distant  future  telautography  will   supplant 
in   a   measure   both   telephony   and   telegraphy. 
The  transmitter  and  the  receiver  of  the  telauto- 
graph system  are  delicately  constructed  pieces  of 
mechanism,   each  contained  in  a  box  somewhat 
smaller  than    an   ordinary  typewriter   machine. 
The  two  machines  are  necessary  at  each  end  of  a 
wire,  and  stand  side  by  side.     In  transmitting  a 
message  an  ordinary  feed  lead  pencil  is  used.     At 
the  point  of  this  is  a  small  collar,  with  two  eyes 
in  its  rim.     To  each  of  these  eyes  a  fine  silk  cord 
is  attached,   running  off  at  right  angles  in  two 
directions.     Each  of  the  two  ends  of  this  cord  is 
carried  round  a  small  drum  supported  on  a  ver- 
tical  shaft.     Under  the  drum,   and  attached  to 
the   same  shaft,  is  a  toothed  wheel  of  steel,  the 
teeth  of  which  are  so  arranged  that  when  either 
section  of  the  cord  winds  upon  or  off  its  drum,  a 
number  of  teeth  will  pass  a  given  point,  corres- 
ponding to  the  length  of  cord  so  wound  or  un- 
wound.    For  instance,  if  the  point  of  the  pencil 
moves  in  the  direction  of  one  of  the  cords  a  dis- 
tance of  one  inch,  forty  of  the  teeth  will  pass  any 
certain  point.     Each  one  of  these  teeth  and  each 
space  represents  one  impulse  sent  upon  the  line, 
so  that  when  the  pencil  describes  a  motion  one 
inch  in  length,  eighty  electrical  impulses  are  sent 
upon  the  line.     The  receiving  instrument  is  prac- 
tically a  duplicate  of  the  transmitter,  the  motions 
of  which,  however,   are  controlled   by  electrical 
mechanism.     The  perfected  device  exhibited  by 
Professor  Gray,   and    now  in  operation,    is  the 
result  of  six  years  of  arduous  labor,  an  evolution 
to  which  the  crude  contrivance  used  in  his  earliest 


experiments  bears  little  resemblance.  The  man- 
ufacture of  the  instruments  will  be  carried  on  by 
the  Gray  Electric  Company,  a  corporation  having 
offices  in  New  York  and  Chicago  and  a  large 
manufacturing  establishment  just  outside  the 
limits  of  the  suburban  village  of  Highland  Park, 
Illinois,  of  which  place  Professor  Gray  has  been 
for  many  years  a  resident.  Here,  in  addition  to 
his  workshop  and  laboratory,  the  renowned 
inventor  has  a  beautiful  home,  and  his  domestic 
relations  are  of  the  ideal  kind. 

' '  The  title  by  which  Professor  Gray  has  been 
known  for  so  many  years  came  to  him  through 
his  connection  with  Oberlin  and  Ripon  (Wis- 
consin) Colleges  as  non-resident  lecturer  in 
physics,  and  his  general  appearance  is  that  of  the 
college  professor  or  the  profound  student.  He 
has  none  of  the  eccentricities  which  are  the  con- 
spicuous characteristics  of  some  of  the  great 
inventors  of  the  age,  and,  when  not  absorbed  in 
his  professional  work,  he  is  delightfully  genial 
and  companionable. 

"When  the  World's  Congress  of  Electricians 
assembled  in  the  new  Art  Institute  in  Chicago, 
on  the  2ist  of  August,  1893,  there  were  gathered 
the  most  noted  electricians  of  all  the  world.  The 
congress  was  divided  into  two  sections,  one  of 
which — termed  the  official  section — was  com- 
posed of  representatives  designated  by  the  vari- 
ous Governments  of  Europe  and  the  Americas, 
and  was  authorized  to  consider  and  pass  upon 
questions  relating  to  electrical  measurement, 
nomenclature  and  various  other  matters  of  import 
to  the  electrical  world.  To  the  other  section  of 
the  congress  were  admitted  all  professional  elec- 
tricians who  came  properly  accredited,  and  they 
were  permitted  to  attend  the  sessions  and  partici- 
pate in  the  deliberations  of  the  congress,  although 
they  were  not  allowed  to  vote  on  the  technical 
questions  coming  before  it. 

'  'When  it  was  determined  that  the  convening 
of  international  congresses  of  various  kinds 
should  be  made  one  of  the  leading  features  of 
the  Columbian  Exposition,  a  body,  which  became 
known  as  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition,  was  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  promoting  and  making  all 


B.  C.  MILLER. 


necessary  preparations  for  these  gatherings.  To 
Prof.  Elisha  Gray,  of  Chicago,  this  body  as- 
signed the  task  of  organizing  the  congress  of 
electricians,  and  placed  upon  him  the  responsi- 
bility of  formulating  the  plans  and  making  all 
initiatory  preparations  for  what  was,  unquestion- 
ably, the  most  important  and  interesting  conven- 
tion of  electricians  ever  held  in  this  or  any  other 
country.  While  the  Professor  called  to  his  assist- 
ance many  distinguished  members  of  his  profes- 
sion, by  virtue  of  his  official  position,  he  was  the 
central  and  most  attractive  figure  1*1  this  great 
movement. 

"Professor  Gray  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club  of  Chicago.  Politically,  he  is  a 
Republican.  He  has  traveled  extensively,  not 
only  in  this  country  but  throughout  Europe. 
He  is  now  in  his  sixty-first  j'ear,  and  he  stands 
as  an  illustrious  example  of  the  general  rule,  for, 
although  not  yet  an  old  man,  he  is  one  of  the 
few  prominent  in  the  early  days  of  electrical 
development  who  maintained  their  prominence 
and  added  to  their  reputation  in  the  rapid  strides 
which  have  been  made  during  the  last  decade. 


But  few  of  the  early  workers  in  the  electrical 
sciences  have  maintained  their  prominence  in  the 
later  development.  This  is  undoubtedly  due  to 
the  lack  of  plasticity  which  is  usually  attributed 
to  maturer  years,  the  possession  of  which  in 
younger  men  often  gives  them  the  advantage  in 
the  rush  for  supremacy  in  new  adaptation  and 
under  ever-changing  conditions.  Where,  how- 
ever, this  plasticity  has  been  preserved  during 
maturer  years,  as  has  been  the  case  with  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  the  maturer  judgment  and 
riper  experience  which  those  years  have  enabled 
him  to  bring  to  bear  upon  the  newer  problems 
have  in  many  cases  resulted  in  inventions  and 
improvements  of  the  utmost  importance  to  man- 
kind and  the  cause  of  civilization.  Professor 
Gray  is  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  pleas- 
ing address,  commanding  bearing,  and  a  man 
who  will  attract  attention  in  any  assembly,  and 
who,  on  account  of  his  great  electrical  skill  and 
general  scientific  attainments,  and  because  of  his 
pleasing  and  affable  manner,  has  won  for  him- 
self many  friends  and  admirers." 


DR.  BENJAMIN  C.  MILLER. 


0R.  BENJAMIN    COKE   MILLER,  one  of 
the   most   successful   physicians   and   most 
highly  respected  citizens  of  Chicago,  passed 
away  at  his  home  on   Everett  Avenue,  in   that 
city,  June  25,  1891.     He  was  descended  from  a 
long  line  of  American  ancestors,  who  were  dis- 
tinguished as  physicians  and  gentlemen. 

The  founder  of  the  family  in  this  country  was 
Adam  Miller,  who  was  born  near  Metz,  France 
(now  included  in  the  German  Empire),  and  from 


whom  the  subject  of  this  biography  was  a  de- 
scendant in  the  eighth  generation.  He  settled 
with  his  family  in  Frederick,  Maryland,  and  be- 
came a  large  planter.  He  was  noted  as  a  man 
of  wealth,  culture  and  refinement,  and  held  many 
slaves.  These  were  liberated  by  his  bequest  on 
his  death,  and  their  loss  at  that  time  almost  beg- 
gared his  heirs;  but  they  honored  his  behest. 
The  family  continued  to  reside  in  Maryland  for 
several  generations.  The  great-grandfather  of 


84 


B.  C.  MILLER. 


Dr.  Benjamin  C.  Miller  moved  to  Shelbyville, 
Kentucky,  where  his  son,  Dr.  Henry  Miller,  be- 
came an  extensive  planter.  The  latter  was  a 
tall  and  fine-appearing  man,  a  noted  physician 
and  a  man  of  affairs.  He  died  at  Shelbyville,  of 
old  age. 

Dr.  Jefferson  Miller,  son  of  the  last-named, 
was  bern  in  Gallatin  County,  Kentucky,  No- 
vember 29,  1807,  and  was  educated  in  Virginia. 
Through  over-confidence  in  his  friends,  he  lost 
much  of  his  property,  and  then  took  up  the  study 
of  medicine  with  Dr.  Clarke,  a  noted  physician 
of  his  native  State.  While  still  a  young  man,  he 
settled  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Rush- 
ville,  Indiana,  and  became  widely  known  for  his 
skill  in  the  healing  art.  He  united  with  the 
Methodist  Church  there  in  1839.  As  a  Chris- 
tian, he  was  liberal  to  all  churches.  As  a  citizen, 
he  was  public-spirited,  and  was  much  loved  and 
respected  by  all.  As  a  physician,  he  was  un- 
usually successful,  and  was  a  man  of  extraordin- 
ary worth  and  usefulness  in  all  relations  of  life. 
November  20,  1832,  he  married  Eliza  A.  Stand- 
ford,  of  Greencastle,  Indiana,  and  two  of  their 
children  grew  to  maturity,  namely:  Dr.  Benja- 
min C.  and  Henry  Miller,  the  latter  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Ladoga,  Indiana.  The  father  died  at 
that  place,  November  5,  1885,  and  his  wife  sur- 
vived him  about  five  and  one- half  years,  passing 
away  in  May,  1891. 

Benjamin  C.  Miller  was  born  April  30,  1846, 
in  Rushville,  Indiana,  and  went  with  his  parents 
early  in  life  to  Montgomery  County,  in  the  same 
State,  receiving  his  primary  education  at  Ladoga. 
In  the  spring  of  1862,  when  he  was  barely  six- 
teen years  of  age,  he  ran  away  from  school  at 
Battle  Ground,  Indiana,  and  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  the  Eleventh  Indiana  Cavalry,  then  in  camp 
at  Indianapolis,  preparatory  to  service  in  the 
Civil  War.  As  this  enlistment  was  made  with- 
out the  consent  of  his  father,  the  latter  was  en- 
abled to  claim  him,  which  he  did,  and  conducted 
the  ambitious  boy  back  to  school.  Before  the 
father  had  reached  home  on  the  return  from  this 
duty,  the  son  was  again  in  camp,  and  he  was 
this  time  permitted  to  have  his  way.  He  joined 
Company  K,  of  the  Eleventh  Cavalry,  of  which 


he  was  made  Sergeant,  and  participated  in  the 
service  of  that  organization  until  December  19, 
1863,  before  the  completion  of  his  eighteenth 
year,  when  he  was  mustered  out  as  a  First  Lieu- 
tenant. 

One  day  soon  after  this,  a  handsome  young  man, 
some  six  feet,  six  and  one-half  inches  in  height, 
bronzed  by  exposure  in  the  line  of  military  duty, 
and  dressed  in  the  handsome  uniform  of  a  Lieu- 
tenant, called  at  the  home  of  his  parents  in  La- 
doga. On  learning  the  number  of  his  regiment, 
they  plied  him  with  questions  about  Company  K, 
and  inquired  if  he  knew  young  Benjamin  Miller. 
He  replied  in  the  affirmative.  At  this  moment 
his  favorite  dog  came  into  the  room,  and,  upon 
being  spoken  to  by  his  young  master,  gave  the 
most  extravagant  expressions  of  joy,  bringing 
tears  to  the  eyes  of  Mrs.  Miller,  who  could  scarcely 
forgive  herself  for  failing  to  recognize  her  son 
until  after  this  faithful  animal  had  shown  her  his 
identity. 

Entering  Rush  Medical  College  of  Chicago, 
young  Miller  was  graduated  with  honor  on  the 
9th  of  February,  1869.  He  passed  the  competi- 
tive examination,  and  was  appointed  House  Phy- 
sician and  Surgeon  of  Cook  County  Hospital, 
serving  a  year  and  a-half.  He  was  then  made 
County  Physician,  in  which  capacity  he  served  two 
years.  He  was  immediately  made  Superintendent 
of  Public  Charities,  having  charge  of  the  County 
Hospital,  Insane  Asylum  and  Alms  House. 
After  filling  this  position  about  eighteen  months, 
he  was  appointed  Sanitary  Superintendent  of 
Chicago  by  Mayor  Medill,  and  was  continued  in 
that  office  by  Mayor  Colvin.  During  this  period 
he  was  very  useful  in  the  community  by  his  skill- 
ful management  of  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1873. 
In  1875  he  was  made  Surgeon,  with  the  rank  of 
Major,  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  A.  C.  Ducat,  Com- 
mander of  the  Illinois  National  Guard.  In  1876 
Dr.  Miller  resigned  the  position  of  Sanitary  Su- 
perintendent and  went  abroad.  He  spent  about 
a  year  in  studying  in  hospitals  at  Aberdeen  and 
Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  London,  England. 
Returning  to  Chicago,  with  added  knowledge 
from  these  observations,  he  was  enabled  to  com- 
mand a  large  share  of  the  most  difficult  and  re- 


J.  M.  HANNAHS. 


munerative  medical  and  surgical  practice  of  the 
then  metropolitan  city.  In  1889  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  United  States  Government  a  Pen- 
sion Examiner,  and  continued  to  fulfill  the  duties 
of  this  position  until  his  death. 

December  24,  1872,  Dr.  Miller  was  married  to 
Miss  Etta  Barnet,  of  Chicago.  She,  with  one 
daughter,  survives  him.  The  latter,  Miss  Mary 
Etta  Miller,  is  a  bright  Chicago  girl.  She  is 
possessed  of  marked  literary  and  artistic  tastes, 
and  her  work  as  a  pen-and-ink  artist  has  attracted 
considerable  attention.  Mrs.  Miller  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  George  Barnet,  a  sketch  of  whose 


career  will  be  found  on  another  page  of  this 
work. 

Dr.  Miller's  character  was  summed  up  in  a 
few  heartfelt  and  well-chosen  words  by  his  con- 
temporary, Dr.  Pagne,  as  follows:  "A  man  of 
extraordinary  talent  and  attainments  was  Dr. 
Miller.  While  City  Physician,  he  inaugurated 
the  system  of  newsboys'  picnics  and  outings.  His 
friends  were  many,  by  reason  of  his  greatness  of 
heart.  Chicago  loses  a  good  citizen,  and  the  pro- 
fession an  able  member." 

The  last  sad  rites  over  his  remains  were  con- 
ducted by  South  Park  Masonic  Lodge,  and  his 
body  was  interred  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery. 


JAMES  M.  HANNAHS. 


1AMES  MONROE  HANNAHS,  one  of  the 
oldest  residents  of  Chicago,  having  come 
G)  here  as  early  as  1836,  is  a  descendant  of  an 
old  and  influential  New  England  family,  which 
originated  in  Ireland,  the  family  name  having 
been  spelled  in  that  country  Hannah.  The 
great-grandfather  of  James  M.  Hannahs  was  the 
first  member  of  the  family  to  leave  his  native 
land  for  the  New  World.  He  settled  in  Litch- 
field,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  an  active  and 
influential  citizen,  and  later  became  a  zealous 
patriot.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution,  that  contest  with  the  Mother  Coun- 
try which  tried  the  mettle  of  her  sons  so  sorely, 
he  made  his  adopted  country's  cause  his  own, 
and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety  formed  at  that  time. 

Daniel  Hannahs,  son  of  the  foregoing,  and  the 
grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was  wounded  at 


the  battle  of  Oueenstown,  and  for  his  services 
enjoyed  a  pension  from  the  Government  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1842.  Leaving  Con- 
necticut, he  moved  with  his  family  to  central 
New  York,  settling  in  the  wilderness  near  the 
Mohawk  River.  Undaunted  in  courage,  and  of 
a  fine,  soldierly  physique,  he  was  well  fitted  by 
nature  for  the  Herculean  task  of  founding  a  home 
in  the  primeval  forests,  and  in  his  wife  he  found 
a  willing  helpmate.  The  latter  was  Elizabeth 
Gordon,  a  cousin  of  Lord  George  Gordon,  the 
hero  of  the  "Gordon  Riots"  of  1798,  for  his 
leadership  in  which  he  was  imprisoned  in  Lon- 
don and  tried  for  treason,  but  finally  acquitted. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daniel  Hannahs  became  the 
parents  of  four  children,  all  sons:  Chauncey, 
Marvin,  William  and  Daniel.  Of  these,  Marvin 
removed  to  Albion,  Calhoun  County,  Michigan, 
in  1835,  and  became  one  of  the  leading  men  in 
that  locality,  and  in  later  years  his  son  George 


86 


J.  M.  HANNAHS. 


was  elected  State  Senator  from  Michigan.  Will- 
iam, another  son  of  Daniel  Hannahs,  became  a 
prosperous  woolen  merchant  of  New  York  City. 
His  son,  a  law  student,  immediately  after  his 
graduation  from  Yale  College,  raised  a  company 
of  cavalry  in  New  York  City,  in  the  first  month 
after  the  Civil  War  opened,  and  took  the  field. 
He  was  made  Captain  of  this  company,  but,  sad 
to  relate,  was  killed  in  Virginia,  in  May,  1861. 

Chauncey  Hannahs,  the  father  of  James  Mon- 
roe, was  born  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  in  the 
year  1791,  and  removed  with  his  parents  to  New 
York  State,  assisting  his  father  in  clearing 
up  his  farm.  In  later  years,  in  this  same  lo- 
cality, he  engaged  in  the  foundry  business.  In 
1835116  removed  to  Wisconsin,  then  considered 
in  the  very  far  West,  and  located  on  Government 
land  in  Kenosha  County,  where  the  rest  of  his 
days  were  spent,  his  demise  occurring  in  1873, 
from  old  age.  While  living  in  New  York  State 
he  had  been  Captain  of  an  artillery  company," 
and  the  title  then  gained  he  ever  afterwards  bore. 
In  person  large  and  strong,  he  delighted  in  out- 
door pursuits,  and  the  pioneer  life  which  he 
chose  on  leaving  his  old  home  in  the  East  was 
one  well  suited  to  him  in  every  respect.  In  his 
early  life  he  had  been  an  ardent  Whig,  but  on 
the  formation  of  the  two  great  parties  of  Repub- 
licans and  Democrats,  he  allied  himself  with  the 
latter,  and  proved  an  equally  earnest  champion 
of  its  principles.  In  his  religious  leanings  he 
was  a  Presbyterian,  his  wife  being  of  the  same 
faith.  The  latter  was  born  in  the  year  1793,  in 
Oneida  County,  New  York,  a  daughter  of  Enos 
Nichols,  a  pioneer  of  that  county,  where  he  lived 
in  a  covered  wagon  until  he  could  erect  for  him- 
self a  house  in  the  wilderness.  He  later  became 
a  pioneer  of  I,ake  County,  Illinois,  near  the  Wis- 
consin State  line,  and  his  family  thus  became 
neighbors  of  the  Hannahs  family. 

Mrs.  Chauucey  Hannahs  died  on  the  old  home- 
stead in  Kenosha  County  in  1882,  also  from  old 
age.  She  had  been  the  mother  of  seven  children, 
as  follows:  Mrs.  Ann  Doolittle,  William  H., 
James  M.,  Thomas  J.,  Francis  G.,  Frederick,  and 
Adeline,  who  died  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years. 
A  strange  and  shocking  fatality  occurred  in  this 


family,  no  less  than  six  deaths  taking  place  with- 
in twenty-two  months,  three  children  dying  with- 
in three  days  of  each  other.  All  who  now  sur- 
vive are  James  M.  and  his  brother,  Francis  G. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  June  26, 
1821,  in  Herkimer  County,  New  York,  and  re- 
ceived a  common-school  education  in  a  little 
schoolhouse  on  the  banks  of  the  historic  Mohawk 
River.  On  leaving  school  he  entered  his  father's 
foundry  to  learn  the  business,  and  after  coming 
to  Chicago  he  followed  the  trade  of  a  foundry- 
man  in  connection  with  a  partner,  the  firm  name 
being  Hannahs  &  James.  He  continued  thus  en- 
gaged until  he  entered  the  employ  of  Wahl 
Brothers,  manufacturers  of  glue,  with  whom  he 
remained  for  twenty-five  years,  during  part  of 
that  time  representing  the  firm  in  New  York 
City.  After  leaving  Wahl  Brothers  he  was  act- 
ively engaged  in  promoting  elevated  railroads  in 
Chicago,  on  a  new  principle. 

July  3,  1851,  in  Cook  County,  Illinois,  Mr. 
Hannahs  married  Miss  Matilda  Irish,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Perry  Irish,  and  a  native  of  Holley,  New 
York.  Several  children  were  born  of  this  mar- 
riage, but  all  died  in  infancy.  Mrs.  Hannahs 
died  September  19,  1885,  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Hannahs  has  been  for  over  forty  years  a 
consistent  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  re- 
gard to  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  having  been 
a  stanch  Abolitionist  previous  to  the  war.  He 
is  a  strong  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  free  silver, 
and  champions  his  cause  with  great  ardor.  While 
in  the  employ  of  Wahl  Brothers,  his  business  led 
him  to  travel  extensively  throughout  the  United 
States,  and  he  has  hosts  of  friends  up  and  down 
the  country,  as  well  as  in  Chicago.  Like  many 
other  Chicago  business  men,  he  was  at  one  time 
a  farmer  in  Cook  County,  but  he  yielded  to  the 
superior  attractions  of  city  life  and  sold  his  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  which  he  had  bought 
for  $3  per  acre.  He  has  many  reminiscences  of 
early  days  in  Illinois,  and  has  contributed  many 
interesting  articles  to  Chicago  newspapers,  de- 
scribing the  scenes  and  incidents  of  early  days 
in  this  locality,  and  noting  the  stupendous 
changes  wrought  in  the  face  of  the  country  since 
he  came  here,  a  pioneer  of  1836. 


JACOB  FORSYTH. 


JACOB  FORSYTH. 


(JACOB  FORSYTH.  In  every  community, 
I  no  matter  how  small,  the  intelligent  observer 
(~/  will  find  men  who  have  risen  above  their 
fellows,  both  in  fame  and  fortune,  by  sheer  force 
of  character  and  the  ability  to  seize  fortune  at  the 
tide.  Though  to  the  casual  onlooker  there  often 
has  seemed  an  element  of  "luck"  in  the  chances 
of  prosperity  which  have  come  to  them,  a  closer 
observer  will  see  that  it  has  more  often  been  the 
fortunate  meeting  of  the  man  and  the  opportunity ; 
— the  opportunity  may,  perhaps,  have  occurred 
a  hundred  times  before,  but  the  man  who  should 
seize  it,  and  by  his  ability  and  energy  force  results 
from  it,  has  never  before  appeared. 

Jacob  Forsyth,  an  old  resident  of  Chicago,  and 
one  of  its  leading  citizens,  exemplifies  the  truth 
of  the  foregoing  in  a  marked  degree.  Born  in  the 
North  of  Ireland,  of  Scotch  descent,  he  possesses 
those  fortunate  characteristics  which  have  placed 
so  many  of  his  countrymen  on  the  highroad  to 
success — honesty,  ambition,  energy  and  resistless 
tenacity  of  purpose.  Overlooking  the  daily  dis- 
couragements, disappointments  and  hardships  of 
their  life,  they  keep  ever  before  them  the  high 
object  of  their  ambition;  and  if  failure  instead  of 
success  is  their  portion,  it  is  through  no  weaken- 
ing of  their  powers  by  self-indulgence  or  idle  re- 
pining. 

In  the  days  of  King  James  I.  of  England  there 
sprang  up  a  class  of  men  known  as  "under- 
takers," who,  in  consideration  of  certain  grants 
of  land,  undertook  to  locate  a  specified  number  of 
settlers  upon  the  vast  tracts  of  vacant  ground  in 
northern  Ireland.  It  was  at  this  time  that  a  great 
emigration  was  made  from  Scotland  to  this  region, 
and  gave  to  the  world  that  sturdy,  industrious 


and  highly  moral  class  of  people  called  Scotch- 
Irish.  Prior  to  the  siege  of  Londonderry,  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  northern  Ireland,  the  an- 
cestors of  Jacob  Forsyth  settled  in  what  is  now 
the  county  of  Londonderry.  They  were  a  rural 
people,  and,  as  near  as  can  be  learned  at  the 
present  time,  were  engaged  in  agriculture. 

To  John  Forsyth  and  his  wife,  Margaret  Cox, 
was  born  a  son,  whom  they  christened  Jacob.  The 
latter  married  Elizabeth  Haslette,  and  their  son 
John  was  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
John  Forsyth  married  Mary  Ann  Kerr,  a  native 
of  County  Londonderry,  who  was  the  daughter 
of  Alexander  Kerr  and  Anne  Osborne,  the  latter 
of  English  descent.  The  Kerrs  were  of  Scotch 
lineage,  and  very  early  in  Ireland.  The  parents 
of  Alexander  Kerr  were  Oliver  and  Elizabeth 
(Wilson)  Kerr. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Forsyth  was  an  intelligent 
farmer,  and  the  possessor  of  a  small  landed 
property.  Anxious  that  his  son  should  have  the 
'  'schooling' '  which  is  the  ambition  of  most  of  his 
countrymen,  he  sent  him  to  a  celebrated  private 
academy,  the  principal  of  which  was  a  famous 
Greek  and  Latin  scholar  and  a  renowned 
mathematician,  in  his  vicinity.  Possessing  the 
studious  inclination  and  the  quick  perceptions  of 
an  apt  scholar,  the  youth  profited  greatly  by  his 
attendance  here,  and  the  proficiency  he  ac- 
quired in  penmanship  gained  for  him  his  first 
position  in  America. 

Jacob  Forsyth  was  born  January  12,  1821,  at 
the  old  town  of  Limavady,  near  the  present  rail- 
road station  and  thriving  village  in  County  Lon- 
donderry, Ireland,  known  as  Newtown, Limavady. 
Filled  with  the  ambitious  spirit  which  builds 


88 


JACOB  FORSYTH. 


cities  and  develops  the  commercial  possibilities  of 
the  world,  he  set  out  for  the  United  States  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years.  Settling  in  Pittsburg,  Penn- 
sylvania, he  there  first  found  employment  as 
copying  clerk  and  errand  boy  for  the  great  com- 
mission and  forwarding  house  of  Forsyth  &  Corn- 
pan  y ,  a  member  of  which  firm  was  a  near  relative. 
The  firm  was  the  oldest  commission  house  in  the 
city,  and  owned  a  large  fleet  of  steamers,  running 
on  various  western  rivers.  In  those  days  the 
copying  book  had  not  been  invented,  and  all  let- 
ters had  to  be  copied  by  hand,  and  this  work  fell 
to  young  Forsyth.  By  the  interest  he  took  in 
his  work,  and  the  care  with  which  everything 
entrusted  to  him  to  do  was  performed,  he  soon 
won  his  way  into  the  confidence  of  his  employers, 
and  was  promoted  from  one  responsible  position 
to  another,  until  he  had  attained  that  of  head 
bookkeeper. 

Mr.  Forsyth  remained  with  Forsyth  &  Com- 
pany for  fifteen  years  altogether,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  his  abilities  had  become  so  well 
known  outside  of  the  concern  that  he  was  offered 
several  other  advantageous  positions.  Accepting 
one  of  these,  he  became  the  Through  Freight 
Agent  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  with  head- 
quarters in  Chicago,  and  by  this  means  became  a 
permanent  resident  of  this  city  in  1857.  After  a 
few  years'  service  in  this  capacity,  he  accepted 
the  position  of  General  Western  Agent  for  the  old 
"Erie"  Road. 

About  this  time,  his  business  giving  him  op- 
portunities for  observing  the  prevailing  real-es- 
tate conditions,  he  became  impressed  with  the 
excellent  opportunities  to  buy  land  cheaply;  and 
with  a  premonition  of  the  growth  of  the  city,  and 
the  consequent  rise  in  land  values,  he  resigned 
his  position  and  began  to  invest  largely  in  real 
estate.  His  wife  had  inherited  a  large  amount 
of  land  in  L,ake  County,  Indiana,  from  her  brother, 
George  W.  Clarke,  who  died  in  1866,  and  to  this 
Mr.  Forsyth  added  by  purchasing  the  holdings 
of  small  owners  in  the  vicinity,  until  he  had  ac- 
quired ten  thousand  acres,  a  large  estate  for  this 
land  of  comparatively  small  holdings.  He  had 
the  shrewdness  to  buy  this  so  as  to  form  one  im- 
mense tract,  arguing  that  one  large  tract  would 


possess  more  value  than  the  same  amount  in  scat- 
tered portions.  During  subsequent  years  he  ex- 
perienced much  annoyance  and  was  caused  many 
years'  litigation  in  his  efforts  to  expel  squatters 
from  the  tract.  They  were  very  numerous 
around  Lakes  George  and  Wolf  at  the  time,  and 
their  dislodgment  was  a  matter  of  much  difficulty. 
Mr.  Forsyth  was  in  litigation  for  five  years  before 
he  finally  obtained  redress,  and  during  this  time 
read  book  after  book  on  land  decisions  and  the 
question  of  riparian  rights,  on  which  he  is  now 
one  of  the  best-posted  men  in  the  country,  and 
able  to  give  information  to  many  an  intelligent 
attorney  in  that  line  of  practice. 

When,  finally,  a  decree  was  pronounced  in  his 
favor,  he  sold  eight  thousand  acres  of  his  land  to 
the  East  Chicago  Improvement  Company  for  one 
million  dollars,  one-third  of  which  sum  was  paid 
down.  The  company,  however,  failed  to  meet 
subsequent  payments,  and  as  a  compromise  the 
present  Canal  and  Improvement  Company  was 
formed  in  1887.  From  this  Mr.  Forsyth  ac- 
cepted as  reimbursement  part  cash,  a  large 
amount  of  bonds,  and  some  stock  in  the  company. 
In  1881  he  bought  another  large  tract  on  the 
lake  shore,  lying  directly  north  of  the  present 
site  of  East  Chicago,  and  in  1889  he  sold  a  por- 
tion of  this  to  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  and 
on  it  has  since  been  built  its  large  plant,  known 
as  Whiting.  The  limits  of  the  city  of  Chicago 
having  been  extended  to  the  Indiana  line,  across 
which  lies  Mr.  Forsyth's  land,  the  latter  has  been 
consequently  enhanced  in  value,  and  has  been 
greatly  benefited  thereby. 

AtUniontown,  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Forsyth  mar- 
ried Miss  Caroline  M.  Clarke,  daughter  of  Robert 
Clarke,  of  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  who 
has  borne  her  husband  nine  children,  five  sons 
and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living. 
The  family  occupies  a  handsome,  comfortable 
house  on  Michigan  Avenue,  and  the  home  is  per- 
vaded by  an  air  of  taste  and  refinement  which 
is  not  always  an  element  in  the  homes  of  the  rich. 

In  politics  Mr.  Forsyth  is  a  Republican,  a 
stanch  advocate  of  his  party's  men  and  principles, 
though,  owing  to  the  stress  of  his  extensive  busi- 
ness interests,  he  has  never  found  it  convenient 


T.  T.   PROSSER. 


89 


to  take  an  active  part  in  political  affairs.  Had 
he  done  so,  and  brought  the  same  energy  and 
discernment  to  bear  that  he  has  displayed  in  the 
management  of  his  private  interests,  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  he  would  have  made  his  mark  in  the  political 
world,  as  he  has  made  it  in  the  business  affairs  of 
his  adopted  city. 

In   appearance  Mr.    Forsyth  is  a  large,  well- 


proportioned  man,  with  a  kindly,  shrewd  face, 
the  true  index  of  a  man  who  has  lived  an  honest, 
helpful  and  kindly  life.  Though  bearing  the 
weight  of  seventy-five  years  and  the  responsi- 
bilities which  the  possession  of  great  wealth  al- 
ways brings,  he  is  elastic  in  mind  and  body,  and 
bids  fair  to  live  to  an  extreme  old  age. 


TREAT  T.  PROSSER. 


"REAT  T.  PROSSER.  There  are  few  tasks 
more  difficult  than  to  sketch  the  life  of  an 
inventor.  The  world  is  so  jealous  of  inno- 
vation and  improvement  upon  established  meth- 
ods, so  wedded  to  the  past,  and  withal  so  disin- 
clined to  recognize  the  brilliancy  of  more  prac- 
tical genius,  that  the  man  who  discovers  de- 
ficiencies in  practical  mechanics  and  supplies  them 
often  goes  to  his  grave  unrewarded,  even  by  the 
gratitude  of  the  world  he  has  benefited.  He 
hears  the  name  of  the  warrior,  of  the  statesman, 
of  the  poet,  even  of  the  politician,  in  every 
household  or  business  mart,  but  often  his  own,  if 
mentioned  at  all,  as  of  one  who  is  building  cas- 
tles in  the  air. 

But  gifted  innovators,  while  deeply  feeling  the 
lack  of  appreciation,  have  often  adopted  the  sen- 
timent of  Keplar,  who  said:  "My  work  is  done; 
it  can  well  wait  a  century  for  its  readers,  since 
God  waited  full  six  thousand  years  before  there 
came  a  man  capable  of  comprehending  and  admir- 
ing His  work."  Now  and  then,  however,  genius 
is  so  practical,  and  its  fruits  contrast  so  brilliantly 
with  what  has  preceded,  that  it  compels  almost 
instantaneous  recognition  and  homage,  and 
among  the  fortunate  possessors  of  the  latter  class 
was  the  subject  of  this  article,  the  late  Treat  T. 
Prosser. 


The  Prossers  are  of  Welsh  descent,  but  the 
Treats,  from  whom  Mr.  Prosser  was  descended 
on  the  maternal  side,  were  English.  The  first 
ancestors  of  the  former  family  to  come  to  America 
were  two  brothers,  who  came  from  Wales  some 
time  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  which 
supreme  contest  two  of  their  descendants  partici- 
pated, and  one  met  his  death.  The  family  lived 
on  Prosser  Hill,  just  outside  of  Boston,  and  it 
was  in  the  Prosser  barn  that  the  members  of  the 
historic  Boston  "tea  party"  disguised  themselves 
as  Indians,  previous  to  throwing  the  tea  over- 
board into  Boston  Harbor.  Grandfather  John 
Prosser  was  one  of  the  two  members  of  the  family 
mentioned  previously  as  having  served  in  the 
struggle  with  the  Mother  Country.  He  married 
Bethia  Truesdale,  daughter  of  a  Connecticut  phy- 
sician, and  had  eight  sons  and  one  daughter. 

Of  these  children,  Potter  A.  Prosser,  the  father 
of  Treat  T. ,  married  Eliza,  a  daughter  of  Timo- 
thy Treat,  whose  son,  a  physician,  became  famous 
through  the  services  he  rendered  during  the 
great  cholera  epidemic.  The  Treat  family  came 
from  Pitminster,  Somerset,  England.  Richard 
Treat  was  baptized  in  1584.  Among  the  prom- 
inent descendants  are  Gov.  Robert  Treat,  and 
Rev.  Samuel  Treat,  of  Pitminster.  The  father's 
birth  occurred  August  n,  1793,  and  the  mother 


T.  T.  PROSSER. 


was  born  March  29,  1798.  Their  marriage  was 
solemnized  on  the  5th  of  November,  1818,  and 
of  their  union  were  born  five  children.  The 
mother,  a  woman  of  many  domestic  virtues  and 
lovable  traits  of  character,  died  at  the  compara- 
tively early  age  of  fifty-five  years,  but  the  father 
lived  to  the  great  age  of  ninety-six. 

Treat  T.  Prosser  was  born  in  the  little  town  of 
Avon,  New  York,  January  22,  1827.  His  youth 
and  early  manhood  were  passed  in  his  native 
State,  and  his  early  education  was  received  in  its 
common  schools.  After  reaching  his  majority  he 
attended  the  academy  at  West  Avon,  feeling  the 
need  of  a  more  thorough  school  training  before 
starting  out  to  earn  his  own  way  in  life.  Always 
handy  in  the  use  of  tools,  at  the  early  age  of 
fourteen  he  had  been  engaged  at  the  trade  of  a 
millwright,  in  which  he  soon  became  a  proficient 
workman.  But  while  his  hands  were  busily 
engaged  at  this  work,  his  thoughts  were  wander- 
ing out  upon  the  whole  broad  domain  of  mechan- 
ical science,  and  his  studies  at  the  academy  were 
for  the  purpose  of  fitting  himself  for  the  career  to 
which  all  his  talents  and  his  inclinations  urged 
him. 

From  the  young  millwright  developed  an 
inventor  of  agricultural  implements  of  great 
value;  of  a  superior  system  of  machinery  for  the 
manufacture  of  bolts;  of  universally  recognized 
improvements  upon  steam  engines;  of  a  practical 
and  widely  used  machine  for  pegging  boots;  of 
coal  machinery;  of  the  Prosser  Cylinder  Car,  and 
of -many  other  mechanical  devices,  which  either 
are  now,  or  will  become  in  the  future,  of  great 
benefit  to  mankind.  He  drew  the  plans  for  the 
Chicago  Hydraulic  Company,  which  built  the 
first  water-works  system  in  Chicago. 

In  1851  Mr.  Prosser  came  to  Chicago,  and  the 
wisdom'  of  his  choice  of  a  location  was  demon- 
strated long  ago.  No  other  city  has  ever  opened 
such  welcoming  arms  to  men  of  genius  as  has 
she,  nor  out  of  her  own  prosperity  rewarded  them 
so  bountifully.  The  great  fire  of  1871  found  him 
among  its  victims,  and  he  lost  the  greater  part  of 
the  accumulations  of  years;  but  financial  loss  is 
one  of  the  minor  evils  to  a  man  who  has  within 
himself  the  power  to  mould,  in  a  great  measure, 


his  own  destiny,  and  is  no  mere  inert  mass,  lying 
helpless  under  the  buffetings  of  the  winds  of  ill- 
fortune.  The  energy  which  was  one  of  jthe 
marked  points  in  his  character  asserted  itself,  and 
his  days  were  ended  in  the  prosperity  he  deserved. 

From  1851  until  the  date  of  his  death,  Decem- 
ber n,  1895,  Mr.  Prosser  made  Chicago  his  home, 
with  the  exception  of  two  years  spent  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  six  years  in  Boston,  and  a 
short  vacation  spent  in  Europe.  He  was  the  first 
man  to  introduce  the  steam  engine  and  the 
quartz-mill  into  the  Rockies,  the  engine  being 
constructed  of  material  shipped  from  the  East,  the 
boiler  being  literally  built  in  that  wild  region. 
While  in  Europe  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Mechanics  of  England  and  Scotland, 
an  honor  which  speaks  of  his  high  merits  as  a 
mechanical  engineer. 

In  West  Bloomfield,  New  York,  September  26, 
1849,  Mr.  Prosser  married  Miss  Lucy  J.  Phillips, 
and  of  their  union  two  children  were  born: 
Henry  Blinn  Prosser,  of  Chicago;  and  Mary 
Augusta,  wife  of  Oscar  E.  Poole,  of  Lakeside, 
Illinois.  Mrs.  Prosser  was  the  daughter  of  Isaac 
Webster  Phillips,  a  relative  of  the  famous  Web- 
ster family,  his  mother  being  a  sister  of  Noah 
Webster's  father.  Isaac  Phillips  was  a  native  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  but  removed  to  West 
Bloomfield,  where  he  served  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  was  commonly  known  as  Judge  Phil- 
lips. He  came  to  Chicago  late  in  life,  and  died 
at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Prosser,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-two years.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Laura  Miller,  reached  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety-two  years. 

Closely  wedded  to  his  profession,  Mr.  Prosser 
generally  refused  the  responsibilities  of  official 
positions,  but  made  an  exception  to  this  rule  after 
the  Great  Fire,  when  he  acted  as  superintendent 
of  the  distribution  of  food  to  the  destitute  in 
Districts  Four  and  Five.  These  duties  he  filled 
in  an  energetic  and  impartial  manner,  which 
accorded  well  with  the  other  actions  of  his  well- 
spent  life.  In  his  politics  he  voted  with  the 
Republican  party. 

Oscar  E.  Poole,  who  married  Mr.  Prosser's  only 
daughter,  was  born  January  18,  1857,  in  Will 


J.   W.  LARIMORE. 


County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Ezra  and  Eliza 
Treat  Poole,  pioneers  in  Will  County,  where  they 
settled  in  1850.  He  received  his  principal  educa- 
tion in  Joliet,  where  his  guardian  lived.  His 
father  died  when  he  was  but  one  and  a-half  years 
old,  and  his  mother  died  when  he  was  ten 
years  old.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  Joliet. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  became  a  clerk  in 
his  uncle's  store,  and  three  years  later  became  a 
partner.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  entered  the 
employ  of  the  State,  in  the  capacity  of  storekeeper 


at  the  State  Penitentiary,  remaining  a  number  of 
years  in  that  position.  From  there  he  went  to 
Chicago,  where  he  first  started  a  milk  business 
and  then  became  a  traveling  salesman  for  Kinney 
&  Company,  aud,  later,  their  manager.  He  finally 
bought  out  the  business,  and  it  is  now  conducted 
under  the  name  of  Poole  &  Company.  Mr.  Poole 
was  married,  February  27,  1885,  to  Miss  Mary 
Augusta  Prosser,  who  is  the  mother  of  four 
children  now  living:  Edward  Prosser,  Helen 
Irene,  Lucy  Eliza  and  Malcolm  Alan  Poole. 


PROF.  JAMES  W.  LARIMORE. 


(I AMES  WILSON  LARIMORE,  who  died 
I  suddenly  of  heart  failure  at  his  home  in  Chi- 
Q)  cago,  May  30,  1894,  was  for  many  years 
prominent  in  the  literary,  social  and  religious 
work  of  the  city.  He  was  born  in  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  May  6,  1834,  and  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  Jane  (Wilson)  Larimore,  both  also  natives 
of  that  place.  The  earliest  progenitors  of  the 
family  known  were  French  Huguenots,  who  fled 
from  their  native  land  after  the  cruel  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis  XIV.,  locating 
in  Scotland.  There  the  name  was  difficult  of 
pronunciation  on  the  Scotch  tongue,  and  from 
"Laird  o'  the  Moor,"  the  name  gradually  came 
to  its  present  form. 

The  first  settlement  of  the  family  in  Amer- 
ica was  made  in  Chester  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  David  Larimore,  grandfather  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  March  31, 
1782.  For  many  generations  the  Larimores  had 
been  distinguished  for  literary  tastes  and  attain- 
ments, and  David  Larimore  was  no  exception  to 
the  rule.  He  was  a  man  of  affairs,  and  conserved 


the  family  estates,  which  were  considerable.  He 
died  at  Norristown,  Pennsylvania,  March  16, 
1857,  having  almost  completed  his  seventy-fifth 
year. 

James  Wilson,  father  of  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Lari- 
more, came  of  a  Scotch-Irish  family,  which  has 
borne  a  prominent  part  in  the  literary  and  social 
life  of  the  United  States,  furnishing  many  not- 
able statesmen,  attorneys  and  generals  to  the 
Nation.  This  family  is  also  a  strong  factor  in 
the  literary  life  of  America,  and  Professor  Lari- 
more inherited  talents  from  both  lines  of  ances- 
tors. 

The  youth  of  the  latter  was  spent  at  Niles, 
Michigan,  whither  his  parents  removed  when  he 
was  two  years  old.  He  early  manifested  a  fond- 
ness for  books,  and  most  of  his  life  up  to  the  age 
of  twenty-six  years  was  spent  in  school.  He 
was  sent,  in  1852,  to  Olivet  Institute,  in  Eaton 
County,  Michigan.  Having  an  uncle  in  the 
faculty  of  the  Hampton  and  Sidney  College  in 
southern  Virginia,  he  was  induced  to  go  there. 
He  remained  some  time,  but  the  climate  did  not 


J.  W.  LARIMORE. 


agree  with  him.  Consequently,  he  decided  to 
finish  his  education  at  the  North.  He  took  a 
course  at  the  University  of  New  York  City,  which 
graduated  him  in  the  Class  of  1860.  He  had  a 
thorough  theological  education,  having  spent  a 
year  at  Union  Theological  Seminar}',  later  taking  a 
full  course  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary, 
Princeton,  New  Jersey,  preparatory  to  entering 
the  Presbyterian  ministry.  He  preached  most  of 
the  time,  supplying  different  churches  during  the 
latter  part  of  his  theological  studies,  his  first 
regular  '  'call' '  being  to  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  important  churches  at  that  time  in  Albany, 
New  York,  the  Third  Dutch  Reformed.  He  had, 
however,  a  decided  preference  for  life  in  the  grow- 
ing West,  and  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa.  Under  his 
able  ministry,  this  soon  became  the  largest  so- 
ciety of  that  denomination  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  In  1863  he  accepted  the  Chaplaincy  of 
the  Ninth  Iowa  Cavalry,  at  the  earnest  solicita- 
tion of  his  particular  friend,  Adjutant- General 
Baker,  of  Iowa,  and  at  once  went  into  the  field 
with  the  regiment,  spending  most  of  the  time  in 
the  Department  of  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  being 
Post  Chaplain  at  De  Vails  Bluff.  Just  before  the 
death  of  President  Lincoln,  in  1865,  he  was  by 
him  brevetted  Major,  and  also  assigned  to  the 
position  of  Hospital  Chaplain  in  the  regular 
United  States  army.  He  resigned  his  position 
at  De  Vails  Bluff,  as  he  had  been  ordered  to  re- 
port for  duty  at  Webster  Hospital  in  Memphis, 
Tennessee,  in  April,  1865.  Owing  to  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  mails,  he  did  not  receive  his  papers 
until  several  days  after  the  President's  assassina- 
tion. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Professor  Larimore 
came  to  Chicago,  and  in  the  fall  of  1865  was 
installed  as  pastor  of  the  Seventh  (now  West- 
minister) Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city,  which 
position  he  filled  for  something  over  two  years. 
In  the  mean  time  he  did  much  literary  work,  and 
for  a  period  gave  his  exclusive  attention  to  this 
congenial  labor.  He  developed  a  great  aptitude  for 
journalism,  and  was  offered  the  position  of  city 
editor  of  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal  in  the 
spring  of  1 87 1 ,  and  accepted.  He  discharged  the 


duties  of  this  responsible  charge  with  marked 
ability  and  success  for  three  years. 

On  the  fatal  ninth  of  October,  1871,  when 
the  Journal  office  was  a  ruin  through  the  historic 
"great  fire,"  Mr.  Larimore  gave  a  characteristic 
exhibition  of  energy  and  perseverance.  With 
the  aid  of  the  editor-in-chief,  Hon.  Andrew  Shu- 
man,  an  edition  of  the  Journal  was  produced 
on  a  hand  press,  which  they  secured  in  a  job-of- 
fice on  the  West  Side;  and  with  the  flames 
threatening  to  consume  the  building  over  their 
heads,  the  paper  was  issued  at  the  usual  hour  of 
publication — being  the  only  representative  of  the 
Chicago  daily  press  put  forth  on  that  day. 

The  numerous  writings  and  publications  of 
Professor  Larimore  had  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  in  March,  1874, 
he  was  elected  to  the  professorship  of  physics  in 
that  institution.  In  consequence  of  this,  he  re- 
signed his  connection  with  the  Journal  May  2 
of  that  year.  He  did  not,  however,  enter  upon 
the  duties  assigned  him  at  the  university,  but 
later  on  accepted  a  similar  position  at  the  Cook 
County  Normal  School  at  Englewood.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1878,  he  was  elected  teacher  of  physics 
and  chemistry  at  the  North  Division  High 
School  of  Chicago.  He  entered  at  once  upon 
his  duties,  and  continued  to  fill  the  chair  for 
eleven  consecutive  years,  with  great  credit  to 
himself  and  the  school,  making  many  devoted 
friends  among  his  pupils. 

Before  coming  West  Professor  Larimore  was 
married,  at  Hudson,  New  York,  to  Miss  Katie 
Hoysradt,  a  beautiful  and  talented  young  lady, 
who  died  in  Chicago  in  1865.  Her  remains,  with 
those  of  their  two  little  boys,  rest  in  the  cemetery 
at  Niles,  Michigan. 

In  1867  he  was  again  married,  by  Reverend 
Doctors  Humphrey  and  Harsha,  to  Miss  Hattie 
Stevens,  of  Chicago,  the  soprano  singer  of  his 
church  choir.  She  was  born  in  Strykersville, 
Wyoming  County,  New  York,  being  the  young- 
est of  the  three  daughters  of  the  late  Ira  Stevens 
of  that  town.  In  the  year  1854,  while  she  was  a 
small  child,  the  family  went  to  St.  Charles,  Kane 
County,  Illinois.  Her  father,  a  talented  singer, 
died  very  suddenly  of  cholera  the  day  following 


CHRISTOPHER  JOHNSON. 


93 


their  arrival,  which  was  during  the  great  epidemic 
of  that  year.  Her  mother,  Percy  Talmage 
Ilotchkiss,  a  refined  Christian  lady,  was  born 
near  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  She  died  in 
April,  1888,  leaving  her  six  children,  and  many 
friends,  to  mourn  her  loss. 

Mrs.  Larimore  received  her  education  in  the 
high  school  at  St.  Charles,  finishing  it  in  Chi- 
cago, where  the  greater  part  of  her  life  has  been 
spent.  Possessing  marked  musical  talent,  she 
devoted  most  of  her  time  to  its  development, 
which  brought  her  some  distinction.  At  one 
time,  while  a  young  lady,  she  was  urgently 
solicited  to  enter  upon  an  operatic  career.  She 
was  turned  from  that  course  by  conscientious 
scruples.  Aside  from  her  musical  talent,  she  is 
a  lady  of  much  culture  and  pleasing  personality, 
and  was  ever  a  true  helpmeet  and  companion 
to  her  talented  husband  in  all  his  labors.  Three 
bright  children  were  given  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lari- 
more,  all  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  Hattie 
Gertrude,  the  eldest,  passed  away  at  the  age  ot 
two  years.  Paul,  a  promising  lad,  reached  the 


age  of  ten  years,  and  was  the  subject  of  a  most 
touching  and  beautiful  obituary  from  the  pen  of 
Dr.  Nixon,  of  the  Inter  Ocean.  Blanche  died  in 
infancy.  The  remains  of  the  husband  and  father 
and  their  three  children  lie  buried  at  Rose  Hill. 
During  his  ministry  in  Chicago,  Professor 
Larimore  preached  many  quite  noted  sermons, 
one  of  the  most  marked  being  what  was  called  by 
the  daily  papers  his  "Crosby  Opera  House  ser- 
mon." He  also  preached  the  sermon  at  the  in- 
stallation of  the  late  Professor  David  Swing,  who 
was  loved  by  so  large  a  number  of  the  leading 
citizens  of  Chicago.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
these  two  ministers  were  the  only  surviving  mem- 
bers of  the  original  Presbytery  of  the  city.  Pro- 
fessor Larimore  was  ever  active  in  good  works, 
always  having  the  welfare  of  his  kind  at  heart, 
but '  'God's  finger  touched  him  and  he  slept. ' '  The 
following  lines  express  but  feebly  the  high  opinion 
in  which  he  was  held  by  his  friends: 

"To  know  him  was  to  love  him, 
None  named  him  but  to  praise." 


CAPT.  CHRISTOPHER  JOHNSON. 


EAPT.  CHRISTOPHER  JOHNSON,  one  of 
the  old  landmarks  of  Chicago,  who  arrived 
in  this  city  as  long  ago  as  1838,  was  a  native 
of  the  little  kingdom  of  Denmark,  and  was  born 
near  Copenhagen,  October  3,  1819,  his  parents 
being  natives  of  the  same  locality.  His  father  was 
killed  by  an  accident  before  Christopher  was  a  year 
old,  and  the  hitter  was  bound  out  to  a  farmer  on  the 
island  of  Als.  Imbued  with  the  strong  love  of 
the  sea  which  has  filled  so  many  of  his  country- 
men and  made  them  famous  as  sailors  the  world 
over,  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen  years  he  shipped 
at  Sonderburg,  Denmark,  on  board  an  ocean 


vessel,  and  within  the  next  two  or  three  years 
had  sailed  around  the  globe.  In  the  winter  of 
1837  he  found  himself  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans, 
and,  having  long  desired  to  verify  the  statements 
he  had  heard  of  the  advantages  America  offered 
to  industrious,  enterprising  youth  of  all  nations, 
he  left  his  ship,  and  started  for  the  heart  of  the 
country.  Aftei  reaching  St.  Louis,  he  went  to 
Peoria,  in  this  State,  whence,  by  means  of  a  hired 
team,  he  reached  this  city. 

Mr.  Johnson's  employment  after  reaching  what 
was  then  the  muddy  little  village  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Chicago  River  was  as  a  member  of  a  survey- 


94 


CHRISTOPHER  JOHNSON. 


ing  party;  but  he  served  thus  only  a  short  time, 
and  soon  after  sought  the  more  familiar  and  con- 
genial life  of  a  sailor  on  the  Great  Lakes.  On 
one  occasion,  while  on  a  trip  on  one  of  the  Lower 
Lakes,  on  a  vessel  called  the  "Maria  Hilliard," 
he  was  shipwrecked  and  met  with  other  mishaps. 
But  on  the  whole  fortune  favored  him;  and  after 
a  few  years'  service  as  a  common  sailor,  he  was 
able  to  buy  a  small  schooner,  the  "Helena,"  and 
took  charge  of  her  as  captain.  In  1849,  while 
coming  with  a  cargo  of  bricks  from  Little  Fort, 
near  Kenosha,  the  "Helena"  was  sunk  near  the 
Rush  Street  Bridge.  On  her  voyage  to  Chicago, 
she  had  sprung  a  leak,  but  by  the  efforts  of  the 
captain  and  crew,  she  had  been  kept  afloat  until 
the  city  was  reached.  After  raising  his  vessel, 
Captain  Johnson  sailed  her  for  some  time  longer, 
but  in  1853  concluded  to  give  up  sailing  for  good. 
His  life  on  the  lakes  had  given  him  a  pretty  fair 
insight  into  the  lumber  business,  and  in  this  he 
embarked,  remaining  thus  engaged  until  the 
Great  Fire,  when,  in  common  with  innumerable 
others,  he  lost  almost  his  entire  savings.  Fort- 
unately, however,  he  did  not  lose  his  residence, 
which  was  then  on  the  West  Side.  He  was  the 
owner  of  a  farm  at  Lemont,  and  he  moved  his 
family  there  for  a  time.  His  handsome  new 
farmhouse  was  destroyed  by  fire  two  years  later, 
and  he  built  another. 

Captain  Johnson  had  married  in  1849,  and  for 
the  next  twelve  years  he  reared  his  children  on 
the  farm.  He  retained  the  real  estate  he  had 
owned  in  Chicago  previous  to  the  fire,  and  had 
added  to  it,  and  at  the  end  of  the  twelve  years  he 
removed  his  wife  and  family  to  the  city,  finding 
here  greater  scope  for  himself  and  promise  of 
future  occupation  for  his  sons.  His  property 
interests  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  his  time 
was  fully  taken  up  in  managing  his  private 
affairs,  and  he  never  entered  any  other  business. 
During  all  his  life  in  Chicago  he  lived  on  the 
North  Side,  where  he  was  universally  known 
and  popular  with  all.  He  built  his  first  home  on 
the  corner  of  Ohio  and  Market  Streets,  a  spot 
which  he  then  considered  the  most  prepossessing 
in  the  city.  His  objection  to  the  South  Side  was 
due  to  its  mud,  that  portion  of  the  city  being 


almost  impassable  in  the  early  days  on  account  of 
its  level.  At  one  time  he  intended  to  buy  the 
land  on  which  the  Briggs  House  now  stands,  but 
after  considerable  deliberation  concluded  the  site 
was  too  muddy,  a  succession  of  mud  holes  having 
to  be  crossed  to  reach  it. 

Captain  Johnson's  widow,  who  yet  survives, 
was  previous  to  her  marriage  Miss  Emily  Ray- 
mond, a  daughter  of  John  and  Louise  Raymond. 
She  is  a  native  of  Copenhagen,  and  was  born 
September  i,  1833.  At  the  age  of  ten  years  she 
came  to  America  with  her  father,  who  was  a  ship- 
carpenter.  He  followed  the  lakes  until  his  death, 
which  resulted  from  an  accident  he  met  with  while 
in  the  pursuit  of  his  calling,  being  caught  and 
crushed  between  two  ships.  His  death  occurred 
some  months  later,  at  the  age  of  forty-five  years, 
August  ii,  1853.  Mrs.  Johnson's  marriage 
occurred  in  Du  Page  County,  this  State,  near 
Naperville,  December  9,  1849,  and  resulted  in 
the  birth  of  thirteen  children,  of  whom  the  fol- 
lowing are  living:  Maria  Louise,  Mrs.  A.  Nelson, 
of  Chicago;  Lena  Amelia,  Mrs.  John  S.  Lee,  of 
Lemont;  Evelyn,  Mrs.  D.  T.  Elston,  of  Chicago; 
Henry  W.,  living  in  Socorro,  New  Mexico;  Benja- 
min Franklin,  of  Pomeroy,  Washington;  Charles 
Christopher  and  George  W.  Johnson,  of  this  city. 

In  politics  Captain  Johnson  was  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  the  Republican  party,  and  his  party's 
candidates  were  never  defeated  by  his  failure  to 
do  his  duty  at  the  polls.  During  the  early  years 
of  the  Civil  War  he  served  as  Collector  of  the 
North  Town,  but  a  naturally  retiring  and  modest 
disposition  kept  him  from  ever  being  conspic- 
uous in  politics.  In  religious  faith  he  accorded 
with  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  respect  in 
which  he  was  held  was  shown  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  September  28,  1895,  within 
a  week  of  his  seventy-sixth  birthday  anniversary. 
He  had  been  an  enthusiastic  member  of  Cleveland 
Lodge  of  the  Chicago  Freemasons,  in  which  he 
was  initiated  June  u,  passed  July  7,  and  raised 
October  13,  1859,  and  his  fellow  Masons  attended 
his  funeral  in  a  body.  His  early  life  had  been 
full  of  incident  and  adventure,  but  his  later  years 
found  him  quietly  fulfilling  the  duties  of  a  self- 
respecting,  honorable  life. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

•iVERSITY  OF  H.LI!" 


H.  L.  STEWART. 


95 


HART  L.  STEWART. 


(EN.  HART  LE  LAC  STEWART,  who  was 
very  prominent  in  the  development  of  Mich- 
igan and  Illinois,  a  participator  in  the  Black 
Hawk  War,  and  a  leading  citizen  of  Chicago  for  a 
generation,  came  of  the  sturdy  stock  which  paved 
the  way  for  and  was  active  in  the  civilization  of 
many  of  the  eastern  States  of  this  country.  He 
was  born  in  Bridgewater,  Oneida  County,  New 
York,  August  29,  1803,  and  died  in  Chicago  May 
23,  1882. 

The  name  indicates  the  Scotch  origin  of  his 
ancestry,  but  the  date  of  their  transplanting  to 
America  is  not  known.  From  the  recollections 
of  General  Stewart,  published  by  him  at  the  re- 
quest of  his  family,  it  is  learned  that  his  grand- 
parents, Samuel  Stewart  and  Patience  Hunger- 
ford,  lived  in  Tolland  County,  Connecticut.  The 
latter  was,  undoubtedly,  of  English  lineage. 
She  died  many  years  before  her  husband,  who 
passed  away  in  1816,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two 
years.  They  had  nine  children,  and  the  second, 
William,  was  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
biography. 

William  Stewart  was  born  in  1772,  in  Con- 
necticut, and  was  an  early  settler  in  the  Territory 
of  Michigan.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
1812,  and  also  served  in  the  militia  regiment,  com- 
manded by  his  son,  which  went  from  Michigan 
to  aid  in  suppressing  the  Indians  under  Black 
Hawk  in  1832.  He  was  married  at  Mansfield, 
Windham  County,  Connecticut,  in  1795,  to  Miss 
Validia  Turner,  eighth  of  the  ten  children  of 
Timothy  and  Rachel  (Carpenter)  Turner,  of 
Mansfield.  Timothy  Turner  was  born  August 
18,  1757,  in  Wellington,  Connecticut,  which  was 
also  the  native  place  of  his  wife.  The  latter  died 
in  Mansfield  Center,  Windham  County,  Con- 


necticut, June  22,  1799.  They  were  married 
August  20,  1776.  Timothy  Turner  was  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution,  serving  in  the  "Lexington 
Alarm  Party"  from  Mansfield,  Connecticut.  He 
was  the  son  of  Stephen,  third  and  youngest  son 
of  Isaac  Turner,  born  in  Bedford,  Massachusetts, 
whose  father  came  from  England.  Rachel  Car- 
penter's parents  were  James  and  Irene  (Ladd) 
Carpenter.  The  former  was  a  son  of  Ebenezer 
Carpenter  and  Eunice  Thompson.  Ebenezer, 
born  in  Coventry,  Connecticut,  as  was  his  son, 
was  the  son  of  Benjamin  Carpenter  and  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Jedediah  Strong.  Benjamin  was  the 
tenth  child  of  William  Carpenter  and  Priscilla 
Bonette.  The  former  was  one  of  the  four  chil- 
dren of  William  Carpenter,  who  came  from  South- 
ampton, England,  in  the  ship  "Bevis"  in  1638, 
and  settled  in  Rehoboth,  Massachusetts.  (See 
biography  of  Benjamin  Carpenter  in  this 
volume. ) 

When  Hart  L.  Stewart  was  twelve  years  old, 
his  father  moved  to  Batavia,  Genesee  County, 
New  York,  where  lie  purchased  land  of  the  Hol- 
land Laud  Company,  and  the  son  helped  to  clear 
this  ground  of  timber.  When  seventeen  years  old 
the  latter  went  into  the  office  of  David  D.  Brown, 
at  Batavia,  to  study  law.  At  the  end  of  a  year 
he  was  forced,  by  lack  of  means,  to  take  some 
remunerative  employment,  and  after  vainly  seek- 
ing a  situation  as  school  teacher,  in  which  he 
hoped  to  be  able  to  continue  his  legal  studies,  he 
engaged  as  clerk  in  a  store  in  Oneida  County 
with  an  uncle.  Through  the  recommendation  of 
the  latter,  at  the  end  of  a  year  he  was  employed 
by  a  merchant  named  Blair  in  Rochester,  New 
York.  After  four  months'  service  at  Rochester, 
he  was  sent  by  Mr.  Blair  to  open  a  branch  store 


96 


H.  L.   STEWART. 


at    Lyons,    New   York,    where  he   continued  in 
charge  until  the  fall  of  1822. 

He  now  determined  to  engage  in  business  on 
his  own  account,  and,  securing  the  assistance  of 
his  brother,  George  Stewart,  opened  a  store  at 
Lockport,  New  York,  where  a  successful  trade 
was  carried  on,  they  having  the  benefit  of  credit 
with  Mr.  Blair  and  other  Rochester  merchants. 
In  1823  Hart  L,.  Stewart  took  a  sub-contract  to 
finish  the  work  of  Judge  Bates  on  the  Erie  Canal, 
which  he  completed,  with  a  fair  profit,  the  next 
year.  These  facts  indicate  that  the  young  man 
had  developed  good  business  qualifications,  which 
attracted  the  favorable  notice  and  assistance  of 
influential  men. 

Having  now  gained  a  practical  experience  in 
canal  construction,  he  sent  his  brother,  Alanson 
C.  Stewart,  who  had  become  associated  with  him 
in  the  mean  time,  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  October, 
1824,  to  secure  a  contract  on  the  Ohio  Canal. 
Hart  L.  had  become  engaged  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness at  Niagara,  New  York,  and  continued  it  un- 
til November,  1825,  being  at  the  same  time  in- 
terested in  the  Ohio  contract  which  his  brother 
secured.  They  next  contracted  to  execute  sec- 
tions on  the  western  end  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Canal,  and  in  November,  1826,  took  the  con- 
tract to  bore  a  tunnel  for  the  canal  on  the  Cone- 
maugh  River.  This  was  finished  in  1829,  and 
was  the  first  tunnel  of  its  kind  in  the  United 
States.  Among  those  connected  with  the  canal 
enterprise,  they  were  known  as  the  "boy  con- 
tractors, ' '  the  elder  brother  but  twenty-four  years 
old;  but  they  were  credited,  and  justly,  with 
superior  practical  knowledge.  They  were  the 
first  to  introduce  the  method  of  securing  light  by 
means  of  reflecting  mirrors  placed  at  the  mouths 
of  the  tunnel.  Work  was  prosecuted  from  both 
ends,  night  and  day,  and  its  completion  was  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  the 
age,  and  the  subject  of  this  notice  was  furnished 
with  some  very  flattering  letters  when  he  left 
Pennsylvania. 

Having  made  a  considerable  profit  from  his 
contracts,  he  now  resolved  to  invest  some  of  it  in 
lands,  before  engaging  in  further  ventures,  and 
with  that  end  in  view,  took  a  trip  of  exploration 


through  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  which  oc- 
cupied three  months.  He  purchased  about  one 
thousand  acres  on  White  Pigeon  and  Sturgis 
Prairies,  in  St.  Joseph  County,  Michigan. 

Another  plan  which  had  for  some  time  been 
considered  was  now  consummated,  and  on  the 
fifth  of  February,  1829,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Hannah  Blair  McKibbin,  of  Franklin  County, 
Pennsylvania.  In  September  of  the  same  year 
they  set  out  for  their  new  home  in  Michigan. 
At  the  end  of  a  six-weeks  journey  from  Pitts- 
burgh, they  arrived  at  White  Pigeon,  November 
7,  1829,  and  here  a  log  cabin  was  erected.  After 
making  further  provisions  for  a  home,  young 
Stewart  went  to  Detroit  and  presented  to  Gov- 
ernor Lewis  Cass  his  letters  of  introduction. 
These  were  from  Governor  Porter,  Senators 
Blair  and  Lacock,  Judge  William  Wilkins  and 
James  S.  Stevenson,  President  of  the  Canal  Board, 
of  Pennsylvania,  all  of  whom  Governor  Cass 
characterized  as  his  personal  friends. 

In  the  spring  of  1830  the  Governor  sent  to  Mr. 
Stewart  a  commission  as  Colonel  of  Militia,  and 
a  year  later  appointed  him  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  locate  the  county  seats  of  St.  Joseph 
and  Cass  Counties.  At  this  time,  the  entire 
population  of  Michigan,  including  Detroit,  the 
chief  city  of  the  West,  numbered  but  a  few  thou- 
sand whites.  Through  the  influence  of  Colonel 
Stewart,  a  post  route  was  established  by  the 
Government  to  supply  the  few  scattered  settle- 
ments extending  from  Detroit  toward  Chicago. 
The  two  Stewart  brothers  before  named  were  the 
contractors  for  carrying  the  mails  once  in  two 
weeks,  which  was  accomplished  on  horseback, 
over  a  region  where  one  hundred  tons  are  now 
carried  daily.  Hart  L.  Stewart  was  made  Post- 
master at  Mottville,  with  the  franking  privilege, 
and  his  own  letters  and  papers  constituted  the  bulk 
of  the  mail  at  his  office.  In  1832  he  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  County  Court  by  Governor  Porter, 
and  the  next  year  he  was  commissioned  Circuit 
Judge,  in  which  capacity  he  officiated  the  next 
three  years. 

In  1836  Judge  Stewart  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Second  Constitutional  Convention,  which 
was  called  to  fix  the  southern  boundary  of  the 


H.  L.  STEWART. 


97 


State  of  Michigan  to  correspond  with  the  line  as 
established  when  Indiana  and  Ohio  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  Union.  By  this  convention  he  was 
sent  to  Washington  to  secure,  if  possible,  the  ad- 
mission of  the  State  with  boundary  as  established 
by  the  ordinance  ceding  the  Northwest  Territory 
to  the  United  States,  and  including  Michigan 
City  and  Maumee  City.  That  he  did  not  suc- 
ceed is  a  matter  of  history,  but  the  State  secured, 
in  offset,  all  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  North- 
ern Peninsula  of  Michigan.  On  this  mission 
Judge  Stewart  formed  the  acquaintance  of  many 
of  the  leading  men  of  the  Nation  at  that  time. 

On  his  return  home,  Judge  Stewart  found  that 
the  Legislature  had  chosen  him  Commissioner  of 
Internal  Improvements,  and  in  this  capacity  he 
took  charge  of  the  survey  of  the  St.  Joseph  River 
for  slack- water  navigation,  and  also  of  the  Central 
Railroad.  The  latter  was  partially  built  by  the 
State,  and  then  turned  over  to  the  Michigan  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company.  In  1838  he  received  the 
commission  of  Brigadier-General,  commanding 
the  Fourteenth  Brigade,  Michigan  Militia.  When 
the  Indians,  under  Black  Hawk,  threatened  to  kill 
or  drive  out  the  settlers  in  northern  Illinois  and 
southern  Wisconsin,  the  Government  requested 
the  Governor  of  Michigan  to  send  volunteers  to 
the  rescue.  General  Stewart  was  ordered  by 
Governor  Porter  to  raise  a  regiment  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  this  was  found  an  easy  task,  as 
volunteers,  from  the  age  of  sixteen  to  sixty,  were 
numerous.  The  service  lasted  about  six  months, 
and  Colonel  Stewart's  regiment  included  his 
brothers,  A.  C.  Stewart,  as  Commander  of  a  com- 
pany; Samuel  M.  Stewart,  as  Lieutenant  of  an- 
other; besides  two  other  brothers  and  his  father 
as  volunteers.  The  latter  was  especially  valuable 
as  a  drill  master,  on  account  of  his  previous  serv- 
ice in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was  now  sixty  years 
of  age. 

In  June,  1836,  General  Stewart  attended  the 
letting  of  the  construction  contracts  on  the  Illinois 
&  Michigan  Canal,  and  contracted  for  a  large 
amount  of  deep-rock  work  near  Lockport.  He 
had  as  partners  A.  S.  Stewart,  Lorenzo  P.  Sanger, 
James  Y.  Sanger,  and  others,  who  took  personal 
charge  of  the  work,  while  he  continued  in  charge 


of  his  personal  and  official  interests  in  Michigan. 
In  1840  the  inability  of  the  State  to  meet  its 
financial  obligations  compelled  the  contractors  to 
abandon  the  work,  at  great  loss,  and  ruin  in 
many  cases.  About  this  time  General  Stewart 
took  up  his  residence  in  Chicago,  and  in  1842 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and 
was  active  in  securing  the  acceptance  of  the  for- 
eign bondholders'  proposition  to  complete  the 
canal.  None  of  the  contractors  had  ever  received 
anything  for  their  losses  previous  to  that  time. 
While  on  a  trip  to  Canada  to  secure  workmen  for 
the  canal  in  1839,  General  Stewart  was  placed 
in  arrest,  under  the  impression  that  he  was  a  spy 
in  the  interest  of  the  "Patriot  War."  Through 
the  influence  of  friends,  his  mission  was  made 
known  to  the  Canadian  authorities,  and  he  was 
discharged  and  furnished  every  facility  for  carry- 
ing out  his  business.  From  1845  to  1849,  under 
the  administration  of  President  Polk,  General 
Stewart  served  as  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  being 
the  first  presidential  appointee  in  that  office. 

He  now  turned  his  attention  to  railroad  con- 
struction, and  became  interested  in  some  of  the 
largest  contracts  ever  given  in  the  West  to  a 
single  firm.  The  history  of  these  undertakings 
is  fully  related  in  this  volume  in  the  biography 
of  James  Y.  Sanger,  who  was  associated  with 
General  Stewart  in  this  work,  and  need  not  be 
repeated  here.  During  the  progress  of  their 
work,  in  partnership  with  several  others,  they 
became  proprietors  of  the  Rhode  Island  Central 
Bank,  and  this,  in  common  with  many  others, 
was  wrecked  by  the  financial  upheaval  of  1857, 
though  its  proprietors  were  enabled  to  close  up  its 
affairs  honorably  and  with  little  loss  to  them- 
selves. 

General  Stewart  became  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  in  1824,  and  subsequently 
took  all  the  chapter  and  encampment  degrees 
and  several  others.  In  political  sentiment,  he  was 
a  Democrat.  He  was  one  of  the  few  brave  spirits 
who  stood  with  Stephen  A.  Douglas  at  North 
Market  Hall,  on  the  evening  of  September  i, 
1854,  when  a  mob  of  political  opponents  refused 
to  let  the  "Little  Giant"  be  heard,  and  even 
threatened  him  with  bodily  harm.  In  religious 


98 


J.   H.    RICE. 


faith,  General  Stewart  was  a  true  "neighbor,"  a 
Presbyterian,  and  for  forty  years  rarely  failed  to 
listen  to  Rev.  Dr.  Patterson's  sermons  in  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago.  He 
was  an  able  leader,  quiet  and  gentle  in  his  man- 
ners, sociable  and  genial,  making  his  home  a 
happy  place  for  the  frequent  reunions  of  a  large 
and  interesting  circle  of  friends. 

On  the  1 2th  of  February,  1849,  authority  was 
granted  by  the  State  to  five  individuals,  one  of 
whom  was  Hart  L.  Stewart,  to  incorporate  the 
Chicago  Gas  Light  and  Coke  Company,  which 
was  granted  the  exclusive  right  to  supply  gas  to 
the  city  of  Chicago  for  ten  years.  Before  the 
close  of  the  next  year,  the  streets  of  the  city  and 
many  private  buildings  were  for  the  first  time 
illuminated  by  gaslight.  In  1857  General  Stew- 
art was  Vice-President  of  the  Great  Western  In- 
surance Company,  with  a  capital  of  half  a  million 
dollars,  and  office  at  No.  160  South  Water  Street. 
The  Stewart  Building,  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
State  and  Washington  Streets  (which  was  torn 
down  in  1896,  to  make  way  for  one  of  Chicago's 
famous  high  office  buildings),  was  the  fourth 
structure  erected  by  General  Stewart  on  that 
spot — the  first  one  having  been  for  many  years 
his  family  home. 

Hannah  Blair  McKibbin,  wife  of  General 
Stewart,  was  descended  from  old  and  honorable 
families.  Her  maternal  grandfather,  William 
Nelson,  was  a  brother  of  the  famous  Admiral 
Horatio  Nelson,  the  hero  of  Trafalgar.  His  wife 


was  Mary  Harvey,  and  their  children  were  Will- 
iam, James  and  Mary  Esther.  William  Nelson, 
senior,  died  in  1803,  at  which  time  his  daughter 
was  about  fifteen  years  old.  She  married  Col. 
James  McKibbin,  of  Franklin  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  their  eldest  daughter,  Hannah  B., 
became  the  wife  of  General  Stewart,  as  before  re- 
lated, and  the  mother  of  the  following  children: 
Mary  Esther,  Frances  Validia,  Amelia  Mott, 
Catherine  E. ,  Jane,  Anna  Waldo,  Hannah  McKib- 
bin and  Helen  Wolcott.  The  first  married  Henry 
A.  Clark  in  1850,  and  both  are  now  deceased, 
being  survived  by  a  son,  Stewart  Clark,  of  Chi- 
cago. The  second  died  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
while  the  wife  of  Watson  Matthews,  leaving  one 
child,  Fannie  V.  Matthews.  Amelia  and  Cath- 
erine died  in  childhood.  Jane  Stewart  married 
John  C.  Patterson,  and  died  in  1875,  leaving  a 
son,  Stewart  Patterson.  Hannah  McKibbin  is 
the  wife  of  George  Sydney  Williams,  of  Chicago. 
The  youngest  is  the  wife  of  Lorenzo  M.  Johnson, 
manager  of  the  Mexican  International  Railroad. 
Mary  C.  McKibbin,  sister  of  Mrs.  Stewart, 
married  James  Y.  Sanger,  whom  she  survives, 
and  is  among  the  most  interesting  surviving 
pioneers  of  Illinois.  She  is  spoken  of  by  General 
Stewart  as  the  "Daughter  of  the  Regiment," 
during  the  campaign  against  Black  Hawk.  She 
was  then  a  miss  of  fourteen  years,  and  ready  to 
ride  on  any  expedition,  carrying  dispatches  and 
otherwise  aiding  in  conveying  information. 


JAMES  H.  RICE. 


(TAMES  HARLOW  RICE,  one  of  the  oldest 
I  and  most  highly  respected  business  men  of 
Q)  Chicago,  passed  away  at  his  home  on  Michi- 
gan Avenue,  in  that  city,  February  6,  1896. 
He  was  born  in  Tompkins  County,  New  York, 
in  1830.  His  parents,  Asa  and  Polly  (Reed) 
Rice,  were  natives  of  Massachusetts,  and  settled 


in  New  York  in  1811,  shortly  after  their  mar- 
riage. Asa  Rice  was  a  prosperous  farmer,  well 
known  and  esteemed  for  his  great  moral  worth. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church  and  active  in  good  works.  They 
attained  a  venerable  age,  the  former  dying  when 
eighty  years  old,  and  the  latter  at  seventy-five. 


E.  W.  EVANS. 


99 


Mr.  Rice  was  an  "old-line"  Whig,  and  in  later 
life  became  a  Republican.  His  nine  children 
reached  mature  years,  and  three  came  West, 
namely,  Henry,  Columbus  T.  and  James  H. 
Rice.  The  first  two  are  now  residents  of  Adair 
County,  Missouri.  Columbus  Titus  Rice  came 
with  his  brother  to  Chicago  in  June,  1854,  and 
proceeded  to  Missouri  four  years  later,  and  has 
resided  there  ever  since.  In  early  life  he  was  a 
carpenter,  and  worked  at  that  occupation  while  a 
resident  of  Chicago.  On  going  to  Missouri  he 
engaged  in  farming,  but  is  now  retired  from  act- 
ive life.  He  was  married  in  New  York  in  1855 
to  Miss  Catherine  Wickoff,  who  is  still  his  com- 
panion on  life's  journey.  They  are  the  parents 
of  six  children,  namely:  Edward,  Flora,  Mary, 
Elizabeth,  Charles,  Augusta  and  James. 

James  H.  Rice  was  also  a  carpenter,  and  very 
early  after  arriving  in  Chicago  began  contract- 
ing for  the  erection  of  buildings.  Among  the 
structures  erected  by  him  were  the  old  Tremont 
House  and  the  Commercial  Hotel.  He  built  the 
first  structure  put  up  after  the  fire  of  1871,  which 
was  located  on  Quincy  Place.  From  1856  to 
1878  he  was  associated  in  this  business  with  Mr. 
Ira  Foote,  with  whom  he  was  acquainted  in  early 
life  in  New  York. 

In  1872  he  engaged  in  the  plate  and  window- 
glass  trade,  and  built  up  an  extensive  and  pros- 
perous business.  This  passed  into  the  control  of 
an  incorporated  company,  known  as  the  James 
H.  Rice  Company,  of  which  he  was  President. 
He  also  became  President  of  the  Stewart  Estep 
Glass  Company,  which  engaged  in  the  manu- 


facture of  glass  at  Marion,  Indiana.  Both  these 
institutions  were  flourishing  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  In  trade  circles  for  years  he  had  been  a 
leader,  and  his  counsel  had  ever  been  sought  and 
his  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  thor- 
oughly appreciated.  Among  Mr.  Rice's  personal 
friends  was  the  late  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  for 
whom  he  did  much  work  during  his  building  ca- 
reer. He  was  widely  known  during  the  early 
days  in  Chicago,  and  was  esteemed  and  respected 
by  all  classes  of  citizens. 

In  1876  he  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret  Su- 
san Gilliland,  a  native  of  Ohio,  at  that  time  a 
resident  of  Perry,  Iowa.  She  died  February  4, 
1896.  During  the  last  eighteen  years  of  her  life 
she  had  been  an  invalid.  In  life  they  were  to- 
gether and  in  death  not  divided.  No  children 
blessed  their  union,  but  his  wife  was  ever  to  him 
his  child  and  care,  and  his  devotion  in  this  rela- 
tion was  most  beautiful.  The  double  funeral 
from  their  late  home  was  conducted  by  Rev.  J.  I,. 
Withrow,  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Rice,  with 
whom  he  was  for  some  time  associated  on  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Presbyterian  Hospital. 
He  spoke  feelingly  of  the  man  and  woman  and 
their  works,  aims  and  ideas.  The  remains  were 
laid  away  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery,  the  active 
pallbearers  being  workmen  in  the  employ  of  the 
James  H.  Rice  Company.  By  Mr.  Rice  his  em- 
ployes were  ever  considered  as  his  "boys."  Some 
of  these  "boys"  are  men,  aged  and  gray,  who 
had  been  in  his  service  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  all  of  them  will  miss  his  kindly,  genial 
presence. 


ENOCH  W.  EVANS. 


[TNOCH  WEBSTER  EVANS,  who  for  a 
1^  score  of  years  ranked  as  a  leading  member 
L_  of  the  Chicago  Bar,  was  born  at  Fryeburg, 
Maine,  in  1817,  and  died  in  Chicago,  September 
2,  1879.  He  was  one  of  eleven  children  born  to 


Capt.  William  and  Anna  Evans,  further  notice 
of  whom  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume, 
in  connection  with  the  biography  of  Dr.  Moses 
Evans. 

Enoch  W.  Evans  received  his  early  education 


100 


JOHN  DICKINSON. 


at  Fryeburg  Academy  and  Waterville  College, 
in  his  native  State.  Later  he  went  to  Dartmouth 
College,  where  he  pursued  a  classical  course,  and 
graduated  with  the  Class  of  1838.  He  then  en- 
gaged in  teaching  at  Hopkinton,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  simultaneously  began  to  read  law  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Chase,  a  noted  jurist  of  that 
State. 

In  1840  Mr.  Kvans  came  to  Chicago,  where  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  during  the  same  year, 
soon  after  removing  to  Dixon's  Ferry,  Illinois, 
remaining  at  that  place  two  or  three  years. 
Thence  he  went  to  Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  where 
he  practiced  his  profession  until  1858.  At  that 
date  he  again  located  in  Chicago,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  general  practice  in  this  city  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death.  During  this  time  he  tried 
many  important  cases,  which  he  managed  with 
marked  ability,  gaining  a  numerous  and  profit- 
able clientage. 


On  the  1 6th  of  September,  1846,  Mr.  Evans 
was  married,  Miss  Caroline  Hyde,  of  Darien, 
New  York,  becoming  his  wife.  Mrs.  Evans,  who 
is  a  daughter  of  James  Hyde,  still  survives,  at 
the  venerable  age  of  seventy-four  years,  making 
her  home  in  Chicago.  She  is  the  mother  of  four 
living  children:  William  W.,  a  prosperous  at- 
torney at  Chicago;  Lewis  H.,  a  civil  engineer,  at 
present  connected  with  the  track  elevation  of  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway  in  Chicago; 
Carrie,  Mrs.  William  I,.  Adams,  and  Mary  W., 
the  two  latter  also  residents  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Evans  was  a  gentleman  of  quiet,  un- 
ostentatious habits,  and  gave  but  little  heed  to 
public  affairs.  He  confined  his  labors  and  at- 
tention almost  exclusively  to  professional  sub- 
jects, and  achieved  an  enviable  standing  among 
his  contemporaries,  which  justly  entitles  this 
brief  record  of  his  life  to  a  place  among  the  annals 
of  his  adopted  home. 


JOHN  DICKINSON. 


(JOHN  DICKINSON,  a  highly  successful 
I  operator  upon  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade, 
©  residing  at  Evanston,  was  born  in  the  his- 
toric old  town  of  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  No- 
vember 21,  1855,  and  is  a  son  of  Philander  P. 
and  Mary  A.  (Feeney)  Dickinson. 

The  Dickinsons  were  among  the  earliest 
Colonial  families  of  Massachusetts.  Philander 
R.  Dickinson,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  notice,  was  a  wholesale  and  retail  shoe 
dealer  in  New  York  City  for  many  years.  He 
attained  the  great  age  of  ninety-eight  years,  dy- 
ing at  Springfield-  Massachusetts. 

Philander  P.  Dickinson  became  an  extensive 
manufacturer  of  brooms  at  Springfield,  and  had 
at  one  time  the  largest  factory  in  that  State.  This 
establishment  was  destroyed  by  fire,  inflicting 
upon  Mr.  Dickinson  a  financial  loss  which  he 
was  never  able  wholly  to  retrieve.  In  1860 
he  removed  to  Iowa,  locating  first  at  Claremont, 


and  settling  later  at  McGregor.  At  the  latter 
point  he  again  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
brooms,  and  built  up  a  fair  business  On  account 
of  failing  health,  he  retired  from  active  business 
about  1865,  and  returned  to  the  East.  The  last 
ten  years  of  his  life  were  passed  at  Norwalk, 
Florida,  where  he  died  in  1884,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-nine  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  a  steadfast  Republican. 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Dickinson  died  at  Evanston  in 
1878,  aged  forty-nine  years.  She  was  born  in 
New  York  City,  her  parents  being  of  Irish  de- 
scent. Her  father  was  a  wholesale  shoe  mer- 
chant in  that  city.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  Her  children  are  named  and 
reside  as  follows:  Millie  D.,  Mrs.  Julius  Ball, 
Montague,  Massachusetts;  Mary  J.,  and  Delia, 
wife  of  F.  H.  Bennett,  Chicago;  John,  Evanston; 
Hattie  M.,  Denver,  Colorado. 

John  Dickinson  was  a  small  boy  when  the  fam- 


BENJAMIN  SHURTLEFF. 


101 


ily  came  West,  and  he  received  his  education  at 
the  Evanston  High  School.  He  began  his  busi- 
ness career  in  a  furniture  store,  and  established 
himself  in  business  as  a  shoe  dealer  at  Evanston, 
with  success.  In  1879  he  sold  out  and  joined  the 
Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  with  which  he  has  ever 
since  been  identified.  He  was  among  the  younger 
members  of  that  body,  but  soon  demonstrated 
his  capability  and  soundness,  and  has  won  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  entire  membership. 
He  handles  all  kinds  of  grain  and  provisions,  as 
well  as  stocks  and  bonds  and  other  paper  securi- 
ties, on  his  own  account,  and  has  met  with  al- 
most uniform  success.  His  profits  have  been 
largely  invested  in  real  estate  at  Hammond, 
Indiana,  and  in  Florida  timber  lands  and  orange 
groves. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was  married,  November  25, 
1875,  to  Miss  Mary  Alice  Johnson,  daughter  of 
Anthony  Johnson  and  Catherine  (Ganer)  John- 


son. Mrs.  Dickinson  was  born  at  Port  Jervis, 
New  York,  where  her  father  was  connected  with 
important  railroad  interests  for  some  years.  Mr. 
Dickinson  is  identified  with  the  First  Methodist 
Church  of  Evanston.  He  is  a  man  of  domestic 
tastes,  and  devotes  little  time  to  social  recreations. 
He  supports  the  Republican  party,  whose  policy 
he  believes  to  be  in  the  interest  of  good  govern- 
ment and  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the 
country. 

In  1889  he  built  an  elegant  residence  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Asbury  Avenue  and  Church 
Street,  Evanston,  which  is  surrounded  by  one  of 
the  handsomest  and  best-kept  lawns  in  Cook 
County.  In  short,  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Dickinson,  throughout  its  exterior  and  interior 
appointments,  bespeaks  the  refined  tastes  and 
cultivated  instincts  by  means  of  which,  only, 
such  an  establishment  can  be  designed  and  main- 
tained. 


BENJAMIN  SHURTLEFF. 


D  ENJAMIN  SHURTLEFF,  one  of  the  found- 

Bers  of  Lake  View,  whose  identity  is  rapidly 
becoming  lost  in  the  vast  city  of  Chicago,  is 
still  a  resident  of  that  former  suburb,  and  affords 
an  excellent  type  of  the  pioneers  of  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  West.  He  was  born  in  Ernesttown, 
Lennox  County,  Ontario,  July  19,  1812.  His 
ancestors  were  English,  and  were  very  loyal 
subjects  of  the  British  crown.  The  first  one  in 
the  American  colonies  settled  in  Massachusetts, 
whence  Lemuel  ShurtlefF,  grandfather  of  the 
subject  of  this  notice,  removed  to  Canada  at  the 
beginning  of  the  American  Revolution.  He 
settled  in  Ernesttown,  Lennox  Count}',  Ontario, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming,  reared  a  large 
family,  and  reached  a  good  old  age.  He  had 
three  sons,  Seldon,  Jacob  and  Gideon. 

The  last-named  passed  his  life  in  Canada, 
exceeding  the  age  of  eighty  years,  and  was  a 
farmer.  He  was  a  quiet,  faithful  Christian, 


devoted  to  the  Methodist  Church,  and  the  welfare 
of  his  fellow-men  was  dear  to  his  heart.  His 
wife,  Mary  Ward,  probably  of  Irish  descent,  was  a 
tender  and  true  wife  and  mother,  and,  like  himself, 
a  faithful  member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  She 
died  at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  Of  their 
twelve  children,  eleven  grew  to  maturity,  and 
three  of  the  sons  became  residents  of  the  United 
States.  Their  names  were  Samuel,  Jacob,  Gid- 
eon, Lemuel,  Benjamin,  Miles,  John,  Polly,  Amy, 
Lydia  and  Amanda.  Lemuel  was  an  able  me- 
chanic, and  built  some  of  the  large  iron  mills  at 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  at  which  place  he  died. 
Miles  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  New  York,  and 
became  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  at 
Rochester,  New  York,  for  many  years. 

Benjamin  ShurtlefF  passed  the  first  eighteen 
years  of  his  life  on  the  home  farm,  receiving  such 
intellectual  training  as  was  afforded  by  the  dis- 
trict schools  and  good  home  surroundings.  At 


102 


BENJAMIN  SHURTLEFF. 


the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  began  learning  the 
joiner's  trade,  of  which  he  became  master.  In 
1837  he  joined  his  brother  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  associated  with  him  in  erecting 
large  manufacturing  plants  there.  Among  these 
may  be  mentioned  the  immense  iron  mills  of 
Spang,  Chalfant  &  Company  at  J&tna,  and 
the  rolling  mills  of  Louis  Dalzell  &  Company 
at  Sharpsburgh,  another  suburb  of  Pittsburgh. 
Among  his  fellow- workmen  was  Mr.  C.  K.  Gar- 
rison, since  one  of  the  most  successful  business 
men  and  capitalists  of  that  city,  who  was  regarded 
by  Mr.  Shurtleff  as  one  of  the  brightest  business 
men  he  ever  met.  Twelve  years  of  industrious 
application  there  gave  Mr.  Shurtleff  a  small  cap- 
ital, which  he  resolved  to  invest  in  a  newer  place, 
and  he  set  out  for  Chicago. 

Arriving  here  in  1851,  he  immediately  made 
investments  in  real  property,  which  his  foresight 
told  him  was  sure  to  appreciate  greatly  in  value. 
He  secured  twenty  acres  in  Lake  View  Town- 
ship, beside  three  twenty-acre  tracts  in  section 
33,  town  39  north,  range  14,  most  of  which  has 
been  subdivided  and  sold  off.  Shurtleff  s  Addi- 
tion was  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  well-known 
subdivisions  on  the  old  maps,  and  he  now  has 
valuable  property  on  the  South  Side  of  the  city. 
His  present  possessions  include  about  ten  acres 
of  the  most  valuable  land  in  the  city,  including 
many  improved  lots  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home, 
on  Oakdale  Avenue.  In  1870  he  built  six  sub- 
stantial houses  on  the  corner  of  Fremont  and  Oak- 
dale  Avenues,  which  were  beyond  the  ravages 
of  the  great  fire  of  the  next  year  and  became 
immediately  profitable. 

May  5,  1853,  at  Sharpsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
Mr.  Shurtleff  was  married  to  Miss  Lucinda  J. 
Sewell,  daughter  of  James  H.  Sewell,  an  old 
resident  of  Pittsburgh.  Judge  James  Sewell,  a 
well-known  character  of  that  city,  was  a  brother 
of  Mrs.  Shurtleff.  Mrs.  Shurtleff  was  born  in 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  died  January  10,  1856, 
in  the  prime  of  young  womanhood,  being  but 
twenty-seven  years  old  at  the  time  of  her  death. 
She  left  a  daughter,  Lucy  J.,  who  was  reared  by 
her  aunt,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Roberts,  well  known  in  Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania,  society.  She  was  educated 


at  Ferry  Hall  Seminary,  at  Lake  Forest,  Illinois, 
and  Hellmuth  College,  London,  Canada,  and  is 
now  the  wife  of  Bruce  M.  Myers,  of  Chicago. 
Subsequently,  at  Chicago,  Mr.  Shurtleff  married 
Mrs.  Margaret  A.  Buker,  who  was  born  Sep- 
tember 2,  1837,  at  Greenwood,  Maine.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Capt.  Isaac  P.  Furlong,  who  was 
a  native  of  Maine,  and  commanded  a  company 
in  the  War  of  1812.  His  father  took  up  the 
first  claim  in  the  town  of  Greenwood,  Oxford 
County,  Maine.  Mrs.  Shurtleff  was  a  genial 
companion  to  Mr.  Shurtleff  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,  and  also  a  good  business  manager.  She 
was  a  woman  possessed  of  more  than  ordinary 
native  ability,  and  esteemed  for  many  good  qual- 
ities of  head  and  heart.  She  passed  away  July 
7,  1894,  leaving  two  sons  by  her  first  marriage. 
Harry  Leslie  Buker,  who  was  educated  principally 
at  the  Schattuck  Military  School,  Faribault, 
Minnesota,  is  well  known  in  musical  circles  in 
Chicago,  and  was  associated  twelve  years  with 
the  Slayton  Lyceum  Bureau  of  that  city.  The 
other  son,  William  F.  Buker,  is  an  actor  by  pro- 
fession and  a  resident  of  New  York  City. 

Mr.  Shurtleff  was  among  the  early  members  of 
the  old  Fullerton  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Chicago,  and  has  been  a  stanch  supporter  of  the 
political  principles  of  the  Republican  party  all  his 
life.  In  1844  he  voted  for  Henry  Clay  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  he  was  among  the 
promoters  and  organizers  of  the  Republican  party, 
voting  for  Fremont  in  1856.  His  has  been  a 
quiet  life  of  industry  and  attention  to  his  private 
affairs,  with  no  seeking  after  public  honors.  He 
has  ever  given  of  his  time,  influence  and  means 
toward  the  promotion  of  any  movement  calculated 
to  further  the  general  welfare,  and  his  example 
is  commended  to  the  careful  attention  of  every 
youth  who  hopes  to  make  something  of  himself 
in  the  business,  social  or  moral  world.  His  suc- 
cess has  not  been  the  result  of  accident,  but  has 
been  built  up  by  shrewd  calculation,  and  the 
prudent  use  of  means  acquired  by  the  practice  of 
habits  of  industry  and  right  living.  He  refused 
his  share  of  his  father's  estate,  preferring  it 
should  go  to  his  sisters. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
;VERSITY  OF  ILL! 


Jlenry Taylor,  Jr. ScCo. Chicago.  Photo  by 


•    v  .-.-a  br* ' 


D.  B.  FONDA, 


103 


DAVID  B.  FONDA,  M.  D. 


0AVID  BARTHOLOMEW  FONDA,  M.  D., 
is  a  representative  of  an  old  and  prominent 
Empire  State  family  which  settled  in  and 
named  the  count}'-seat  of  Montgomery  County, 
New  York.  His  grandfather,  John  Fonda,  was 
a  native  of  Holland,  and  settled  at  a  place  called 
Bogt,  in  Albany  County,  New  York,  where  he 
owned  an  estate  comprising  several  thousand 
acres.  His  only  son,  Henry  Fonda,  was  born 
there  and  inherited  this  estate.  Most  of  his  life 
was  passed  at  Watervliet,  New  York,  where  he 
died  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years,  in  June,  1841. 
His  wife,  Rebecca  Hall,  was  born  at  Mayfield, 
Fulton  County,  New  York,  and  died  in  August, 
1840,  at  the  age  of  fifty -six  years.  Henry  Fonda 
was  somewhat  active  in  political  affairs,  though 
he  never  sought  or  accepted  office  for  himself. 

David  B.  Fonda  was  born  November  6,  1834, 
in  Watervliet,  Albany  County,  New  York,  where 
he  remained  until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen 
years.  In  his  native  township,  at  a  place  called 
Elisha's  Kill,  he  received  his  primary  education, 
completing  the  course  of  the  upper  school  before 
he  was  sixteen  years  old. 

He  was  then  appointed  principal  of  the  Second 
District  School  of  the  Third  Ward  of  Schenectady, 
New  York,  where  he  taught  one  year.  His  first 
teacher's  certificate  was  granted  by  Jonathan 
Pearson,  professor  of  languages  in  Union  Col- 
lege, at  Schenectady,  and  superintendent  of  the 
public  schools  of  that  city.  The  scene  of  his 
labors  for  the  next  four  years  was  a  place  called 


Lowell's  Corners,  where  he  taught  in  the  joint 
district  embracing  portions  of  the  towns  of  Cherry 
Valley  and  Seward,  in  the  Counties  of  Schoharie 
and  Otsego.  While  teaching  here  he  pursued  a 
private  course  in  moral  and  mental  philosophy, 
and  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  under  the 
tutelage  of  Franklin  Pierce,  a  cousin  of  the  Presi- 
dent who  bore  the  same  name.  At  the  end  of 
this  time  he  was  prepared  for  matriculation  at 
Hartwick  College,  a  Lutheran  Theological  institu- 
tion. 

It  is  evident  from  the  progress  made  up  to  this 
time  that  Mr.  Fonda  was  a  close  student.  By  the 
time  he  attained  his  majority  he  had  occupied  a 
responsible  position  as  teacher  for  a  period  of  five 
years.  The  hard  work  involved  in  these  labors, 
coupled  with  the  diligent  pursuit  of  his  studies 
preparatory  to  further  advancement,  made  deep 
inroads  upon  his  physical  strength,  and  a  connec- 
tion which  he  formed  at  this  time  changed  his 
plans  and  the  entire  course  of  his  life.  March  22, 
1855,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Clarinda  Lowell,  a 
descendant  of  the  famous  New  England  family  of 
that  name,  who  was  born  at  Lowell's  Corners. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Nyram  Lowell. 

In  1855,  with  his  bride,  Mr.  Fonda  removed  to 
Chicago.  Having  a  relative  who  was  in  the 
service  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad, 
he  sought  and  secured  employment  as  a  brake- 
man  on  this  line  for  the  sake  of  the  outdoor 
labor,  and  at  the  end  of  fourteen  months  spent  in 
this  capacity,  he  found  his  health  fully  restored. 


104 


D.  B.  FONDA. 


He  then  accepted  a  position  as  teacher  at  Rose- 
hill,  and  began  the  pursuit  of  a  medical  course  at 
Rush  Medical  College.  He  attended  lectures  at 
this  institution  during  the  two  years  beginning  in 
1859  and  ending  in  1861. 

Early  in  1862  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier, 
in  Company  C,  Eighty-ninth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry  known  as  the  Railroad  Regiment,  being 
composed  entirely  of  railroad  men.  By  the  time 
the  regiment  was  mustered  he  was  promoted  to 
Orderly  Sergeant,  and  continued  in  service 
through  Kentucky  with  the  Army  of  the  Cumber- 
land until  the  battle  of  Perryville.  After  this 
engagement  he  was  sent  with  a  detail  to  escort  an 
ambulance  train  to  Bardstown,  Kentucky.  On 
his  arrival  there  he  found  that  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed chief  steward  of  the  hospitals  at  that  point. 
He  continued  there  until  the  latter  part  of  1863, 
and  became  secretary  of  the  medical  corps,  which 
embraced  eight  army  surgeons.  When  he  entered 
the  army  his  weight  was  one  hundred  forty- 
five  pounds,  but  during  his  service  it  was  re- 
duced to  ninety-four  pounds,  and  through  the 
recommendation  of  the  surgeons  he  was  honorably 
discharged  on  account  of  disability,  although  he 
had  never  as  yet  asked  for  a  release  from  duty. 
On  his  return  to  Chicago  he  was  prostrated  by 
a  severe  illness,  which  continued  for  a  period  of 
three  months. 

Recovering  his  health,  he  again  entered  Rush 
Medical  College  in  1864,  and  two  years  later  com- 
pleted the  course.  He  subsequently  entered 
Bennett  Medical  College,  from  which  he  received 
a  diploma  in  1878.  In  1866  he  began  the  practice 
of  medicine  at  Jefferson  Park,  and  has  continued 
to  reside  there  ever  since.  In  1867,  without  any 
solicitation  on  his  part,  he  was  elected  by  the 
County  Board  to  the  post  of  County  Physician  and 
superintendent  of  the  insane  paupers  sustained  by 
the  county.  Through  his  vigorous  protest 
against  the  mixture  of  insane  with  the  other 
wards  of  the  county,  the  board  was  induced  to 
appropriate  money  for  a  building  to  be  devoted 
exclusively  to  the  care  of  the  insane.  This  was 
begun  in  1868,  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  year 
1871  Dr.  Fonda  installed  the  patients  in  his  charge 
in  their  new  quarters.  At  the  end  of  four  years' 


service  he  retired  and  resumed  his  private  practice 
at  Jefferson,  in  which  he  has  since  continued  with 
the  ever-increasing  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
community. 

Dr.  Fonda  has  been  somewhat  active  in  the 
conduct  of  local  affairs,  and  the  promotion  of  the 
common  welfare.  In  1874  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  village  board  of  Jefferson,  of  which 
body  he  was  immediately  made  president  and 
continued  four  consecutive  years  in  this  position. 
He  was  for  many  years  health  officer  of  the  vil- 
lage, which  was  co-extensive  with  the  town  of 
Jefferson,  until  it  was  merged  in  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago, and  was  again  a  member  of  the  village 
board  from  1884  until  1886.  During  the  first 
year  of  this  service  he  was  president  of  the  board, 
but  refused  that  office  during  the  second  year,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  active  on  the  floor  in  the 
discussion  of  many  important  movements  then 
pending.  For  many  years  he  was  County  Phy- 
sician in  charge  of  the  medical  relief  of  the  poor 
outside  of  public  institutions.  In  1889,  when 
Jefferson  was  annexed  to  the  city  of  Chicago,  Dr. 
Fonda  was  elected  one  of  the  first  aldermen  from 
the  twenty-seventh  ward,  and  in  the  following 
April  he  was  re-elected  and  served  two  years. 
In  political  matters  he  has  always  acted  with  the 
Republican  party,  having  allied  himself  with  it 
in  1856,  and  although  he  has  sometimes  voted 
for  individuals  not  on  his  party  ticket,  he  has 
ever  remained  true  to  its  principles.  In  recent 
years  he  has  made  numerous  addresses  on  political 
and  economic  subjects,  which  have  been  received 
with  much  applause. 

Dr.  Fonda  is  still  a  member  in  good  standing  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  at  Gardnersville,  New  York. 
On  a  visit  to  the  scenes  of  his  early  life,  made  in 
the  fall  of  1897,  ne  attended  worship  at  this  place, 
where  he  met  but  one  person  that  he  had  previ- 
ously known.  After  an  absence  of  forty  years 
this  visit  to  his  childhood  home,  although  a  very 
pleasant  one  on  the  whole,  was  much  saddened 
by  the  absence  of  familiar  faces.  In  the  midst  of 
family  connections  numbering  thousands,  he  was 
still  among  strangers. 

Dr.  Fonda  was  for  many  years  connected  with 
Hesperia    Lodge,    Ancient   Free   and   Accepted 


I,.  J.  HALSEY. 


105 


Masons,  of  Chicago,  and  was  a  charter  member 
of  the  first  Masonic  Lodge  in  Jefferson.  He  is 
now  connected  with  Wylie  M.  Egan  Lodge, 
Washington  Chapter,  Siloam  Council,  St.  Ber- 
nard Commandery,  and  Medinah  Temple,  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine.  He  was  for  many  years  con- 
nected with  Home  Lodge  No.  416,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  of  Chicago,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  George  H.  Thomas  Post  No.  5,  Grand 


Army  of  the  Republic.  He  is  Grand  Medical 
Examiner  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Mutual  Aid 
of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Mrs.  Fonda  passed  away  in  1 890,  at  the  age  of 
fifty -five  years,  leaving  one  child,  Carrie  Azubah, 
who  resides  with  her  father.  Dr.  Fonda  is  yet  in 
possession  of  sound  health,  and  a  vigorous  intel- 
lect, and  has  many  years  of  usefulness  both  as  a 
citizen  and  physician  before  him. 


REV.  LEROY  J.  HALSEY. 


REV.  LEROY  JONES  HALSEY,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.  On  the  28th  day  of  January,  A. 
D.  1812,  Leroy  Jones  Halsey  was  born  in 
Cartersville,  Goochland  County,  Virginia,  on  the 
banks  of  the  James  River,  twelve  miles  from 
Richmond,  the  first-born  son  of  John  and  Lucy 
(Tiller)  Halsey.  His  paternal  ancestry  is  traced 
back  through  the  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
settlements  to  a  New  England  stock  of  the  date 
of  1640.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  hardship 
of  straitened  circumstances  in  his  early  childhood. 
When  he  was  less  than  five  years  old  his  father 
met  with  reverses  by  too  generously  becoming 
liable  for  another  man's  debt.  It  deprived  him 
of  his  business  and  his  home,  and  forced  his  emi- 
gration to  the  far  southwest  to  begin  life  anew. 
He  located  at  Huntsville,  Alabama. 

Leroy  was  always  of  a  studious  habit.  He  ac- 
quired the  rudiments  of  knowledge  at  home,  and 
from  the  few  books  and  periodicals  available  he 
had  gained  much  information  before  he  went  to 
school.  At  school  learning  was  a  pleasure  to 
him.  Study  was  a  delight,  and  this  love  of  ap- 
plication and  research  so  early  manifested  was 
characteristic  of  his  entire  collegiate  and  theo- 
logical course,  and  remained  with  him  through 
life.  The  days  spent  in  the  classic  shades  of  the 
old  Green  Academy  at  Huntsville  were  among 
the  happiest  of  his  youth. 


At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  left  his  home  in 
Huntsville  to  enter  the  University  of  Nashville, 
at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  was  matricu- 
lated in  the  autumn  of  1831,  and  entered  the 
junior  class.  His  education  had  been  begun  and 
was  prosecuted  from  first  to  last  with  the  ministry 
of  the  Gospel  definitely  in  view. 

In  the  summer  of  1834  he  was  graduated,  and 
after  a  visit  to  his  home  he  returned  to  Nashville 
and  taught  a  select  school  for  a  year,  from  the 
proceeds  of  which  he  repaid  his  college  debt,  and 
then  accepted  the  position  of  tutor  in  the  college. 
At  the  same  time,  in  November,  1835,  he  placed 
himself  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Nash- 
ville as  a  candidate  for  the  Gospel  ministry. 
Having  served  as  tutor  for  a  year  he  accepted  the 
appointment  of  substitute  professor  of  languages 
in  place  of  a  professor  who  was  to  be  absent 
for  a  year. 

These  three  years  succeeding  graduation,  one 
spent  in  private  teaching,  and  two  in  college 
work,  were  beneficial  in  fixing  and  testing  scholar- 
ship, and  also  from  a  financial  point  of  view. 
They  enabled  him  to  discharge  his  debt  and  to 
accumulate  a  fund  sufficient  to  defray  the  expense 
of  a  theological  course. 

Retiring  from  these  pleasing  associations  in  the 
summer  of  1837,  after  a  brief  visit  to  his  home 
he  journeyed  eastward  by  stage  coach  and  steam- 


io6 


L.  J.  HALSEY. 


boat  until,  at  Frederick,  Md.,  he  had  his  first 
view  of  a  railway  train,  and  thence  through  Bal- 
timore and  Philadelphia,  his  first  experience  of 
railway  travel,  as  far  as  Trenton,  N.  J.  On  the 
9th  day  of  November  he  entered  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Princeton. 

On  the  29th  day  of  September,  1840,  the  semi- 
nary life  of  Dr.  Halsey  ended  with  his  gradua- 
tion. He  had  been  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick  on  the  5th  day  of  August  pre- 
ceding. He  immediately  began  his  journey  to 
the  West,  stopping  in  Philadelphia  to  preach  in 
several  of  the  churches  there  and  to  receive  his 
commission  from  the  Board  of  Missions  assign- 
ing him  to  missionary  labor  in  the  bounds  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama. 

This  work  continued  for  more  than  two  years, 
when  its  widely  known  success  and  the  growing 
reputation  of  Dr.  Halsey  brought  such  urgent 
calls  to  wider  fields  that  he  was  constrained  to 
give  them  heed.  The  one  which  proved  the 
most  attractive  was  the  one  which  showed  the 
greatest  need.  A  recently  organized  congrega- 
tion in  the  city  of  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Missis- 
sippi, was  seeking  for  consecrated  leadership  and 
preaching  power.  They  were  without  a  house 
of  worship,  with  little  numerical  or  financial 
strength,  but  with  united  and  zealous  purpose 
and  with  a  growing  and  influential  community 
around,  in  crying  need  of  Gospel  privileges  and 
influence  and  work.  He  accepted  their  call,  and 
removing  to  Jackson,  was  ordained  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Mississippi  and  installed  pastor  on  the 
2istday  of  March,  1843. 

A  commodious  house  of  worship  was  soon 
provided.  The  congregation  grew  and  the  work 
enlarged.  This  prosperous  work  continued  for 
five  years.  During  this  pastorate,  on  the  24th 
day  of  April,  1844,  he  was  married  to  Caroline 
Augusta  Anderson,  of  Pendleton,  South  Carolina, 
a  granddaughter  of  Gen.  Robert  Anderson  of 
Revolutionary  fame. 

His  well-known  success  in  Jackson  led  to  his 
being  called  to  undertake  a  similar  work  in  Lou- 
isville, Kentucky,  where  a  small  colony  of  Presby- 
terians desired  him  to  lead  them  in  the  work  of 
founding  and  establishing  a  church.  Satisfied  of 


the  importance  of  the  enterprise,  and  undismayed 
by  its  prospective  difficulties,  he  accepted  their 
call  and  entered  upon  the  work  in  the  autumn 
of  1848. 

The  church  grew  rapidly  under  his  ministry. 
A  comfortable  house  of  worship  was  speedily  pro- 
vided, and  very  soon  the  congregation,  in  point 
of  numbers  and  ability  and  efficiency,  took  rank 
with  the  older  churches  of  the  city. 

Here  he  conducted  a  happy,  useful  and  success- 
ful pastorate  for  ten  years,  in  connection  with  the 
Chestnut  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  the  same 
organization  that,  in  a  different  locality,  is  still  ac- 
tive, strong  and  prosperous,  under  the  name  and 
title  of  the  Warren  Memorial  Church. 

In  1859  he  was  appointed  by  the  General  As- 
sembly to  the  Chair  of  Ecclesiology,  Sacred 
Rhetoric  and  Pastoral  Theology  in  the  Presby- 
terian Theological  Seminary  of  the  Northwest, 
which  the  same  assembly  located  at  Chicago,  on 
the  basis  of  an  endowment  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  donated  by  the  late  Cyrus  H.  Mc- 
Cormick,  of  this  city.  The  institution  is  now 
known  as  McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 

He  entered  upon  his  work  in  Chicago  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year.  The  city  then  contained  a 
population  of  barely  one  hundred  thousand.  The 
seminary  was  domiciled  at  first  in  a  rented  build- 
ing at  Clark  and  Harrison  Streets.  Two  years 
later  it  found  temporary  quarters  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  North  Presbyterian  Church  at  Cass 
and  Indiana  Streets.  The  present  location,  at 
North  Halsted  Street  and  Fullerton  Avenue,  was 
first  occupied  for  seminary  purposes  in  the  winter 
of  1863  and  1864. 

Dr.  Halsey  continued  his  active  labors  in  the 
seminary  for  thirty-three  years,  terminating 
them  only  in  1892,  when  he  was  eighty  years  old. 
In  addition  to  the  labors  of  the  pastorate  and 
of  the  professor's  chair  he  was  a  faithful  and  in- 
fluential helper  in  the  councils  of  the  church;  he 
responded  to  invitations  for  addresses  on  public 
occasions,  and  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the 
columns  of  the  press.  In  1858  he  published  his 
first  book,  "The  Literary  Attractions  of  the 
Bible,"  a  work  of  classic  merit,  which  holds  and 
will  continue  to  hold  an  assured  place  among  the 


L.  J.  HALSEY. 


107 


preserved  gems  of  English  and  American  litera- 
ture. 

After  Dr.  Halsey  came  to  Chicago  his  voice 
and  pen  occupied  a  wider  sphere  than  that  of  the 
seminary  alone.  He  preached  often  and  in  many 
pulpits  all  over  the  land  and  always  with  great 
acceptance.  In  1860  he  issued  "Life  Pictures 
from  the  Bible, ' '  a  work  that  has  held,  and  will 
always  hold  with  those  who  possess  it,  an  eminent 
place  among  the  delineations  of  Bible  character. 
In  1861  appeared  "The  Beauty  of  Immanuel," 
an  exposition  of  the  life,  character,  person,  work, 
offices  and  glory  of  the  Christ  whom  he  loved 
and  adored,  a  work  most  stimulating  to  piety  and 
helpful  to  devotion. 

In  1866  he  published,  in  three  large  volumes, 
through  the  Lippincott  press,  the  "Life  and 
Works  of  Philip  Lindsley,  D.  D.,"  a  labor  of 
love,  preserving  to  posterity  the  literary  produc- 
tions of  one  of  the  most  accomplished  educators 
of  his  day.  In  1871  appeared  from  his  pen  "The 
Memoir  of  Lewis  W.  Green,  D.  D.,"  and  in  1881 
a  volume  entitled  "Living  Christianity,"  a  brief, 
clear  and  strong  presentation  of  the  fundamentals 
of  Christian  faith  and  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tian duty. 

About  this  time  he  became  Professor  Emeritus 
and  continued  to  give  regular  instruction  in 
the  matters  of  church  government  and  the  sacra- 
ments. His  pen  was  by  no  means  idle,  for  in 
1884  he  published  a  very  instructive  and  edifying 
book  on  "Scotland's  Influence  on  Civilization," 
and  in  1893  there  came  from  his  pen  the  work 
into  which  he  had  poured  the  affections  of  his 
heart  and  the  accumulated  events  and  emotions 
of  thirty  years,  "The  History  of  the  McCormick 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,"  an  octavo  volume  of  five  hundred 
pages. 

Dr.  Halsey  lived  to  be  eighty-four  years  old, 
dying  June  18,  1896. 

One  of  the  large  privileges  of  human  life  is  to 
dwell  in  immediate  touch  with  great  and  good 
men.  The  very  presence,  the  example,  and  the 
teachings  of  such  men,  tend  to  form  the  character, 
to  guide  the  thinking,  to  elevate  the  taste  and  to 
direct  the  activities  of  whole  communities.  Be- 


neath their  kindly  but  potent  influence,  society 
is  rounded  out  into  fairer  proportions,  the  pur- 
pose to  accomplish  noble  ends  becomes  more  de- 
cisive, sympathy  expands  and  deepens,  and  life 
is  found,  more  and  more,  to  be  truly  worth  the 
living.  One  of  the  noblest  of  this  high  class  was 
the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

For  thirty-seven  years  Dr.  Halsey  lived  in 
Chicago.  He  entered  on  his  work  in  that  city 
in  the  zenith  of  his  powers.  Long  and  painstak- 
ing education  had  fitted  him  to  exercise  with 
commanding  ability  the  sacred  office  to  which  he 
had  been  chosen.  He  had  reached  first  rank  as 
a  preacher  and  pastor  before  he  entered  on  the  re- 
sponsible task  of  training  young  men  for  the 
ministry,  and  he  came  to  this  new  work  ripe  in 
learning,  mature  in  piety,  skilled  in  administra- 
tion, familiar  with  the  best  methods  of  profes- 
sional education,  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
foremost  churchmen  of  the  period,  ardent  in  the 
cause  of  a  world- wide  evangelization,  embalmed 
in  the  confidence  of  the  influential  communion, 
which  he  represented,  and  in  every  way  well 
fitted  to  advance  the  important  enterprise  to  which 
he  stood  committed. 

At  the  time  of  his  entrance  to  Chicago  Dr. 
Halsey  was  called  to  lay  the  foundations  upon 
which  varied  structures  should  be  raised.  Society 
was  hardly  formed,  and  his  influence  was  felt  in 
directing  it  along  lines  of  Christian  refinement. 
There  was  but  one  Presbyterian  Church  on  the 
North  Side,  and  that  near  the  heart  of  the  city. 
He  early  helped  plant  another  and  then  others 
as  the  years  went  by. 

McCormick  Theological  Seminary  was  but  just 
opened  in  Chicago.  Its  maintenance  and  develop- 
ment and  permanent  establishment  had  yet  to  be 
provided  for. 

Few  men  have  ever  been  called  to  so  large  and 
so  varied  a  work  in  so  important  a  center  and  at 
such  an  epoch-making  period.  For  this  impos- 
ing undertaking  he  had  the  equipment  requisite, 
whether  we  consider  it  on  the  side  of  a  large  and 
unhesitating  faith  in  the  sublime  truths  which  he 
came  to  teach  and  defend,  or  in  the  steady  cour- 
age for  the  day  of  small  things  to  be  fostered  in  a 
period  of  unrest  and  conflict — or  of  conspicuous 


io8 


THOMAS  GOODE. 


talents  fitted  to  meet  the  diversified  calls  arising 
from  the  extensive  task — or  of  sublime  patience 
in  the  midst  of  the  fluctuations  and  discourage- 
ments incident  to  the  sure  establishment  of  a 
young  institution  in  the  center  of  a  comoaratively 
new  section  of  our  great  country. 

In  the  prosecution  of  these  wide  ranging  labors 
Dr.  Halsey  laid  his  formative  hand  on  a  larger 
number  of  men  than  any  other  theological  teacher 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  West.  His 
early  colleagues  soon  passed  on — one  in  less  than 
two  years,  to  his  heavenly  home — the  others  to 
important  fields  elsewhere. 

Dr.  Halsey  remained  undaunted  at  his  post  in 
sunshine  and  in  storm,  when  rude  war  rolled  un- 
checked over  the  land,  when  peace  once  more 


settled  on  a  still  united  nation.  Under  all  the 
changes  of  an  eventful  period  he  stood  fast,  the 
one  commanding  figure  in  the  changing  scene, 
around  whose  person  the  destinies  of  the  institu- 
tion revolved,  and  in  whose  lone  hand  its  inter- 
ests often  reposed.  And  ere  yet  unseen  hands 
with  gentle  touch  closed  his  eyes  to  earthly  sight, 
to  be  re-opened  so  soon  amid  the  splendors  of 
mediatorial  glory  he  had  witnessed  the  triumphs 
of  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  so  many 
years  of  his  life,  in  the  establishment  of  a  semi- 
nary of  sacred  learning,  equal  in  its  equipments  to 
any  in  the  land,  and  full  to  overflowing  with  in- 
genuous youth  in  preparation  for  the  noble  work 
of  preaching  the  Gospel  in  every  tongue  and  to 
every  land  under  the  sun. 


THOMAS  GOODE. 


'HOMAS  GOODE,  one  of  Chicago's  most 
worthy  pioneers,  now  living  in  rest  and  re- 
tirement on  Racine  Avenue,  was  born 
April  18,  1816,  in  the  Parish  of  Enfield,  in  Mid- 
dlesex, near  London,  England.  He  is  a  son  of 
Thomas  and  Maria  (Head)  Goode,  the  former  a 
native  of  Warwickshire,  and  the  latter  of  Middle- 
sex, England. 

Thomas  Goode,  senior,  was  an  orphan  from  the 
time  he  was  a  small  boy,  and  was  sent  to  London, 
where  his  eldest  brother  lived,  and  where  he 
learned  the  trade  of  baker,  at  which  he  worked 
for  many  years.  He  had  seven  children  that 
grew  to  maturity,  three  of  whom  came  to  America 
with  their  parents.  John  and  Thomas  came  in 
1845,  sailing  from  London,  and  upon  arriving  in 
New  York,  they  went  to  Albany  by  boat,  and 
from  there  proceeded  to  Buffalo  by  the  canal. 
From  Buffalo  they  came  to  Chicago  by  the  old 
steamer  "Madison." 

In  1859  Thomas  Goode  visited  England,  and 


when  he  returned  to  America  his  parents  accom- 
panied him,  spending  their  last  years  in  Chicago. 
The  father  died  in  1870,  his  wife  having  preceded 
him  by  three  years.  Edward,  a  younger  brother, 
came  to  the  United  States  about  1864,  and  still 
resides  in  this  city,  and  John  Goode  makes  his 
home  in  Florida. 

Thomas  Goode  received  only  an  ordinary  educa- 
tion in  the  schools  of  his  native  land,  which  were 
then  much  poorer  than  now,  and  was  early  em- 
ployed in  a  greenhouse,  in  the  cultivation  of 
flowers  and  plants. 

In  1840  Mr.  Goode  married  Miss  Ellen  Colpus, 
and  their  first  three  children  were  born  in  Eng- 
land. Soon  after  coming  to  Chicago  he  bought 
property  on  the  West  Side,  in  Carpenter's  Ad- 
dition, and  later,  bought  twelve  acres  in  North 
Chicago,  afterwards  Lake  View.  Here  he  raised 
vegetables  extensively  for  the  city  market,  and 
through  his  prudence  and  industry,  and  the  great 
growth  of  the  city,  became  wealthy.  He  sold 


G.  N.   POWELL. 


109 


some  of  his  land  to  a  railroad  company,  and  the 
remainder  mostly  in  lots.  He  retired  from  active 
business  about  ten  years  ago.  Mr.  Goode  is  an 
ardent  Republican,  but  has  never  been  willing  to 
accept  any  public  office  himself.  He  is  an  ad- 
herent of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Goode  has  been  married  twice.  By  his 
first  wife  he  had  six  children,  two  of  whom  died 
in  infancy.  Those  of  his  children  living  are: 
Edwin  Peto;  Jane,  wife  of  John  M.  Gibson;  La- 


viuia  and  Rowland  T.  The  mother  of  this  family 
died  about  1879.  In  1891  Mr.  Goode  married 
Miss  Margaret  M.  Gubbins,  a  native  of  the  city 
of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Goode  has  lived  many  years  in  his  present 
location,  and  has  many  friends.  He  is  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  highly  respected  citizens  of  this 
part  of  the  city,  where,  during  his  long  residence, 
he  has  proven  his  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart. 


GEORGE  N.  POWELL. 


JEORGE  NELSON  POWELL,  one  of  Chi- 
cago's pioneers,  came  to  the  West  in  1833. 
He  was  descended  from  English  and  Welsh 
ancestry,  and  his  lineage  has  been  traced  back  to 
Thomas  Powell,  who  was  born  in  August,  1641 
(probably  in  Wales),  and  died  at  Westbury, 
Long  Island,  December  28,  1721.  A  descendant 
of  his  in  the  fourth  generation,  Obadiah  Powell, 
was  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Obadiah  Powell  died  in  Saratoga  County,  New 
York,  at  the  age  of  nearly  one  hundred  years. 
Some  time  previous  to  the  Revolutionary  War  he 
removed  thither  from  Dutchess  County,  in  the 
same  state,  with  his  wife  Betsy,  taking  all  their 
belongings  on  the  back  of  a  pony.  Like  his 
Quaker  ancestry,  he  was  opposed  to  war,  and 
was  much  censured  during  the  Revolutionary 
struggle  because  of  his  non-combatant  position, 
and  most  of  his  personal  property  was  confiscated. 
He  was  steadfast  in  his  convictions,  however,  and 
lived  to  be  one  of  the  leading  farmers  in  the  com- 
munity. At  the  age  of  ninety-eight  years  he 
husked  several  baskets  of  corn,  which  he  carried 
on  his  shoulder  to  the  loft  of  his  carriage-house. 


He  was  the  father  of  three  sons  and  eight  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  lived  to  extreme  old  age,  and 
his  house  was  the  favorite  gathering-place  of  his 
descendants.  His  son,  Frost  Powell,  lived  until 
1840  in  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  where  he 
married  Katharine  Nelson,  who  was  of  Dutch 
descent.  In  1840  he  removed  to  Waterford,  Ra- 
cine County,  Wisconsin,  where  he  died  a  few 
years  later. 

His  son,  George  N.  Powell,  whose  name  heads 
this  article,  was  born  August  13,  1807,  in  Dutchess 
County,  New  York.  He  received  the  best  edu- 
cation that  the  locality  afforded  at  that  time,  and 
early  in  life  became  a  general  contractor.  Being 
convinced  that  the  West  offered  great  business 
opportunities,  he  removed  in  1833  to  Chicago. 
Here  he  rented  a  tract  of  land  from  Archibald  Cly- 
bourn,  and  engaged  in  farming  and  gardening.  In 
1836  he  located  in  what  was  afterwards  known  as 
Jefferson  Township,  making  claim  to  the  north-, 
east  quarter  of  section  thirty-six,  which  he  pur- 
chased at  the  land  sale  of  1838.  He  at  once  com- 
menced the  improvement  of  a  farm  on  this  land, 
which  was  then  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  for  sev- 


no 


G.  N.  POWELL. 


eral  years  kept  a  public  house  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  travelers.  While  still  in  the  prime  of 
life,  and  apparently  having  many  years  of  active 
usefulness  before  him,  he  was  stricken  with 
cholera  and  died  August  1 8,  1850.  Besides  being 
a  careful  and  successful  business  man  he  was  ever 
active  as  a  citizen  and  took  a  great  interest  in  pub- 
lic affairs,  affiliating  in  politics  with  the  Dem- 
ocratic party. 

March  22,  1835,  Mr.  Powell  married  Miss  Ara- 
mesia  Harmon,  who  was  born  in  Montgomery 
County,  Virginia,  February  27,  1820.     Her  par- 
ents,   Henry   Harmon   and    Mary  Ann    Horn- 
barger,  were  natives  of  that  state,  and  the  chil- 
dren of  Revolutionary  soldiers.     Henry  Harmon 
enlisted  as  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812,  but  peace 
was  declared  before  his  services  were  called  for. 
He  died  October  29,  1829,  and  his  widow  mar- 
ried Jacob  Miller.     In  1832  this  couple  came  to 
Chicago,  where  Mr.  Miller  worked  as  a  carpen- 
ter.    In  1849  he  made  the  overland  journey  to 
California,  and  died  there  in  the  fall  of  that  year. 
His  widow  died  December  27,   1876,  in  Minne- 
sota.    The  family  arrived  in  Chicago  at  the  time 
of  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  took  refuge  in  Fort 
Dearborn.     The  daughter,  Aramesia,    was  but 
twelve  years  of  age  at  that  time,  and  received  her 
education  and  grew  to  womanhood  in  the  pioneer 
settlement.     She  has  been  an  observant  witness 
of  the  marvelous  growth  of  Chicago  from  a  mere 
hamlet  of  log  huts  to  the  second  city  in  the  land. 
George  N.  and  Aramesia  Powell  were  the  par- 
ents of  six  children,  the  first  of  whom,  George 
W.,  died  in  childhood.     John  Frost,  the  second, 
is  a  prominent  citizen  of  Waukegan,    Illinois, 
where  for  some  years  he  was  largely  engaged  in 
manufacturing.     He  is  especially  active  and  in- 
fluential in  the  municipal  affairs  of  that  city,  where 
he  served  many  years  as  alderman,   and  was 
Mayor  three  terms.     He  is  largely  interested  in 
Chicago  property.     William  H.,  the  third  son, 
was  a  dealer  in  real  estate  in  Chicago  from  1870 
until  his  death,  in  August,   1896.     He  married 
Elizabeth  J.  Ritchie,  who  bore  him  a  son,  George 
H.  Powell,  now  engaged  in  the  real-estate  bus- 
iness in  Chicago.     Mrs.  Elizabeth  J.  Powell  died 
in  1886. 


Daniel  N.  and  Mary  C.,  the  fourth  and  sixth, 
are  deceased.  A  sketch  of  the  fifth,  Perry  P., 
appears  below.  In  1862  Mrs.  Powell  married 
Theodore  Mismer,  a  native  of  Strasburg,  which 
was  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  in  France,  but  now 
belongs  to  Germany.  They  have  one  daughter, 
Clara,  now  the  wife  of  Fred  C.  Irwin,  of  Chicago. 
Perry  Polk  Powell,  the  youngest  son  of  George 
N.  and  Aramesia  Powell,  was  born  January  u, 
1845.  He  remained  at  home  assisting  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  farm  and  attending  the  district 
school  until  he  reached  the  age  of  seventeen 
years.  At  that  time  the  Civil  War  was  stirring 
the  martial  spirit  of  every  patriotic  American, 
and  young  Powell  was  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
Though  still  very  young,  he  enlisted,  July  6, 
1862,  in  Battery  A,  First  Illinois  Light  Artillery. 
In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  took  part  in  the  Vicks- 
burg  Campaign  under  General  Sherman,  and 
celebrated  his  eighteenth  birthday  by  participat- 
ing in  the  Battle  of  Arkansas  Post.  On  account 
of  sickness  he  was  discharged  August  7,  1863,  but 
on  his  recovery  re-enlisted  in  Battery  G  of  the 
First  Illinois  Light  Artillery,  and  was  discharged 
at  the  close  of  the  war  at  Memphis,  Tennessee. 

After  farming  for  one  year  in  Cook  County, 
Mr.  Powell  removed  to  Blairstown,  Iowa,  where 
he  carried  on  a  general  store  for  about  two  years. 
He  then  returned  to  Cook  County,  and  has  since 
followed  farming  and  gardening.  In  1870  he 
also  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business,  in  which 
he  has  been  very  successful.  He  has  given  his 
hearty  support  to  the  Republican  party  and  was 
a  member  of  the  first  board  of  trustees  of  Jeffer- 
son after  its  organization  as  a  village.  He  was 
initiated  into  Masonry  in  July,  1867,  in  Lincoln 
Lodge  No.  199,  at  Blairstowu,  Iowa.  He  is  a 
member  of  Winfield  Chapter  No.  42,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  and  is  Past  Commander  of  Winfield  Com- 
mandery  No.  15,  Knights  Templar,  both  of  Win- 
field,  Kansas.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Siberd 
Post  No.  58,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  De- 
partment .of  Kansas.  Mr.  Powell  was  married 
January  10,  1872,  to  Miss  Mary  E.,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Christie  McGregor.  Three  children 
have  blessed  this  union,  named  in  order  of  birth, 
Maud,  Frank  and  Ethel. 


C.  B.  DUPEE. 


CHARLES  B.  DUPEE. 


EHARLES  BILUNGS  DUPEE.  Among 
the  business  men  who  helped  to  promote 
the  growth  of  Chicago,  both  materially  and 
morally,  the  subject  of  thisi  sketch  should  receive 
honorable  mention.  His  ancestors  were  the  de- 
voted French  Huguenots,  whose  love  of  liberty 
and  freedom  of  religious  thought  induced  them  to 
leave  old  France  and  settle  in  the  New  World. 
James,  grandfather  of  Charles  B.  Dupee,  was  born 
in  Walpole,  Massachusetts.  He  was  among  the 
most  progressive  of  the  citizens  of  the  old  Bay 
State.  (See  sketch  of  H.  M.  Dupee  for  com- 
plete genealogy.) 

Their  son,  Cyrus  Dupee,  was  also  born  in  Wal- 
pole, and  learned  the  mercantile  business  in  Bos- 
ton. For  a  long  period  he  was  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  provision  trade  in  Brighton,  Massachu- 
setts. He  was  married  at  Brighton  (now  Alls- 
ton),  Massachusetts,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  English, 
of  that  place.  He  died  there  in  1841,  leaving 
eight  children.  Three  of  his  sons,  Charles  B., 
Cyrus  and  Horace  Dupee,  became  prominent  bus- 
iness men  of  Chicago,  where  the  last  two  are  still 
engaged  in  active  life.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling 
character,  devoted  to  his  family  and  diligent  in 
business.  The  family  has  for  many  generations 
been  noted  in  mercantile  business,  and  has  al- 
ways maintained  a  high  reputation  for  integrity. 

Charles  B.  Dupee  was  born  in  Brighton,  Mass- 
achusetts, May  12,  1823.  His  first  business  under- 
taking was  in  the  meat  and  ice  trade  at  Fitchburg, 
Massachusetts,  in  which  he  was  moderately  suc- 
cessful. In  1854  he  became  a  resident  of  Chicago, 
establishing  himself  here  in  June  of  that  year — 
his  family,  which  at  that  time  consisted  of  a  wife 


and  two  children,  following  in  September.  He 
continued  in  the  meat  business  in  Chicago,  and 
after  a  time  began  putting  up  hams  by  a  process 
of  his  own,  which  secured  for  him  an  excellent 
reputation  and  trade,  and  he  grew  prosperous  and 
extended  the  business  by  adding  the  wholesale 
provision  trade.  He  exercised  great  care  in  the 
preparation  of  his  goods,  which  he  insisted  on 
giving  his  personal  inspection,  and  the  result  was 
an  ever-increasing  trade  and  a  high  reputation 
for  his  wares,  which  continued  to  be  popular  on 
the  market  long  after  his  demise.  He  was  in- 
dustrious and  economical,  and  his  painstaking 
care  provided  him  a  handsome  competence.  For 
many  years  he  carried  on  a  large  trade  in  supplies 
for  the  United  States  Government. 

Among  his  brother  merchants,  Mr.  Dupee  was 
known  for  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  those  prin- 
ciples of  true  manhood  that  lift  a  man  high  above 
the  rank  of  ordinary  men  and  make  for  him  a 
name  in  commercial  centers  that  will  forever  be 
worthy  of  remembrance  and  emulation.  He  was 
a  shrewd,  far-seeing  businessman,  and  his  advice, 
often  sought  by  friends,  was  safe  and  reliable. 
For  about  twenty  years  he  %vas  a  resident  of 
Hyde  Park,  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  res- 
idents of  that  suburb  for  his  many  noble  qualities. 
He  was  identified  with  the  Republican  party,  but 
was  never  connected  with  any  office  or  political 
work,  and  was  in  everyway  a  model  citizen,  and, 
above  all,  an  honest  man — the  noblest  work  of 
God. 

After  retiring  from  business,  Mr.  Dupee  made 
good  investment  in  real  estate,  and  the  rapid  ap- 
preciation in  value  of  his  holdings  added  mate- 


112 


J.  A.  PEARSONS. 


rially  to  his  resources,  so  that  his  declining  years 
were  passed  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  competence 
which  his  long  years  of  industry  had  earned.  He 
passed  away  at  his  home  in  Chicago  August  12, 
1887,  and  his  last  words  were:  "I  have  been  an 
honest  man."  He  left  the  impress  of  his  strong 
character  upon  the  business  world  of  Chicago,  and 
a  good  name  that  will  be  ever  cherished  by  his 
family. 

On  the  yth  of  April,  1847,  at  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, Charles  B.  Dupee  was  married  to  Miss  Em- 
meline,  daughter  of  Seth  and  Louise  (Miles) 
Wellington,  old  and  respected  residents  of  Bos- 
ton. The  Wellingtons  were  among  the  noted  pio- 
neers of  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 
Mrs.  Dupee' s  ancestor,  Roger  Wellington,  mar- 
ried Miss  Foster,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Foster,  who 
was  the  first  settled  physician  in  Charlestown, 
Massachusetts.  The  Wellington  monument, 


standing  in  the  Watertown  (Massachusetts)  cem- 
etery, was  erected  over  two  hundred  years  ago. 
Three  children  came  to  bless  the  home  of  Charles 
B.  and  Mrs.  Dupee.  Their  names  are,  Charles 
Frederick,  Elizabeth  A.  and  Emma  M.  The  sec- 
ond is  now  deceased,  and  the  last  is  the  wife  of 
Reuben  D.  Coy,  of  Chicago.  Her  only  child  is 
a  daughter,  named  Margaret  Wellington  Coy. 
Charles  F.  Dupee  came  with  his  parents  to  Chi- 
cago in  1854.  His  father  admitted  him  to  part- 
nership in  his  growing  business  in  order  to  have 
his  aid  in  its  conduct.  Since  the  business  was 
closed  out  he  has  given  his  attention  to  the  care 
of  his  large  property  interests.  He  has  two 
children,  Elizabeth  S.  and  Charles  Edward  Du- 
pee. 

In  1890  Mrs.  Emmeline  Dupee  built  one  of  the 
handsomest  residences  in  Glencoe,  Illinois,  where 
her  family  now  resides. 


JOHN  A.  PEARSONS. 


(JOHN  ALONZO  PEARSONS,  an  early  set- 
I  tier  of  Evanston,  was  born  in  Bradford,  Ver- 
Q)  mont,  September  8,  1818.  He  is  a  son  of 
John  Pearsons  and  Hannah  Putnam,  natives,  re- 
spectively, of  Lyndeborough  and  Francestown, 
New  Hampshire.  John  Pearsons  was  a  promi- 
nent farmer  and  lumberman  of  Bradford,  where 
he  located  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  For  some 
years  he  also  kept  a  hotel  there,  known  as  the 
Mann  House.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the  War  of 
1812,  serving  throughout  that  struggle.  His 
death  occurred  in  Bradford,  October  7,  1857,  at 


the  age  of  sixty-five  years.  His  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Elizabeth  Kimball,  also  died 
there  at  an  extreme  old  age. 

Mrs.  Hannah  Pearsons  died  at  Holyoke,  Mass- 
achusetts, in  1888,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one 
years.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John  Putnam,  a 
Revolutionary  soldier,  and  a  relative  of  Gen. 
Israel  Putnam.  John  Putnam  served  seven  years 
in  the  Continental  army,  and  was  at  one  time  a 
member  of  General  Washington's  Life  Guard. 
He  afterward  became  an  Adjutant  of  Vermont 
militia,  and,  with  two  of  his  sons,  participated  in 


J.  A.  PEARSONS. 


the  War  of  1812.  In  later  life  he  was  a  car- 
penter and  bridge-builder  at  Bradford.  His  wife, 
Olive  Barren,  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-three 
years. 

John  A.  Pearsons  spent  his  boyhood  in  Brad- 
ford, where  he  attended  the  district  school,  and, 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  began  teaching,  a 
calling  which  he  continued  for  four  winters  at  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  Bradford.  He  helped  to  con- 
duct his  father's  hotel,  and  subsequently  carried 
on  the  same  business  at  White  River  Village  and 
Norwich,  Vermont.  The  latter  place  was  then 
the  seat  of  General  Ransom's  Military  School. 

In  September,  1852,  he  arrived  in  Chicago, 
where  he  was  employed  for  a  time  by  John  P. 
Chapin,  a  prominent  pioneer  of  Chicago.  In 
March,  1854,  he  located  at  Evanston,  being  in- 
duced to  settle  there  through  the  influence  of 
Dr.  Hinman.  Mr.  Pearsons  was  the  first  to  build 
a  house  on  the  university  lands,  the  location  be- 
ing identical  with  his  present  residence  on  Chi- 
cago Avenue.  Others  soon  followed  his  example, 
and  when  the  Chicago  &  Milwaukee  Railway 
reached  that  point  the  next  winter,  there  was  a 
rapid  influx  of  people.  Such  was  the  demand  for 
building  materials  and  other  merchandise,  that 
Mr.  Pearsons  found  it  advantageous  to  engage  in 
the  business  of  general  teaming.  For  eighteen 
years  he  operated  Pearsons'  Evanston  Express, 
employing  a  number  of  teams  and  wagons  on  the 
road  between  Chicago  and  Evanston,  and  the 
business  which  he  started  has  ever  since  been 
continued,  and  is  still  a  prosperous  enterprise. 
For  some  time  he  also  kept  a  livery  stable  at 
Evanston. 

In  1872  Mr.  Pearsons  sold  out  his  express  line, 
and  spent  the  following  winter  in  the  woods  of 
northern  Michigan  in  the  interest  of  his  brother, 
D.  K.  Pearsons,  the  well-known  lumberman  and 
philanthropist.  Becoming  interested  in  the  lum- 
bering industry,  and  finding  the  business  agree- 
able to  his  health,  which  had  become  considerably 
impaired,  he  spent  the  ensuing  twelve  years  in 
the  lumber  woods,  during  a  part  of  which  time 
he  operated  a  lumber-yard  in  Evanston.  In  1885 
he  disposed  of  his  lumber  interests,  since  which 
time  he  has  lived  in  practical  retirement.  He 


has  filled  nearly  every  office  in  the  township,  vil- 
lage, and  city  of  Evanston,  and  his  official  as  well 
as  business  obligations  have  always  been  dis- 
charged in  a  creditable  and  efficient  manner. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  October,  1842,  was 
celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Pearsons  and  Miss 
Hannah  Stevens  Bayley,  of  Newbury,  Vermont, 
a  daughter  of  Amherst  Bayley  and  Melissa  Stev- 
ens, both  natives  of  Newbury.  Mrs.  Pearsons' 
paternal  grandfather  was  the  distinguished  Gen- 
eral Jacob  Bayley,  of  the  Continental  army.  Her 
maternal  grandfather,  Simeon  Stevens,  was  an 
extensive  farmer  and  highly  exemplary  citizen  of 
Newbury,  distinguished  also  for  his  musical  tal- 
ents, being  the  possessor  of  a  strong  and  very 
sweet  voice,  which  he  retained  even  in  old  age. 
He  survived  until  nearly  ninety  years  of  age. 

Mrs.  Pearsons  is  a  lady  of  many  graces  of  mind 
and  heart.  In  her  youth  she  won  considerable 
celebrity  as  a  participant  in  the  State  Musical 
Conventions  of  Vermont.  She  was  one  of  the 
prime  movers  in  organizing  the  Woman's  Ed- 
ucational Aid  Association,  which  was  formed 
in  1871,  and  has  been  an  officer  of  the  association 
from  its  inception,  and  for  eighteen  years  has 
served  as  its  President.  The  object  of  this 
society  is  to  assist  worthy  young  ladies  of  lim- 
ited means  in  obtaining  an  education.  The  Col- 
lege Cottage,  which  was  built  soon  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  association,  has  been  several 
times  enlarged  and  improved,  and  now  accommo- 
dates about  fifty-five  students,  and  is  recognized 
as  a  worthy  adjunct  of  the  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity at  Evanston. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pearsons  are  the  parents  of  two 
children,  and  have  lost  two  by  death,  one  passing 
away  in  infancy.  The  eldest,  Henry  Alonzo,  is 
a  business  man  of  Chicago,  residing  in  Evanston. 
Isabella  is  the  wife  of  Wilbur  F.  Mappin,  of 
Bryn  Mawr,  Pennsylvania.  Helen,  who  was  the 
wife  of  Rev.  Harvey  R.  Calkins,  died  March  27, 
1892,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years.  Two 
grandchildren,  Harry  Putnam  Pearsons  and  Lil- 
ian Mappin,  make  glad  the  hearts  of  this  worthy 
couple. 

In  October,  1892,  the  golden  wedding  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Pearsons  was  celebrated,  and  they  are 


R.  C.  HALLETT. 


still  in  the  enjoyment  of  excellent  health  and  that 
contentment  of  mind  which  is  "a  continual  feast, ' ' 
and  few  of  their  acquaintances,  and  none  among 
strangers,  can  readily  believe  the  number  of  their 
years  of  usefulness  already  spent.  They  are 
members  of  the  First  Methodist  Church  of  Evan- 
ston,  which  they  helped  to  organize  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1854,  at  which  time  the  society  comprised 
but  six  members.  Mr.  Pearsons  was  the  Chorister 
of  the  church  for  many  years,  and  is  one  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Des  Plaines  Camp- Meeting  Asso- 
ciation. Mr.  Pearsons  cast  his  first  vote  for  Will- 
iam Henry  Harrison,  and  was  a  member  of 
a  military  band  which  furnished  music  for 


many  of  the  public  gatherings  of  the  famous  po- 
litical campaign  of  1840.  He  played  in  this  band 
for  ten  years.  Since  the  organization  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  he  has  been  an  adherent  of  its 
principles.  When  he  first  located  inEvanston,  a 
large  portion  of  the  present  site  of  the  city  con- 
sisted of  a  marsh  covered  with  water,  and  none 
of  the  streets  had  been  improved.  He  has  wit- 
nessed the  material  development  of  the  town  until 
it  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  first  sub- 
urb of  Chicago,  and  has  simultaneously  watched 
its  intellectual  and  moral  growth,  in  the  promo- 
tion of  which  he  has  been  an  interested  factor. 


REUBEN  C    HALLETT. 


REUBEN  CROWELL  HALLETT,  grandson 
of  one  of  the  hardy  pioneers  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  and  son  of  James  Hallett,  of 
whom  extended  mention  is  made  elsewhere  in 
this  volume,  has  the  proud  distinction  of  being 
a  native  of  Illinois.  He  was  born  at  Mount  Car- 
roll, in  Carroll  County,  on  the  1 5th  day  of  Octo- 
ber, 1857,  and  grew  up  in  his  native  village, 
where  he  received  his  primary  schooling.  He 
attended  Beloit  College,  Wisconsin,  and  finished 
his  education  at  the  Wesleyan  University,  Bloom- 
ington,  Illinois,  where  he  received  instruction  in 
the  law  department  from  Adlai  E.  Stevenson, 
Gen.  Ira  J.  Bloomfield,  John  M.  Hamilton,  and 
other  noted  attorneys  of  the  state. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1880,  and  be- 
gan the  practice  of  law  at  Mount  Carroll,  but 
soon  turned  his  attention  to  other  and  more  con- 
genial pursuits.  He  became  the  owner  and  pub- 
lisher of  the  Herald  at  Mount  Carroll,  which  he 
retained  about  a  year.  He  then  went  to  Rock- 
ford,  Illinois,  where  he  was  connected  with  the 


Rockford  Watch  Company  seven  years.  He  re- 
sided in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  for  a  year,  being  iden- 
tified with  the  Arctic  Ice  Machine  Manufacturing 
Company.  During  the  last  three  years  he  has 
been  the  western  representative  of  the  Hildreth 
Varnish  Company  of  New  York,  with  headquar- 
ters in  one  of  the  Grand  Pacific  offices,  on  Jack- 
son Street,  Chicago. 

Mr.  Hallett  possesses  a  keen  business  instinct, 
and  his  kind  and  genial  manners  and  knowledge 
of  human  nature  make  him  an  exceptionally  suc- 
cessful salesman.  His  dealings  are  largely  with 
railroad  companies,  and  cover  many  large  con- 
tracts. He  takes  an  active  interest  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  general  welfare,  and  is  thoroughly 
posted  on  questions  that  engage  the  public  mind. 
He  was  the  independent  candidate  for  States  At- 
torney of  Carroll  County  in  1880,  but  usually  acts 
with  the  Republican  party.  He  was  made  a 
Master  Mason  at  Mount  Carroll,  and  is  now  en- 
tering upon  the  work  of  the  exalted  degrees. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
JVERSITY  OF  ILLI> 


J.  D.  CATON. 


JOHN  D.  CATON. 


(JOHN  DEAN  CATON  was  born  in  Monroe, 
I  Orange  County,  New  York,  March  19,  1812. 
O  He  is  the  fifteenth  of  the  sixteen  children  of 
Robert  Caton,  and  the  third  child  of  his  mother, 
Hannah  (Dean)  Caton,  who  was  the  third  wife  of 
Robert  Caton.  The  latter  was  born  March  22, 
1761,  on  a  plantation  owned  by  his  father  (Robert 
Caton)  in  Maryland.  He  joined  the  Continental 
Army  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  Though  very  young 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  he  gave  good 
service  to  his  native  land  in  that  struggle,  and 
after  the  triumph  of  colonial  arms,  settled  on  the 
Hudson  River,  in  New  York.  He  died  in  1815. 
Robert  Caton,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
biography,  was  born  in  England,  of  Irish  de- 
scent, and  served  in  the  English  army  before  set- 
tling in  Maryland.  He  was  a  prominent  citizen 
of  that  colony  long  before  the  Revolution,  and 
the  name  is  a  conspicuous  one  in  Maryland  soci- 
ety to-day.  Robert  Caton,  during  the  life  of  his 
second  wife,  joined  the  Society  of  Friends,  and 
became  a  preacher  in  that  denomination,  his  third 
wife  being  a  member  also.  His  four  children  by 
his  third  wife,  according  to  the  rules  of  that  de- 
nomination, became  birthright  members,  and  so 
has  the  subject  of  this  sketch  continued;  he  is 
now  a  member  of  the  society  in  good  standing. 

When  John  D.  Caton  was  four  years  old,  his 
widowed  mother  took  him  to  Oneida  County, 
New  York.  His  advantages  were  few,  but  he  re- 
ceived the  primary  training  of  a  common  school. 
At  the  age  of  nine  years,  he  was  set  to  work  with 
a  farmer,  at  two  and  one-half  dollars  per  month, 
and  brought  home  a  quarter  of  beef  as  the  fruit  of 
his  first  earnings.  Work  was  afforded  only  in  the 
summer,  and  his  winters  were  spent  in  school  un- 
til he  was  fourteen.  It  had  been  his  father's  wish 


that  he  should  be  equipped  for  life  with  a  trade, 
and  he  was  apprenticed.  A  weakness  of  the  eyes 
interfered  with  the  completion  of  his  time,  and  at 
sixteen,  he  joined  his  mother  at  Utica,  New  York, 
where  he  was  enabled  to  put  in  nine  months  at  the 
academy.  He  was  so  diligent  and  apt  that  he 
was  thus  equipped  for  earning  by  surveying  and 
teaching  school.  While  teaching,  he  pursued 
the  study  of  the  classics,  and  also  did  a  little  work 
in  the  law  by  practicing  in  justices'  courts.  He 
entered  the  office  of  Beardsley  &  Matteson,  at 
Utica,  as  a  student,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years. 
He  later  studied  with  James  H.  Collins,  who  af- 
terward became  a  leader  at  the  Chicago  Bar  and 
was  a  partner  in  practice  with  Mr.  Caton. 

Having  become  well  grounded  in  the  theory  of 
law,  and  having  attained  man's  estate,  he  resolved 
to  settle  in  the  new  West  and  establish  himself  in 
practice.  He  had  a  special  incentive  in  this  de- 
termination, in  the  fact  that  he  was  the  accepted 
lover  of  one  of  "York  State's"  fairest  daughters, 
and  was  anxious  to  secure  a  permanent  home. 
Having  reached  Buffalo  by  canal,  he  took  pas- 
sage on  the  steamer  "Sheldon  Thompson,"  which 
brought  him  to  Detroit,  and  thence  he  took  stage 
to  Ann  Arbor,  still  undetermined  as  to  his  loca- 
tion. Still  pushing  westward,  he  rode  in  a  wagon 
to  White  Pigeon,  and  here,  by  pure  accident,  he 
fell  in  with  a  cousin,  whose  husband,  Irad  Hill, 
was  a  carpenter  and  was  employed  by  Dr.  John  T. 
Temple,  of  Chicago,  to  build  a  house  for  him 
there.  The  doctor  and  Mr.  Hill  were  then  in 
White  Pigeon  getting  lumber  for  this  purpose. 
Young  Caton  joined  the  rafting  party  which 
transported  the  lumber  down  the  St.  Joseph 
River,  and  took  passage  on  the  schooner  which 
conveyed  it  to  its  destination.  This  was  the 


u6 


J.  D.  CATON. 


"Ariadne,"  whose  cargo  of  lumber  and  immi- 
grants was  about  all  she  could  carry. 

He  soon  determined  to  locate  here,  and  in  a 
few  days  set  off  on  horseback  for  Pekin,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  away,  to  seek  admission  to 
the  Bar.  Here  he  met  Stephen  T.  Logan,  after- 
wards partner  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  other 
leading  attorneys  of  the  State.  After  court  ad- 
journed and  supper  had  been  taken,  the  young 
applicant  accompanied  Judge  Lockwood,  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  in  a  stroll  on  the  river  bank,  and 
after  being  plied  with  questions  on  the  theory  and 
practice  of  law,  was  addressed  in  these  words: 
"Well,  my  young  friend,  you've  got  a  good  deal 
to  learn  if  you  ever  expect  to  make  a  success  as  a 
lawyer,  but  if  you  study  hard  I  guess  you' 11  doit. 
I  shall  give  you  your  license."  It  took  but  nine 
years  for  the  new  licensee  to  attain  a  place  beside 
his  examiner  on  the  supreme  bench  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Caton's  first  case  was  in  the  first  lawsuit 
in  the  village  of  Chicago,  in  which  he  appeared 
as  prosecutor  of  a  culprit  accused  of  stealing  thir- 
ty-six dollars  from  a  fellow-lodger  at  the  tavern. 
When  the  defendant  was  brought  before  Squire 
Heacock,  Caton  insisted  that  he  be  searched,  and 
he  was  stripped  to  his  underclothing.  Before  he 
could  replace  his  apparel,  as  directed  by  the  court, 
the  prosecuting  attorney  discovered  a  suspicious 
lump  in  his  stocking.  Seizing  hold  of  this  lump, 
he  turned  down  the  stocking  and  disclosed  the 
missing  bills.  The  case  was  then  adjourned  till 
next  day,  and  a  Constable  watched  the  prisoner 
all  night,  having  confined  him  under  a  carpenter's 
bench.  Next  morning  when  he  was  arraigned, 
Spring  and  Hamilton  appeared  for  the  defence  and 
took  a  change  of  venue  to  Squire  Harmon,  who 
held  court  in  the  old  tannery,  on  the  North  Side 
near  the  river  forks.  The  whole  town  was  now 
agog  with  the  novel  spectacle  of  a  public  trial; 
and  Harmon,  in  order  to  give  all  a  chance  to  en- 
joy the  show,  adjourned  to  Wattle's  Tavern,  on 
the  West  Side,  where  the  case  came  off  with  much 
eclat;  all  the  young  attorneys  "spreading  them- 
selves" in  their  respective  speeches.  Judge  Caton 
remembers  that  he  dwelt  particularly  on  the  enor- 
mity of  the  act  of  this  serpent  who  had  brought 


crime  into  this  young  community  where  it  had 
been  unknown.  The  thief  was  held  for  trial,  but 
the  device  (then  new)  of  "straw  bail"  gave  him 
temporary  liberty,  which  he  made  permanent  by 
running  away  as  soon  as  the  money  was  recovered; 
and  as  the  public  had  had  the  fun  and  excitement 
of  a  '  'lawsuit' '  nobody  cared  much  what  became 
of  the  author  of  this  welcome  break  in  the  village 
monotony.  If  he  had  been  tried  and  convicted  it 
would  have  been  only  the  beginning  of  trouble, 
for  there  was  no  jail  wherein  to  keep  him.  Young 
Caton  got  ten  dollars  for  his  fee — the  first  money 
he  had  ever  earned  in  Illinois  by  his  profession — 
and  it  just  paid  the  arrears  of  his  board  bill. — 
(History  of  Chicago,  edited  by  Moses  and  Kirk- 
land.) 

Having  now  been  launched  in  practice,  Mr. 
Caton  rented  an  office  in  the  '  'Temple  Building, ' ' 
having  his  lodging  in  the  attic  of  the  same  struc- 
ture. To  "make  ends  meet,"  he  rented  desk 
room  in  his  office  to  his  contemporary,  Giles 
Spring. 

Justice  Caton  recalls  July  12,  1834,  an  era  in 
his  youthful  experience.  It  was  the  beginning  of 
his  judicial  career;  the  date  of  his  election  to  the 
office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  the  only  public  office 
he  ever  held  except  those  of  Alderman  of  the  city 
(1837-8)  and  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  (1843-64).  He  became  its  Chief  Justice  in 
1857.  The  election  of  1834  was  a  fierce  contest, 
"bringing  out  every  last  voter  in  the  precinct, 
from  Cly bourne  to  Hardscrabble  and  beyond,  per- 
haps even  taking  in  the  Calumet  Crossing. ' '  The 
Government  piers  had  been  built  and  the  begin- 
ning of  a  channel  had  been  cut  across  the  imme- 
morial sandbar,  but  as  yet  it  had  never  been  used. 
On  this  memorable  day,  the  schooner  "Illinois" 
chanced  to  be  lying  at  anchor,  and  the  friends  of 
Caton  (George  W.  Dole  and  others),  to  the  num- 
ber of  a  hundred  or  more,  got  ropes  to  the  schooner 
and  dragged  her  by  main  force  through  the  un- 
finished dug-way.  Then  they  decked  her  with 
all  the  bunting  in  the  village,  and,  hoisting  sail, 
sped  triumphantly  up  the  stream  to  the  Forks — 
the  first  vessel  that  ever  penetrated  the  Chicago 
River.  And  when  the  votes  were  counted  the 


J.  D.  CATON. 


117 


tally  showed — John  Dean  Caton,  one  hundred  and 
eighty-two;  Josiah  C.  Goodhue,  forty-seven. 
(Story  of  Chicago,  130). 

An  incident  in  the  life  of  the  future  chief  jus- 
tice, which  saved  him  to  the  people  of  Illinois,  is 
elsewhere  related  in  the  biography  of  Col.  Julius 
Warren,  who  was  ever  gratefully  remembered  by 
Mr.  Caton  as  his  dearest  friend. 

In  the  spring  of  1835  Squire  Caton  felt  himself 
able  to  assume  the  cares  of  a  household,  and  he 
returned  to  New  York,  where  he  was  wedded  to 
Miss  Laura  Adelaide,  daughter  of  Jacob  Sherrill, 
of  New  Hartford.  Their  wedding  tour  was  an 
ideal  one,  being  a  passage  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago 
on  the  brig  "Queen  Charlotte."  This  was  one 
of  the  vessels  captured  in  Put-iu-Bay  and  sunk  in 
the  harbor  of  Erie  by  Commodore  Perry  in  1812. 
After  twenty  years,  it  had  been  raised  and  refitted, 
and  this  was  her  first  trip. 

In  1836  Mr.  Caton  built  the  first  dwelling  on 
the  "school  section, ' '  west  of  the  river.  This  was 
at  the  southwest  corner  of  Clinton  and  Harrison 
Streets,  and  at  that  time  it  was  so  far  from  other 
dwellings  that  it  was  called  the  "prairie  cottage." 
It  fell  before  the  great  holocaust  of  1871.  About 
the  same  time  that  he  built  this  house,  he  entered 
into  partnership  with  Norman  B.  Judd  (who 
drafted  the  first  charter  of  Chicago) .  The  finan- 
cial difficulties  of  1837  almost  crippled  the  ambi- 
tious young  lawyer,  and  to  increase  his  troubles, 
his  health  became  impaired  and  he  was  advised 
by  his  physician  to  return  to  farming.  He  took  up 
a  tract  of  land  near  Plainfield,  which  he  still  owns, 
and  removed  his  family  thither  in  1839.  He  con- 
tinued the  practice  of  law,  and  the  records  show 
that  he  tried  the  first  jury  cases  in  Will  and  Kane 
Counties,  as  well  as  Cook. 

Mr.  Caton  was  appointed  an  associate  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  1842,  and  his  united  terms 
of  service,  by  successive  elections,  amounted  to 
twenty-two  years.  During  the  latter  portion  of 
this  time  he  occupied  the  position  of  Chief  Justice. 
The  duties  of  his  high  office  were  completed  day 
by  day,  no  matter  how  much  of  the  night  they 
might  consume,  and  the  court  in  his  day  was  al- 
ways up  with  its  docket.  In  1864  he  left  the 
Bench,  and  has  since  given  his  time  to  travel, 


literary  labors  and  the  conduct  of  his  private  af- 
fairs. He  has  published  several  works,  among 
which  are  "The  Antelope  and  Deer  of  America," 
"A  Summer  in  Norway,"  "Miscellanies"  and 
"Early  Bench  and  Bar  of  Illinois." 

Before  1850  Justice  Caton  became  interested  in 
the  electric  telegraph.  This  was  before  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Western  Union,  and  he  set  to  work 
to  re-organize  and  set  in  order  the  dilapidated  and 
scattered  lines.  They  had  hitherto  occupied  the 
wagon  roads,  and  he  secured  the  adoption  of  a 
system  by  the  railways,  where  it  was  soon  found 
to  be  an  absolute  necessity.  When  the  Western 
Union  took  hold  of  the  business,  Judge  Caton  and 
his  fellow-stockholders  were  enabled  to  make  most 
advantageous  terms  for  the  disposition  of  their 
interests. 

Death  first  invaded  the  home  of  Judge  Caton  in 
1891,  when  a  daughter,  her  mother's  namesake, 
was  taken  away,  and  in  1892,  Mrs.  Caton  went 
before.  For  fifty-seven  years,  this  happily-as- 
sorted couple  had  traveled  together  the  journey 
or  life,  and  they  were,  no  doubt,  the  oldest  sur- 
viving couple  in  Chicago  at  the  time  of  Mrs.  Ca- 
ton's  demise.  During  her  last  illness  Judge  Caton 
remarked  to  his  family  physician  that  they  had 
lived  together  for  more  than  fifty-seven  years 
without  a  cross  or  unkind  word  ever  passing  be- 
tween them.  Two  children  survived  her,  namely: 
Arthur  J.  Caton,  a  Chicago  business  man,  who 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and  Caroline,  now  the 
wife  of  the  distinguished  attorney,  Norman  Wil- 
liams. 

In  August,  1893,  Judge  Caton  suffered  a  slight 
stroke  of  paralysis.  Before  this  affliction,  advanc- 
ing years  had  brought  on  the  old  trouble  with  his 
eyes,  which  had,  happily  for  his  future  career, 
turned  his  attention  from  a  trade,  but  up  to  the 
beginning  of  1893,  he  was  able  to  read  a  little  with 
the  aid  of  strong  glasses.  By  the  aid  of  a  reading- 
secretary,  he  keeps  up  an  acquaintance  with 
literature  and  current  events.  Even  the  added 
trial  of  decay  in  his  powers  of  locomotion  did 
not  make  him  despair  or  become  morose.  To 
a  close  friend  he  said:  "I  do  not  repine.  I  do 
not  lament  the  advance  of  age  and  the  loss  of  fac- 
ulties; not  one  bit.  I  enjoy  my  life,  and  thank- 


n8 


T.  H.  WEBSTER. 


fully  recognize  the  numberless  compensations  and 
alleviations  that  are  mercifully  left  me.  No;  I 
am  well  content." 

He  still  survives  at  the  age  of  eighty-three,  and 


it  is  a  little  remarkable  that  the  first  lawyer  in 
Chicago  to  bring  a  case  in  a  court  of  record  is 
still  with  us,  with  intellect  unimpaired,  when  the 
bar  numbers  more  than  three  thousand. 


THOMAS  H.  WEBSTER. 


"HOMAS  HOLMES  WEBSTER.  Among 
the  many  fire-insurance  agents  with  which 
La  Salle  Street  abounds,  there  is,  perhaps, 
no  other  man  whose  reputation  for  safe  and  con- 
servative business  methods  has  been  more  con- 
sistently sustained  than  he  whose  name  heads 
this  notice.  His  entire  business  training  and 
experience  have  been  acquired  in  this  city,  and, 
while  the  opportunities  for  speculation  have  been 
abundant,  and  the  chances  for  unusual  profit  have 
seemed  quite  as  alluring  to  him  as  to  others,  he 
has  conscientiously  avoided  all  participation  in 
that  hazardous  and  demoralizing  field,  confining 
his  attention  to  the  regular  channels  of  business, 
and  thereby  maintaining  his  business  credit  and 
securing  the  confidence  and  good- will  of  his  asso- 
ciates. 

Mr.  Webster  was  born  in  Leeds,  England,  on 
the  agth  of  October,  1 846.  His  parents,  John  and 
Mary  (Holmes)  Webster,  were  natives  of  York- 
shire. John  Webster  was  employed  for  some  years 
in  the  cloth-mills  at  Leeds,  but  being  desirous  of 
procuring  better  opportunities  for  his  growing 
family,  in  1853  he  came  to  America.  He  located 
in  Chicago  and  secured  employment  with  the  Chi- 
cago Gas  Light  and  Coke  Company,  whose  inter- 
ests he  continued  to  serve  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1866,  at  the  age  of  forty-two  years. 
He  began  as  a  laborer,  but  with  such  faithful- 
ness and  ability  did  he  serve  the  interests  of  the 
company  that  he  was  soon  promoted  to  a  more  re- 
munerative occupation,  and  at  the  time  of  his  de- 
mise was  the  assistant  Secretary  of  the  company. 


His  wife  survived  him  but  two  years,  passing 
away  at  the  age  of  forty-four.  They  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  of  Chicago, 
and  had  formerly  been  connected  with  the  Taber- 
nacle Baptist  Church. 

Thomas  H.  Webster,  with  his  mother  and  the 
balance  of  the  family,  joined  his  father  in  Chica- 
go in  1855.  He  is  one  of  a  family  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  but  two  others  now  survive. 
Their  names  are  Sarah  H.,  Mrs.  W.  C.  Corlies; 
and  Louisa  L-,  Mrs.  R.  M.  Johnson,  all  of  Chi- 
cago. Thomas  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  this  city,  and  upon  the  death  of  his  father  as- 
sumed the  care  of  the  family,  supplying  to  its 
members,  as  far  as  possible,  the  place  of  the  de- 
ceased parent.  His  first  employment  was  in  the 
capacity  of  a  clerk  in  a  dry -goods  store,  where  he 
continued  for  about  one  year.  Since  the  ist  of 
August,  1863,  he  has  been  consecutively  connect- 
ed with  the  business  of  fire  underwriting.  He  be- 
gan as  office  boy  for  the  Chicago  Firemen's  In- 
surance Company,  but  was  soon  appointed  to  a 
clerkship,  and  about  1865  bcame  the  cashier  of 
the  company.  This  position  he  filled  until  the 
concern  was  annihilated  by  the  great  fire  of  1871. 
After  that  disaster,  the  affairs  of  the  corporation 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  Hon.  O.  H.  Horton, 
as  assignee,  and  this  gentleman  secured  the  serv- 
ices of  Mr.  Webster  as  his  assistant,  his  familiar- 
ity with  the  affairs  of  the  concern  being  of  great 
value  in  closing  up  its  business. 

Mr.  Webster  was  afterwards  successively  con- 
nected with  the  firms  of  Walker  &  Lowell,   and 


W.  C.  GOUDY. 


119 


the  Globe  Insurance  Company,  continuing  with 
the  latter  concern  until  it  went  out  of  business  in 
1876.  He  then  became  a  clerk  for  S.  M.  Moore, 
with  whom  he  soon  after  entered  into  partnership, 
under  the  firm  name  of  S.  M.  Moore  &  Com- 
pany. Upon  the  retirement  of  the  senior  member 
in  1886,  this  firm  was  succeeded  by  that  of  Web- 
iter  &  Wiley,  Mr.  E.  N.  Wiley  becoming  the  jun- 
ior partner.  In  1889  the  latter  firm  was  consol- 
idated with  that  of  H.  de  Roode  &  Company, 
under  the  name  of  Webster,  Wiley  &  de  Roode. 
On  the  first  of  November,  1894,  Mr.  de  Roode  re- 
tired from  the  firm,  since  which  time  the  business 
has  been  conducted  under  the  name  of  Webster, 
Wiley  &  Company,  Mr.  C.  P.  Jennings  having 
become  a  third  partner  on  January  i,  1895. 

Mr.  Webster  was  married,  September  13,  1881, 
to  Miss  Anna  Martindale,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and 
a  daughter  of  Rev.  Theodore  D.  Martindale,  a 


Methodist  clergyman  of  that  state.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webster  are  the  parents  of  two  sons,  Frank  M. 
and  Ralph  N.  Mr.  Webster  is  identified  with  the 
Union  League,  Sunset  and  Metropolitan  Clubs, 
and  L,exington  Council  of  the  National  Union. 
He  is  not  an  active  participant  in  political  strife, 
but  has  all  his  life  been  a  supporter  of  Republican 
principles. 

Having  been  the  head  of  a  family  from  the  age 
of  twenty  years,  he  has  had  few  opportunities  for 
recreation,  and  finds  his  greatest  pleasure  in  the 
midst  of  the  home  circle.  His  business  opera- 
tions have  been  confined  to  the  realm  of  fire  un- 
derwriting, and  while  others  have  in  some  in- 
stances accumulated  more  wealth  than  he,  the 
substantial  friendship  and  esteem  of  his  colleagues 
are  his,  and  his  record  is  one  which  causes  no  re- 
grets. 


WILLIAM  C    GOUDY. 


CHARLES  GOUDY.  To  be  a 
leader  in  any  profession  in  a  city  the  size  of 
Chicago,  means  to  be  the  possessor  of  large 
intellect,  of  close  application  and  happy  fortune; 
to  be  in  the  front  rank  of  contemporary  lawyers 
in  a  metropolis  whose  courts  decide  as  many 
cases  as  the  combined  judiciary  of  all  Great 
Britain,  is  a  mark  of  pre-eminence  indeed.  Such 
pre-eminent  distinction  has  been  already  noted 
by  the  Muse  of  History  in  her  vast  temple  of 
fame,  where,  chiseled  in  conspicuous  recent 
strength,  we  read  the  sterling  name  of  William 
Charles  Goudy. 

Mr.  Goudy  was  born  near  Cincinnati,  Ohio 
(but  "across  the  line"  in  Indiana),  on  the  isth 
day  of  May,  1824,  unto  Robert  and  Jane  ( Ainslie) 
Goudy.  His  father  was  a  native  of  North  Ire- 
land and  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  of  that  virile 


blood  which  has  already  played  so  thrilling  a 
part  in  American  history  on  sea  and  land.  The 
name  is  spelled  Goudie  in  Scotland,  where  the 
poet  Burns  immortalized  it  in  song  in  that  stanza 
of  a  poem  wherein  occurs  the  line,  "Goudie,  ter- 
ror of  the  Whigs!"  The  family  continues  to  hew 
true  to  the  block,  for  who  ever  heard  of  any 
Goudy  who  was  anything  but  a  Democrat  in 
the  United  States?  His  mother,  who  was  of 
English  birth,  was  residing  in  Pennsylvania  when 
taken  to  wife  by  Mr.  Goudy 's  father. 

Robert  Goudy  was  a  carpenter  in  early  life,  later 
changing,  as  do  so  many  of  our  citizens,  his  calling 
to  printing,  in  which  craft  he  was  busied  for  some 
years  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  But  when 
the  future  Judge  Goudy  was  a  boy  of  ten  years, 
his  father  moved  to  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  a  most 
fortunate  field,  as  afterwards  developed,  for  all  the 


120 


W.  C.  GOUDY. 


family.  Here,  in  1833,  he  began  the  publication 
of  Gaudy's  Farmers'  Almanac,  the  first  annual 
of  its  kind  to  be  printed  in  the  Northwest,  which, 
filling  a  greatly  felt  need,  grew  speedily  into  the 
deserved  prominence  it  maintained  for  the  many 
years  during  which  it  was  a  household  word. 
Later,  he  embarked  in  a  newspaper  of  fair  pro- 
portions for  that  era;  in  which  connection  let  it 
not  be  overlooked  that  it  was  the  first  press  to 
call  pointed  attention  to  that  rising  young  star, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  son  also  did  his  share 
of  battling  for  this  candidate  during  that  heated 
campaign  when  Douglas  defeated  Lincoln  in  the 
memorable  congressional  contest. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  graduated  at  the 
Illinois  College  of  Jacksonville  in  1845,  an  alma 
mater  made  proud  time  and  again  by  the  grand 
deeds  of  her  hero  pupil,  whom  she  has  twice  hon- 
ored with  her  post-graduate  degrees,  namely, 
Master  of  Arts  and  Doctor  of  Laws.  Suffice  to 
say,  that  none  of  her  myriad  graduates  ever  won 
such  special  favor  more  fairly  than  he  of  whom 
we  are  writing. 

While  reading  law  thereafter,  Mr.  Goudy 
taught  school  in  Decatur.  Later  he  went  for  a 
time  into  the  office  of  Stephen  A.  Logan,  partner 
of  Lincoln.  In  1847  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar 
at  Lewistown,  Illinois,  entering  directly  into 
partnership  with  Hon.  Hezekiah  M.  Weed,  of 
that  place,  where  he  rapidly  rose  in  public  notice 
and  favor.  Taking  an  active  part  in  politics,  he 
was  partially  rewarded  in  1852  by  being  elected 
States  Attorney  of  the  Tenth  Judicial  Circuit, 
which  position  of  trust  he  resigned  in  1856;  and 
from  1857  to  1 86 1  was  twice  returned  as  State  Sen- 
ator for  the  Fulton-McDonough  district.  In  1859 
fame  and  rapidly  growing  practice  invited  him 
to  Chicago,  the  great  Western  center,  which,  like 
Athens  of  old,  calls  annually  for  its  tribute  of 
talent  and  oratory  from  its  outlying  territory. 
For  about  the  next  thirty-five  years  his  reputa- 
tion and  his  wealth  grew  with  amazing  rapidity, 
until  none  throughout  the  entire  Mississippi  Val- 
ley was  better  or  more  favorably  known  in  his 
profession  than  Judge  Goudy.  His  learned  skill 
was  demonstrated  in  the  higher  courts  all  over 
this  western  county,  from  which,  in  frequent 


triumphs,  he  went  to  more  honorable  laurels 
achieved  before  that  tribunal  of  dernier  resort,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  His  specialty 
was  the  law  of  real  property,  in  which  branch 
of  learning  he  was  recognized  as  a  leader  all  over 
the  vast  domain  his  talents  dominated;  indeed, 
there  have  been  expressed  on  more  than  one  oc- 
casion sincere  regrets  that  Judge  Goudy  left  no 
published  work  upon  this  broad  field  of  judicature, 
of  especial  application  in  the  newer  West,  for 
the  guidance  of  future  brothers.  It  would  indeed 
have  been  the  labor  of  a  legal  giant,  gigantically 
performed.  During  all  this  later  period,  not  a 
volume  of  Illinois  Reports,  and  they  number  into 
the  hundreds,  but  bears  his  name  as  attorney  or 
counsel  in  cases  of  gravest  import  and  represent- 
ing questions  and  corporations  of  greatest  magni- 
tude. 

As  illustrating  the  thoroughness  with  which 
he  worked  and  the  minuteness  of  inquiry  and 
research  to  which  he  would  voluntarily  go,  rather 
than  admit  he  was  beaten  or  acknowledge  there 
was  no  redress  (in  his  opinion)  for  his  client, 
we  must  digress  sufficiently  to  call  attention  to 
that  case  (the  Kingsbury-Buckner),  perhaps 
most  famous  of  all  his  many  noted  cases,  which 
involved  the  question  of  the  fee  of  that  splendid 
piece  of  central  real  estate  upon  which  now  stands 
the  Ashland  Building,  the  great  law  office  re- 
sort ,  corner  of  Randolph  and  Clark  Streets,  in 
our  city.  This  case  long  looked  hopeless  for  the 
party  in  whose  interests  Judge  Goudy  had  been 
retained.  Conviction  of  the  fact  that  the  grantee, 
who  seemed  to  own  the  fee,  was  really  a  holder 
for  cestuis  qui  trust  was  sincerely  entertained,  but 
in  support  of  such  hypothesis  not  a  scintilla  of 
evidence  seemed  possible  to  be  introduced.  Early 
and  late,  far  and  near,  in  and  out  of  season,  our 
lawyer  toiled  to  find  some  slight  link,  so  vital  to 
support  such  a  much-sought  chain  of  title.  In 
short,  almost  at  a  standstill,  sufficient  proof  was 
at  last  unearthed  from  a  letter  written  as  casual 
correspondance  to  a  relative  of  the  writer  in  the 
Down  East.  This  became  the  turning-point  of 
the  case.  For  his  services  the  Judge  is  said  to 
have  been  paid  the  largest  fee  known  in  the 
West.  How  many  thousands  is  not  known,  but 


W.  C.  GOUDY. 


121 


surely  it  was  earned  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be 
gladly  paid  by  a  client  who  would  have  lived  and 
died  in  ignorant  non-assertion  of  rights,  but  for 
the  untiring  researches  of  his  lawyer.  L,et  every 
young  attorney  ponder  well  the  significance  of 
the  story;  just  such  opportunities  time  and  again 
have  made  in  an  instant  the  name  and  fame 
jf  the  energetic  hero.  The  ability  to  win  cases 
is  the  crucial  test  of  lawyers;  and  a  still  greater 
test  is  the  ability  to  effect  a  desirable  compromise, 
as  the  subject  of  this  sketch  often  did;  for  exam- 
ple, in  the  notable  Wilbur  F.  Storey  will  case. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  exceedingly  active 
career,  the  firm  of  which  he  was  senior  member 
was  styled  Goudy,  Green  &  Goudy,  and  for 
a  considerable  period  prior  to  his  demise  he  was 
chief  counsel  for  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railway,  in  which  position  he  had  the  excep- 
tional fortune  of  holding  his  former  private 
clientage.  It  is  worth  recording  that  the  reasons 
for  his  being  retained  by  that  railway  were 
found  in  numerous  suits  brought  against  it  by 
Mr.  Goudy  for  clients,  who  usually  won. 

Mr.  Goudy  married,  August  22,  1849,  a  most 
estimable  and  cultured  lady,  Miss  Helen  Judd, 
of  Canton,  Illinois,  a  daughter  of  Solomon  Judd, 
quite  a  distinguished  Abolitionist.  His  father  was 
Solomon  Judd,  Sr.,  of  Westhampton,  Massachu- 
setts, coming  of  excellent  ancestry,  tracing  back 
to  the  pride  of  all  Yankees,  the  "Mayflower"  of 
1620.  Mrs.  Goudy's  mother  was  Eleanor  Clark, 
born  of  an  old  Northampton,  Massachusetts, 
family. 

Two  children  cheered  their  most  happy  wedded 
life.  Clara  Goudy  (an  adopted  daughter),  born 
in  October,  1857,  married,  in  1887,  Ira  J.  Geer, 
of  this  city,  a  practicing  lawyer  of  superior 
repute,  by  whom  she  has  one  child,  William 
Jewett  Geer.  Judge  Goudy  left  an  only  son, 
William  Judd  Goudy,  who  was  born  in  1864, 
for  an  extended  sketch  of  whom  vide  other  pages 
herein. 

Mrs.  Goudy  was  born  on  the  2ist  of  November, 
1821,  at  Otisco,  Onondaga  County,  New  York, 
was  educated  at  the  Aurora  Academy  of  that 
State,  after  which  she  taught  school  for  about 
nine  years.  She  then  removed  to  Canton,  Illinois, 


where  she  had  been  teaching  her  own  private 
school  for  young  ladies  about  two  years  at  the 
time  Judge  Goudy  won  her  undying  affections. 
She  survives  her  deeply  mourned  husband,  and, 
while  not  in  perfect  health,  yet  for  her  mature 
age  well  preserved;  and  it  is  the  earnest  wish 
of  all  her  myriad  friends  and  recipients  of  generous 
benefactions  that  she  may  long  continue  in  a 
sphere  of  wisely  contented  usefulness.  She  is 
unostentatiously  conspicuous  for  her  many  works 
of  charity,  formal  recognition  of  which  was  made 
some  years  since  in  her  elevation  to  the  position 
of  President  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Half 
Orphan  Asylum.  Truly  may  it  be  said  in  sim- 
ple, modest  truth,  her  life  has  been  a  model  for 
imitation. 

The  old  Goudy  homestead,  one  of  the  choicest, 
most  elegant  of  its  time,  was  located  in  what  has 
since  become  a  very  public  neighborhood,  about 
No.  1140  North  Clark  Street.  In  the  early  days 
it  stood  in  a  magnificient  grove  of  trees  some 
acres  in  extent,  whose  retirement  received  a  con- 
tinual benediction  from  the  murmurs  of  the  lake 
near  at  hand.  Later  operations  have  subdivided 
and  covered  with  many  dwellings  this  lovely 
property.  "And  the  place  thereof  shall  know  it 
no  more."  Anticipating  growing  encroachment 
upon  that  privacy  in  which  Mr.  Goudy  so  much 
delighted,  he  finally  built  a  solid,  ornate  mansion 
of  gray  granite  at  No.  240  Goethe  Street,  than 
which  none  of  our  citizens  can  boast  of  a  more 
complete  or  elegant  home.  In  full  view  of  the  lake 
(but  a  block  distant),  contiguous  to  a  beautiful 
private  park,  within  easy  access  of  business 
haunts,  and  yet  enjoying  the  stillness  of  a  veritable 
country  seat,  Judge  Goudy  with  his  wife  there 
found  the  oasis  of  existence,  his  seat  of  recupera- 
tive rest,  his  scene  of  domestic  bliss,  for  he  was 
emphatically,  notwithstanding  the  grandeur  and 
publicity  which  cast  a  halo  about  his  character, 
a  domestic  man.  Though  a  valued  member  of 
the  Union  and  Iroquois  Clubs,  he  was  not  an 
habitue  of  their  inviting  halls,  save  on  rare  special 
occasions. 

In  politics,  like  all  his  lineage,  he  was  a  sturdy 
Democrat;  not  particularly  aggressive,  but  full  of 
wise  counsels  and  dictator  of  winning  courses  to 


122 


H.  F.  FRINK. 


be  pursued  in  accomplishing  certain  political 
ends.  His  first  vote  was  cast  for  Lewis  Cass  in 
1 848 ;  he  had  much  to  do  with  the  nomination  of 
President  Cleveland  to  his  last  term  of  office;  and 
might  have  passed  away  in  occupation  of  the 
most  dignified  seat  of  judicial  honor  within  the 
gift  of  our  country,  i.  e. ,  the  Supreme  Bench  of 
the  United  States,  had  not  his  ever  honorable 
principles  decided  him  to  withdraw  in  favor  of 
his  old  friend,  the  present  Chief  Justice,  M.  W. 
Fuller.  He  was  at  one  time  President  of  the 
Lincoln  Park  Board  of  Commissioners,  as  he  had 
been  among  those  most  actively  valuable  in  lay- 
ing out  the  bounds  and  bringing  into  being  that 
most  beautiful  of  all  our  resorts. 

Judge  Goudy  was  a  "gentleman  of  the  old 
school,"  always  courteous  and  scrupulously  hon- 
orable; the  possessor  of  a  frankly-bright,  prepos- 
sessing face,  brimful  of  character.  A  very  broad 
forehead  surmounted  features  all  finely  chiseled; 
his  figure  was  but  of  medium  height  and  physical 
weight,  but  capable  of  expressing  great  dignity 
upon  occasion.  Though  rather  sickly  in  youth, 
by  abstemious  habits  he  had  grown  for  many 
years  to  be  quite  robust,  in  which  condition  he 
was  maintained  by  studious  attention  to  all  his 


habits,  save  that  of  work.  In  this,  he  reminds 
one  strongly  of  the  great  Csesar,  who,  sickly  in 
youth,  by  careful  regimen  grew  to  endure  in- 
credible labors.  Indeed,  it  was  from  over  appli- 
cation, following  too  speedily  a  season  of  malady, 
that  Judge  Goudy  met  his  end  April  27,  1893; 
which  found  him  suddenly,  like  the  lightning 
flash,  seated  in  his  chair  by  the  office  desk,  whither 
he  had  injudiciously  repaired  upon  important 
business.  His  tough,  perennial  thread  of  life, 
which  had  been  vexed  and  tugged  at  time  and 
again  by  his  response  to  urgent  demands,  was 
strained  beyond  endurance;  it  snapped,  and  the 
heroic  melody  of  a  noble  life  became  forever  in- 
stantly silent.  He  was  buried  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  he 
had  always  had  a  vital  interest,  and  now  sleeps  the 
peaceful  sleep  of  the  just  in  the  family  lot  at  Grace- 
land  Cemetery,  which  spot  will  long  continue  to  be 
marked  by  the  dignified  memorial  now  rising 
over  his  remains. 

He  left  a  supremely  honorable  name.  Out  of  the 
many  illustrious  heroes  found  herein,  none  need 
doubt  that  the  memory  of  the  greatest  will  not 
survive  that  of  Hon.  William  Charles  Goudy. 


HENRY  F.  FRINK. 


HENRY  FARNSWORTH  FRINK,  whose 
business  and  social  relations  cause  him  to  be 
well  known  in  Cook  County,  enjoys  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  a  native  of  Chicago,  and  repre- 
sents one  of  its  most  esteemed  pioneer  families. 
The  house  in  which  he  was  born  stood  at  the 
corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and  Randolph  Street, 
and  the  date  of  his  advent  was  April  17,  1848. 
His  parents  were  John  and  Harriet  Frink,  an  ap- 
propriate notice  of  whom  is  given  elsewhere  in 
this  book. 

Henry  F.  Frink  was  afforded  excellent  educa- 


tional advantages,  and  at  twenty  years  of  age 
graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts 
from  the  Chicago  University.  It  is  needless  to 
add  that  his  subsequent  career  has  been  such  as 
to  reflect  credit  upon  his  Alma  Mater.  He  began 
the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Sleeper,  Whiton 
&  Durham,  and  in  1872  was  admitted  to  practice 
by  a  committee  composed  of  members  of  the  Bar 
appointed  for  the  purpose  of  examining  candi- 
dates. Since  that  date  he  has  been  continuously 
engaged  in  practice,  making  a  specialty  of  real- 
estate  law  and  the  examination  of  abstracts.  His 


J.  M.  ADSIT. 


123 


ample  experience  and  accurate  knowledge  of 
these  subjects  are  of  great  value  to  himself  and 
his  clients,  and  cause  his  opinions  to  be  received 
with  respectful  attention  by  attorneys  and  officials 
generally.  He  deals  in  city  and  suburban  realty 
to  a  considerable  extent,  and  by  the  exercise  of 
foresight  and  discrimination  in  these  operations 
has  accumulated  a  competence,  which  he  endeav- 
ors to  invest  in  such  a  manner  as  to  promote  the 
commercial  interests  of  the  community.  In  1891 
he  organized  the  Austin  State  Bank,  of  which  he 
has  ever  since  been  the  President,  giving  consid- 
erable of  his  time  and  attention  to  its  affairs.  His 
business  of  all  kinds  has  been  conducted  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  secure  the  best  results  to  his  col- 
leagues and  at  the  same  time  to  inspire  the  confi- 
dence of  the  public  in  his  judgment  and  integrity. 
On  the  I4th  of  April,  1886,  occurred  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Frink  and  Miss  Louise  Creote,  a 
most  estimable  lady  and  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
Creote,  an  early  pioneer  of  Chicago.  A  daugh- 
ter, Mildred,  helps  to  brighten  the  home  circle  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frink.  The  former  of  this  couple 


adheres  to  the  Episcopal  faith,  in  the  tenets  of 
which  he  was  instructed  in  youth,  while  his  wife 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Austin, 
where  the  family  resides. 

Socially,  Mr.  Frink  is  identified  with  the  Royal 
League  and  Athletic  Clubs.  While  never  an  act- 
ive politician,  he  is  not  unmindful  of  the  duties 
of  citizenship,  and  usually  casts  his  ballot  in  sup- 
port of  Republican  principles. 

Previous  to  the  great  Chicago  fire  he  occupied 
an  office  with  W.  D.  Kerfoot  at  No.  95  Washing- 
ton Street,  and  for  a  time  subsequent  to  that  dis- 
aster he  shared  with  that  gentleman  the  historic 
cabin  in  the  street,  which  served  them  as  a  shel- 
ter pending  the  rescue  of  their  safe  from  the  em- 
bers and  the  erection  of  their  new  building.  He 
did  duty  as  a  member  of  the  citizens'  patrol  guard 
immediately  after  the  great  fire,  a  temporary  ar- 
rangement for  the  protection  of  homes  and  prop- 
erty, which  was  instrumental  in  preventing  a 
great  deal  of  the  pillage  and  plundering  to  which 
the  city  was  exposed  until  the  police  force  could 
be  re-organized. 


JAMES  M.  ADSIT. 


flAMES  M.  ADSIT.  To  have  been  among 
I  the  first  in  Chicago  to  engage  in  any  honor- 
(*/  able  calling  is  quite  sufficient  to  make  such 
a  one  a  local  historical  personage  for  all  time  to 
come,  and  so  the  career  of  James  M.  Adsit  is 
filled  with  unusual  interest,  because  of  the  con- 
spicuous fact  that,  apart  from  his  being  an  excep- 
tional character,  he  was  among  the  first  bankers 
to  enter  upon  a  career  of  finance  within  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  Cook  County. 

Mr.  Adsit  was  born  February  5,  1809,  in 
Spencertown,  Columbia  County,  New  York,  unto 
Leonard  and  Frances  Adsit  {nee  Davenport). 
His  father  dying  when  the  son  was  but  six  years 
of  age,  he  went  to  live  and  remain  with  his 
grandfather  Adsit,  and  after  finishing  the  com- 


mon-school education  customary  for  those  early 
days,  went  for  a  time  into  employment  in  his 
uncle  Ira  Davenport's  store. 

On  April  2,  1838,  he  arrived  in  Chicago, 
then  a  city  of  but  a  single  year's  standing,  con- 
sisting of  only  a  few  streets  stragglingly  built  up; 
and,  as  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers,  founded  a 
private  bank  at  Number  37  Clark  Street  in  1850, 
having  up  to  that  time,  from  the  date  of  his  arri- 
val, been  engaged  in  loans  and  investments  on 
Lake  Street.  In  1856  he  removed  one  door  to 
Number  39  Clark  Street,  where  he  remained  un- 
til the  "Chicago  Fire,"  at  which  time  he  had  the 
great  misfortune  to  lose  all  of  his  personal  papers 
and  books  connected  intimately  with  much  of 
Chicago's  early  history,  whereby  vanished  forever 


124 


J.  M.  ADSIT. 


valuable  data  covering  the  development  of  the 
city  for  its  first  three  decades.  But  fortune  was 
his  on  that  occasion  to  save  the  bulk  of  moneys 
and  securities  in  the  vaults  of  his  office,  thereby 
being  able  to  reassure  his  depositors,  many  of 
whom  on  days  following  came  with  woeful  visage, 
in  expectation  of  news  of-  their  hard-earned 
means  having  gone  up  in  flames. 

Shortly  after  he  had  re-opened  his  banking  busi- 
ness at  Number  422  Wabash  Avenue  for  a  few 
months,  he  removed  to  a  store  on  Wabash  Avenue 
a  few  doors  from  Congress,  thence  to  the  Ogden 
Building,  corner  Lake  and  Clark  Streets.  He  then 
built  at  Number  41  Clark  Street,  where  he  contin- 
ued in  active  life  until  1881.  At  that  date,  owing 
somewhat  to  failing  health,  he  decided  to  merge  his 
corporation  into  the  Chicago  National  Bank,  of 
which  he  became  the  first  Vice- President,  resign- 
ing, however,  in  1885,  at  which  time  he  retired 
from  active  life. 

His  shortsightedness,  if  indeed  we  are  right  to 
so  style  the  matter,  was  a  lack  of  faith  in  the 
future  real-estate  values  of  Chicago.  Had  a  bold 
course  been  adopted  in  this  direction,  it  would 
have  resulted  in  the  acquiring  of  an  estate  vast 
indeed:  but  sufficient  honor  is  his,  in  that  he  un- 
swervingly carried  out  his  financial  life  in  strict 
integrity. 

While  ever  a  stanch  Republican  in  politics, 
Mr.  Adsit  was  never  prominent  in  public  life,  fig- 
uring rather  in  the  background  on  movements 
which  were  to  be  carried  out  for  the  public  weal. 
In  that  sense  he  was  always  a  most  active  and 
useful  member  in  aid  of  advances.  Among  the 
institutions  with  which  he  was  conspicuously  as- 
sociated was  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  of  which 
he  was  the  first  Vice-President.  Following  the 
panic  of  1857,  when  threatened  by  adverse  cir- 
cumstances with  destruction,  he  lent  strong  finan- 
cial support,  and  was  for  years  one  of  the  chief 
managers,  until  its  future  of  honor  and  usefulness 
was  assured.  In  1871  he  was  Chairman  of  the 
Clearing  House  Association.  Among  the  large 
estates  promoted  under  his  management  was  that 
of  Allen  C.  Lewis,  which  was  enhanced  greatly 
in  value  through  his  shrewd  handling. 

He  was  a  member  of  the   North  Side  Union 


Club,  but  growing  infirmity  of  health  and  life-long 
devotion  to  home  influences  prevented  much  so- 
cial dissipation.  On  Dearborn  Avenue,  at  the 
corner  of  Elm  Street,  in  a  luxurious  mansion- 
house,  to  which  he  removed  in  1884,  he  spent 
happy  days  following  a  most  usefully  busy  career. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  great  fire,  he  had  at- 
tended at  the  Wabash  Avenue  Methodist  Church; 
afterwards  for  some  years  at  the  Plymouth  Con- 
gregational Church,  but  finally  became  an  habit- 
ual attendant  at  David  Swing's  church,  on  the 
North  Side,  following  him  to  the  Music  Hall  or- 
ganization across  the  river,  being  thus  long  in 
intimate  relations  with  him  who  so  feelingly  offi- 
ciated at  the  final  obsequies,  preceding  interment 
at  Graceland.  The  time  of  going  to  the  other 
shore  was  September  4,  1894,  subsequent  to  a 
stroke  of  paralysis  and  some  years  of  indisposi- 
tion; and  when  his  venerable  form,  which  had 
borne  the  trials  of  upwards  of  eighty-five  years, 
was  laid  to  rest,  there  was  not  a  dry  eye  over  the 
melancholy  thought  that  the  worthiest  of  the  rem- 
nant of  the  early  pioneers  had  gone  to  his  well- 
merited  reward.  And  thus  the  first  generation 
passed  into  that  history  which  it  is  the  province 
of  this  publication  to  rescue  from  oblivion  for  the 
edification  and  teaching  of  future  times. 

Said  the  well-known  philanthropist,  Dr.  Pear- 
son, in  speaking  of  Mr.  Adsit:  "He  was  a  thor- 
oughly upright  man,  whom  I  never  knew  to  fail 
in  any  undertaking.  He  passed  through  the  pan- 
ics of  1857,  1866  and  1873,  and  the  great  fire, 
not  without  financial  loss,  but  without  a  blemish 
upon  his  reputation,  meeting  every  obligation 
faithfully."  Mr.  John  J.  Mitchell,  President  of 
the  Illinois  Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  remarked 
shortly  after  his  demise:  "Mr.  Adsit  was  a  man 
of  the  very  ..highest  integrity,  and  none  stood 
higher  than  he  among  the  business  men  and  bank- 
ers of  Chicago.  *  *  *  In  his  death  Chicago 
loses  not  only  one  of  her  foremost  citizens,  but 
one  who  helped  to  make  the  city's  history,  and 
the  success  she  now  enjoys." 

Mr.  Adsit  married,  January  21,  1840,  MissAr- 
ville  Chapin,  of  Chicago,  who,  herself  in  ad- 
vanced age,  survives  him,  waiting  her  message 
to  join  on  the  other  side  him  she  so  long,  so  deep- 


H.   M.   ROBINSON. 


125 


ly  loved.  Seven  children  blessed  their  union, 
namely : 

Leonard  D.  Adsit,  who  was  born  January  29, 
1841,  and  who  died  in  Chicago  in  1879,  having 
been  a  banker,  associated  with  his  father; 

Isabella  F.,  who  married  Ezra  I.  Wheeler,  of 
Chicago,  a  commission  merchant,  now  deceased, 
leaving  her  without  children ; 

James  M.  Adsit,  Jr.,  born  April  7,  1847,  un- 
married; a  former  banker  with  his  father;  now  a 
stock  broker  with  office  in  the  Stock  Exchange; 

Charles  Chapin,  who  is  associated  with  his 
brother  as  a  stock  broker;  born  July  14,  1853; 
married  in  October,  1890,  to  Mary  Bowman  Ash- 
by,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  by  whom  one  child, 
Charles  Chapin,  Jr.,  was  born  July  3,  1892; 

Caroline  Jane,  educated  at  Dearborn  Seminary, 
then  at  Miss  Ogden  Hoffman's  private  school  in 
New  York  City;  unmarried; 

Frank  S.,  born  September  7,  1855;  died  in 
childhood ; 

Jeanie  M.,  educated  at  Dearborn  Seminary; 
unmarried. 

Mrs.  Adsit  comes  of  an  old  and  distinguished 
New  England  family,  of  which  she  is  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  seventh  American  generation. 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  is  their  leading  home- 
stead, where  members  have  erected  a  magnificent 
statue  of  their  "Puritan  divine"  ancestor. 

Deacon  Samuel  Chapin,  who  married  a  Miss 


Cisily,  was  the  progenitor  from  whom  are  de- 
scended all  in  the  United  States.  He  came  from 
abroad  to  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  in  1641,  at 
which  time  he  took  the  "freeman's  oath"  in  Bos- 
ton. The  following  year  he  went  to  Springfield, 
then  one  of  the  frontier  towns,  where  he  was  for 
a  long  time  a  local  magistrate  and  one  of  its  first 
deacons. 

His  son  Henry  married  Bethia  Cooley,  and  re- 
sided in  Springfield.  Was  a  Representative  in 
the  General  Court,  a  merchant  sea-captain  be- 
tween London  and  Boston;  afterwards  retired  to 
live  in  Boston;  then  to  Springfield.  He  had  a  son, 

Deacon  Benjamin,  who  married  Hannah  Col- 
ton,  and  lived  in  Chicopee,  a  set-off  portion  of 
northern  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  one  of  its  first  deacons.  He  had  a  son 

Captain  Ephraim,  who  married  Jemima  Chapin, 
his  own  cousin ;  lived  in  Chicopee,  where  he  was 
an  old-time  inn-keeper.  He  also  served  in  the 
French  and  Indian  Wars.  He  had  a  son 

Bezaleel,  who  also  married  his  own  cousin, 
Thankful  Chapin;  living  at  Ludlow  Massachu- 
setts. He  had  a  son 

Oramel,  who  married  Suzan  Rood;  living  in 
Ludlow,  Massachusetts,  thence  removing  to  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin,  later  to  Chicago,  where  he 
died. 

Their  daughter  Arville  married  the  subject  of 
this  sketch. 


HAMILTON  M.  ROBINSON. 


HAMILTON    MOFFAT    ROBINSON    was 
born  in  Cheltenham,  Gloucestershire,  Eng- 
land,  February  12,  1862,  and  is  the  eldest 
son  of  James  Hamilton   Robinson  and  Frances 
Jane  Moffat.     Both  the  parents  represent  ancient 
Scottish  families. 
James  H.  Robinson,  who  was  born  in  London 


and  educated  at  the  Edinburgh  High  School, 
engaged  in  business  in  Manchester,  England, 
soon  after  completing  his  education,  and  later  in 
London,  in  the  East  India  trade.  He  continued 
in  business  about  thirty  years,  dealing  in  jute 
and  export  merchandise.  During  a  portion  of 
this  time  he  resided  at  Calcutta,  in  order  to  give 


126 


H.  M.  ROBINSON. 


personal  supervision  to  his  export  trade.  In  1885 
he  retired  from  business  and  came  to  America, 
locating  at  Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  where  his  chil- 
dren had  preceded  him  and  where  he  still  resides. 
His  father,  George  Brown  Robinson,  had  suc- 
ceeded his  (George's)  father  in  the  East  India 
trade,  and  also  resided  for  some  years  in  Calcutta. 
He  married  Jane  Campbell  Hamilton,  like  him- 
self a  native  of  Scotland.  She  is  still  living  in 
London,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years. 

Mrs.  Frances  J.  Robinson  was  a  daughter 
of  Col.  Bowland  Moffat,  who  commanded  the 
Fifty-fourth  Regiment  of  the  British  army,  was 
a  veteran  of  the  Crimean  War,  and  was  stationed 
for  some  years  at  Calcutta,  at  which  place  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  James  H.  Robinson  were  married.  A  num- 
ber of  the  ancestors  of  Colonel  Moffat  were  well- 
to-do  merchants  in  the  West  India  trade,  and  sev- 
eral members  of  the  family  served  in  the  British 
army. 

Hamilton  M.  Robinson  was  but  six  months 
old  when  the  family  moved  from  London  and 
again  took  up  its  residence  in  Calcutta.  Seven 
years  subsequently  he  returned  to  Europe,  and  at- 
tended boarding-schools  at  various  points  in 
the  South  of  England.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  he  finished  the  course  at  Chatham  House 
College,  Ramsgate,  Kent.  It  had  been  his  in- 
tention to  enter  the  East  Indian  civil  service,  but 
owing  to  his  father's  financial  embarrassments 
at  that  time,  he  abandoned  this  purpose  and  en- 
tered the  London  office  of  Kelly  &  Company, 
East  India  merchants.  He  began  in  the  capacity 
of  office  boy,  but  with  such  vigor  and  intelligence 
did  he  apply  himself  to  business,  that  in  the  brief 
space  of  four  years  he  became  the  office  manager 
of  the  firm.  He  continued  in  that  connection  un- 
til September,  1883,  when  he  determined  to  seek 
a  wider  field  for  the  development  of  his  talents 
and  ability,  and  came  to  America,  joining  his 
brother  in  the  Northwest  Territory  of  Canada. 
He  homesteaded  a  farm  in  Manitoba,  but  a  short 
time  sufficed  to  convince  him  that  the  pursuit  of 
agriculture  was  neither  as  profitable  nor  congenial 
as  he  had  anticipated.  In  the  following  May  he 
joined  a  friend  who  was  coming  to  Chicage,  and 
has  ever  since  made  this  city  his  home  and  place 


of  business.  In  the  spring  of  1885  he  again 
visited  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  as  a  mem- 
ber of  Colonel  Boulton's  scouts,  assisted  in  sup- 
pressing the  Riel  rebellion. 

He  arrived  here  with  neither  money,  friends 
nor  influence,  and  wasted  no  time  in  seeking  or 
waiting  for  a  genteel  position,  but  immediately 
began  work  at  the  first  employment  which  he 
could  obtain.  In  the  mean  time  he  was  constantly 
on  the  alert  for  a  more  lucrative  occupation,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  secured  a  position  as  bookkeeper 
with  the  Anglo-American  Packing  and  Provision 
Company,  with  which  he  remained  for  about 
three  years.  In  May,  1887,  he  resigned  this  em- 
ployment and  obtained  a  position  with  the  firm 
of  Crosby  &  Macdonald,  marine  underwriters. 
He  continued  in  this  connection  about  five  years, 
winning  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  em- 
ployers, and  demonstrating  his  integrity  and 
ability  for  the  transaction  of  business.  In  what- 
ever position  he  has  been  placed  he  has  ever  been 
an  indefatigable  worker,  striving  to  promote  the 
interests  of  those  whom  he  served,  even  at  the 
expense  of  his  own  health  and  personal  comfort. 
On  the  first  of  June,  1892,  Mr.  Robinson  formed 
a  partnership  with  James  B.  Kellogg,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Kellogg  &  Robinson,  marine  average 
adjusters.  This  is  one  of  the  leading  firms  of 
marine  adjusters  upon  the  shores  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, and  their  success  has  been  gratifying  1'rom 
the  start. 

Mr.  Robinson  is  a  member  of  the  Lake  Board 
of  Average  Adjusters,  and  of  the  Association  of 
Average  Adjusters  of  the  United  States.  He  has 
never  identified  himself  with  any  political  party, 
but  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  questions  of 
public  policy,  and  has  been  an  American  citizen 
since  1891.  He  is  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  of  American  institutions,  and  may  be  classed 
as  one  of  the  most  desirable  and  useful  among 
the  foreign-born  citizens  of  Chicago. 

He  was  married,  in  1887,  to  Ida  T.  Cleverdon, 
of  Toronto,  province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  daugh- 
ter of  William  Thompson  Cleverdon  and  Name 
Geech,  both  formerly  residents  of  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
JVERSITY  OF  ILLI 


M.  W.  FULLER 


127 


MELVILLE  W.  FULLER. 


IV/j  ELVILLE  WESTON  FULLER.  The  fol- 
I V I  lowing  sketch  of  Chief  Justice  Fuller  was 
101  written  by  the  late  Major  Joseph  Kirkland 
for  the  "History  of  Chicago,"  published  by  Mun- 
sell  &  Company,  by  whose  permission  it  is  here 
reprinted: 

Chief  Justice  Fuller  traces  his  descent  direct 
to  the  ' '  Mayflower. ' '  His  father  was  Frederick  A. 
Fuller,  and  his  mother  Catherine  Martin  Weston. 
His  grandfather  on  the  mother's  side  was  Nathan 
Weston,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Maine  Supreme 
Court;  and  his  uncle,  George  Melville  Weston, 
was  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Augusta.  Melville 
Weston  Fuller  was  born  February  n,  1833,  at 
Augusta,  Maine,  and  grew  up  with  good  educa- 
tional advantages.  He  was  prepared  for  college 
at  Augusta,  and  entered  Bowdoin  College  in  1849, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1853.  Thence  he 
went  to  Dane  Law  School  (Harvard) ,  where  so 
many  of  our  western  jurists  have  earned  their 
diplomas.  He  is  described  as  having  been  a 
rather  aimless  youth,  but  in  college  a  model 
student,  with  a  special  gift  for  public  speaking. 
He  began  his  law  practice  in  Augusta,  but  find- 
ing business  lacking,  he  employed  his  time  and 
eked  out  his  income  by  newspaper  work;  a  cir- 
cumstance to  which  is  doubtless  due  something  of 
the  literary  facility  which  has  always  formed  a 
strong  feature  in  his  career. 

An  interesting  fact  connected  with  this  journal- 
istic experience  is  this:  At  a  certain  session  of  the 
Legislature  which  Melville  W.  Fuller  reported  for 
the  Augusta  Age  (which  he  and  his  uncle,  B.  A. 
G.  Fuller,  published  together),  James  G.  Elaine 
was  engaged  as  correspondent  of  the  Kennebec 


Journal.  Though  opposed  in  politics,  the  two 
men  were  always  personal  friends,  and  at  last,  by 
a  curious  coincidence,  found  themselves  in  Wash- 
ington together;  the  one  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  the  other  Secretary  of  State. 

Mr.  Fuller's  success  in  Augusta  as  a  lawyer 
was  in  proportion  to  the  law  business  of  the  place, 
and  so  not  large  or  satisfying.  His  success  in 
politics  was  in  proportion  to  his  ability,  and  there- 
fore excellent.  At  twenty-three  he  was  City  At- 
torney and  President  of  the  Common  Council  of 
Augusta. 

Still,  it  must  have  been  unconsciously  borne  in 
upon  him  that  Augusta  and  Maine,  always  loved 
and  honored  by  him,  were,  after  all,  a  "pent-up 
Utica"  to  such  a  soul  as  his.  He  must,  at  least, 
see  the  great  West.  In  1856  he  came  to  Chicago, 
meeting  here  his  friend  and  fellow-townsman, 
Mr.  S.  K.  Dow,  a  practicing  lawyer,  who  urged 
him  to  emigrate,  offering  him  a  place  in  his  office 
and,  at  his  choice,  either  a  partnership  in  the 
business  or  a  salary  of  $50  per  month.  He  chose 
the  latter,  and  worked  on  those  terms  five  months, 
living  within  his  income.  But  scarcely  a  year 
had  passed  before  he  began  to  do  a  fine  and  prof- 
itable business,  which  went  on  increasing  with 
remarkable  speed  and  steadiness  up  to  the  time 
of  his  leaving  the  Bar  for  the  Supreme  Bench. 

In  politics  he  was  a  stanch  Democrat,  and  by 
friendship  and  sympathy  a  warm  adherent  ot 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  At  Mr.  Douglas's  death  in 
1 86 1,  he  delivered  the  funeral  oration,  his  speech 
being  a  masterly  production.  In  the  same  year 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  and  two  years  later  we  find  him  in 


128 


M.  W.  FULLER. 


the  Illinois  Legislature.  Here  he  gave  the  same 
strenuous  support  to  the  war  which  was  offered 
by  other  Douglas  men;  he  was  a  Unionist,  but 
not  an  anti-slavery  man  or  Republican.  The 
war  Democrats  were  in  favor  of  the  war  as  they 
thought  it  should  be  conducted,  giving  their  ad- 
herence to  the  McClellan  plan  as  being  the  most 
certain  to  triumph  and  restore  the  integrity  of  the 
country. 

Here  it  seems  well  to  quote  from  some  fine 
verses  written  by  Mr.  Fuller  long  afterward. 
They  are  on  the  death  of  General  Grant,  and 
show  at  once  a  loyal  feeling  for  the  great  soldier's 
services  and  a  true  poetic  thought  and  diction;  a 
power  of  composition  rare  in  the  learned,  prac- 
ticed and  successful  lawyer: 

Let  drum  to  trumpet  speak — 
The  trumpet  to  the  cannoneer  without — 
The  cannon  to  the  heavens  from  each  redoubt, 

Each  lowly  valley  and  each  lofty  peak, 
As  to  his  rest  the  great  commander  goes 
Into  the  pleasant  land  of  earned  repose. 

*  *        *        * 

Not  in  his  battles  won, 
Though  long  the  well-fought  fields  may  keep  their  name, 

But  in  the  wide  world's  sense  of  duty  done, 
The  gallant  soldier  finds  the  meed  of  fame; 
His  life  no  struggle  for  ambition's  prize, 
Simply  the  duty  done  that  next  him  lies. 

*  *        *        * 

Earth  to  its  kindred  earth: 
The  spirit  to  the  fellowship  of  souls! 
As,  slowly,  Time  the  mighty  scroll  unrolls 

Of  waiting  ages  yet  to  have  their  birth, 
Fame,  faithful  to  the  faithful,  writes  on  high 
His  name  as  one  that  was  not  born  to  die. 

Mr. Fuller  was  a  hard  worker  in  his  profession ; 
and  it  is  said  of  him  that  in  any  case  his  stoutest 
fighting  is  done  when  the  day  seems  lost,  when 
he  is  very  apt  to  turn  defeat  into  victory.  He  is 
reported  to  have  had,  during  his  thirty  years' 
practice,  as  many  as  twenty-five  hundred  cases  at 
the  Chicago  Bar;  which,  deducting  his  absence  at 
the  Legislature,  etc.,  would  give  him  at  least  one 
hundred  cases  a  year;  fewer,  necessarily,  in  the 
earlier  part  of  his  practice,  and  more  afterward. 
This  shows  a  remarkable  degree  of  activity  and 
grasp  of  business.  He  has  never  made  a  specialty 
of  any  kind  of  law,  though  there  are  some  where- 
in his  name  scarcely  appears;  for  instance,  di- 
vorce law  and  criminal  law.  Among  his  many 
cases  are  Field  against  Leiter;  the  Lake  Front 


case;  Storey  against  Storey's  estate;  Hyde  Park 
against  Chicago;  Carter  against  Carter,  etc.,  and 
the  long  ecclesiastical  trial  of  Bishop  Cheney  on 
the  charge  of  heresy. 

His  partnership  with  Mr.  Dow  lasted  until 
1860.  From  1862  to  1864  his  firm  was  Fuller  & 
Ham,  then  for  two  years  Fuller,  Ham  &  Shep- 
ard,  and  for  two  years  more  Fuller  &  Shepard. 
From  1869  to  1877  he  had  as  partner  his  cousin, 
Joseph  E.  Smith,  son  of  Governor  Smith,  of 
Maine.  Since  that  time  he  has  had  no  partner. 
His  business  was  only  such  as  he  chose  co  ac- 
cept; and  his  professional  income  has  been  esti- 
mated at  from  $20,000  to  $30,000  a  year.  His 
property  includes  the  Fuller  Block  on  Dearborn 
Street,  and  is  popularly  valued  at  $300,000. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  National 
Conventions  of  1864,  1872,  1876  and  1880,  always 
taking  a  prominent  place.  Just  after  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's first  election  to  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Fuller 
called  on  him  in  Albany,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  at 
once  conceived  for  him  a  very  high  appreciation. 
On  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Waite  it  seemed  de- 
sirable that  the  new  Justice  should  be  taken  from 
the  West;  and  Mr.  Fuller's  liberal  education,  the 
catholicity  of  his  law  practice,  his  marked  indus- 
try, ability  and  command  of  language — all  these, 
joined  with  his  devotion  to  the  principles  of  his 
party,  made  him  a  natural  choice  for  nomination 
to  the  position.  High  and  unexpected  as  was  the 
honor,  Mr.  Fuller  hesitated  before  accepting  it. 
If  it  satisfies  his  ambition  in  one  direction,  it 
checks  it  in  another. 

The  salary  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States  is  $10,500  a  year;  very  far  less  than  the 
gains  arising  from  general  practice  in  the  front 
rank  of  lawyers,  or  from  service  as  counsel  of  any 
one  of  hundreds  of  great  corporations.  So  there 
comes  a  kind  of  dead-lock;  if  a  man  happens  to  be 
born  to  riches,  he  is  pretty  sure  never  to  go 
through  the  hard  work  which  alone  gives  leader- 
ship in  the  law.  If  he  starts  poor,  then,  having 
his  fortune  to  make,  he  cannot  take  Federal  judi- 
cial office,  that  being  a  life-long  position.  The 
only  way  in  which  the  Federal  Bench  can  be  ap- 
propriately filled,  under  the  circumstances,  is 
when  by  chance  a  man  prefers  power  and  dignity 


JOHN  PRINDIVILLE. 


129 


to  mere  riches;  or  where  his  success  has  been  so 
sudden  that  he  is  able  (and  willing)  to  accept 
a  judgeship  as  a  kind  of  honorable  retirement 
from  the  struggle  and  competition  of  practice. 

Aside  from  these  considerations,  Mr.  Fuller  felt 
a  natural  hesitancy  in  undertaking  a  responsibil- 
ity so  trying  and  hazardous. 

As  to  the  money  obstacle,  Mr.  Fuller  probably 
felt  himself,  through  his  great  and  rapid  success, 
able  to  afford  to  accept  the  appointment.  He  ac- 
cepted it,  was  hailed  in  his  new  dignity  with 
genial  cordiality,  and  has  filled  the  office  with  un- 
impeachable credit  and  honor. 

Mr.  Fuller's  first  wife  was  Miss  Calista  O. 
Reynolds.  She  died  young,  after  bearing  him 
two  children.  He  married  a  second  time,  taking 


to  wife  Mary  Ellen,  daughter  of  the  distinguished 
banker,  William  F.  Coolbaugh.  His  family  now 
consists  of  eight  daughters  and  one  son;  and 
his  domestic  and  social  relations  are  as  happy  as 
it  is  possible  to  imagine,  the  young  ladies  being 
full  of  gaiety  and  loveliness  in  all  its  styles  and 
types.  He  himself  is  never  so  well  content  as  in 
his  own  household,  making  merry  with  all.  It  is 
even  whispered  that  should  his  resignation  not 
throw  his  own  party  out  of  the  tenancy  of  the 
office  to  which  it  chose  him,  he  might  give  up  the 
irksome  and  confining  dignity  and  the  forced 
residence  in  a  strange  city,  and  return  to  the 
West,  to  the  city  of  his  choice,  to  the  home  of 
his  heart. 


CAPT.  JOHN  PRINDIVILLE. 


EAPT.  JOHN  PRINDIVILLE,  whose  name  is 
a  synonym  for  honesty,  courage  and  gener- 
osity among  the  early  residents  of  Chicago, 
was  born  in  Ireland,  September  7,  1826.  The 
names  of  his  parents  were  Maurice  Prindivilleand 
Catharine  Morris.  While  a  boy  at  school  Maur- 
ice Prindiville  ran  away  from  home  and  went  to 
sea,  making  a  voyage  to  India,  thereby  gratifying 
his  thirst  for  adventure  and  forfeiting  the  oppor- 
tunity to  enter  Trinity  College  at  Dublin.  Re- 
turning to  his  native  land,  he  there  married  Miss 
Morris,  and  in  1 835  came  with  his  family  to  Amer- 
ica. After  spending  a  year  at  Detroit,  he  came  to 
Chicago,  where  he  was  for  several  years  in  charge 
of  Newbury  &  Dole's  grain  warehouse.  With  his 
family,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  a  log  house  on 
Chicago  Avenue,  at  the  northern  terminus  of  Wol- 
cott  (now  North  State)  Street,  which  was  subse- 
quently extended.  The  locality  was  long  known 
as  "the  Prindiville  Patch."  The  nearest  house 
was  Judge  Brown's  residence,  on  the  west  side  of 
Wolcott  Street,  between  Ontario  and  Ohio  Streets, 


the  only  one  between  Prindiville' s  and  River 
Street,  the  intervening  territory  being  covered 
with  thick  woods.  Indians  and  wild  beasts  were 
numerous  in  the  vicinity  at  that  time,  and  John 
Prindiville  became  quite  familiar  with  the  Indians 
and  learned  to  speak  several  of  their  dialects. 
His  father  and  he  were  firm  friends  of  Chief  Wau- 
bansee  and  others,  and  always  espoused  their 
cause  in  resisting  the  encroachments  of  the  whites 
upon  their  rights  and  domains. 

As  a  boy  John  was  noted  for  his  dare-devil 
pranks,  though  always  popular  with  his  comrades, 
whom  he  often  led  into  difficulties,  out  of  which  he 
usually  succeeded  in  bringing  them  without  seri- 
ous results.  He  was  one  of  the  first  students  at 
St.  Mary's  College,  which  was  located  at  tbe  cor- 
ner of  Wabash  Avenue  and  Madison  Street.  Upon 
one  occasion,  he  led  a  number  of  students  upon  a 
floating  cake  of  ice  near  the  shore  of  the  lake. 
The  wind  suddenly  changed,  and,  before  they 
were  aware  of  their  condition,  floated  their  preca- 
rious barge  out  into  the  lake.  Upon  discovering 


1 3o 


JOHN  PRINDIVILLE. 


the  danger,  John  promptly  led  the  way  back  to 
shore  by  wading  through  water  breast  deep.  This 
prompt  action,  aided  by  his  reputation  for  honesty 
and  truthfulness,  saved  him  from  punishment  at 
the  hands  of  the  college  authorities.  He  always 
had  a  great  desire  to  live  upon  the  water,  and  at 
the  age  of  eleven  years  he  gratified  this  tendency 
by  shipping  as  a  cook  on  a  lake  schooner.  Two 
of  the  first  vessels  upon  which  he  sailed  were  the 
"Hiram  Pearson"  and  "Constitution."  His 
menial  position  made  him  the  butt  of  the  sailors, 
but  he  took  so  readily  to  the  life  of  a  mariner  and 
performed  his  duties  so  thoroughly  and  capably, 
that  he  rapidly  won  promotion  to  more  respon- 
sible posts,  and  when  but  nineteen  years  of  age 
became  the  master  of  the  schooner  "Liberty," 
engaged  in  the  lumber  trade  between  Chicago  and 
other  Lake  Michigan  ports.  For  about  ten  years 
he  was  the  skipper  of  sailing-vessels,  abandoning 
the  last  of  these  in  1855,  after  which  he  com- 
manded several  steamers,  although  that  was  never 
so  much  to  his  taste  as  sailing.  In  1860  he  for- 
sook marine  life,  though  he  has  been  ever  since 
interested  in  the  operation  of  lake  craft.  From 
1855  to  1865  he  and  his  brother,  Redmond  Prin- 
diville,  operated  a  line  of  tugs  upon  the  Chicago. 
River.  During  this  time,  in  August,  1862,  he 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  instant  death  by  the 
explosion  of  the  boiler  of  the  tug  "Union." 
Though  not  regularly  in  command  of  the  vessel, 
he  chanced  to  be  on  board  at  that  time,  and  had 
just  left  the  wheel,  going  aft  to  hail  another  tug, 
when  the  accident  occurred.  Captain  Daly,  who 
took  his  place  at  the  wheel,  and  several  others 
were  instantly  killed. 

As  a  skipper,  Capt.  John  Prindiville  was  noted 
for  quick  trips,  always  managing  to  out-distance 
any  competing  vessels,  though  he  made  wreck  of 
many  spars  and  timbers  by  crowding  on  canvas. 
One  of  his  standing  orders  was  that  sail  should 
not  be  shortened  without  instructions,  though  it 
was  allowable  to  increase  it  at  any  time  deemed 
desirable.  He  was  ever  on  the  alert  and  always 
took  good  care  of  the  lives  of  his  crew  and  pass- 
engers. He  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  but  was 
always  popular  with  his  men,  who  considered  it 
a  special  honor  to  be  able  to  sail  with  him,  and 


were  ever  ready  to  brave  any  danger  to  serve 
him.  These  included  a  number  of  those  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  curse  him  when  he  first  began 
his  marine  career  in  the  capacity  of  cook. 

In  1850  Captain  Prindiville  commanded  the 
brigantine  "Minnesota"  (which  was  built  in  Chi- 
cago, below  Rush  Street  Bridge) ,  the  first  Amer- 
ican vessel  to  traverse  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 
Her  cargo  consisted  of  copper  from  the  Bruce 
Mines  on  Georgian  Bay,  and  her  destination  was 
Swansea,  Wales.  Owing  to  the  stupidity  and  in- 
capacity of  the  pilot,  she  ran  upon  the  rocks  in 
Lachine  Canal  and  was  obliged  to  unload.  This 
was  a  disappointment  to  the  youthful  captain,  who 
was  ambitious  to  be  the  first  lake  skipper  to  cross 
the  ocean.  He  and  his  brothers  owned  the 
schooner  "Pamlico,"  the  first  vessel  loaded  from 
Chicago  for  Liverpool.  This  was  in  1873,  and 
the  cargo  consisted  of  twenty-four  thousand  seven 
hundred  bushels  of  corn. 

November  17,  1857,  occurred  one  of  the  most 
disastrous  storms  which  ever  visited  Lake  Michi- 
gan, an  event  long  to  be  remembered  by  the  fami- 
lies of  those  who  were  sailors  at  that  time.  A 
number  of  vessels  were  wrecked  off  the  shore  of 
Chicago,  and  many  lives  were  sacrificed  to  the  fury 
of  the  elements.  The  number  of  fatalities  would 
have  been  far  greater  but  for  the  bravery  and  har- 
dihood of  Captain  Prindiville  and  his  crew,  who 
manned  the  tug  "McQueen"  and  brought  many 
of  the  men  to  land  in  safety,  though  at  the  peril 
of  their  own  lives.  For  this  act  of  bravery  and 
humanity,  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  Hon. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  in  behalf  of  the  citizens, 
who  had  assembled  at  the  Tremont  House,  ten- 
dered him  a  purse  of  $700  in  gold.  This  valua- 
ble testimonial  he  modestly  declined,  recommend- 
ing that  the  money  be  distributed  among  the 
families  of  the  crew  of  the  "Flying  Cloud,"  all  of 
whom  had  been  lost  in  the  storm.  This  is  only 
one  of  the  many  instances  of  his  courage  and  self- 
sacrifice  in  behalf  of  others.  It  is  an  acknowl- 
edged and  well-known  fact  that  he  has  saved  more 
human  lives  than  any  other  navigator  on  Lake 
Michigan. 

Captain  Prindiville  is  the  father  of  eight  living 
children,  the  offspring  of  two  marriages.  On  the 


J.  W.  GARY. 


i8th  of  November,  1845,  Miss  Margaret  Kalehr 
became  his  bride.  After  her  death  he  married 
Margaret  Prendergast,  a  native  of  Burlington, 
Vermont,  who  came  to  Chicago  with  her  parents 
about  1840.  Of  his  three  sons,  Redmond  is  now 
an  ex-captain  of  lake  craft,  and  resides  in  Chi- 
cago. James  W.  and  Thomas  J.  are  associated 
with  their  father  in  the  vessel  and  marine  busi- 
ness. 

Captain  Prindiville  has  been  a  steadfast  Roman 
Catholic  from  boyhood,  and  is  now  a  communi- 
cant of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name.  He  is 


broad-minded  and  tolerant  toward  all  sincere 
Christians.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arca- 
num, and  in  national  politics  has  been  a  life-long 
Democrat,  but  gives  his  support  to  any  good  citi- 
zen for  local  office,  irrespective  of  party  fealty. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Board  of 
Trade  since  1856,  and  is  now  one  of  the  oldest 
citizens  connected  with  that  body.  His  noble, 
self-sacrificing  spirit  and  unquestioned  integrity 
of  character  have  won  a  host  of  friends,  by  whom 
his  memory  will  be  cherished  long  after  the  mere 
man  of  millions  has  passed  into  obscurity. 


JOHN  W.  GARY. 


(JOHN  W.  CARY  was  the  lineal  descendant 
I  in  the  fifth  generation  of  John  Gary,  who 
O  came  from  Somersetshire,  near  Bristol,  Eng- 
land, in  1634,  and  joined  the  Plymouth  Colony, 
and  a  son  of  Asa  Gary,  who  was  born  in  Mans- 
field, Connecticut,  in  1774.  He  was  born  Feb- 
ruary ii,  1817,  in  Shoreham,  Vermont.  Four- 
teen years  later,  his  parents  removed  to  western 
New  York,  where  he  attended  the  common 
school,  assisting  his  father  on  the  farm  until,  at 
the  age  of  twenty,  he  entered  Union  College.  He 
supported  himself  through  college,  and  was  grad- 
uated with  the  Class  of  1842.  Two  years  later  he 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
New  York,  and  followed  his  profession  in  Wayne 
and  Cayuga  Counties  until  1850,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Wisconsin,  taking  up  his  residence  at 
Racine.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  educational 
matters,  and  as  a  School  Commissioner  was  in- 
strumental in  developing  the  public-school  sys- 
tem of  Racine.  He  was  elected  State  Senator  in 
1852,  and  Mayor  in  1857.  Two  years  later  he 
removed  his  home  to  Milwaukee,  and  was  at 


once  engaged  as  solicitor  and  counsel  to  fore- 
close the  mortgages  given  by  the  La  Crosse  & 
Milwaukee  Railroad  Company.  At  the  resulting 
sale,  the  property  was  purchased  by  the  Milwau- 
kee &  St.  Paul  Railroad  Company  (now  the  Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul),  which  he  had  in- 
corporated, and  of  which  he  continued  as  the 
legal  adviser  and  one  of  the  controlling  spirits  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  a  period  of  thirty-six  years. 
Until  1887  he  was  the  General  Solicitor  of  that 
company,  at  which  time  the  Board  of  Directors 
created  the  office  of  General  Counsel,  and  he  was 
then  chosen  to  that  position,  which  he  continued 
to  fill  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  not 
only  the  legal  adviser  of  that  company,  counsel- 
ing on  all  questions  and  conducting  all  its  litiga- 
tion, in  which  he  was  eminently  successful,  es- 
pecially before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  but  during  all  that  time  he  was  the  chief 
counselor  and  adviser  of  the  general  policy  of  the 
company.  He  stood  high  in  the  legal  profession, 
and  was  regarded  by  all  as  one  of  the  best  equip- 
ped railway  lawyers  in  the  country.  Some  of  the 


1 32 


J.  W.  GARY. 


cases  in  which  he  appeared  as  counsel  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  in  which 
he  was  successful,  rank  among  the  most  notable 
cases  of  that  court.  He  argued  before  that  court 
what  is  known  as  the  Milk  Rate  case,  which  was 
the  case  of  the  State  of  Minnesota  against  the 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railway  Com- 
pany, decided  in  April,  1890.  The  magnitude 
of  that  case,  both  as  regards  the  principle  in- 
volved and  the  moneyed  interest  affected,  places 
it  by  the  side  of  such  cases  as  the  Dartmouth 
College  case,  the  case  of  McCulloch  versus  Mary- 
land, and  the  Slaughter  House  cases.  The  Su- 
preme Court  in  that  case  held,  as  Mr.  Gary  had 
for  many  years  contended,  that  the  reasonableness 
of  a  rate  of  charge  for  transportation  of  property 
by  a  railroad  company  was  a  question  of  judicial 
determination,  rather  than  of  arbitrary  legislative 
action,  and  that  State  Legislatures,  in  fixing  the 
rates  of  freight,  must  fix  reasonable  rates;  that  is, 
rates  which  are  compensatory,  such  as  will  per- 
mit carriers  to  receive  reasonable  profits  upon 
their  invested  capital,  the  same  as  other  persons 
are  permitted  to  receive. 

The  success  of  Mr.  Gary  in  this  case  is  all  the 
more  notable  from  the  fact  that  fifteen  years  pre- 
viously he  appeared  as  counsel  for  the  St.  Paul 
Company  in  what  are  known  as  the  Granger 
cases,  in  which  that  court  declined  to  adopt  the 
rule  which  it  afterwards  established  in  the  Milk 
Rate  case. 

Of  the  members  of  that  court  at  the  time  the 
Granger  cases  were  argued,  but  one  remains, 
Justice  Field,  and  of  the  leading  counsel  who  ap- 
peared in  those  cases  all  have  passed  away  ex- 
cept William  M.  Evarts.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that 
Mr.  Gary  survived  every  justice  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  that  court  at  the  time  of  his  first  appearance 
therein,  as  well  as  the  leading  lawyers  who  were 
practicing  in  that  court  at  that  time. 

It  is  told  of  Mr.  Gary  that  he  successfully 
argued  fourteen  cases  during  one  session  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  against  such  men  as  Caleb  Gush- 
ing, Matt  H.  Carpenter,  Henry  A.  Cram,  of  New 
York,  and  other  eminent  men. 

In  1872,  while  a  member  of  the  Wisconsin 
State  Legislature,  he  was  requested  to  draw  a 


general  railroad  law  for  the  state,  which  he  did, 
and  the  statute  which  he  prepared  was  adopted 
and  is  still  in  force,  and  has  passed  into  history 
as  one  of  the  most  important  laws  ever  enacted  in 
Wisconsin,  and  is  regarded  by  all  as  a  law  fair 
both  to  the  people  and  the  railway  companies. 

No  person  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin  was  better 
or  more  favorably  known  than  Mr.  Cary.  His 
reputation  as  a  lawyer  of  marked  abilities,  and 
his  character  for  candor  and  integrity  as  a  man, 
were  enviable.  At  all  times  and  everywhere  he 
maintained  the  honor  of  his  profession  and  the 
majesty  of  the  law.  Those  who  knew  him  best 
respected  him  the  most. 

He  always  took  a  great  interest  in  political  af- 
fairs, and  was  unusually  well  versed  in  national 
and  political  history.  Throughout  his  entire  man- 
hood he  was  a  devoted  adherent  of  Democracy, 
receiving  in  1864  the  nomination  for  Congress, 
and  upon  several  occasions  the  complimentary 
vote  of  the  Legislature  for  United  States  Senator. 
During  the  long  period  in  which  the  Democratic 
party  was  in  the  minority,  which  covered  nearly 
the  whole  of  his  maturer  years,  Mr.  Cary  re- 
mained steadfast  in  his  loyalty  to  its  principles. 
But  for  this  fact  his  name  would  undoubtedly 
have  found  place  on  the  pages  of  history  among 
the  most  eminent  statesmen  of  his  generation.  A 
man  of  vast  mental  endowment,  clear  of  judg- 
ment, and  true  as  the  needle  to  the  pole  was  he 
to  the  right  as  he  saw  the  right. 

He  resided  in  Milwaukee  until  1890,  when  the 
general  offices  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St. 
Paul  Railway  Company  were  removed  to  Chicago. 
At  this  time  he  removed  his  home  to  Hinsdale,  a 
suburb  of  Chicago,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  Chicago  on  March  29, 
1895. 

In  1844  Mr.  Cary  was  married  to  Eliza  Vilas, 
who  died  in  1845,  leaving  a  daughter,  Eliza.  In 
1847  he  was  married  to  Isabel  Brinkerhoff.  He 
has  seven  children  living,  namely:  Eliza,  who  is 
the  wife  of  Sherburn  Sanborn;  Frances,  the  widow 
of  Charles  D.  Kendrick;  Melbert  B.,  Fred  A., 
John  W.,  Jr.,  George  P.  and  Paul  V. 

In  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men,  and 
with  his  associates  in  professional  labor,  he  was 


E.  W.  BAILEY. 


'33 


alway/  considerate  and  gentle.  No  unkind  or 
reproachful  word  ever  passed  his  lips.  He  was 
true  acd  faithful  in  friendship,  magnanimous  in 
his  dealings  with  others,  and  every  act  was 
prompted  by  the  highest  sense  of  honor.  He  was 
modest  and  unassuming,  simple  and  unaffected  in 


manner,  and  admired,   trusted  and  loved  by  all 
who  knew  him. 

"  In  his  family  and  home  life 
He  was  all  sunshine;  in  his  face 
The  very  soul  of  sweetness  shone." 


EDWARD  W.  BAILEY. 


[""  DWARD  WILLIAM  BAILEY,  a  member 
ry  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  was  born  at 
I  Elmore,  La  Moille  County,  Vermont,  Au- 
gust 31,  1843.  His  parents,  George  W.  Bailey  and 
Rebecca  Warren,  were  natives  of  Berlin,  Vermont. 
The  Bailey  family  is  remotely  of  Scotch  lineage. 
George  W.  Bailey  was  one  of  a  family  of  thirteen 
children,  and  was  bereft  of  his  father  in  childhood. 
He  participated  in  the  War  of  1812,  entering  the 
service  of  the  United  States  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years.  But  little  is  known  of  his  service,  except 
that  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Erie.  He  be- 
came a  prominent  farmer  and  practical  business 
man,  officiating  as  President  of  the  Vermont 
Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  for  many 
years  filled  the  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  in 
Washington  County,  a  circumstance  which  indi- 
cates the  regard  and  confidence  reposed  in  him 
by  his  fellow- citizens.  His  death  occurred  at 
Montpelier  in  1868,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 
Mrs.  Rebecca  Bailey  was  a  daughter  of  Abel  War- 
ren. She  died  upon  the  homestead  farm  at  El- 
more  in  1885,  having  reached  the  mature  age  of 
eighty-three  years. 

Edward  W.  Bailey  is  the  youngest  of  ten  chil- 
dren. His  education  was  obtained  in  the  public 
schools,  and  in  Washington  County  Grammar 
School  at  Montpelier.  From  the  age  of  seventeen 
years,  he  assisted  his  father  in  the  management 
of  the  homestead  farm,  thereby  developing  a 
strong  muscular  frame  and  acquiring  strength 
and  endurance  for  the  subsequent  battle  of  life. 


He  also  inherited  the  upright  character  and  con- 
scientious principles  for  which  his  progenitors 
had  been  conspicuous,  and  when,  in  1869,  he  en- 
tered upon  his  commercial  career,  he  was  fully 
competent  to  meet  and  master  the  exigencies  and 
vicissitudes  which  ever  beset  the  business  man. 
At  that  date  he  purchased  a  grocery  store  at 
Montpelier,  and  the  following  year  he  and  his 
partner  increased  their  business  by  the  addition 
of  a  gristmill.  When  the  firm  dissolved,  a  few 
years  later,  Mr.  Bailey  retained  the  mill  and 
still  continues  to  own  and  operate  the  same. 

In  1879  he  located  in  Chicago,  and,  in  partner- 
ship with  V.  W.  Bullock,  began  dealing  in  grain 
on  commission,  an  occupation  which  still  em- 
ploys his  time  and  attention.  After  the  first  two 
or  three  years,  Mr.  Bailey  became  sole  proprie- 
tor of  the  business,  and  now  occupies  commo- 
dious quarters  in  the  Board  of  Trade  Building. 
In  most  instances,  he  has  been  successful,  and  he 
has  ever  maintained  a  reputation  for  honorable 
dealing  and  integrity  of  character,  which  has 
earned  him  the  confidence  of  all  his  business  as- 
sociates. There  is,  perhaps,  no  man  upon  the 
Board  of  Trade  to-day  in  whom  the  public  has 
better  reason  to  trust  or  whose  business  credit  is 
freer  from  imputation. 

In  June,  1869,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Jennie 
Carter,  daughter  of  Charles  H.  Carter,  of  Mont- 
pelier, Vermont.  The  lady  was  born  in  Wil- 
mington, Massachusetts,  and  has  become  the 
mother  of  two  children :  George  C. ,  who  holds  a 


134 


J.  B.  BRADWELL. 


responsible  position  with  the  great  packing  house 
of  Swift  &  Company,  and  Mary  D.,  wife  of  Fred- 
erick Meyer,  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Bailey  holds 
liberal  views  on  religious  subjects,  and  was  for 
many  years  a  member  of  the  congregation  of  the 
late  Prof.  David  Swing.  He  is  not  in  fellowship 
with  any  social  or  religious  organization.  Though 
not  an  active  politician,  he  never  fails  to  exercise 


the  right — as  well  as  duty — of  casting  a  vote, 
and  supports  Republican  principles,  believing  the 
Republican  party  to  represent  the  best  social  and 
economic  ideas.  He  is  a  man  of  resolution  and 
prompt  action,  and  his  industrious  habits  have 
made  him  an  exemplary  business  man,  whose  life 
and  character  are  worthy  of  the  emulation  of  the 
rising  generation. 


HON.  JAMES  B.  BRADWELL. 


HON.  JAMES  B.  BRADWELL.  This  dis- 
tinguished gentleman,  an  excellent  portrait 
of  whom  is  herewith  presented,  was  born 
April  16,  1828,  at  Loughborough,  England.  His 
parents  were  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Gutridge) 
Bradwell.  The  family  left  England  when  James 
was  sixteen  months  old,  and  settled  in  Utica, 
New  York,  where  they  resided  until  1833,  when 
they  removed  to  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  They 
went  from  Jacksonville  to  what  is  now  Wheeling, 
Cook  County,  Illinois,  in  May,  1834.  The  fam- 
ily made  the  trip  in  a  covered  wagon  drawn  by  a 
span  of  horses  and  a  yoke  of  oxen,  and,  although 
the  distance  was  but  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
it  took  twenty-one  days  to  complete  the  journey. 
Young  Bradwell  spent  a  number  of  years  upon  a 
farm  in  Cook  County,  splitting  rails,  breaking 
prairie,  mowing  and  cradling  in  the  old-fashioned 
way,  which  aided  to  give  him  that  strength  of 
body  and  mind  which  he  possesses  at  the  age  of 
sixty-seven.  His  early  education  was  obtained 
in  a  log  schoolhouse;  later  in  Wilson's  Academy, 
of  Chicago,  in  which  Judge  Lorenzo  Sawyer,  of 
California,  was  tutor;  and  was  completed  in  Knox 
College,  Galesburg,  Illinois.  He  supported  him- 
self in  college  by  sawing  wood  and  working  in  a 
wagon  and  plow  shop  afternoons  and  Saturdays, 
where  he  often  had  to  take  his  pay  in  orders  on 
stores,  which  he  discounted  at  twenty-five  cents 


on  the  dollar.  This  resulted  in  the  young  man 
taking  an  oath  that  if  ever  he  lived  to  employ 
men  he  would  never  pay  them  in  orders  or  truck. 
Although  he  has  paid  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  for  wages,  he  has  religiously  kept  his 
oath.  For  a  number  of  years  before  his  admis- 
sion to  the  Bar  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  at 
several  different  trades  in  Chicago.  He  is  a 
natural  mechanic,  and,  believing  with  Solomon 
that  "the  rest  of  the  laboring  man  is  sweet,"  he 
aimed,  even  when  on  the  Bench  and  at  the  Bar, 
to  devote  a  portion  of  every  day  to  some  kind  of 
manual  labor.  It  is  said  that  he  could  earn  his 
living  to-day  as  a  journeyman  at  any  one  of  sev- 
enteen trades.  As  a  process  artist  he  has  few  su- 
periors. He  invented  a  process  of  his  own  for 
doing  half-tone  work,  and  has  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing made  the  first  half-tone  cut  ever  produced 
in  Chicago — that  of  Chief  Justice  Fuller,  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court.  Nearly  forty  years 
ago  he  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  Bar,  and, 
being  a  good  speaker,  a  bold,  dashing  young 
man,  and  considerable  of  a  "hustler,  "he  succeeded 
in  building  up  a  large  and  paying  practice.  In 
1861  he  was  elected  County  Judge  of  Cook  Coun- 
ty by  a  larger  majority  than  any  judge  had  ever 
received  in  the  county  up  to  that  time;  and  in 
1865  he  was  re-elected  for  four  years.  Judge 
Bradwell  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  Illi- 


OF  THE 
iVERSITY  OF  ILLI' 


JAMES  B.  BRADWELL 


MYRA  BRADWELL 


MYRA  BRADWELL. 


135 


nois  in  1873,  and  re-elected  in  1875.  He  has 
held  many  offices  in  charitable  and  other  institu- 
tions; presided  at  Cleveland  during  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  American  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion; was  President  of  the  Chicago  Press  Club; 
President  of  the  Chicago  Rifle  Club,  and  for 
many  years  was  considered  the  best  rifle  shot  in 
Chicago;  President  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Associa- 
tion; President  of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Associa- 
tion, and  for  many  years  its  historian;  President 
of  the  Chicago  Soldiers'  Home;  Chairman  of  the 
Arms  and  Trophy  Department  of  the  Northwest- 
ern Sanitary  Commission  and  Soldiers'  Home 
Fair  in  1865;  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Union 
League  Club  of  Chicago,  President  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  the  first  year,  and  the  first  man  to 
sign  the  roll  of  membership,  "Long  John"  Went- 
worth  being  the  second;  he  has  been  President  of 
the  Chicago  Photographic  Society,  and  was  Chair- 
man of  the  Photographic  Congress  Auxiliary  of 
the  World's  Columbian  Exposition. 

When  on  the  Bench  he  ranked  as  a  probate 
jurist  second  only  to  the  distinguished  surrogate, 
Alexander  Bradford,  of  New  York. 

He  was  the  first  judge  to  hold,  during  the  war, 
that  a  marriage  made  during  slavery  was  valid 
upon  emancipation,  and  that  the  issue  of  such  a 
marriage  was  legitimate  upon  emancipation  and 
would  inherit  from  their  emancipated  parents; 


or,  in  other  words,  that  the  civil  rights  of  slaves, 
being  suspended  during  slavery,  revived  upon 
emancipation.  The  opinion  was  delivered  in  the 
case  of  Matt  C.  Jones,  and  was  published  ap- 
provingly in  the  London  Solicitors'  Journal,  and 
fully  endorsed  by  Mr.  Joel  Prentiss  Bishop  ten 
years  after  it  was  rendered,  in  one  of  his  works. 
Judge  Bradwell  was  the  friend  of  the  widow  and 
the  orphan — an  able,  impartial  judge. 

He  was  an  influential  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  aided  in  securing  the  passage  of  a  num- 
ber of  measures  for  the  benefit  of  the  State  and 
the  city  of  his  adoption.  He  holds  advanced 
views  as  to  the  rights  of  women,  and  introduced 
a  bill  making  women  eligible  to  all  school  offices, 
and,  mainly  by  his  influence  and  power,  secured 
its  passage;  also  a  bill  making  women  eligible  to 
be  appointed  notaries  public. 

Judge  Bradwell  has  taken  the  Thirty-third  and 
last  degree  in  Masonry,  and  is  an  honorary  mem- 
ber of  the  Supreme  Council  with  its  Grand  East 
at  Boston,  and  also  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Ancient  Ebor  Preceptory  at  York,  England.  He 
has  recently  published  a  neat  volume  of  Ancient 
Masonic  Rolls  and  other  matter  of  interest  to  the 
order,  showing  that  there  was  originally  no  pro- 
vision against  the  admission  of  women  to  the  fra- 
ternity. 


MYRA  BRADWELL. 


IV/lYRA  BRADWELL.  In  these  latter  days 
I  V  I  of  the  century,  a  century  which  has  done 
\(Q\  more  for  women  than  any  other  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  it  is  interesting  to  record  the 
life  of  a  citizen  of  Chicago  of  national  reputation, 
who  wrought  earnestly,  wisely  and  successfully 
for  woman's  advancement. 

To  follow  in  a  pathway  which  has  been  made 
for  one  is  easy.     To  be  an  original  and  practical 


leader,  clearing  the  way  for  others  to  come,  is  a 
difficult  undertaking.  Such  a  leader  was  Myra 
Bradwell,  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  movements 
to  give  woman  equal  rights  before  the  law  and 
equal  opportunities  to  labor  in  all  avocations. 

Myra  Bradwell  was  born  in  Manchester,  Ver- 
mont, February  12,  1831.  In  infancy  she  was 
taken  to  Portage,  New  York,  where  she  remained 
until  her  twelfth  year,  when  she  came  West  with 


J36 


MYRA  BRADWELL. 


her  father's  family.  In  the  warp  of  her  nature 
was  woven  the  woof  of  that  sterling  New  England 
character  which  has  made  such  an  impress  on 
our  national  life.  On  her  father's  side  she  was 
descended  from  a  family  which  numbers  many 
noble  men,  philanthropists,  eminent  divines  and 
noted  statesmen.  Her  father,  Eben  Colby,  was 
the  son  of  John  Colby,  a  Baptist  minister  of  New 
Hampshire.  Her  father's  mother  was  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Aquilla  Chase,  whose  family  gave 
to  the  world  the  noted  divine,  Bishop  Philander 
Chase,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States. 

On  her  mother's  side  she  was  a  descendant  of 
Isaac  Willey,  who  settled  in  Boston  in  1640.  Two 
members  of  the  family,  Allen  and  John  Willey, 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  were  in  the 
little  army  which  suffered  glorious  defeat  at  Bun- 
ker Hill.  Her  family  were  aggressive  Abolition- 
ists and  stanch  friends  of  the  Lovejoys.  The 
story  of  the  murdered  martyr,  Elijah  Lovejoy,  as 
recounted  by  the  friend  of  her  youth,  Owen  Love- 
joy,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  her  mind. 
Thus  early  was  implanted  a  hatred  of  slavery 
and  injustice  in  the  soul  of  one  who  was  destined, 
in  after  yeprs,  to  bear  a  conspicuous  part  in  free- 
ing her  sex  from  some  of  the  conditions  of  vas- 
salage in  which  it  had  stood — a  champion  who 
broke  one  of  the  strongest  barriers  to  woman's 
enfranchisement,  the  Bar,  and  paved  the  way  for 
women  into  the  upper  halls  of  justice,  into  the 
greatest  court  of  the  world.  As  a  student,  pos- 
sessed of  a  keen,  logical  mind,  with  the  soul  of  a 
poet,  she  early  evinced  a  deep  love  for  learning, 
and  made  the  most  of  the  limited  educational  ad- 
vantages which  were  then  deemed  more  than  suf- 
ficient for  girls.  After  studying  at  Kenosha  and 
the  ladies'  seminary  in  Elgin,  Myra  engaged  in 
teaching. 

May  18,  1852,  Myra  Colby  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  James  B.  Bradwell.  Soon  after  her  mar- 
riage she  removed  with  her  husband  to  Memphis, 
Tennessee.  While  there  she  proved  herself  a 
veritable  helpmate,  conducting  with  her  husband 
the  largest  select  school  in  the  city.  In  two 
years  they  returned  to  Chicago,  where  her  hus- 
band engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  and 


where  they  have  since  resided.  With  the  ardor 
of  a  true  patriot,  she  could  not  remain  inactive 
when  danger  threatened  the  Government  which 
her  Revolutionary  ancestors  fought  to  establish. 
During  the  war  she  helped  care  for  the  suffering, 
the  wounded  and  the  dying.  The  Soldiers'  Fair 
of  1863,  and  the  Fair  of  1867  for  the  benefit  of 
the  families  of  soldiers,  had  no  more  active  or 
efficient  worker  than  Mrs.  Bradwell.  She  was  a 
member  and  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Arms, 
Trophies  and  Curiosities  of  the  great  Northwest- 
ern Sanitary  Fair,  and  was  the  leading  spirit  in 
producing  that  artistic  and  beautiful  exhibition  in 
Bryan  Hall  in  1865.  When  the  war  was  over, 
she  assisted  in  providing  a  home  for  the  scarred 
and  maimed  and  dependent  veterans  who  shoul- 
dered the  musket  to  preserve  the  Union. 

Becoming  deeply  interested  in  her  husband's 
profession,  she  commenced  the  study  of  law  un- 
der his  tutelage,  at  first  with  no  thought  of  be- 
coming a  practicing  lawyer,  but  subsequently  she 
decided  to  make  the  profession  her  life  work,  and 
applied  herself  diligently  to  its  study.  In  1868 
she  established  the  "Chicago  Legal  News,"  the 
first  weeekly  law  periodical  published  in  the  West, 
and  the  first  paper  of  its  kind  edited  by  a  woman 
in  the  world,  and  which  stands  to-day  the  best 
monument  to  her  memory.  Believing  fully  in 
the  power  of  the  law,  she  adopted  as  the  motto 
of  the  "Legal  News"  the  words  Lex  Vincit,  which 
have  always  been  at  the  head  of  its  columns. 
Practical  newspaper  men  and  prominent  lawyers 
at  once  predicted  its  failure,  but  they  under-esti- 
mated the  ability  and  power  of  its  editor.  She 
obtained  from  the  Legislature  special  acts  mak- 
ing all  the  laws  of  Illinois  and  the  opinions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  printed  in  her  paper 
evidence  in  the  courts.  She  made  the  paper  a 
success  from  the  start,  and  it  was  soon  recognized 
by  the  Bench  and  Bar  throughout  the  country  as 
one  of  the  best  legal  periodicals  in  the  United 
States.  With  her  sagacity,  enterprise  and  mas- 
terful business  ability  she  built  up  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  printing  and  publishing  houses 
in  the  West.  Two  instances  may  be  cited  to 
show  her  business  energy  and  enterprise.  From 
the  year  1869,  when  she  first  began  to  publish 


MYRA  BRADWELL. 


137 


the  Illinois  session  laws,  she  always  succeeded 
in  getting  her  edition  out  many  weeks  in  advance 
of  any  other  edition.  At  the  Chicago  fire,  in 
common  with  thousands  of  others,  she  lost  home 
and  business  possessions,  but,  undismayed  by 
misfortune,  she  hastened  to  Milwaukee,  had  the 
paper  printed  and  published  on  the  regular  pub- 
lication day,  and  thus  not  an  issue  of  her  paper 
was  lost  during  this  trying  time  in  our  city's 
history. 

She  finally  decided  to  apply  for  admission  to  the 
Bar  and  to  practice  law.  She  had  been  permitted 
to  work  side  by  side  with  her  husband  as  a  most 
successful  teacher,  why  not  as  a  lawyer  ? 

In  1869  she  passed  a  most  creditable  examina- 
tion for  the  Bar,  but  was  denied  admission  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  upon  the  ground  that 
she  was  a  married  woman,  her  married  state  be- 
ing considered  a  disability.  She  knew  that  the 
real  reason  had  not  been  given.  She  filed  an  ad- 
ditional brief  which  combated  the  position  of  the 
court  with  great  force,  and  compelled  the  court 
to  give  the  true  reason.  In  due  time  the  court, 
by  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Lawrence,  delivered  an  elab- 
orate opinion,  in  which  it  was  said,  upon  mature 
deliberation,  the  court  had  concluded  to  refuse  to 
admit  Mrs.  Bradwell  upon  the  sole  ground  that 
she  was  a  woman.  She  sued  out  a  writ  of  error 
against  the  State  of  Illinois  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Her  case  in  that  tribunal 
was  argued  in  1871  by  Senator  Matt  Carpenter. 
In  May,  1873,  the  judgment  of  the  lower  court 
was  affirmed  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Chase,  who  never  failed 
to  give  his  powerful  testimony  to  aid  in  lifting 
woman  from  dependence  and  helplessness  to 
strength  and  freedom,  true  to  his  principles,  dis- 
sented. As  has  been  well  said,  "the  discussion 
of  the  Myra  Bradwell  case  had  the  inevitable  ef- 
fect of  letting  sunlight  through  many  cobwebbed 
windows.  It  is  not  so  much  by  abstract  reason- 
ing as  by  visible  examples  that  reformations 
come,  and  Mrs.  Bradwell  offered  herself  as  a  living 
example  of  the  injustice  of  the  law.  A  woman  of 
learning,  genius,  industry  and  high  character, 
editor  of  the  first  law  journal  in  the  West,  forbid- 
den by  law  to  practice  law,  was  too  much  for  the 


public  conscience,  tough  as  that  conscience  is. " 
Although  Mrs.  Bradwell,  with  Miss  Hulett, 
was  instrumental  in  securing  the  passage  of  a 
law  in  Illinois  granting  to  all  persons,  irrespec- 
tive of  sex,  freedom  in  the  selection  of  an  occu- 
pation, profession  or  employment,  she  never  re- 
newed her  application  for  admission  to  the  Bar. 
Twenty  years  after,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois,  on  their  own  motion,  performed 
a  noble  act  of  justice  and  directed  license  to  prac- 
tice law  to  be  issued  to  her,  and  March  28,  1892, 
upon  motion  of  Attorney- General  Miller,  Mrs. 
Bradwell  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States. 

A  pioneer  in  opening  the  legal  profession  for 
women,  Myra  Bradwell's  signal  service  to  her 
sex  has  been  in  the  field  of  law  reform.  Finding 
women  and  children  without  adequate  protection 
in  the  law,  she  devoted  herself  with  the  zeal  of 
an  enthusiast  to  secure  such  protection.  One  of 
the  most  wonderful  phases  of  her  character  was 
the  power  which  she  exerted  in  securing  these 
changes  in  the  law. 

It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  note  that 
she  was  the  only  married  woman  who  was  ever 
given  her  own  earnings  by  special  act  of  the 
Legislature.  She  drafted  the  bill  giving  a  mar- 
ried woman  a  right  to  her  own  earnings.  A  case 
in  point,  so  monstrous  in  its  injustice,  gave  an 
added  impetus  to  her  zeal.  A  drunkard,  who 
owed  a  saloon-keeper  for  his  whisky,  had  a  wife 
who  earned  her  own  living  as  a  scrubwoman, 
and  the  saloon-keeper  garnisheed  the  people  who 
owed  her  and  levied  on  her  earnings  to  pay  her 
husband's  liquor  bill.  It  needed  but  an  applica- 
tion like  this  for  her  to  succeed  in  her  efforts  to 
pass  the  bill.  She  also  secured  the  passage  of 
the  law  giving  to  a  widow  her  award  in  all  cases. 
Believing  thoroughly  in  the  principle  enunciated 
by  John  Stuart  Mill,  "of  perfect  equality,  admit- 
ting no  privilege  on  the  one  side  nor  disabil- 
ity on  the  other, ' '  she  was  an  enthusiastic  sup- 
porter of  the  bill  granting  to  a  husband  the 
same  interest  in  a  wife's  estate  that  the  wife  had 
in  the  husband's.  While  holding  most  advanced 
views  upon  the  woman  question,  she  recognized 
that  the  prejudice  of  years  cannot  be  overcome  in 


138 


MYRA  BRADWELL. 


a  day,  and  that  the  work  must  be  done  by  de- 
grees. 

She  therefore  never  missed  an  opportunity  to 
try  to  secure  any  change  in  the  law  which  would 
enlarge  the  sphere  of  woman.  With  this  purpose 
in  view,  she  applied  to  the  Governor  to  be  ap- 
pointed Notary  Public.  Finding  her  womanhood 
a  bar  to  even  this  humble  office,  she  induced  her 
husband,  who  was  in  the  Legislature,  to  intro- 
duce a  bill  making  women  eligible  to  the  office  of 
Notary  Public,  which  bill  became  a  law.  The 
bill  drafted  by  her  husband  permitting  women  to 
act  as  school  officers,  and  which  was  passed  while 
he  was  in  the  legislature,  received  her  hearty  sup- 
port. In  all  the  reforms  which  Mrs.  Bradwell  se- 
cured, she  was  not  acting  as  the  representative  of 
any  organization,  but  they  were  secured  through 
her  personal  influence.  Twice  Mrs.  Bradwell 
was  honored  by  special  appointment  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, being  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  Prison 
Reform  Congress  at  St.  Louis;  and  it  was  mainly 
by  her  efforts  that  women,  after  a  severe  contest, 
were  allowed  a  representation  on  the  list  of  officers, 
she  declining  to  accept  any  office  herself;  subse- 
quently she  was  appointed  by  the  Governor  as 
one  of  the  Illinois  Centennial  Association  to  repre- 
sent Illinois  in  the  Centennial  Exhibition  of  1876. 
Mrs.  Bradwell  circulated  the  call  for  the  first 
Woman  Suffrage  Convention  held  in  Chicago, 
in  1869,  and  was  one  of  its  Vice-Presidents.  She 
was  one  of  the  active  workers  in  the  suffrage 
convention  held  in  Springfield  in  1869,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  one  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Illinois  Woman  Suffrage  Association.  She 
also  took  an  active  part  in  the  convention  at 
Cleveland  which  formed  the  American  Woman's 
Suffrage  Association.  Once  only  was  she  per- 
mitted to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage.  Under 
the  recent  school  law  in  Illinois  she  cast  her  bal- 
lot for  the  first  and  last  time,  her  death  occurring 
on  the  fourteenth  day  of  February,  1894. 

A  thorough  Chicagoan,  in  the  life,  progress 
and  best  interests  of  her  city  she  had  a  citizen's 
interest  and  a  patriot's  pride.  She  was  untiring 
in  her  efforts  to  secure  the  World's  Fair  for  Chi- 
cago, accompanied  the  commission  to  Washing- 


ton, and  rendered  valuable  services  there  in  ob- 
taining the  location  of  the  Exposition  in  Chicago. 
She  was  appointed  one  of  the  Board  of  Lady 
Managers,  and  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Law  Reform  of  its  auxiliary  congress.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  woman  who  labored 
so  courageously,  persistently  and  effectively  to 
secure  for  women  their  rights  was  herself  a  rep- 
resentative in  the  first  national  legislature  of 
women  to  be  authorized  by  any  Government. 

Mrs.  Bradwell  was  the  first  woman  who  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Associa- 
tion and  the  Illinois  Press  Association;  was  a 
charter  member  of  the  Soldiers'  Home  Board, 
the  Illinois  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  the  Wash- 
ingtonian  Home,  and  the  first  Masonic  chapter 
organized  for  women  in  Illinois,  over  which  she 
presided;  was  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Women's 
Club,  the  daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 
the  Grand  Army  Relief  Corps,  the  National  Press 
League  and  the  Woman's  Press  Association. 

A  gentle  and  noiseless  woman,  her  tenderness 
and  refinement  making  the  firmness  of  her  char- 
acter all  the  more  effective,  Mrs.  Bradwell  was 
one  of  those  who  live  their  creed  instead  of  preach- 
ing it.  Essentially  a  woman  of  deeds,  not  words, 
she  did  not  spend  her  days  proclaiming  on  the 
rostrum  the  rights  of  women,  but  quietly,  none 
the  less  effectively,  set  to  work  to  clear  away  the 
barriers. 

A  noble  refutation  of  the  oftimes  expressed  be- 
lief that  the  entrance  of  women  in  public  life 
tends  to  lessen  their  distinctively  womanly  char- 
acter, she  was  a  most  devoted  wife  and  mother, 
her  home  being  ideal  in  its  love  and.  harmony. 
She  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom 
survive  her,  Thomas  and  Bessie,  both  lawyers, 
and  the  latter  the  wife  of  a  lawyer,  Frank  A. 
Helmer,  of  the  Chicago  Bar. 

Of  this  gifted  and  honored  lady  it  has  been 
truthfully  said:  "No  more  powerful  and  convinc- 
ing argument  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  women 
to  a  participation  in  the  administration  of  the 
Government  was  ever  made  than  may  be  found 
in  Myra  Bradwell's  character,  conduct  and 
achievements." 


JOHN  FRINK. 


139 


JOHN  FRINK. 


FRINK,  who  was  probably  as  well 
known  as  any  man  in  the  United  States,  out- 
side  of  National  public  life,  was  a  leader  in 
the  operation  of  transportation  lines  before  the 
days  of  railroads,  as  well  as  in  railroad  building 
and  operation.  He  was  born  at  Ashford,  Con- 
necticut, October  17,  1797,  and  died  in  Chicago 
May  21,  1858.  He  represented  the  seventh  gen- 
eration of  his  family  in  America,  being  descended 
from  John  Frink,  who  settled  at  New  London, 
Connecticut,  previous  to  1650.  The  last-named 
took  part  in  King  Philip's  War,  as  a  Colonial  sol- 
dier, and  for  his  services  in  that  conflict  was 
awarded  by  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut  a 
grant  of  two  hundred  acres  of  land  and  permis- 
sion to  retain  his  arms. 

John  Frink,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
notice,  removed  about  1810  from  Ashford,  Con- 
necticut, to  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  becoming 
the  proprietor  of  the  Stockbridge  Inn,  a  noted 
hostelry,  which  is  still  kept  there.  He  afterward 
kept  taverns  at  Northampton  and  Palmer,  Mass- 
achusetts. His  death  occurred  at  the  latter  place 
in  1847,  at  the  age  of  sixty  years. 

While  a  young  man,  John  Frink,  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  started  out  in  the  operation  of 
a  stage  line.  One  of  his  first  ventures  was  the 
establishment  of  a  stage  line  between  Boston  and 
Albany,  by  way  of  Stockbridge.  His  partner  in 
this  enterprise  was  Chester  W.  Chapin,  of  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  afterward  conspicuous  in 
railroad  operations.  A  branch  to  New  York  City 
was  soon  added,  and  the  undertaking  was  entire- 
ly successful,  becoming  a  prosperous  medium  of 
travel.  Mr.  Frink  was  subsequently  instrument- 
al in  the  establishment  of  a  stage  line  between 
Montreal  and  New  York,  an  undertaking  of  con- 
siderable magnitude  in  those  days. 

About  1830  he  made  a  trip,  by  way  of  Pitts- 
burgh, to  New  Orleans,  and  was  so  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  development  and  progress  of  the 


West  that  he  determined  to  transfer  the  field  of 
his  operations  to  a  new  territory.  Accordingly, 
in  1836,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  soon  after  his 
arrival  purchased  the  stage  line  in  operation  be- 
tween Chicago  and  Ottawa,  Illinois.  He  soon 
afterward  established  a  connecting  line  of  steam- 
boats on  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  be- 
tween the  latter  point  and  St.  Louis,  and  the 
route  thus  completed  immediately  became  a  pop- 
ular thoroughfare.  Another  stage  line  was  short- 
ly afterwards  put  into  operation  between  Galena 
and  Chicago,  by  way  of  Freeport.  Galena  was 
then  the  metropolis  of  the  Northwest,  and  this 
line  of  stages  became  the  most  important  over- 
land route  of  travel  in  that  region.  Another  ex- 
tensive undertaking  was  the  establishment  of 
stages  between  Chicago  and  Madison,  Wisconsin. 
The  business  was  conducted  at  the  outset  by  the 
firm  of  John  Frink  &  Company,  later  known  as 
Frink  &  Walker.  This  became  one  of  the  most 
powerful  business  concerns  in  the  Northwest,  and 
its  operations  eventually  extended  to  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  and  Fort  Snelling,  Minnesota.  All  compe- 
tition was  driven  out  of  the  way,  even  though 
business  was  sometimes  conducted  for  a  season  at 
a  loss,  in  order  to  maintain  their  supremacy.  An 
immense  number  of  men  and  horses  was  em- 
ployed. The  stage  sheds  were  located  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and  Ran- 
dolph Street,  with  extensive  repair  shops  adja- 
cent; and  the  principal  stage  office  was  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Dearborn  and  Lake  Streets, 
opposite  the  Tremont  House,  then  the  principal 
hotel  of  Chicago. 

One  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  busi- 
ness was  the  carriage  of  the  United  States  mails, 
and  the  securing  and  care  of  the  contracts  for  the 
same  kept  Mr.  Frink  in  Washington  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  time,  and  brought  him  in  contact  and 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  leading  politicians 
and  public  men  of  the  nation.  These  contracts, 


140 


O.  B.  PHELPS. 


which  involved  large  sums  of  money,  were  faith- 
fully carried  out,  a  fact  which  enabled  him  to 
hold  them  in  spite  of  aggressive  competition.  He 
was  a  man  of  rare  executive  ability,  excelling  the 
various  partners  with  whom  he  was  associated  in 
that  respect  to  such  a  degree  that  he  was  kept 
constantly  on  the  move  to  regulate  the  adminis- 
tration of  business.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  phys- 
ical make-up  and  of  most  unusual  colloquial  and 
conversational  abilities,  which  made  him  popular 
in  any  circle  where  he  chanced  to  be.  He  was 
extremely  fastidious  in  dress  and  the  care  of  his 
personal  appearance,  and  required  the  most  scru- 
pulous care  and  thrift  in  all  his  employes.  No 
man  who  failed  to  keep  matters  under  his  charge 
in  first-class  order  could  remain  a  day  in  his  em- 
ploy. 

When  the  steam  locomotive  became  a  practical 
success,  Mr.  Frink  at  once  saw  that  it  would  su- 
persede the  horse  as  a  means  of  propelling  pas- 
senger vehicles.  He  accordingly  began  to  close 
out  his  interests  in  the  stage  business,  transfer- 
ring his  capital  and  energy  to  railroad  building 
and  operation.  He  was  one  of  the  prime  movers 
in  the  construction  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena  Un- 
ion Railroad,  and  also  the  Peoria  &  Oquawka, 
now  a  part  of  the  great  Burlington  System,  and 
in  the  Peoria  &  Bureau  Valley  Railroad,  at  pres- 
ent a  branch  of  the  Rock  Island  System.  He 
did  not  live  to  witness  the  ultimate  completion 
of  these  lines,  but  their  success  vindicated  his 
foresight  and  judgment. 

Mr.    Frink  was  first  married  to  Martha    R. 


Marcy,  who  died  in  Chicago  in  1839,  leaving 
three  children:  John,  Harvey  and  Helen.  The 
last-named  became  the  wife  of  Warren  T.  Hecox, 
one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Chicago  Board 
of  Trade,  and  all  are  now  deceased.  For  his 
second  wife  he  chose  Miss  Harriet  Farnsworth, 
who  was  born  in  Woodstock,  Vermont,  July  2, 
1810,  and  died  at  Wheaton,  Illinois,  March  7, 
1884.  Her  father,  Stephen  Farnsworth,  was  a 
descendant  of  Matthias  Farnsworth,  an  early  set- 
tler of  Groton,  Massachusetts.  The  descendants 
of  the  last-named,  in  direct  line,  were  Samuel, 
who  was  born  at  Groton,  October  8,  1669;  Steph- 
en, bornin  1714,  died  at  Charleston,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  who  took  part  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  in  which  two  of  his  brothers  were  killed. 
Stephen,  Jr.,  father  of  Mrs.  Frink,  was  born  in 
Charleston,  New  Hampshire,  June  20,  1764.  He 
moved  to  South  Woodstock,  Vermont,  where  he 
became  a  prominent  farmer  and  miller.  He 
served  as  a  member  of  the  Vermont  Legislature, 
and  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  a  great  many 
years. 

Mrs.  Harriet  Frink  was  one  of  the  earliest 
members  of  St.  James'  Episcopal  Church  of  Chi- 
cago, and  when  Trinity  Church  was  formed  on 
the  South  Side  she  joined  that  society.  She  aft- 
erwards became  a  member  of  Christ  Church,  and 
continued  to  be  a  communicant  thereof  until  her 
death,  both  she  and  her  husband  being  buried 
from  that  church.  Their  children  are  George, 
Henry  F.,  and  Eva,  Mrs  John  W.  Bennett,  all  of 
whom  reside  at  Austin,  Illinois. 


OTHNIEL  B.  PHELPS. 


ITHNIEL  BREWSTER  PHELPS.     The 

subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at   Cones- 
ville,  Schoharie  County,  New  York,  Febru- 
ary 18,  1821,  and  was  the  elder  of  two  children 


springing  from  the  marriage  of  George  W.  Phelps 
with  Zerviah  Potter.  His  mother  dying  when 
Othniel  was  only  two  years  of  age,  his  father 
married  Mary  Chapman  in  the  year  1824, 


O.  B.  PHELPS. 


141 


wherefrom  it  will  be  seen  that  his  step-mother 
was  the  only  maternal  parent  of  whom  he  ever 
had  a  memory.  From  this  second  union  eight 
children  came  into  being,  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
William  Wallace  Phelps,  a  sketch  of  whom  will 
be  found  upon  other  pages  in  this  work;  in  con- 
nection with  which  will  also  be  found  a  succinct 
account  of  the  Phelps  genealogy,  which,  for  ob- 
vious reasons,  is  not  reprinted  at  this  place. 

His  early  life  was  spent  upon  a  farm  (it  seems 
as  if  the  farms  of  that  generation  did  the  raising 
of  all  the  brains,  as  well  as  vegetables,  etcetera, 
of  the  country),  and  his  erudition,  save  the  self- 
learned,  was  limited  to  the  common  school.  At 
a  very  youthful  age,  he  went  to  Catskill,  New 
York,  as  clerk  in  the  mercantile  house  of  Joshua 
Fiero,  and,  being  one  of  unusual  energy  and  self- 
reliance,  after  a  few  years  he  started  a  mercantile 
business  for  himself  at  Windham,  Greene  County, 
New  York,  to  which  place  he  removed,  and  in 
which  occupation  he  was  engaged  for  the  next 
succeeding  six  years. 

Selling  out  at  the  end  of  that  period  at  an  ad- 
vantage, he  removed  to  Williamstown,  New  York, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  tanning  business,  be- 
coming the  possessor  of  one  of  the  finest  proper- 
ties in  that  part  of  the  country  at  that  time  (  es- 
pecially notable  in  one  of  so  few  years) .  He  was 
estimated  to  be  worth  an  estate  of  $80,000,  which, 
however,  was  entirely  swept  away  by  the  panic 
of  1857. 

Almost  directly  with  the  disappearance  of  his 
household  gods,  he  set  his  face  towards  the  then 
far  West  to  retrieve,  as  fortune  should  favor  him, 
his  lost  accumulations.  Chicago  was  the  fortun- 
ate end  of  his  journey,  which  was  not  then,  as 
might  be  now,  wooed  into  a  longer  continuance 
than  necessary  by  luxurious  conveniences  for 
treveling.  He  bought  a  house  on  West  Madison 
Street;  but  within  a  few  years  found  the  spot 
henceforth  to  be  most  dear  to  him  on  earth,  pur- 
chasing again,  at  Number  2427  Indiana  Avenue. 
The  large  brick  mansion,  standing  to-day  nearly  as 
he  found  it,  was  one  of  the  finest  places  in  the 
city  at  that  time,  and  a  veritable  landmark  in  this 
generation;  for  in  the  early  sixties  and  for 
long  after  this  was  well  out  on  the  edge  of  the 


town,  viewing  to  the  westward,  as  far  as  Michi- 
gan Avenue,  a  thrifty  cornfield  in  summer  time. 
His  business  relations  from  the  start  were  with 
our  prince  of  citizens,  Potter  Palmer,  for  whom 
he  acted  as  confidential  adviser  and  credit  man, 
with  power  of  attorney  (a  position  of  great  re- 
sponsibilities) up  to  the  time  of  the  Big  Fire  in 
1871.  From  this  time,  although  in  the  very  mer- 
idian of  life,  hale  and  hearty,  having  re-made  a 
conspicuous  estate,  he  lived  the  retired  life  of  a 
gentleman  of  leisure. 

Politically  he  was  a  Republican,  and  for  sever- 
al years  he  acted  as  a  prominent  City  Alderman, 
closing  his  record  thus  in  1882,  because  of  the 
results  of  an  outspoken  nature,  which  would  nev- 
er quietly  allow  public  wrongs  to  be  attempted. 

He  was  a  keen  lover  of  finely  bred  dogs  and 
horses,  of  which  he  owned  many  in  his  time, 
finding  in  this  about  his  only  real  extravagance. 
Most  pleasant  days  found  him  on  the  boulevards 
behind  as  fine  a  pair  of  gentleman's  drivers  as 
our  city  could  boast;  and  when  a  better  pair  passed 
him  on  the  road,  he  quietly  remarked  to  himself, 
"That  is  the  team  I  want."  From  this  trait,  it 
has  been  said,  those  who  knew  this  proud  weak- 
ness often  realized  exceptional  prices  for  horses 
from  one  who,  they  knew,  would  have  them,  if  he 
had  set  his  mind  that  way,  regardless  of  cost.  In 
this  connection  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  he 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  famous  Washington 
Park  Club,  now  for  long  years  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  places  for  race  meetings  in  the 
country. 

Not  what  would  be  called  a  pious  man,  he  was 
none  the  less  a  fair-minded,  public-spirited  citi- 
zen, who  was  a  great  credit  to  our  city  (more  so, 
perhaps,  than  some  who  are  prominent  in  mat- 
ters ecclesiastical) ,  and  a  regular  attendant  at  Dr. 
Scudder's  Congregational  Church.  Between  Dr. 
Scudder  and  Mr.  Phelps  there  was  a  deep  and 
wholesome  regard,  and  this  pastor  officiated  with 
much  feeling  at  the  final  obsequies,  after  which 
the  remains  were  borne  to  Graceland  Cemetery, 
where  they  lie  at  the  foot  of  a  sightly  monument. 
Physically,  he  was  a  portly  man;  facially,  he 
had  a  physiognomy  in  which  all  could  read  a  grim 
determination  that  whatsoever  was  undertaken 


I42 


O.  B.  PHELPS. 


would,  the  Heavens  permitting,  be  put  through; 
yet,  he  was  kind  and  generous;  though  blunt, 
warm-hearted  indeed.  His  health  was  uniformly 
good,  save  for  the  vital  lurkings  of  the  insidious 
heart  disease,  which  suddenly  took  him  hence  on 
the  seventh  day  of  February,  1891. 

Mr.  Phelps  was  twice  married.  First,  to  Miss 
Emerette  Steele  of  Windham,  New  York,  about 
the  year  1846.  She  died,  without  issue,  in  the 
year  1880,  and  was  buried  at  Graceland.  Second, 
to  Mrs.  Sarah  Van  Buren,  the  widow  of  Aaroii 
R.  Van  Buren,  of  Catskill,  New  York,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1882.  Her  first  husband  was  of  the  family 
of  the  so-called  "Kinderhook"  (New  York)  Van- 
Burens,  which  has  produced  a  number  of  illus- 
trious men,  chief  among  them  being  our  eighth 
National  Chief  Magistrate,  Martin  Van  Buren. 

Mrs.  Sarah  (Van  Buren)  Phelps  survives  her 
husband,  in  good  health,  and  without  children. 
Mrs.  Phelps'  parents  were  Franklin  and  Hannah 
(Groom)  Graham,  of  Catskill,  New  York,  her  fa- 
ther being  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Martha  (French) 
Graham,  of  Windham,  New  York.  Her  grand- 
mother French  was  of  French  parentage,  and 
from  Montreal,  Canada.  It  is  needless  to  remark 
that  the  Grahams  are  of  Scotch  antecedents. 
From  Beers'  "History  of  Greene  County,  New 
York"  (p.  402),  we  learn  that  the  said  Samuel 
Graham  went  from  Con  way,  Massachusetts,  about 
the  year  1800  to  Windham,  New  York,  where,  in 
the  village,  he  bought  of  one  Constant  A.  Andrews 
a  property  (at  present  known  as  the  Matthews 
Place,  and  owned  by  N.  D.  Hill),  whereon  the 
first  tannery  of  the  place,  a  large  one  for  the 
times,  was  constructed  prior  to  1805  by  said 
Samuel  Graham.  The  latter  passed  into  a  son's 
hands,  and  continued  to  be  operated  up  to  1832. 
Samuel  died  there  in  1830,  aged  seventy  years. 

The  Massachusetts  Grahams  are  undoubtedly 
descended  from  old  Connecticut  stock,  which  has 
been  very  prolific  in  numbers  and  emigrating 
members  to  other  of  the  United  States,  not  a  few 
of  whom  have  made  prominent  names  for  them- 
selves. From  Cothren's  "History  of  Ancient 
Woodbury,  Connecticut"  (pp.  545  et  seq.},  we 


glean  the  following  of  both  the  trans-Atlantic  and 
native  tree: 

The  family  arms  are:  Or,  on  a  chief  sable  three 
escalops  of  the  field;  crest,  an  eagle,  wings  hover- 
ing or,  perched  upon  a  heron  lying  upon  its  back, 
proper  beaked  and  membered  gules;  motto,  Ne 
Onbliez. 

The  family  is  of  great  antiquity,  tracing  its  de- 
scent from  Sir  David  Graeme,  who  held  a  grant 
from  King  William  the  Lion  of  Scotland  from 
1163  to  1214.  His  descendant,  Patrick  Graham, 
was  made  a  Lord  in  Parliament  about  1445,  and 
his  grandson,  William,  Lord  Graham,  was,  in 
1504,  by  James  IV.,  created  Earl  of  Montrose. 
His  son  William  was  second  earl,  succeeded  in 
turn  by  John,  John  (  Junior)  and  James,  fifth  earl, 
a  very  distinguished  character  in  history.  He  was 
born  in  1612,  and  joined  the  Covenanters  against 
Charles  I. ,  but  later  became  loyal  to  his  sovereign, 
who  created  him  Marquis  of  Montrose.  He  had 
a  varied  career,  which  ended  by  his  execution  in 
1645  by  the  axe  on  the  scaffold,  as  did  that  of  so 
many  contemporaries.  He  was  succeeded  by 
James,  James,  and  James,  fourth  Marquis,  who 
was  made  Lord  High  Admiral  of  Scotland  in 
1705,  and  in  1707  Duke  of  Montrose.  Then 
came  David,  Earl  and  Baron  Graham,  succeeded 
by  William  (his  brother),  James,  James,  the 
fourth  Duke  of  Montrose,  etc.,  who  was  a  Com- 
missioner of  India  Affairs,  Knight  of  the  Thistle, 
Lord  Justice-General  of  Scotland,  Chancellor  of 
Scotland,  etc. 

The  Rev.  John  Graham,  A.  M.,  a  second  son 
of  a  Marqnis  of  Montrose,  was  born  in  Edinburgh 
in  1691;  he  graduated  at  the  University  of  Glas- 
gow, and  studied  theology  at  his  native  Edin- 
burgh; came  to  Boston  in  1718,  where  he  married 
Abigail,  a  daughter  of  the  very  celebrated  Dr. 
Chatmcey,  of  Harvard  College.  Later  Rev.  Mr. 
Graham  removed  to  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  but 
in  1722  to  Stafford,  Connecticut,  and  in  1732  to 
Woodbury,  Connecticut,  where  he  lived  until  his 
death,  in  December,  1774.  He  was  an  eminent  man 
and  left  a  family  of  five  sons  and  four  daughters, 
from  whom  are  descended  a  numerous  progeny. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
-...VERSITY  OF  JLL! 


S.  B.  COBP. 


SILAS  B.  COBB. 


(7)ILAS  BOWMAN  COBB.  In  the  entire  his- 
?\  tory  of  the  world  it  has  been  vouchsafed  to 
QjjJ  but  few  men  to  witness  the  growth  of  a  mu- 
nicipality from  a  few  dozen  in  population  to  a 
million  and  a  quarter  souls.  No  story  of  Chicago's 
development  can  be  written  without  cognizance  of 
Silas  B.  Cobb  as  one  of  its  initial  forces.  It  was 
such  sturdy,  self-reliant  and  hopeful  young  men 
as  he  that  began  the  development  of  her  great- 
ness, and  carried  forward  her  growth  in  middle 
and  later  life.  Ever  since  the  little  band  of  Pil- 
grims established  a  home  on  the  rocky  and  frost- 
locked  shores  of  Massachusetts,  New  England  has 
been  peopled  by  a  race  of  enterprising  and  adven- 
turous men,  whose  habits  of  industry  and  high 
moral  character  have  shaped  the  destinies  of  the 
Nation.  It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  the  hamlet 
planted  by  their  descendants  on  the  swampy  shore 
of  Lake  Michigan  in  the  303'  should  become  the 
commercial,  industrial  and  philanthropical  me- 
tropolis of  America. 

Silas  W.  Cobb,  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  gained  a  livelihood  by  various  occupa- 
tions, being  in  turn  a  farmer,  a  tanner  and  a  tav- 
ern-keeper, and  the  son  was  early  engaged  in 
giving  such  assistance  to  his  father  as  he  was  able. 
When  other  boys  were  applying  themselves  to 
their  books,  he  was  obliged  to  employ  his  strength 
iu  support  of  the  family.  His  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Hawkes,  died  when  he  was  an 
infant,  and  he  knew  little  of  maternal  love  or  care, 
growing  up  in  the  habit  of  self-reliance  which 
carried  him  through  many  difficult  enterprises 
and  made  him  a  successful  man.  He  was  born 
in  Montpelier,  Vermont,  January  23,  1812,  and 


is  now  entering  upon  the  eighty-fourth  year  of 
his  age.  He  is  keenly  active  in  mind  and  sound 
in  body,  taking  a  participating  interest  in  all  the 
affairs  of  life. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  young  Cobb  was  regu- 
larly "bound  out,"  according  to  the  custom  of 
those  days,  for  a  term  of  years,  as  apprentice  to  a 
harness-maker,  having  previously  made  a  begin- 
ning as  a  shoemaker,  which  did  not  suit  his  taste. 
Within  a  twelvemonth  after  he  was  "articled"  to 
the  harness-maker,  his  employer  sold  out,  and  the 
new  proprietor  endeavored  to  keep  the  lad  as  an 
appurtenance  to  his  purchase.  Against  this  the 
manly  independence  of  the  youth  rebelled,  and  the 
new  proprietor  was  obliged  to  give  him  more  ad- 
vantageous terms  than  he  had  before  enjoyed. 
Having  become  a  journeyman,  he  found  employ- 
ment in  his  native  State,  but  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  conditions  surrounding  him.  After  nine 
months  of  continuous  toil  and  frugal  living,  he 
was  enabled  to  save  only  $ 60,  and  he  resolved  to 
try  his  fortune  in  the  new  country  to  the  then 
far  West. 

Joining  a  company  then  being  formed  at  Mont- 
pelier to  take  up  land  previously  located  by 
Oliver  Goss,  the  young  man— having  but  just  at- 
tained his  majority — iu  spite  of  his  father's  re- 
monstrance, set  out.  From  Albany,  the  trip  to 
Buffalo  was  made  by  canal  packet,  and  iu  the 
journey  from  home  to  this  point  all  his  little  sav- 
ings, except  $7,  were  exhausted.  The  schooner 
'  'Atlanta' '  was  about  to  leave  Buffalo  for  Chicago, 
and  Mr.  Cobb  at  once  explained  to  the  captain 
his  predicament.  The  fare  to  Chicago  was  just 
$7,  but  this  did  not  include  board,  and  Mr.  Cobb 


144 


S.  B.  COBB. 


was  delighted,  as  well  as  surprised,  when  the 
captain  told  him  to  secure  provisions  for  the  jour- 
ney and  he  would  carry  him  to  Chicago  for  the 
balance.  After  a  boisterous  voyage  of  five  weeks, 
anchor  was  dropped  opposite  the  little  settlement 
called  Chicago.  Its  hundred  white  and  half-breed 
inhabitants  were  sheltered  by  log  huts,  while  the 
seventy  soldiers  forming  the  garrison  occupied 
Fort  Dearborn.  And  now  a  new  hardship  assailed 
the  young  pioneer.  Disregarding  the  bargain 
made  in  Buffalo,  the  tricky  commander  of  the 
schooner  refused  to  let  him  leave  its  deck  until 
his  passage  money  had  been  paid  in  full.  For 
three  days  he  was  detained  in  sight  of  the  promised 
land,  until  he  was  delivered  by  a  generous 
stranger,  who  came  on  board  to  secure  passage  to 
Buffalo.  His  first  earnings  on  shore  were  applied 
by  Mr.  Cobb  in  repaying  the  sum  advanced  by 
his  kind  deliverer.  Before  the  boat  sailed  he 
found  employment  on  a  building  which  James 
Kinzie  was  erecting  for  a  hotel.  He  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  builder's  trade,  but  had  pluck  and 
shrewdness,  and  took  hold  with  such  will  that  he 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  work,  at  a  salary  of 
$2.75  per  day — a  very  liberal  remuneration  in  his 
estimation.  The  building  was  constructed  of  logs 
and  unplaned  boards,  and  did  not  require  a  very 
high  order  of  architectural  skill,  but  within  a 
few  days  a  man,  seeking  the  position,  called  at- 
tention to  the  lack  of  experience  on  the  part  of 
the  youthful  superintendent,  and  clinched  the 
matter  by  offering  to  do  the  work  for  fifty  cents 
less  per  day. 

Mr.  Cobb  now  invested  his  earnings  in  a  stock 
of  trinkets  and  began  to  trade  with  the  Indians, 
by  which  he  secured  a  little  capital,  and  resolved 
to  erect  a  building  of  his  own  and  go  into  busi- 
ness. The  nearest  sawmill  was  at  Plainfield,  forty 
miles  southwest  of  Chicago,  across  unbroken 
prairies.  Getting  his  directions  from  an  Indian, 
Mr.  Cobb  set  out  on  foot  to  purchase  the  lumber 
for  his  building.  There  being  no  trail,  he  was 
guided  solely  by  the  groves  which  grew  at  long 
intervals,  and  found  only  one  human  habitation 
on  the  way.  From  one  of  the  settlers  at  Plain- 
field  he  secured  the  use  of  three  yoke  of  oxen  and 
a  wagon,  with  which  to  bring  home  his  purchase 


of  lumber.  He  was  but  fairly  started  when  a 
three-days  rain  set  in,  and  the  surface  of  the 
prairies  became  so  soft  that  the  wagon  sank  deep 
in  the  mud,  making  progress  almost  impossible 
and  compelling  an  occasional  lightening  of  the 
load  by  throwing  off  a  part.  After  sleeping  three 
nights  on  the  wagon  with  such  shelter  as  could 
be  made  with  boards  from  the  load,  with  the  rain 
beating  down  pitilessly  and  the  wolves'  howling 
the  only  accompaniment,  he  arrived  at  the  Des 
Plaines  River,  still  twelve  miles  from  his  destina- 
tion. The  stream  was  so  swollen  by  the  rains 
that  it  was  impossible  to  cross  with  the  wagon, 
and  the  balance  of  the  load  was  thrown  off  and 
the  oxen  turned  loose  to  find  their  way  back  to 
their  owner,  which  they  did  without  accident. 
After  the  rains  were  over  and  the  ground  became 
settled,  the  trip  was  repeated,  the  lumber  recov- 
ered and  brought  safely  to  Chicago.  These  are 
some  of  the  experiences  of  the  pioneer,  and  can 
never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  pass  through 
them. 

When  Mr.  Cobb  had  completed  his  building, 
which  was  two  stories  in  height,  he  rented  the 
upper  story,  and  began  business  on  the  ground 
floor.  The  capital  consisted  of  $30,  furnished  by 
Mr.  Goss,  who  was  a  partner  in  the  venture,  and 
was  invested  in  stock  for  a  harness  shop.  The 
industry  and  business  ability  of  the  working  part- 
ner caused  the  enterprise  to  prosper  and  grow, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  year  he  withdrew  and  set 
up  business  on  his  individual  account  in  larger 
quarters.  His  business  continued  to  grow,  and 
in  1848  he  sold  out  at  a  good  advance.  He  then 
engaged  in  the  general  boot  and  shoe,  hide  and 
leather  trade,  in  partnership  with  William  Os- 
borne,  and  found  success  beyond  his  fondest  an- 
ticipations, and  in  1852  he  retired  from  mercan- 
tile operations.  About  the  same  time,  he  was 
appointed  executor  of  the  estate  of  Joel  Matteson 
and  guardian  of  the  latter's  five  children.  When 
this  trust  closed  in  1866,  the  estate  was  found  to 
have  been  vastly  benefited  by  his  shrewd  man- 
agement of  the  trust. 

With  characteristic  foresight,  Mr.  Cobb  early 
began  to  invest  in  Chicago  realty,  and  the  wisdom 
of  his  calculations  has  been  abundantly  demon- 


S.  B.  COBB. 


strated.  He  has  also  been  identified  with  semi- 
public  enterprises,  or  those  which  largely  con- 
cerned and  benefited  the  city,  while  yielding  a 
return  to  the  investors.  In  1855  he  was  elected 
a  Director  of  the  Chicago  Gas  Light  and  Coke 
Company,  and  subsequently  one  of  the  Board  of 
Managers.  This  position  he  held  until  he  sold 
his  interest  and  retired  from  the  company  in  1887. 
It  was  his  executive  ability  which  was  largely  re- 
sponsible for  the  establishment  of  cable  roads  in 
the  city,  those  on  State  Street  and  Wabash  Ave- 
nue being  constructed  under  his  advice  and  direc- 
tion, while  President  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway. 
He  is  still  active  in  the  councils  of  that  company, 
as  well  as  of  the  West  Division  horse  railway. 
For  many  years  he  was  among  the  controlling 
members  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena  Union  and 
Beloit  &  Madison  Railroads,  now  a  part  of  the 
Northwestern  System  (see  biography  of  John  B. 
Turner).  Mr.  Cobb  is  a  Director  of  the  National 
Bank  of  Illinois,  and  several  blocks  of  fine  build- 
ings in  the  business  district  contribute  to  his  in- 
come, as  the  result  of  his  faith  in  the  city  and 
sagacity  in  selection. 

While  being  prospered,  he  has  not  forgotten  to 
add  to  his  own  felicity  by  contributing  to  the  happi- 
ness of  others.  He  has  been  one  of  the  kindest 
husbands  and  fathers,  and  not  only  his  family  but 
the  city  of  his  home  have  often  shared  in  his  bene- 
factions. When  the  effort  to  raise  $1,000,000  for 
the  buildings  of  the  new  University  of  Chicago 
was  straining  every  resource  of  the  Trustees,  Mr. 
Cobb  came  forward  unsolicited  and  donated  $150,- 
ooo,  assuring  the  success  of  the  movement.  The 
"History  of  Chicago,"  by  John  Moses,  says:  "It 
is  believed  that  up  to  the  time  when  this  subscrip- 
tion was  made,  few,  if  any,  greater  ones  had  ever 
been  made  to  education  by  a  Chicago  citizen  at 
one  time.  A  noble  building,  the  Cobb  Lecture 
Hall,  now  stands  on  the  University  campus,  a 
monument  of  the  builder's  liberality  and  public 
spirit.  As  long  as  the  great  university  endures, 
this  memorial  of  Silas  B.  Cobb's  life  will  stand, 
the  corporation  having  pledged  to  rebuild  the  hall 
if  it  should  be  destroyed."  The  Presbyterian 
Hospital  and  Humane  Society  of  Chicago  are  also 
among  the  beneficiaries  of  his  generosity,  and  Mr. 


Cobb  will  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  city's 
largest  benefactors,  as  well  as  a  successful  busi- 
ness man. 

In  1840  Mr.  Cobb  married  Miss  Maria,  daugh- 
ter of  Daniel  Warren,  whose  biography  appears 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  He  thus  describes  his 
first  meeting  with  his  future  bride:  "I  arrived 
in  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1833.  In  October  of 
the  same  year  I  was  occupying  my  new  shop  op- 
posite the  Kinzie  Hotel — in  the  building  of  which 
my  first  dollar  was  earned  in  Chicago.  Standing 
at  my  shop  one  afternoon,  talking  with  a  neigh- 
bor, my  attention  was  attracted  by  the  arrival  at 
the  hotel  of  a  settler's  wagon  from  the  East.  With 
my  apron  on  and  sleeves  rolled  up,  I  went  with 
my  neighbor  to  greet  the  weary  travelers  and  to 
welcome  them  to  the  hospitalities  of  Fort  Dear- 
born, in  accordance  with  the  free  and  easy  cus- 
toms of  'high  society'  in  those  days.  *  *  *  * 
There  were  several  young  women  in  the  party, 
two  of  them  twin  sisters,  whom  I  thought  partic- 
ularly attractive,  so  much  so  that  I  remarked  to 
my  friend,  after  they  had  departed,  that  when  I 
was  prosperous  enough  so  that  my  pantaloons  and 
brogans  could  be  made  to  meet,  I  was  going  to 
look  up  those  twin  sisters  and  marry  one  of  them 
or  die  in  trying."  The  same  pertinacity  and 
acumen  which  characterized  his  every  undertak- 
ing carried  him  through  seven  years  of  toil  and 
privation  until  he  had  won  the  prize,  which  in- 
deed she  proved  to  be.  Their  wedding  took  place 
on  the  zyth  of  October.  Her  twin  sister  married 
Jerome  Beecher  (for  sketch  of  whom  see  another 
page). 

Mrs.  Cobb  passed  away  on  the  loth  of  May, 
1888.  Of  her  six  children,  only  two  survive. 
Two  daughters  died  in  infancy,  and  Walter,  the 
first-born  and  only  son,  and  Lenore,  wife  of  Joseph 
G.  Coleman,  are  also  deceased.  The  others  are: 
Maria  Louisa,  wife  of  William  B.  Walker,  and 
Bertha,  widow  of  the  late  William  Armour. 

Being  a  man  of  firm  principle,  Mr.  Cobb  has 
always  adhered  to  a  few  simple  rules  of  conduct, 
in  the  adoption  of  which  any  youth  may  hope  to 
win  moderate  success,  at  least.  He  early  discov- 
ered the  disadvantage  of  being  in  debt,  and  made 
it  a  rule  as  soon  as  he  got  out  to  stay  out.  The 


146 


W.  E.  ROLLO. 


other  words  forming  his  motto  are:  Inaustry, 
economy,  temperate  habits  and  unswerving  in- 
tegrity. A  few  more  words  from  the  pen  of  Mr. 
Cobb  will  fittingly  close  this  brief  article.  On 
the  guests'  register  in  the  Vermont  State  Build- 
ing at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  ap- 
peared this  entry  over  his  signature:  '  'A  native 


of  Vermont,  I  left  Montpelier  in  April,  1833,  and 
arrived  at  Fort  Dearborn,  now  the  city  of  Chicago, 
May  29th  of  the  same  year.  I  have  lived  in  Chi- 
cago from  that  time  to  the  present  day.  Every 
building  in  Chicago  has  been  erected  during  my 
residence  here." 


WILLIAM  E.  ROLLO. 


fDQlLLIAM  EGBERT  ROLLO  is  a  well- 
\  A  I  known  citizen  of  Chicago  and  a  veteran 
Y  V  underwriter,  having  been  engaged  in  that 
line  of  business  since  1850.  He  was  born  in  the 
Parish  of  Gilead,  Hebron  Township,  Tolland 
County,  Connecticut,  January  3,  1851.  His  par- 
ents, Ralph  R.  Rollo  and  Sibyl  Post,  were  natives 
of  South  Windsor,  Connecticut.  The  former  was 
a  fanner  by  occupation,  and  a  son  of  William 
Rollo,  who,  in  addition  to  his  agricultural  inter- 
ests, carried  on  the  business  of  a  tanner  and  cur- 
rier. Their  progenitors  were  among  the  earliest 
colonists  of  Connecticut,  and  traced  their  lineage, 
through  a  long  line  of  English  ancestry,  from  the 
famous  William  Rollo,  better  known  in  history 
as  William  the  Conqueror. 

Ralph  R.  Rollo  died  in  1869,  at  the  extreme 
old  age  of  eighty-eight  years.  Mrs.  Sibyl  Rollo 
passed  away  in  1833,  in  her  fifty-first  year.  They 
were  strict  adherents  of  the  Congregational  faith, 
and  observed  most  rigidly  the  rules  of  its  creed. 
The  names  of  their  children  were:  Lucy  A.,  who 
died  in  South  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1858; 
Evelyn  S.,  who  died  in  Chicago  in  1882,  while 
the  wife  of  Elizur  W.  Drake;  Ralph  R.,  who  be- 
came a  resident  of  Chicago  in  1870,  and  died  in 
1872;  Henry,  who  died  in  childhood;  Lucinda 
F.,  Mrs.  Solyman  W.  Grant,  who  departed  this 
life  at  Conneaut,  Ohio,  in  1845;  Samuel  A., 


whose  death  occurred  in  New  Jersey  in  1864;  and 
William  E.,  whose  name  heads  this  notice. 

The  last-named  became  a  student  at  East  Wind- 
sor Academy,  and  completed  his  education  at  a 
similar  institution  at  East  Hartford,  graduating 
therefrom  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  It  had 
been  his  intention  to  take  up  the  study  of  law, 
but  his  father  sternly  forbade  that  plan,  declaring 
that  no  man  could  simultaneously  be  a  lawyer 
and  a  Christian.  Accordingly  he  abandoned  his 
cherished  hopes,  and  in  1850  he  went  to  Colum- 
bus, Ohio,  as  a  representative  of  the  Hartford 
Fire  Insurance  Company.  While  in  that  city  he 
was  also  the  agent  of  the  Springfield  Fire  and 
Marine  Insurance  Company  of  Springfield,  Mass- 
achusetts, the  State  Mutual  Fire  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
panies. His  faithful  and  efficient  management  of 
the  business  in  his  hands  soon  caused  other  cor- 
porations to  seek  his  services,  and  in  1858  he  be- 
came the  General  Agent  of  the  Girard  Fire  and 
Marine  Insurance  Company,  and  during  the  next 
two  years  established  agencies  in  Chicago  and  all 
the  principal  cities  of  the  West. 

Since  1860  he  has  been  permanently  located  in 
Chicago.  In  1863  he  organized  the  Merchants' 
Insurance  Company  of  Chicago,  which  included 
among  its  stockholders  many  of  the  most  substan- 
tial citizens  and  business  men  of  the  city.  This 


J.  G.  ROGERS. 


corporation  had  become  well  established,  and  was 
doing  a  most  flattering,  lucrative  business,  when 
it  was  overtaken  by  the  great  holocaust  of  1871, 
going  down — in  company  with  many  other  or- 
dinarily invincible  companies — before  the  un- 
dreamed-of assault  upon  its  assets.  The  year  fol- 
lowing that  disaster,  through  Mr.  Rollo's  efforts, 
the  Traders'  Insurance  Company  was  re-estab- 
lished and  made  a  successful  and  solid  institution. 
After  two  years,  owing  to  failing  health  and  other 
great  demands  upon  his  time,  he  turned  over  the 
enterprise  to  other  parties.  Since  that  time  he 
has  been  carrying  on  the  insurance  agency  of 
William  E.  Rollo  &  Son.  This  firm  manages  the 


Western  Department  of  the  Girard  Insurance 
Company,  and  represents  a  number  of  other  lead- 
ing underwriting  concerns. 

Mr.  Rollo  was  married,  in  October,  1845,  to 
Miss  Jane  T.  Fuller,  daughter  of  Gen.  Asa  Ful- 
ler, of  Ellington,  Connecticut.  Mrs.  Rollo  is  a 
native  of  the  same  state,  born  at  Somers.  They 
are  the  parents  of  two  daughters  and  a  son,  Jen- 
nie Sibyl,  Evelyn  Lavinia  and  William  Fuller, 
the  last-named  being  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
William  E.  Rollo  &  Son.  Mr.  Rollo  has  adhered 
strictly  to  the  business  of  underwriting,  meeting 
with  success  where  men  of  less  energy  and  perse- 
verance would  have  despaired. 


HON.  JOHN  G.  ROGERS. 


HON.  JOHN  GORIN  ROGERS,  who  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  popu- 
lar jurists  in  Chicago,   has  been  thus  de- 
scribed by  previous  writers: 

'  'Nature  designed  him  for  a  Judge.  His  mind 
was  of  the  judicial  order,  and  he  would  in  almost 
any  community  have  been  sought  for  to  occupy  a 
place  on  the  Bench.  The  high  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  as  a  jurist  among  the  entire  profession 
was  the  result  of  a  rare  combination  of  fine  legal 
ability  and  culture  and  incorruptible  integrity, 
with  the  dignified  presence,  absolute  courage,  and 
graceful  urbanity  which  characterized  all  his  offi- 
cial acts.  Like  the  poet,  the  Judge  is  born,  not 
made.  To  wear  the  ermine  worthily,  it  is  not 
enough  for  one  to  possess  legal  acumen,  be  learned 
in  the  principles  of  jurisprudence,  familiar  with 
precedents  and  thoroughly  honest.  Most  men 
are  unable  wholly  to  divest  themselves  of  preju- 
dice, even  when  acting  uprightly,  and  are  uncon- 
sciously warped  in  their  judgment  by  their  own 
mental  characteristics  or  the  peculiarities  of  their 
education.  This  unconscious  influence  is  a  dis- 


turbing force,  a  variable  factor,  which  more  or  less 
enters  into  the  final  judgment  of  all  men.  In 
this  ideal  jurist  this  factor  was  not  discernible, 
and  practically  did  not  exist. ' ' 

Judge  Rogers  traced  his  ancestry  from  some  of 
the  most  honorable  families  of  Virginia,  being  de- 
scended from  Giles  Rogers,  who  emigrated  from 
Worcestershire,  England,  to  Virginia  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century.  He  settled  at  the  present  vil- 
lage of  Dunkirk,  on  the  Mattapony  River,  in  King 
and  Queen  County.  The  maiden  name  of  his 
wife,  whom  he  is  supposed  to  have  married  in 
Virginia,  was  Easdn,  or  Eastham.  They  were 
the  parents  of  three  sons  and  three  daughters. 
One  of  the  sons,  John  Rogers,  married  Mary 
Byrd,  daughter  of  Captain  William  Byrd,  who 
came  from  England  to  Virginia  late  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Captain  Byrd  was  a  native  of 
Cheshire,  and  received  from  the  Crown  a  grant 
of  land  embracing  most  of  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Richmond  and  of  Manchester,  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  James  River.  John  Rogers  was 
a  farmer  and  surveyor,  and  lived  in  King  and 


148 


J.  G.  ROGERS. 


Queen  County.  He  also  took  up  land  on  the 
border  between  Carolina  and  Spottsylvania  Coun- 
ties. His  initials,  with  the  date  1712,  are  carved 
upon  a  rock  there.  Among  the  descendants 
of  John  and  Mary  (Byrd)  Rogers  may  be  men- 
tioned General  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  noted 
Kentucky  frontiersman,  and  his  brother,  William 
Clark,  the  explorer  of  the  American  Northwest, 
beside  a  number  of  prominent  military  men,  in- 
cluding Colonel  George  Grogham,  of  Fort  Meigs 
and  Sandusky  memory,  as  well  as  several  emi- 
nent statesmen  and  jurists.  Among  the  latter 
was  Hon.  John  Semple,  who  became  a  United 
States  Senator  from  Illinois. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  present  century,  Byrd 
Rogers,  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  Rogers,  moved 
to  Fayette  County,  Kentucky,  where  he  soon  aft- 
erward died.  He  had  four  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. One  of  the  sons,  George  Rogers,  became 
an  eminent  physician,  and  died  at  Glasgow,  Ken- 
tucky, in  March,  1860.  He  married  Sarah  Hen- 
sley  Gorin,  a  daughter  of  General  John  Gorin, 
who  served  in  the  Continental  army,  and  rose  to 
the  rank  of  Major  during  the  War  of  1812.  Mrs. 
Sarah  H.  Rogers  was  born  December  n,  1800, 
and  died  in  1870.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  had  four 
sons  and  five  daughters,  and  two  of  the  former 
became  Judges.  These  were  John  Gorin  Rogers, 
the  subject  of  this  notice,  and  George  Clark  Rog- 
ers, who  became  a  Circuit  Judge  at  Bowling 
Green,  Kentucky,  and  died  there  about  1870. 

John  Gorin  Rogers  was  born  at  Glasgow,  Ken- 
tucky, December  28,  1818,  and  died  in  Chicago, 
January  10,  1887.  His  primary  education  was 
obtained  at  the  village  school,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  years  he  entered  Center  College  at  Dan- 
ville, Kentucky,  an  institution  famous  for  its  lect- 
ures on  law,  in  which  he  acquired  the  founda- 
tion of  his  professional  knowledge.  Thence  he 
went  to  Transylvania  University  at  Lexington, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1841,  with  the  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  began  his  practice 
in  his  native  town,  being  a  part  of  the  time  asso- 
ciated with  his  uncle,  Hon.  Franklin  Gorin,  one 
of  the  oldest  lawyers  of  the  State. 

In  1857  he  became  a  resident  of  Chicago,  where 
his  talents  and  ability  soon  won  him  a  prominent 


position  at  the  Bar.  In  1870  he  was  chosen  one 
of  the  five  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook 
County,  a  position  to  which  he  was  repeatedly 
re-elected  and  continued  to  hold  during  the  bal- 
ance of  his  life.  He  commanded  the  universal  re- 
spect of  the  people  and  the  members  of  the  Bar, 
and,  though  he  was  always  nominated  as  a  Dem- 
ocrat, he  received  the  support  of  many  leading 
Republicans. 

Judge  Rogers  always  took  an  active  interest 
in  public  affairs,  and  previous  to  his  elevation  to 
the  Bench  he  was  interested  in  many  prominent 
political  movements,  though  he  was  never  a  vio- 
lent partisan.  In  early  life  he  was  an  old-line 
Henry  Clay  Whig,  and  in  1848,  and  again  in 
1852,  he  was  placed  on  the  electoral  ticket  of  that 
party  in  Kentucky.  In  1860  he  became  identi- 
fied with  the  Democratic  party,  and  was  placed 
on  the  Bell  and  Everett  electoral  ticket  of  Illinois. 
In  1856  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
nominated  Millard  Fillmore  for  President  of  the 
United  States.  Had  he  chosen  to  pursue  a  polit- 
ical career,  he  could,  no  doubt,  have  held  some 
of  the  highest  offices  in  the  Nation;  but  after  his 
election  to  the  Bench  he  refrained  from  taking 
any  active  part  in  politics,  contending  that  a 
Judge  should  be  in  all  things  strictly  non-partisan, 
and  should  not  lower  the  dignity  of  his  office,  or 
subject  himself  to  a  charge  of  prejudice  or  favor- 
itism, or  place  himself  in  any  position  where  any 
one  might  think  that  he  had  a  claim  on  him  for 
special  favors. 

Though  not  a  total  abstainer,  Judge  Rogers 
was  always  an  advocate  of  the  temperance  cause, 
and  at  one  time  was  Grand  Worthy  Patriarch  of 
the  Sons  of  Temperance  of  the  State  of  Kentucky. 
In  1849  he  joined  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death  was 
the  recipient  of  numerous  honors  from  the  order. 
In  1863  he  was  elected  Grand  Master  of  Illinois, 
and  in  1869  was  Grand  Representative  to  the 
Sovereign  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States.  Aft- 
er the  great  Chicago  fire,  he  was  selected  as  one 
of  the  Chicago  Odd  Fellows'  Relief  Committee, 
and  as  treasurer  of  that  body  received  and  dis- 
bursed $i  25,000.  He  helped  to  organize  the  Char- 
ity Organization  Society,  which  was  formed  to 


EDSON  KEITH. 


149 


promote  the  co-operation  of  all  the  charitable  or- 
ganizations of  the  city  in  1883.  In  1878  he  was 
elected  the  first  President  of  the  Illinois  Club,  and 
was  re-elected  to  that  position  in  1882.  He  was 
also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Iroquois  Club. 

Judge  Rogers  was  always  popular  in  society, 
where  his  genial  love  for  humanity  and  sincerity 
of  purpose  won  him  a  host  of  friends,  and  his 
name  came  to  be  a  household  word  among  the 
older  residents  of  Chicago.  He  always  manifest- 
ed a  deep  interest  in  the  poor  and  humble  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  and  would  often  stop  to  grasp  the 
hand  of  a  man  of  no  social  position,  while  he 
might  merely  pass  with  a  pleasant  bow  a  million- 
aire or  social  leader. 

In  1844  Mr.  Rogers  was  married  to  Miss  Ara- 


bella E.  Crenshaw,  daughter  of  Hon.  B.  Mills 
Crenshaw,  who  afterward  became  Chief  Justice 
of  the  State  of  Kentucky.  Mrs.  Rogers,  who 
still  survives  her  noble  husband,  is  a  lady  of  high 
culture  and  many  accomplishments,  and  to  her 
loving  thoughtfulness  and  kindly  assistance  may 
be  attributed  much  of  the  success  achieved  by  her 
husband.  They  were  the  parents  of  four  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  reside  in  Chicago.  Henry,  the 
eldest  son,  though  finely  endowed  intellectually, 
owing  to  ill-health  has  not  been  actively  engaged 
in  business  for  many  years;  and  George  Mills 
Rogers,  the  second  son,  is  a  well  known  attorney 
and  Master  in  Chancery;  the  eldest  daughter  is 
the  wife  of  Joseph  M.  Rogers;  and  Sarah  is  the 
wife  of  ex -Judge  Samuel  P.  McConnell. 


EDSON  KEITH. 


[TDSON  KEITH,  one  of  Chicago's  self-made 
1^  men,  is  numbered  among  the  most  energet- 
I  ic,  honorable,  progressive  and  broad-minded 
residents  of  the  city.  He  was  born  at  Barre,  Ver- 
mont, January  28,  1833,  and  is  a  son  of  Martin 
Keith,  a  prominent  farmer  and  builder  of  that 
place,  who  afterward  became  a  resident  of  Chicago. 
The  Keith  family  in  America  are  all  descend- 
ants of  Rev.  James  Keith,  of  Bridgewater,  Mass- 
achusetts, who  emigrated  from  Scotland  about 
1660.  Though  but  sixteen  years  of  age  at  that 
time,  he  was  a  graduate  of  Aberdeen  College,  and 
became  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Bridgewater.  It  is  said  that  his  first  sermon  was 
delivered  from  a  rock  in  "Mill  Pasture,"  so- 
called,  near  the  river.  He  married  Susannah, 
daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  Edson,  and  they  had 
nine  children:  James,  Joseph,  Samuel,  Timothy, 
John,  Jariah,  Margaret,  Mary  and  Susannah. 
Unto  James  (second)  were  born  eight  children: 


James,  Mary,  Gensham,  Israel,  Faithful,  Esther, 
Jane  and  Simeon.  The  children  of  James  (third) 
were:  Noah,  Comfort,  James  and  Abigail.  One 
of  the  children  of  Comfort  Keith  was  Abijah,  born 
June  20,  1770.  He  was  born  in  Uxbridge, 
Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  and  was  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  Barre,  Washington  Coun- 
ty, Vermont. 

Martin  Keith  was  the  second  son  of  Abijah, 
and  was  born  in  Uxbridge,  Massachusetts,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1800,  and  came  with  his  father's  family 
to  Barre,  Vermont,  in  1804.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Betsey  French,  and  had  seven  children: 
Damon,  Judith,  Osborn  R.,  Edson,  Byron  and 
Elbridge  Gerry. 

Betsey  French  was  one  of  the  fourteen  children 
of  Bartholomew  and  Susannah  French,  who  came 
to  Barre  from  Alstead,  New  Hampshire,  in  1791. 
Bartholomew  French,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest 
settlers  of  Barre,  built  the  first  mill  in  that  place. 


EDSON   KEITH. 


He  was  a  veteran  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
was  born  in  Sutton,  Massachusetts.  A  historian 
of  the  town  of  Barre  says:  "To  this  energetic 
man  and  his  descendants  much  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  town,  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  until  the 
present  day,  is  due."  Twelve  of  his  seventeen 
children  lived  until  the  youngest  was  past  sixty 
years  of  age.  At  least  two  of  his  sons  served  in 
the  War  of  1812,  and  one  of  them,  named  Bar- 
tholomew, commanded  a  company  of  Vermont 
troops,  and  served  as  a  Captain  of  militia  for  many 
years  afterward. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin  Keith  removed  to  Chica- 
go in  1859.  The  former  died  herein  1876,  at  the 
age  of  nearly  seventy-seven  years,  and  the  latter 
in  1868,  aged  about  seventy  years.  They  were 
worthy  representatives  of  the  pioneer  families  of 
New  England,  and  cherished  the  same  love  of  hon- 
or and  truth  for  which  their  ancestors  were  con- 
spicuous, while  practicing  that  rigid  adherence  to 
principle  which  has  distinguished  their  posterity. 

Edson  Keith  passed  his  childhood  upon  the 
homestead  farm  and  in  attendance  at  the  public 
school.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  went 
to  Montpelier,  where  the  next  four  years  were 
spent.  In  1854  he  came  to  Chicago,  beginning 
his  mercantile  career  in  this  city  as  clerk  in  a  re- 
tail dry-goods  store.  Two  years  later  he  became 
a  salesman  and  collector  for  a  wholesale  house, 
dealing  in  hats,  caps  and  furs.  In  1860  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  firm  of  Keith,  Faxon  & 
Company,  jobbers  of  hats,  caps,  furs  and  milli- 
nery. Since  that  time  he  has  been  continuously 
associated  with  that  line  of  business,  though  the 
Style  of  the  firm  has  undergone  a  number  of 
changes  and  transformations,  and  the  volume  of 
its  transactions  has  been  repeatedly  multiplied. 
He  is  now  senior  member  of  the  wholesale  fancy 
dry-goods  and  millinery  establishment  of  Edson 
Keith  &  Company,  on  Wabash  Avenue,  and 
President  of  the  firm  of  Keith  Brothers  &  Com- 
pany, wholesale  dealers  in  hats,  caps,  etc.,  whose 
place  of  business  is  on  Adams  Street.  In  addition 
to  these,  he  is  proprietor  of  Keith  &  Company, 
grain  warehousemen,  and  is  a  stockholder  and 
Director  of  the  Metropolitan  National  Bank. 


He  has  ever  taken  a  keen  interest  in  the  growth 
and  progress  of  Chicago,  maintaining  perfect  con- 
fidence in  its  future  greatness,  and  has  at  differ- 
ent times  managed  some  extensive  real-estate 
transactions,  which  not  only  have  contributed  to 
his  personal  gain,  but  have  been  important  fac- 
tors in  the  financial  prosperity  of  the  commun- 
ity. 

But  a  few  years  had  elapsed  after  casting  in  his 
lot  with  the  growing  metropolis  before  he  had  es- 
tablished a  reputation  for  integrity  of  character 
and  honorable  dealing  which  has  ever  been  con- 
sistently maintained,  and  he  enjoys  the  esteem 
and  confidence  of  his  colleagues  and  coadjutors  to 
a  degree  attained  by  few  men  in  the  West. 

In  1860  Mr.  Keith  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Woodruff,  of  Chicago.  This  union  has  been 
blessed  with  two  sons:  Edson,  Jr.,  a  graduate  of 
Yale  College  and  later  of  Columbia  Law  School, 
New  York  City;  and  Walter  W.,  a  graduate  of 
Yale. 

Though  a  sympathizer  with  Republican  princi- 
ples, Mr.  Keith  is  not  a  strict  partisan,  but  sup- 
ports such  men  for  public  office  as  he  deems  most 
worthy  of  his  confidence.  And,  while  he  does 
not  hold  membership  with  any  religious  organiz- 
ation, he  isa  liberal  supporter  of  institutions  tend- 
ing to  upbuild  the  moral  and  intellectual  senti- 
ment of  the  people.  He  is  a  patron  of  art  and 
literature,  and  was  for  several  terms  a  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago.  He  served 
for  three  years  as  President  of  the  Citizens'  Asso- 
ciation, in  the  inception  of  which  he  was  one  of 
the  foremost  movers,  and  which  did  a  great  work 
in  the  reform  of  municipal  and  state  affairs.  He 
was  three  years  President  of  the  Calumet  Club, 
and  is  identified  with  numerous  other  leading 
clubs  of  Chicago  and  New  York  City.  His  hon- 
orable and  successful  career  stands  out  on  the 
horizon  of  Chicago's  history,  a  fitting  example 
to  its  rising  generations  of  the  rewards  which 
await  persistent  and  intelligent  application,  when 
accompanied  by  straightforward  dealing,  but- 
tressed with  regular  habits  and  unswerving  integ- 
rity of  character. 


'  THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILLI  THC 


J.  F.  EBERHART. 


JOHN  F.  EBERHART. 


(lOHN  FREDERICK  EBERHART,  fifth 
I  child  of  Abraham  and  Esther  Eberhart  (nee 
(2/  Amend),  was  born  January  21,  1829,  at 
Hickory,  Mercer  County,  Pennsylvania,  his  early 
years  being  busily  spent  upon  his  father's  farm, 
situated  in  the  then  new-settlement  region. 

In  1837  he  moved  with  his  parents  to  Big  Bend 
(on  the  Allegheny),  in  Venango  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, still  occupying  himself  with  agricultural 
pursuits,  save  in  winter,  which  time  was  given 
over  to  district  schools.  At  sixteen  he  left  school, 
becoming  himself  a  country  pedagogue,  his  first 
charge  being  located  at  the  mouth  of  Oil  Creek 
(near  Franklin),  Pennsylvania,  where,  after  the 
manner  so  eloquently  depicted  by  Eggleston 
in  "The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  he  "boarded 
"round"  and  received  his  few  dollars  per  month 
for  '  'teaching  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot. ' ' 

The  following  year  he  took  advanced  tuition  in 
drawing,  writing  and  flourishing,  afterward  teach- 
ing these  accomplishments  to  others.  After  some 
further  schoolteaching,  and  having  himself  com- 
pleted the  curriculum  of  the  Cottage  Hill  Acad- 
emy at  Ellsworth,  Ohio,  he  entered  Allegheny 
College,  in  1849,  whence  he  graduated  July  2, 
1853,  having,  like  many  another  contemporary 
who  has  since  "made  his  mark,"  worked  his  way 
through  college  by  teaching  and  working  upon 
farms.  He  always  took  a  leading  part  in  his 
classes,  as  well  as  in  many  field  sports,  outlifting, 
outjumping  and  outrunning  all  his  several  hun- 
dred classmates.  Perhaps  we  may  allow  this  to 
speak  as  a  prophecy  of  later  superior  achieve- 
ments. In  oratory  he  was  proficient,  as  is  suffi- 
ciently attested  by  the  plaudits  of  the  several 
thousand  auditors  who  attended  his  Fourth  of 
July  oration  near  his  old  home  at  Rockland,  Pa. , 
two  days  after  his  graduation. 


The  succeeding  fall  he  assumed  the  duties  of 
Principal  of  the  Albright  Seminary  at  Berlin, 
Somerset  County,  Pennsylvania.  This  first  in- 
stitution of  letters  founded  by  the  Evangelical  As- 
sociation developed  and  prospered  under  his  fos- 
tering care.  And  here  a  digression  is  briefly 
made  in  order  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
Rev.  H.  W.  Thomas,  now  pastor  of  the  People's 
Church,  Chicago,  was  a  pupil  of  his  at  this  time. 

The  first  serious  disappointment  in  his  life 
work,  as  Mr.  Eberhart  had  first  planned  it,  oc- 
curred after  two  years'  confinement  over  school 
duties,  at  which  juncture  several  consulting  doc- 
tors of  medicine  prognosticated  a  growing  con- 
sumption, which  he  could  not  outlive  beyond  a 
few  months  at  the  furthest.  Packing  up  his  pos- 
sessions, he  set  his  face  toward  the  great  West, 
a  country  destined  to  give  him  that  abundant 
measure  of  renewed  life  which  he  has  since  spent 
in  the  interest  of  others  as  well  as  himself.  April 
15,  1855,  was  the  date  of  his  first  coming  to  Chi- 
cago, at  which  time  in  the  then  "Muddy  City" 
he  remained  only  a  short  interval,  on  his  way  to 
Dixon,  Illinois,  where  for  a  time  he  edited  and 
published  an  early  newspaper,  called  the  Dixon 
Transcript.  About  this  time  he  also  prepared  and 
delivered  lectures  upon  chemistry,  natural  philos- 
ophy, meteorology  and  astronomy,  they  being 
among  the  first  popular  lectures  to  be  illustrated 
by  practical  apparatus.  He  also  at  this  period 
traveled  for  New  York  publishing  houses,  and  was 
largely  instrumental  in  establishing  district-school 
libraries  in  the  state.  But,  best  of  all,  in  this  in- 
vigorating climate,  with  its  changes  of  diversified 
labors,  attended  by  abundance  of  outdoor  sports 
and  healthy  exercises,  he  regained  and  fortified 
that  healthful  virility  which  through  more  than 
three  and  a-half  decades  has  amply  sufficed  to 


152 


J.  F.  EBERHART. 


keep  him  well  engaged  in  honorable  pursuits; 
until  at  this  writing,  through  untiring  self-efforts, 
he  stands  prominent  and  time-honored  among  the 
early  educators  of  Illinois  and  the  West. 

On  locating  in  Chicago,  he  purchased  and  for 
three  years  edited  and  published,  '  'The  North- 
western Home  and  School  Journal,"  interspers- 
ing such  labors  by  lecturing  before  and  conduct- 
ing teachers'  institutes,  not  only  in  Illinois,  but 
also  in  other  western  states,  coming  thus  into 
personal  contact  with  the  leading  educators  of  the 
day,  such  as  Elihu  Burritt,  Henry  Barnard  and 
Horace  Mann. 

He  was  elected  Superintendent  of  Schools  of 
Cook  County  in  the  fall  of  1859.  This  office  he 
uninterruptedly  held  for  ten  years,  during  which 
time  he  earnestly  labored  to  arouse  a  unanimity 
of  interest  and  enthusiasm  of  which  our  local 
school  history  affords  no  parallel.  Our  free 
schools  in  the  county  up  to  this  time  had  never 
been  under  proper  supervision,  and  were  when 
he  assumed  the  duties  in  a  neglected  condition. 
But  he  began  a  thorough  systematic  visitation  of 
schools,  conferring  with  teachers  and  directors, 
organizing  institutes,  etc. ;  until,  finding  it  im- 
possible to  secure  otherwise  the  services  of  ade- 
quately qualified  teachers,  he  began  his  agitation 
for  a  county  normal  school,  and  with  such  suc- 
cess, that  in  1867  a  school  was  opened  at  Blue 
Island,  through  provisions  made  by  the  Board  of 
Supervisors.  This  school,  since  removed  to  Nor- 
mal, has  grown  to  be  a  power  in  the  land,  being 
sought  by  many  pupils  coming  from  long  distan- 
ces, and  always  having  a  large  attendance  roll. 
Among  other  noteworthy  acts  we  may  call  to 
mind  the  following:  Mr.  Eberhart  was  among 
the  organizers  of  the  Illinois  State  Teachers'  As- 
sociation, the  first  seventeen  consecutive  sessions 
of  which  he  attended;  he  assisted  in  establishing 
the  State  Normal  University,  and  in  making  many 
valuable  changes  in  the  state  school  law,  includ- 
ing the  original  act  authorizing  counties  to  estab- 
lish normal  schools,  and  was  the  principal  mover 
in  forming  the  State  Association  of  County  Super- 
intendents, which  chose  him  for  its  first  President. 
As  President  of  the  County  Board  of  Education, 
he  was  the  means  of  introducing  the  '  'kindergar- 


ten" into  the  Cook  County  Normal  School,  and 
also  aided  in  establishing  the  system  of  free  kin- 
dergartens in  the  city.  During  all  this  time  he 
was  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  In- 
struction, as  well  as  one  of  the  first  life  members 
of  the  National  Teachers'  Association .  Mr.  Eb- 
erhart received  many  overtures  to  accept  profes- 
sorships and  presidents'  chairs  in  some  of  our 
leading  institutions  of  learning,  but  he  always 
declined,  principally  because  he  did  not  again 
wish  to  risk  his  health  and  life  in  such  work. 

Always  imbued  with  a  liking  for  travel  and 
outings,  and  with  generous  tastes  for  a  liberal, 
rational  enjoyment  and  improvement  of  life  and 
its  grand  possibilities,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century 
spent  as  before  briefly  indicated,  he  set  about  ac- 
cumulating a  fortune  out  of  real  estate.  At  the 
time  of  the  panic  of  1873  he  was  esteemed  one  of 
the  millionaires  of  the  city.  However,  through 
joint  interests  with  others,  which  he  had  to  settle, 
he  lost  his  possessions,  but  is  now  again  a  wealthy 
man,  and  is  content  in  making  a  wise  use  of  his 
powers  and  gifts,  being  a  liberal  parent  and  hus- 
band, and  munificent  in  charity  donations. 

Personally  Mr.  Eberhart  is  rather  slender,  but 
well  proportioned,  six  feet  in  stature,  of  affable 
manners,  positive  in  opinion,  Republican  in  poli- 
tics and  of  deeply  religious  convictions. 

Christmas  Day,  1864,  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  married  to  Miss  Matilda  Charity  Miller,  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  C.  and  Mercie  H.  Miller,  of 
this  city.  This  most  estimable  lady  was  born  in 
Toronto,  Canada,  but  in  infancy  was  brought  to 
the  United  States,  where,  prior  to  her  marriage, 
she  became  a  prized  teacher.  She  has  become 
the  tenderest  of  mothers,  and  full  of  thoughtful 
kindnesses  toward  unfortunates  in  life.  Six  chil- 
dren have  blessed  their  union,  namely:  Maude 
Winifred,  born  November  i,  1866,  and  who  died 
February  n,  1873;  John  Joseph,  born  September 
8,  1870;  Frank  Nathaniel,  December  17,  1872; 
Mary  Evangeline,  April  3,  1875;  Grace  Josephine, 
June  4,  1877;  and  Wilfred,  June  12,  1881,  and 
who  died  December  26,  1882. 

A  brief  genealogy  of  the  family  is  here  added: 

The  name  has  been  variously  spelled,  Everhart, 
Everhard,  Eberhardt,  Eberhard  and  Eberhart 


J.  F.  EBERHART. 


153 


being  the  most  common  forms.  Such  changes  of 
patronymic  spelling  are  by  no  means  unusual  in 
German  descendants  living  upon  American  soil; 
but  Eberhart  is  believed  to  be  the  most  general, 
as  well  as  correct,  English  orthography,  and  is 
used  by  the  branch  which  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

This  family,  which  from  1280  to  1723  (a  period 
of  four  hundred  and  forty-three  years)  gave  birth 
to  counts  and  dukes  reigning  over  the  province  of 
Wurtemberg,  is  of  Swabian  (Bavarian)  German 
origin.  Through  the  middle  ages  its  numerous 
descendants  have  figured  very  conspicuously  in 
the  history  of  that  country  and  the  advancement 
of  civilization.  As  a  generation  they  have  lived 
ahead  of  their  respective  years;  have  been  a  mar- 
tial, well-educated,  honorable  and  religious  branch 
of  the  human  race. 

One  Eberhart  rendered  invaluable  assistance  to 
Martin  Luther,  hero  of  the  Reformation,  since 
which  era  most  of  the  families  have  belonged  to 
the  Lutheran  Church.  Of  its  many  men  of  let- 
ters, space  permits  a  reference  only  to  Johannes 
August  Eberhardt,  friend  of  Frederick  the  Great, 
Privy  Councilor  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  mem- 
ber of  the  Berlin  Academy,  one  of  the  greatest 
scholars  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  composed 
many  able  treatises,  some  of  them  authority  to 
this  day. 

Of  the  sovereigns  of  this  family,  whose  deeds 
and  virtues  are  celebrated  in  prose  and  verse  (the 
lyric  king  of  German  song,  the  immortal  Schil- 
ler, pausing  in  Parnassian  flights  to  do  them 
homage),  we  must  chronicle  how  "Duke  Eber- 
hard  the  Noble,"  "Duke  Eberhard  the.Groaner" 
(or  "Rushing  Beard"),  "Duke  Eberhard  the 
Mild,"  "Duke  Eberhard  with  the  Beard,"  "Duke 
Eberhard  the  Younger,"  "Prince  Eberhard"  and 
"Duke  Leopold  Eberhard"  were  some  of  the 
most  noted  rulers  springing  from  the  loins  of  this 
famous  race. 

The  first  above  was  the  founder  of  the  royal 
line,  being  the  most  daring  warrior  Wurtemberg 
has  ever  produced,  of  whom  it  is  written: 

"Then  spoke  Eberhard  the  Great, 

Wurtemberg's  beloved  lord, — 
'No  great  cities  boast  my  state, 

Nay,  nor  hills  with  silver  stored. 


"  'But  one  treasure  makes  me  blest, 
Though  the  days  are  fierce  and  dread; 

On  each  subject's  loyal  breast 
I  can  safely  lay  my  head.' 

"  'Eberhard  !'  cried  one  and  all, 

And  meekly  before  him  bowed, 
'Thou  art  richest  of  us  all! ' 

And  their  praise  rang  long  and  loud.' 

The  grandson  of  '  'The  Noble' '  was  '  'The  Rush- 
ing Beard,"  whose  episode  connected  with  the 
fatal  conduct  of  his  son  Ulrich  is  famed  in  art, 
compositions  thereupon  being  hung  in  the  Cor- 
coran Gallery  at  Washington  (District  of  Colum- 
bia), in  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  and  two 
canvases  in  the  Museum  of  Rotterdam;  while  in 
Wurtemberg's  capital  is  a  life-size  statue  in  mar- 
ble of  "The  Rushing  Beard,"  which  is  among 
the  first  objects  of  interest  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  visitor. 

Intermarriages  were  made  with  such  leading 
families  as  the  Ulrichs,  Rudolphs,  Henrys,  Fred- 
ericks, Hartmans  and  Ludwigs,  whose  names  are 
occasionally  found  in  the  line  of  rulers,  when  a 
male  heir  was  wanting  to  the  Eberharts;  or,  per- 
chance, a  female  sovereign  for  a  time  appears,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Duchess  Henrietta,  widow  of 
' '  Eberhard  the  Younger. ' ' 

With  the  death  of  Charles  VI,  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, in  1740,  passed  away  the  glories  of  the 
House  of  Hapsburg.  At  this  era  the  Eberhardts 
also  ceased  to  reign  in  Wurtemberg,  being  de- 
throned partly  by  their  own  injudicious  counsels 
and  conduct,  but  more  especially  by  the  then 
growing  ascendancy  of  the  Catholics.  This  was 
the  time  of  self-expatriation  of  many  of  their  line 
in  quest  of  better  fortunes,  together  with  the  civil 
and  religious  freedom  of  the  New  World. 

In  1727  three  brothers,  Michael,  Peter  and 
Joseph,  came  to  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  Of 
these,  Michael  Eberhart  came  from  Germany  in 
the  ship  "Friendship,  John  Davis  master,  land- 
ing in  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  October  16, 
1727.  He  had  a  son  Paul,  born  during  the  voy- 
age to  America,  who  lived  in  Northampton  Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania,  until  1773,  when  he  removed 
to  the  "Manor  Settlement"  near  Greensburg, 
Pennsylvania.  He  had  a  third  son,  Christian, 
who  married  Anna  Maria  Snyder,  of  his  native 


154 


D.  H.  PINNEY. 


place,  where  he  died  in  1849,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  seventy -seven.  He  had  a  second  son,  Abra- 
ham, who  was  born  December  28,  1797,  and  who 
married,  August  22,  1820,  Esther  Armend,  of 
New  Salem,  Pennsylvania.  At  twenty-five  he 
removed  into  the  wilderness  of  Mercer  County, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  cleared  a  farm  and  erect- 
ed a  sawmill  on  the  Little  Neshannock.  He 


afterward  lived  in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  and  was  the 
first  to  take  up  residence  in  the  suburb  of  Chi- 
cago Lawn,  October  2,  1877.  He  died  August  7, 
1880,  and  was  interred  in  Rose  Hill  Cemetery. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  good  sense  and  stanchest 
probity.  From  him  descended  a  fifth  child,  John 
Frederick  Eberhart,  the  subject  of  the  foregoing 
sketch. 


HON.  DANIEL  H.  PINNEY. 


HON.  DANIEL  HYDE  PINNEY,  a  worthy 
member  of  the  Chicago  Bar,  and  formerly 
Associate  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Arizona,  is  descended  from  one  of  the  early  Colo- 
nial families  of  Connecticut.  His  grandfather, 
Peter  Pinney,  was  a  native  of  the  '  'Land  of  Steady 
Habits,"  and  his  parents,  Martin  and  Nancy 
(Johnson)  Pinney,  were  born  in  Vermont.  Mar- 
tin Pinney  was  reared  in  Franklin  County,  Ver- 
mont, and  settled  in  Western  New  York  about 
1830.  He  was  a  carpenter  and  builder,  and 
erected  many  of  the  early  buildings  of  Orleans 
County,  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1869,  at 
the  age  of  seventy  years.  His  widow  is  still  liv- 
ing there,  in  the  ninety-second  year  of  her  age. 
The  subject  of  this  notice  is  the  seventh  of  their 
nine  children. 

Daniel  H.  Pinney  was  born  in  Albion,  the  seat 
of  Orleans  County,  New  York,  June  2,  1837.  He 
received  the  benefit  of  the  common  schools  of  his 
native  town,  and  when  still  a  young  man  joined 
the  engineering  corps  employed  in  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Erie  Canal,  continuing  in  that  work 
two  years  and  gaining  a  practical  knowledge 
which  ever  after  proved  of  advantage  to  him. 
He  was  possessed  of  energy,  and  a  worthy  ambi- 
tion to  rise  in  the  world,  and  resolved  to  try  his 
fortune  in  the  new  West. 

The  year  1856  found  him  in  Chicago,  looking 


for  any  honorable  employment.  For  about  two 
years  he  worked  as  a  clerk  and  in  various  occu- 
pations, and  in  the  mean  time  set  his  mind  on  the 
study  of  law.  Going  to  Michigan  City,  Indiana, 
he  entered  the  office  of  J.  A.  Thornton,  a  leading 
attorney  of  that  place.  When  business  called 
him  to  Joliet,  Illinois,  he  continued  his  studies  in 
the  office  of  Snapp  &  Breckenridge,  and  applied 
himself  with  such  industry  and  aptitude  that  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  in  the  fall  of  1861. 

His  first  experience  as  a  practical  lawyer  was 
obtained  in  the  town  of  Wilmington,  Will  Coun- 
ty, this  State,  where  he  practiced  two  years  with 
moderate  success.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he 
returned  to  Joliet  and  continued  his  way  into 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  public.  This  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  five  times  elected 
City  Attorney  of  Joliet,  and  in  1876  he  was  the 
successful  candidate,  as  an  Independent,  for  a  seat 
in  the  General  Assembly.  He  espoused  the  cause 
of  Judge  David  Davis  as  candidate  for  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  as  an  active  and  aggressive 
worker,  was  largely  instrumental  in  the  success 
of  that  candidacy.  He  continued  his  law  prac- 
tice in  Joliet  until  1882,  when  he  was  appointed 
by  President  Arthur  to  a  position  on  the  Supreme 
Bench  of  Arizona,  which  he  filled  with  credit  to 
all  concerned  for  four  years. 


F.  E.  R.  JONES. 


After  spending  a  year  in  California,  Judge  Pin- 
ney  returned  to  Illinois,  settling  in  Chicago,  where 
he  has  continued  in  practice  since.  He  is  an 
exceptionally  able  trial  lawyer,  and  has  handled 
a  wide  range  of  cases,  many  of  them  taking  him 
to  the  Supreme  Courts  of  adjoining  and  distant 
States.  He  is,  withal,  a  very  modest  man,  and 
gets  no  more  credit  than  he  is  entitled  to.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association  and  of 
the  Sons  of  New  York.  Being  an  independent 
thinker,  he  has  not  allied  himself  with  any  organ- 
izations other  than  social  ones.  In  religious  faith 
he  is  a  Universalist,  and  attended  the  Englewood 
church  of  that  denomination  as  long  as  he  dwelt 
near  it.  He  was  an  original  Lincoln  Republican, 


and  was  for  many  years  an  active  campaigner, 
but  retains  his  independence  of  party  lines,  and 
acts  in  elections  according  to  his  faith  in  respec- 
tive candidates. 

In  1865,  at  Albion,  New  York,  Mr.  Pinney 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary,  daughter  of  John  B. 
Lee,  a  prominent  citizen  of  that  town,  which  was 
Mrs.  Pinney 's  birthplace.  She  died  in  1872,  leav- 
ing a  son,  William  Lee  Pinney,  now  in  business 
at  Phoenix,  Arizona.  In  1874  Mr.  Pinney  mar- 
ried Miss  Mary  E.  Bowman,  of  Shawneetown, 
Illinois,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  who  has  borne  him 
three  children,  Harry  Bowman,  Sidney  Breese 
and  Nannie  E.  Pinney,  aged,  respectively,  nine- 
teen, seventeen  and  nine  years. 


FRED  E.  R.  JONES. 


j~  RED  ELLSWORTH  RANDOLPH  JONES. 
ry  To  what  extent  the  character  of  an  individ- 
|  ual  is  molded  by  the  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions which  surround  him  is  a  problem  that  ad- 
mits of  almost  unlimited  discussion.  But  no  stu- 
dent of  human  nature  will  attempt  to  deny  that 
the  environments  of  childhood  exert  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  life  of  the  future  man  or  wo- 
man. A  thorough  business  training,  begun  at 
an  early  age,  and  vigorously  adhered  to  in  ma- 
ture years,  while  it  may  dwarf  some  of  the  finer 
sensibilities  and  smother  many  of  the  noblest  at- 
tributes of  a  man's  nature,  seldom  fails  to  develop 
a  capable,  systematic  and  successful  business  man. 
Mr.  Jones  was  born  at  Chelsea,  Washtenaw 
County,  Michigan,  January  18,  1860,  and  is  a  son 
of  Aaron  C.  Jones  and  Carrie  R.  Clarke.  A.  C. 
Jones  was  born  in  New  York,  and  came,  during 
his  childhood,  with  his  parents  to  Michigan. 
They  settled  near  Adrian,  where  his  father,  Ab- 
ner  Jones,  became  a  prominent  farmer.  The  lat- 
ter was  a  native  of  New  York.  Aaron  C.  Jones 


was  a  master  marble-cutter,  but  being  troubled 
with  weakness  of  the  lungs,  which  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  pursuit  of  this  calling,  he  abandoned 
it.  In  1868  he  came  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in 
the  fire-insurance  business,  which  occupied  his 
attention  until  the  great  fire.  The  spring  follow- 
ing this  disaster  he  contracted  a  severe  cold,  which 
developed  consumption  and  terminated  his  life. 
His  death  occurred  in  1874,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
five  years. 

Mrs.  Carrie  R.  Jones,  who  still  resides  in  Chi- 
cago, was  born  in  Goshen,  Indiana,  where  her 
father's  death  occurred  about  the  time  she  was 
eleven  years  of  age.  Her  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Randolph,  and  she  was  a  relative  of  the  noted 
Virginia  family  of  that  name — the  Randolphs  of 
Roanoke.  Her  grandfather,  who  was  a  man  of 
considerable  means  and  influence,  devoted  much 
time  and  money  to  the  cause  of  the  American  col- 
onies during  the  Revolutionary  War.  During 
the  progress  of  that  struggle  he  made  an  expedi- 
tion to  the  West  Indies  in  the  interests  of  the  Na- 


156 


B.  M.  WIEDINGER. 


tional  Government,  leaving  his  motherless  chil- 
dren in  charge  of  a  neighbor  and  friend.  His 
absence  was  unexpectedly  prolonged,  and  during 
this  time  the  neighbor  moved  across  the  Ohio 
River  to  the  western  frontier,  and  the  family  was 
never  re-united. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  attended  the  public 
school  until  twelve  years  of  age,  at  which  time, 
owing  to  his  father's  failing  health,  he  was 
obliged  to  abandon  his  studies  and  begin  the  bat- 
tle of  life.  He  obtained  employment  in  the  in- 
surance office  of  the  late  George  C.  Clarke,  his 
first  position  being  that  of  errand  boy.  Under 
the  instruction  and  training  of  his  kind  employer, 
he  rapidly  developed  an  aptitude  for  business  and 
was  promoted  to  more  responsible  positions.  At 
the  age  of  twenty  years  he  became  the  bookkeeper 
and  confidential  man  of  the  concern,  with  which 
he  continued  to  be  identified  until  1893.  Few 
boys  of  his  age  had  to  contend  with  the  stern, 
realistic  problems  of  life  to  such  a  degree  as  he, 
but,  with  the  advice  and  counsel  of  his  employer 
and  aided  and  sustained  by  his  mother's  counsel, 
he  made  the  most  of  his  opportunities.  He  at- 
tended night  schools  at  intervals  and  subsequently 


became  a  teacher  of  bookkeeping  to  night  classes 
at  the  Chicago  Athenaeum. 

In  January,  1893,  he  was  made  City  Manager 
in  Chicago  of  the  Liverpool  &  London  &  Globe 
Insurance  Company,  which  position  he  has  filled 
up  to  this  time  with  credit  to  himself  and  the  mu- 
tual advantage  of  the  parties  concerned.  He  now 
occupies  one  of  the  finest  suites  of  offices  in  the 
city,  being  located  in  the  new  and  modern  Asso- 
ciation Building. 

Few  people  who  know  Mr.  Jones  as  an  able, 
thorough-going  business  man  are  aware  that  be- 
neath his  calm,  sedate  and  unemotional  exterior, 
there  are  veins  of  sentiment,  philosophy  and  enthu- 
siasm which  are  seldom  allowed  to  assert  them- 
selves during  business  hours.  His  more  intimate 
associates,  however,  know  him  as  a  man  of  re- 
fined and  cultivated  tastes,  who  has  given  consid- 
erable attention  to  the  study  of  vocal  music  and 
other  arts.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Apollo  and 
Mendelssohn  Clubs.  He  takes  little  interest  in 
political  or  other  public  movements,  but  feels  a 
deep  concern  in  the  development  of  the  intellect- 
ual and  spiritual  sentiments  of  mankind. 


BERNHARD  M.  WIEDINGER. 


gERNHARD  MARIA  WIEDINGER,  an 
educator  of  prominence  -and  one  of  the  old- 
est members  of  Chicago's  German  colony, 
believed  in  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  equal- 
ity of  all  before  the  law,  and  this  brief  sketch  of 
his  life  will  show  a  little  of  the  much  he  did  for 
the  emancipation  of  the  down-trodden  from  op- 
pression and  slavery,  as  well  as  something  of  his 
efforts  in  educating  and  preparing  for  the  respon- 
sibilities of  after  life  many  of  the  active  and  in- 
fluential citizens  of  Chicago. 

Professor  Wiedinger  was  born  at  Engen,  near 
Constance,  in  Baden,  Germany,  on  the  isth  of 
August,  1826.  His  ancestors,  though  not  titled, 
were  persons  of  property  and  influence,  and  were 


among  the  leading  citizens  of  the  municipality  in 
which  they  dwelt. 

Abraham  de  Santa  Clara,  a  monk  and  author 
of  distinction  some  centuries  past,  was  a  near 
relative  of  Professor  Wiedinger 's  maternal  ances- 
tor of  several  generations  ago.  Among  the  host- 
ages shot  by  General  Moreau  in  the  Napoleonic 
wars,  and  whose  bones  were  recently  interred 
with  great  honor,  was  an  ancestor  on  the  mater- 
nal side.  For  a  political  offense  another  gave  up 
his  life  under  the  leaden  prison  roof  of  Venice. 

His  father,  George,  served  as  an  officer  in  the 
French  army  in  the  famous  Peninsular  campaign, 
and  with  his  brothers  was  in  the  Government  em- 
ploy, he  being  engaged  in  arboriculture  and  viti- 


B.    M.  WIEDINGER. 


157 


culture,  and  having  charge  of  a  large  number  of 
men.  George  Wiedinger  died  some  time  in  the 
fifties,  aged  seventy-seven.  His  wife,  Apollonia, 
nee  Fricker,  died  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six. 
This  couple  were  the  parents  of  thirteen  children, 
only  three  of  whom  grew  up  to  years  of  maturity, 
all  the  others  dying  in  early  childhood.  The  eld- 
est child  was  George,  the  second  Julius  Batiste, 
and  Bernhard  was  the  youngest. 

Bernhard  Wiedinger  obtained  at  Constance  the 
education  afforded  by  the  real  school  and  gymna- 
sium, and  later  attended  the  Heidelberg  Univer- 
sity. There  he  spent  two  years,  and  was  noted 
alike  for  his  knowledge  of  languages  and  musi- 
cal versatility.  The  noted  rebellion  of  1848  broke 
out  while  he  was  a  student  at  the  university,  he 
being  then  twenty -two  years  old,  and  enrolled  as  a 
soldier.  Young  Wiedinger  had  imbibed  in  his 
studies  a  fierce  and  unquenchable  love  of  liberty, 
and  hatred  of  all  forms  of  oppression  and  tyranny, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  Revo- 
lutionists and  share  in  the  dangers  that  the  up- 
rising brought  to  those  who  participated  in  it. 
He  saw  bloody  work,  and  was  several  times 
wounded.  A  wound  which  he  received  in  the 
head  was  of  a  serious  nature.  The  collapse  of 
the  Revolution  brought  swift  and  summary  pun- 
ishment to  many  who  had  raised  their  hands  for 
liberty.  Among  those  who  were  taken  was  young 
Wiedinger.  Until  two  days  before  his  trial  all 
who  were  tried  were  sentenced  to  death  and  exe- 
cuted. His  punishment  was  severe,  on  account 
of  his  having  been  enrolled  in  the  army.  He  re- 
ceived a  sentence  of  ten  years  in  prison,  seven 
months  of  which  were  spent  in  solitary  confine- 
ment. After  spending  something  over  a  year  in 
prison,  by  the  aid  of  friends  he  escaped  to  Switz- 
erland, and  later  went  to  France.  In  the  latter 
country,  on  account  of  a  speech  he  made  at  a 
demonstration  by  Republicans,  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  the  political  asylum  he  had  sought  in 
Europe,  and  come  to  America,  where  his  efforts 
in  the  cause  of  freedom  were  destined  to  be  far- 
ther-reaching and  more  successful  than  they  had 
been  in  countries  where  oppression  had  crystalized 
in  monarchy. 

Arriving  in  the  United  States  in  1851,  he  re- 


mained for  a  time  at  Philadelphia,  where  he  had 
distant  relatives.  He  at  once  began  to  learn  the 
language  of  the  country,  and  in  order  to  do  so  in 
what  he  thought  would  be  the  most  successful 
way,  he  obtained  employment  on  a  farm  where 
he  would  hear  only  English  spoken.  He  re- 
mained on  the  farm  one  month,  and  in  after  life 
he  often  jocosely  said  that  in  that  time  he  learned 
just  five  words,  "breakfast,  dinner  and  supper, 
horse  and  harness. ' '  He  was  not  long,  however, 
in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  English.  Among 
his  earliest  acts  was  filing  a  declaration  of  his  in- 
tention to  become  a  citizen  of  the  republic  whose 
political  institutions  were  so  dear  to  him. 

His  first  permanent  employment  was  as  travel- 
ing salesman  for  a  Philadelphia  book  house,  and 
in  that  business  he  remained  for  some  time  and 
traveled  much.  He  early  became  an  enthusiastic 
worker  in  the  cause  of  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  first  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention  held  at  Cincinnati  in  1854,  and 
stumped  the  state  of  Indiana  with  Oliver  P.  Mor- 
ton for  that  party,  speaking  in  German.  Later, 
he  went  to  Kansas,  where  he  thought  his  efforts 
in  the  abolition  cause  would  be  more  helpful,  and 
there  had  charge  of  a  station  of  the  "underground 
railroad,"  as  it  was  called,  for  the  aid  of  slaves 
escaping  from  the  South.  He  spent  some  time 
in  the  law  office  of  Sherman  &  Ewing,  and  was 
assistant  Secretary  of  the  famous  Topeka  Con- 
vention. John  Brown  numbered  him  among  his 
band,  and  when  he  planned  his  historic  raid  on 
Harper's  Ferry  sent  for  him;  but  he  arrived  at 
the  place  of  rendezvous  twelve  hours  too  late. 
In  the  early  part  of  1860  he  started  an  abolition 
paper  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  but  one  night  a 
mob  visited  his  office,  threw  his  type  and  presses 
into  the  river,  and  he  was  compelled  to  seek  a 
more  promising  field  of  operations.  Coming  to 
Illinois,  he  recruited  a  company  of  one  hundred 
men  for  the  famous  Hecker  regiment,  and  was 
elected  Captain.  On  account  of  defective  sight, 
caused  by  injury  to  his  eyes  when  a  child,  he  was 
prevented  from  going  to  the  front. 

Soon  afterward  he  came  to  Chicago  and  bought 
out  a  German  school  of  small  proportions  and  en- 
gaged in  the  work  of  education.  He  was  very 


158 


B.  M.  WIEDINGER. 


successful  as  a  teacher,  and  soon  had  three  hun- 
dred pupils  in  attendance.  Later  he  organized  a 
company  which  built  a  schoolhouse  on  the  corner 
of  La  Salle  Avenue  and  Superior  Street.  His 
health  failing,  he  was  compelled  to  give  up  teach- 
ing in  1868  and  seek  outdoor  employment.  Sub- 
sequently he  gave  private  lessons,  was  a  clerk  in 
the  postoffice  for  a  year,  and  also  held  a  position 
in  the  City  Clerk's  office  for  two  years.  A  por- 
tion of  the  time  between  1868  and  1878,  when  his 
health  permitted,  he  was  engaged  in  teaching. 
He  spent  a  part  of  this  time  in  the  school,  but 
most  of  the  time  as  a  private  tutor.  In  those 
years,  beside  the  misfortune  of  bad  health,  he 
suffered  the  loss  of  his  schoolhouse  and  household 
goods  in  the  great  fire. 

In  1865  Mr.  Wiedinger  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  D.  Moulton,  a  native  of  Maine,  and  a 
daughter  of  Judge  Jotham  Tilden  Moulton,  of 
Chicago.  Mrs.  Wiedinger  is  a  descendant  of  an- 
cestors who  helped  build  up  the  New  England 
States.  Her  father,  born  October  8,  1808,  was  a 
graduate  of  Bowdoin  College,  where  the  poet 
Longfellow  was  one  of  his  teachers.  He  gradu- 
ated from  Harvard  Law  School,  where  he  was  a 
classmate  of  Wendell  Phillips  and  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  with  the  latter  of  whom  he  maintained  a  life- 
long friendship.  Coming  to  Chicago  in  1852,  he 
bought  a  third-interest  in  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
which  he  sold  a  year  later.  He  held  the  office  of 
Deputy  Clerk  of  the  United  States  Court,  and 
United  States  Commissioner  and  Master  in  Chan- 
cery, which  last  office  he  held  until  after  the  fire. 
His  death  occurred  in  1881.  Mr.  Moulton  was 
the  son  of  Dr.  Jotham  Moulton,  and  grandson  of 
Colonel  Moulton,  who  died  in  1777,  after  serving 
one  year  in  the  struggle  for  independence.  Mrs. 
Wiedinger  has  been  a  teacher  for  a  large  part  of 
her  life,  rendering  valuable  assistance  to  her  hus- 
band in  his  profession.  She  has  also  written  for 
the  press,  contributing  translations,  original  stories 
and  poetry. 

Mr.  Wiedinger  left  three  sons:  George  T., 
Bernhard  M.  and  Frank  A.  The  first  of  these  is 
a  lawyer,  the  second  is  engaged  in  real-estate  work, 


and  the  third  has  chosen  the  newspaper  profession. 

Mr.  Wiedinger  was  one  of  those  earnest  and 
tireless  men  whose  energies  keep  them  always  em- 
ployed. As  a  friend  of  freedom,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  great  moral  struggle  that  pre- 
ceded the  appeal  to  arms,  in  which  he  was  unable 
to  engage  on  account  of  physical  infirmity,  but 
to  the  aid  of  which  his  most  effective  assistance 
in  every  other  way  was  given.  He  aided  in 
the  organization  of  the  Republican  party,  in 
order  that  a  bulwark  of  freedom  might  be  es- 
tablished, and  stood  in  the  forefront  of  progress 
of  that  party  till  1888,  when  he  considered  the 
party  had  gone  from  the  position  it  formerly  oc- 
cupied, and  he  then  joined  the  ranks  of  the  Dem- 
ocracy. As  an  educator,  he  took  a  place  among 
the  leading  Germans  of  Chicago,  and  his  worth 
as  a  teacher  is  often  testified  by  the  leading  Ger- 
man-American citizens  of  Chicago,  who  were  his 
pupils  and  life-long  friends.  He  was  liberal  in 
his  ideas  and  progressive  in  his  work,  and  said 
that,  if  he  had  done  nothing  else,  he  had  made  it 
impossible  to  have  a  successful  German  school  in 
Chicago  without  having  an  English  teacher  in  it. 
In  the  organization  of  societies  of  various  kinds 
he  took  a  leading  part.  He  was  one  of  the  or- 
ganizers and  President  of  the  Turners'  Associa- 
tion of  Chicago,  also  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Schiller  Liedertafel,  and  its  musical  director.  In 
recent  years  a  bowling  club,  composed  of  his 
former  pupils,  assumed  the  name  of  "  Wieding- 
er's  Boys." 

In  physique  Mr.  Wiedinger  was  a  powerful 
man,  and  a  complete  master  of  the  art  of  self-de- 
fense. Once,  when  attacked  by  three  ruffians,  he 
knocked  one  down  with  his  fist,  kicked  over  an- 
other, and  the  third,  seeing  the  condition  of  his 
companions,  fled  for  safety.  He  was  a  prolific 
writer  in  his  early  years,  and  the  habit  of  con- 
tributing to  the  newspapers  he  kept  up  through 
life.  As  a  friend,  a  husband  and  father,  he  showed 
those  rare  characteristics  that  endeared  him  to  his 
familiars.  His  gentle,  confiding  nature,  his  do- 
mesticity, and  devotion  to  his  family  were  ap- 
parent to  all. 


"  THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILL! 


SAMUEL  J.  JONES. 


'59 


SAMUEL  J.  JONES,  M.  D.,  LL.  D. 


(7JAMUEL  J.  JONES,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  is  a  na- 
Nk  tiveofBainbridge,  Pennsylvania,  born  March 
Q)  22,  1836.  His  father,  Doctor  Robert  H. 
Jones,  was  a  practicing  physician  in  the  Keystone 
State  for  a  third  of  a  century,  and  died  in  1863. 
The  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Sarah  M. 
Ekel,  is  a  member  of  one  of  the  pioneer  families 
of  the  old  town  of  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  of 
Swiss  and  Huguenot  descent.  At  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen, their  son  Samuel,  having  finished  his  pre- 
paratory studies,  in  the  fall  of  1 853,  entered  Dick- 
inson College  at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  four  years  later  with  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  In  1860  he  received  the  degree 
of  A.  M.,  and  in  1884  was  honored  by  his  alma 
mater  with  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  His  choice  of 
a  vocation  in  life  was  no  doubt  influenced  by  his 
father's  successful  practice  of  medicine,  and  at  an 
early  age  he  determined  to  follow  in  his  father's 
professional  footsteps.  Accordingly,  on  leaving 
college,  he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  which  he 
pursued  for  three  years  under  his  father's  super- 
vision. In  the  fall  of  1858  he  matriculated  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  after  pursuing 
the  studies  prescribed  in  the  curriculum  of  the 
medical  department  of  that  institution,  took  the 
degree  of  M.  D.,  in  the  spring  of  1860,  just  thirty 
years  after  the  father  had  graduated  from  the 
same  university. 

The  advantages  and  opportunities  for  observa- 


tion and  adventure  presented  by  the  United  States 
naval  service  proved  too  attractive  for  the  young 
practitioner  to  resist,  and  he  became  one  of  the 
competitors  in  the  examination  of  candidates  for 
the  position  of  Assistant  Surgeon.  He  success- 
fully passed  the  examination,  and  received  his  ap- 
pointment just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion,  and  entered  upon  a  life  which,  for 
activity,  change,  excitement  and  opportunity  for 
acquiring  experience,  should  have  fully  satisfied 
his  desires  in  those  particulars.  He  first  saw 
service  on  board  the  United  States  steam  frigate 
"Minnesota,"  which  sailed  under  sealed  orders 
from  Boston,  May  8,  1861,  as  flag-ship  of  the 
Atlantic  blockading  squadron.  Three  months 
later  he  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Hatteras  In- 
let, which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  the  Confed- 
erate forts  with  fifteen  hundred  prisoners,  and 
ended  the  blockade-running  there.  This  was  the 
first  naval  battle  ever  fought  in  which  steamships 
were  used  and  kept  in  motion  while  in  action. 
In  January,  1862,  Doctor  Jones  was  detached 
from  the  "Minnesota"  and  detailed  as  Surgeon  of 
Flag-Officer  Goldsborough's  staff,  on  the  expedi- 
tion of  Burnside  and  Goldsborough,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  capture  of  Roanoke  Island.  Later 
hu  was  assigned  to  duty  as  Staff  Surgeon  under 
Commander  Rowan,  and  was  present  at  the  cap- 
ture of  Newbern,  Washington  and  other  points  on 
the  inner  waters  of  North  Carolina. 


i6o 


SAMUEL  J.  JONES. 


Soon  afterward  Doctor  Jones  accompanied  an 
expedition  up  the  Nansetnond  River  for  the  relief 
of  the  Union  forces  engaged  in  repelling  General 
Longstreet's  advance  on  Suffolk,  Virginia.  This 
force  was  under  the  command  of  lieutenant  Gush- 
ing, of  Albemarle  fame,  and  Lieutenant  Lamson. 
In  the  spring  of  1863  Doctor  Jones  was  assigned 
to  duty  at  Philadelphia,  there  passed  a  second 
examination,  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Sur- 
geon, and  assigned  to  duty  at  Chicago,  where, 
among  other  duties,  he  was  engaged  as  Examin- 
ing Surgeon  of  candidates  for  the  medical  corps 
destined  for  naval  service  in  the  Mississippi  River 
Squadron.  While  occupying  this  position  he  was 
ordered  to  visit  various  military  prisons,  and  there 
examined  more  than  three  thousand  Confederate 
prisoners  who  had  requested  permission  to  enlist 
in  the  Federal  service,  and  who  were  accepted 
and  assigned  to  men-of-war  on  foreign  stations. 
He  was  ordered  to  the  sloop-of-war  "Ports- 
mouth , "  of  Admiral  Farragut'  s  West  Gulf  Block- 
ading Squadron,  in  1864,  and  was  soon  after  as- 
signed to  duty  as  Surgeon  of  the  New  Orleans 
Naval  Hospital,  where  he  was  at  the  close  of  the 
Rebellion.  In  the  fall  of  1865  he  was  sent  to 
Pensacola,  Florida,  as  Surgeon  of  the  navy  yard 
and  naval  hospital.  In  1866  he  was  again  as- 
signed to  duty  at  Chicago,  where  he  remained 
until  the  marine  rendezvous  there  was  closed,  in 
the  same  year.  In  1867  he  was  ordered  to  the 
frigate  "Sabine,"  the  practice  ship  for  naval  ap- 
prentices, cruising  along  the  Atlantic  Coast,  which 
was  his  last  active  service  in  the  navy. 

In  1868,  after  eight  years'  continuous  service, 
Surgeon  Jones  resigned  to  devote  his  attention  to 
private  practice.  Not  long  after  he  was  elected 
delegate  from  the  American  Medical  Association 
to  the  meetings  of  the  medical  associations  of 
Europe,  and  was,  at  the  same  time,  commissioned 
by  Governor  Geary,  of  Pennsylvania,  to  report 
on  hospital  and  sanitary  matters  of  England  and 
the  continent.  He  attended  the  meetings  ot  the 
societies  at  Oxford,  Heidelberg  and  Dresden,  and 
in  the  month  of  September,  at  the  last  place, 
participated  in  organizing  the  first  Otological 
Congress  ever  held.  Combining  travel  with  study, 
he  enjoyed  the  remainder  of  the  year  in  visiting 


various  parts  of  Europe  and  investigating  med'- 
cal  and  sanitary  affairs,  giving  special  attention 
to  diseases  of  the  eye  and  of  the  ear.  On  his  re- 
turn to  the  United  States  he  resumed  practice  in 
Chicago  in  1868.  Soon  after  he  was  elected 
President  of  the  Board  of  Examining  Surgeons 
for  United  States  Pensions  at  Chicago,  and  was 
also  made  a  member  of  the  medical  staff  of  St. 
Luke's  Hospital,  and  there  established  the  de- 
partment for  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  eye 
and  ear,  with  which  he  has  since  been  connected. 

In  1870  Doctor  Jones  was  again  elected  a  del- 
egate from  the  American  Medical  Association  to 
the  meetings  of  the  European  associations,  and, 
during  his  stay  abroad,  spent  some  months  in  re- 
search and  investigation.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  elected  to  the  newly-established  chair  of 
Ophthalmology  and  Otology  in  Chicago  Med- 
ical College,  now  Northwestern  University  Medi- 
cal School,  a  position  he  continues  to  hold..  He 
also  established  the  eye  and  ear  department  in 
Mercy  Hospital  and  in  the  South  Side  Dispensary, 
having  charge  of  each  of  them  for  about  ten 
years.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  one  of  the 
attending  staff  of  the  Illinois  Charitable  Eye  and 
Ear  Infirmary  in  Chicago.  In  1876  he  was  a 
delegate  from  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society 
to  the  Centennial  International  Medical  Congress 
at  Philadelphia,  and  in  1881  represented  the 
American  Medical  Association  and  the  American 
Academy  of  Medicine  at  the  Seventh  International 
Medical  Congress  at  London.  The  Ninth  Inter- 
national Medical  Congress  was  held  in  Washing- 
ton, District  of  Columbia,  in  1887,  and  of  this  Doc- 
tor Jones  was  a  member.  He  was  President  of 
the  section  of  otology,  and  was  ex-qfficio  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Executive  Committee,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  arrange  the  preliminary  organization  of 
the  congress. 

In  1889  Doctor  Jones  was  elected  President  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Medicine,  whose  ob- 
jects, as  stated  in  its  constitution,  are:  "First,  to 
bring  those  who  are  alumni  of  collegiate,  scien- 
tific and  medical  schools  into  closer  relations  with 
each  other.  Second,  to  encourage  young  men  to 
pursue  regular  courses  of  study  in  classical  and 
scientific  institutions  before  entering  upon  the 


WILLIAM  O.  KEELER. 


161 


study  of  medicine.  Third,  to  extend  the  bounds 
of  social  science,  to  elevate  the  profession,  to  re- 
lieve human  suffering  and  prevent  disease." 

Doctor  Jones,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  read- 
ing of  the  foregoing  recital  of  his  services  in  his 
profession,  is  an  enthusiastic  worker  and  an  able 
physician,  whose  genial  manner  and  success  in 
practice  have  made  him  widely  known.  His  la- 
bors in  the  many  societies  of  which  he  has  been  a 
member  have  been  ably  supplemented  by  the 
product  of  his  pen,  which  has  been  directed  to- 
ward raising  the  standard  of  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine. His  writings  have  frequently  appeared  in 
medical  journals,  and  for  several  years  he  was 
editor  of  the  Chicago  Medical  Journal  and  Exam- 
iner, one  of  the  leading  periodicals  of  the  country. 
He  has  successfully  applied  himself  to  acquiring 
knowledge  pertaining  to  his  specialty,  and  for 
twenty  years  has  been  recognized  by  both  the 
medical  profession  and  the  public  as  authority  on 
all  matters  pertaining  to  ophthalmology  and  otol- 
ogy. He  has  always  stood  high  in  the  esteem  of 
the  profession,  and  has  been  active  and  influential 
in  its  councils  and  deliberations.  His  fine  personal 


appearance,  genial  manners,  fund  of  entertaining 
conversation,  and  frank,  manly  deportment  have 
made  him  a  favorite,  both  as  an  individual  and  a 
practitioner,  and  drawn  to  him  a  large  clientele. 

He  has  never  held  any  political  office,  but  has 
preferred  the  reward  which  has  come  to  him,  un- 
sought, in  his  profession  and  in  literature  and 
science.  He  has  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  been  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of  Science,  and 
he  is  one  of  its  Board  of  Trustees.  He  is  also 
President  of  the  Western  Association  of  the 
Alumni  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of 
the  Illinois  Alpha  Chapter  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa, 
the  oldest  Greek-letter  society  in  the  United  States, 
founded  in  1776,  whose  membership  has  always 
been  restricted  and  conferred  as  a  recognition  of 
scholarship. 

When  the  Illinois  Naval  Militia  was  organized 
as  a  part  of  the  National  Naval  Reserve,  he  was 
solicited  to  give  that  organization  the  benefit  of 
his  large  experience  in  the  naval  service  in  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  and  he  is  now  Surgeon  of 
the  First  Battalion,  and  has  taken  an  active  in- 
terest in  its  development. 


WILLIAM  O.  KEELER. 


O.  KEELER,  who  after  an  active 
career  is  spending  his  declining  years  at  the 
home  of  his  only  surviving  son,  No.  6818 
Wright  Street,  Englewood,  was  born  in  Danbury, 
Conn.,  on  January  i,  1819.  His  paternal  grand- 
father, of  Scotch  descent,  was  extensively  engaged 
in  farming,  and  gave  to  each  of  his  children  as 
they  married  considerable  tracts  of  land.  His 
death  occurred  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-five 
years.  Abraham  G.  and  Sarah  (Dan)  Keeler, 
parents  of  William  O.,  were  natives  of  Connecti- 
cut. The  father  followed  farming  in  that  locality 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  December  23, 


1836,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  He  was 
drafted  for  service  in  the  War  of  1812,  but  hired 
a  substitute.  His  wife  lived  until  1860,  passing 
away  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  She  was 
a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  which  church  her  children  were  reared. 
William  O.  Keeler  is  the  sole  survivor  of  a- 
family  of  eight  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  was 
reared  in  his  native  town,  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen began  learning  the  hatter's  trade.  For  some 
years  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  hats  and 
in  merchandising,  devoting  his  time  and  atten- 
tion to  those  enterprises  throughout  his  business 


1 62 


ALBERT  WILSON  KELSO. 


career.  He  established  the  first  hat  manufactory 
in  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  employing  eighty  workmen, 
which  was  considered  a  large  force  at  that  time. 
On  the  26th  of  April,  1843,  Mr.  Keeler  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Abigail  Stuart  Clark, 
daughter  of  Sallu  P.  and  Hannah  (Benedict) 
Clark.  Eight  children  were  born  of  their  union, 
six  sons  and  two  daughters.  Ella,  now  deceased, 
was  the  wife  of  J.  Deville  Dennis.  William  P. 
married  Miss  Temperance  Hayward,  daughter  of 
Ambrose  D.  and  Martha  (Wiley)  Hayward,  the 
former  a  native  of  Maine,  and  the  latter  of  Mass- 
achusetts. They  have  two  children,  William  P. 
and  Martha  Abigail.  William  P.  Keeler  has 
since  April,  1872,  held  the  responsible  position  of 
City  Cashier  in  the  wholesale  house  of  Marshall 
Field  &  Co.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Englewood  Christian  Church.  On  the  nth  of 
May,  1864,  while  yet  a  boy,  he  enlisted  in  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  joining  the  one  hundred 
day  men  and  becoming  a  member  of  Company  A, 
One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fourth  Illinois  Infan- 
try, U.  S.  A.,  continuing  in  the  service  until  the 
25th  of  October.  Frederick  S.  and  Isaac  Ward 
were  the  next  younger,  but  are  now  deceased,  as 
also  Frank,  twin  brother  of  Fannie.  The  latter 
is  the  wife  of  Walter  Colby,  of  Chicago,  and 
they  have  two  children,  Otis  Keeler  and  Abigail 


Stuart.  Susan  C.  and  Charles  L.  have  also  passed 
away,  and  the  mother  of  this  family,  who  was  a 
devoted  member  of  the  Christian  Church,  died 
May  17,  1889,  in  her  sixty-seventh  year. 

In  1852,  William  O.  Keeler  went  to  California 
in  search  of  gold,  and  after  a  two-years  stay  re- 
turned to  Danbury,  Conn.,  remaining  thereuntil 
the  fall  of  1854.  He  then  came  to  Chicago  and 
opened  the  first  hat,  cap  and  fur  store  on  Randolph 
Street,  under  the  old  Matteson  House,  occupying 
this  stand  for  a  number  of  years.  He  afterward 
removed  to  a  new  block  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street,  conducting  the  business  until  1861. 
He  then  accepted  a  clerkship  with  a  hat  house 
on  Clark  Street,  near  Lake,  and  later  at  No.  77 
Lake  Street,  in  the  Tremont  Block,  remaining 
there  until  1866.  In  that  year  he  went  upon  the 
road  as  a  traveling  salesman,  which  calling  he 
pursued  for  a  limited  time  only.  His  later  years 
have  been  mostly  spent  in  the  manufacture  of 
dress  hats,  but  in  the  spring  of  1894,  after  pass- 
ing his  seventy-fifth  milestone,  the  infirmities  of 
age  compelled  him  to  give  up  work.  Father  and 
son  have  never  been  separated  in  their  lives  ex- 
cept for  comparatively  brief  intervals,  the  home 
of  the  one  having  always  been  the  home  of  the 
other. 


ALBERT  WILSON  KELSO. 


G|  LBERT  WILSON  KELSO,  of  Chicago,  oc- 

J  I  cupies  the  responsible  position  of  chief  clerk 
|  I  in  the  office  of  the  Assistant  General  Manager 
of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad. 
The  record  of  his  life  is  as  follows:  A  native  of 
Shippensburgh,  Pa.,  he  was  born  on  the  22d  of 
October,  1859,  and  is  a  son  of  James  W.  and 
Anna  B  (Shade)  Kelso.  His  father  was  also  a 
native  of  Shippensburgh,  and  died  in  that  town 
when  the  son  was  only  six  months  old.  By  trade 


he  was  a  painter  and  decorator,  and  did  a  good 
business  along  that  line.  After  the  death  of  her 
first  husband,  Mrs.  Kelso  married  Henry  High, 
and  is  now  residing  in  Wilson,  Kan. 

Mr.  Kelso  whose  name  heads  this  record  at- 
tended the  public  schools  until  fourteen  years  of 
age,  thus  becoming  familiar  with  the  common 
English  branches  of  learning.  His  knowledge 
has  since  been  greatly  supplemented  by  reading, 
experience  and  observation,  and  he  has  thus  be- 


WALES  TOBEY. 


163 


come  a  well-informed  man.  At  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen he  emigrated  westward,  removing  with  the 
family  to  Wilson,  Kan.  From  the  age  of  eight 
years  he  had  been  accustomed  to  work  in  a  brick- 
yard, and  also  engaged  in  other  labor,  thus  con- 
tributing to  his  own  support.  He  is  a  self-made 
man,  and  whatever  success  he  has  achieved  in 
life  is  due  entirely  to  his  own  efforts. 

While  living  in  Wilson,  Kan.,  Mr.  Kelso  sought 
and  obtained  a  position  as  night  clerk  in  a  hotel. 
Later  he  removed  to  Russell,  Kan.,  where  he  was 
emplo}'ed  in  the  same  capacity.  In  May,  1880, 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company  and  removed  to  Wallace,  Kan. 
For  seven  years  he  continued  his  connection  with 
that  road,  becoming  chief  clerk  in  the  Division 
Superintendent's  office  at  Wallace,  his  merit  and 
ability  winning  him  a  promotion  to  which  he  was 
justly  entitled.  Later  he  was  in  the  office  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Bridges  and  Buildings  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  at  Omaha,  and 
on  the  27th  of  April,  1887,  he  engaged  with  the 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad  at  To- 
peka,  Kan.,  occupying  a  position  as  clerk  in  the 
office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Roadways.  In 
August,  1890,  he  came  to  Chicago  as  chief  clerk 


in  the  office  of  the  Assistant  General  Manager, 
which  position  he  now  holds.  He  discharges  his 
duties  with  promptness  and  fidelity,  and  wins  the 
respect  of  all  with  whom  he  is  brought  in  contact. 

Turning  from  the  public  to  the  private  life  of 
Mr.  Kelso,  it  is  noted  that  in  June,  1883,  was 
celebrated  his  marriage  with  Miss  Elizabeth  Spahr, 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Spahr,  who  were 
residents  of  Carlisle,  Pa.  The  family  circle  now 
includes  four  children,  a  son  and  three  daughters: 
Mary,  Edith,  Newton  and  Nora. 

Socially,  Mr.  Kelso  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  has  taken  high  rank  in  the  order, 
belonging  to  Topeka  Commandery  and  Medinah 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  From  his  boyhood 
he  has  been  an  advocate  of  Republican  principles, 
and  since  attaining  his  majority  he  has  cast  his 
vote  for  the  men  and  measures  of  that  party. 
He  is  an  accurate  and  reliable  scribe,  who  has 
won  his  way  to  his  present  responsible  position 
by  his  own  unaided  efforts.  His  integrity,  indus- 
trious habits  and  systematic  business  methods  in- 
spire the  confidence  of  his  superior  officers,  and 
his  many  admirable  social  qualities  have  gained 
him  numerous  personal  friends. 


WALES  TOBEY 


|ALES  TOBEY,  a  leading  citizen  of  Worth 
Township,  claims  New  York  as  the  State 
of  his  nativity,  his  birth  having  occurred 
near  Plattsburg,  on  the  28th  of  September,  1831. 
His  parents  were  Jesse  and  Statira  (DeKalb)  To- 
bey.  The  father,  who  was  born  in  Champlain, 
N.  Y. ,  was  an  attorney  by  profession  and  became  a 
large  land-owner  and  iron-founder.  He  traveled 
extensively  through  the  West,  and  in  the  commu- 
nity where  he  lived  was  recognized  as  one  of  its 
most  prominent  business  men.  His  death  oc- 


curred in  Plattsburg,  N.  Y.,  in  July,  1873,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-three  years.  The  Tobey  family  was 
of  English  origin.  Jesse  Tobey,  Sr. ,  the  grand- 
father of  Wales,  was  one  of  four  brothers  who  in 
an  early  day  came  to  America.  The  others  set- 
tled in  Connecticut,  Vermont  and  Ohio,  respec- 
tively. Mrs.  Statira  Tobey  was  a  native  of  the 
Empire  State,  but  her  parents  were  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  were  of  German  descent.  Her 
death  occurred  in  1841. 

Wales  Tobey  spent  his  boyhood  days  upon  a 


1 64 


HIRAM  P.  CRAWFORD. 


farm  in  Jay  Township,  Essex  County,  N.  Y., 
and  attended  the  public  schools  and  an  academy. 
Thus  he  acquired  a  good  English  education,  which 
well  fitted  him  for  the  practical  duties  of  life.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  left  home  and  entered  upon 
his  business  career  as  book-keeper  and  salesman 
in  a  mercantile  establishment  in  Newport,  Mich., 
where  he  was  employed  for  three  years.  He  be- 
lieved it  would  be  to  his  advantage  to  begin  bus- 
iness in  the  West,  and  his  judgment  was  not  at 
fault,  as  the  years  have  shown.  He  worked  for 
the  firm  of  E.  B.  &  S.  Ward,  relatives  of  his 
grandmother.  When  the  three  years  had  passed, 
he  went  to  Grand  Haven,  Mich.,  where  he  began 
business  on  his  own  account  as  a  dealer  in  wood, 
furnishing  steamboats  on  the  lake.  In  1851  he 
became  a  resident  of  Milwaukee,  and  thence  went 
to  Strong's  Landing,  Wis.  The  following  spring 
he  came  to  Cook  County,  111.,  settling  in  Worth 
Township. 

In  1856,  Mr.  Tobey  purchased  his  present  farm 
near  Worth  Station.  It  was  then  a  tract  of  wild 
land,  but  he  at  once  began  to  clear  and  cultivate 
it,  and  now  has  a  finely  improved  farm,  supplied 
with  all  modern  accessories  and  conveniences. 
He  has  bought  and  sold  considerable  real  estate, 
and  this  branch  of  his  business  has  also  proved 
to  him  a  good  source  of  income.  For  ten  years 
after  locating  on  his  farm,  his  nearest  postoffice 
was  Blue  Island,  a  distance  of  nine  miles,  but 
through  his  efforts  offices  were  established  at 
Worth,  South  Mount  Forest  and  Grosskopf. 
For  a  year  after  this  result  was  attained  the  mail 


was  brought  from  Blue  Island  by  private  enter- 
prise, for  the  Government  had  not  then  estab- 
lished a  mail  route.  Mr.  Tobey,  in  connection 
with  two  other  men,  supported  the  mail  route  by 
subscription. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1858,  Mr.  Tobey  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Elizabeth  Van  Horn, 
daughter  of  A.  C.  Van  Horn,  of  Homer,  111.  They 
had  three  children:  John  Dillon,  a  dealer  in  hay, 
grain  and  ice,  in  Chicago;  Emma,  wife  of  F. 
Hepperley,  of  Norfolk,  Neb.;  and  Marion,  wife 
of  John  Elliott,  of  Winside,  Neb.  The  mother 
of  this  family  passed  away  February  14,  1870,  at 
the  age  of  thirty  years.  She  was  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Church. 

Mr.  Tobey  was  married  to  his  second  wife, 
Elizabeth  M.  Burt,  daughter  of  Alvin  Burt,  of 
Westport,  N.  Y.,  January  8,  1874.  She  was  the 
mother  of  one  child,  Charles  Clifford  Tobey. 
She  passed  away  June  14,  1892,  at  the  age  of 
forty-seven  years. 

Mr.  Tobey  attends  the  services  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church  at  Worth,  which  was  built  upon 
land  contributed  by  him.  In  earlier  years  he 
was  a  Republican,  but  since  the  formation  of 
the  Prohibition  party  has  been  identified  with  that 
movement.  He  has  never  sought,  nor  would  he 
accept,  public  office.  He  has  witnessed  the  mar- 
velous development  of  Chicago  and  Cook  County 
for  more  than  forty  years,  and  has  borne  no  small 
part  therein,  ever  striving  to  promote  the  moral 
and  intellectual  growth  of  the  community  as  well 
as  its  material  prosperity. 


HIRAM  PRATT  CRAWFORD 


HIRAM  PRATT  CRAWFORD,  a  real-estate 
dealer  of  Crawford's  Station,  Chicago,  is  a 
native  of  the  Empire  State,  his  birth  having 
occurred  in  Buffalo  on  the  3d  of  January,    1831. 


He  is  a  son  of  Peter  Crawford,  whose  biography 
will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work.  He  at- 
tended the  public  schools  of  Buffalo  and  Chicago. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  was  established  by  his 


FRANK  H.  NOVAK. 


165 


father  in  a  lumber-yard  in  Marengo;  and  when  the 
railroad  was  extended  to  Belvidere,  he  removed  to 
that  place,  whence  he  afterward  went  to  Rock- 
ford,  111.  In  1855,  he  became  a  resident  of  Gales- 
burg,  where  he  carried  on  business  for  two  years. 
Since  1857,  he  has  resided  at  the  old  homestead, 
where  he  is  engaged  in  looking  after  his  exten- 
sive real-estate  interests.  The  original  farm  pur- 
chased by  his  father  has  constantly  increased  in 
value,  and  now  includes  some  of  the  most  valuable 
suburban  property  adjacent  to  the  city. 

In  1870,  Mr.  Crawford  married  Miss  Sarah  A. 
Launt,  daughter  of  Lewis  Launt,  of  Hamden, 
Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  the  birthplace  of  Mrs. 


Crawford.  Three  children  graced  this  union, 
namely:  Sadie  B.,  wife  of  M.  D.  Broadway,  of 
Chicago;  Nettie  S.,  and  Jessie  L.,  deceased.  The 
parents  and  their  children  hold  membership  with 
the  Baptist  Church.  In  his  political  views,  Mr. 
Crawford  is  a  Republican,  and  stanchly  advocates 
the  principles  of  that  party.  He  has  filled  vari- 
ous positions  of  trust,  having  been  Assessor,  Tax 
Collector  and  Superintendent  of  Public  Works  in 
Cicero  Township.  Mr.  Crawford  is  a  gentleman 
of  rare  physical  strength  for  one  of  his  years.  He 
is  kindly  in  manner,  hospitable,  and  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  growth  and  progress  of  Chicago. 


FRANK  H.  NOVAK. 


[""RANK  H.  NOVAK,  a  leading  attorney  of 
r3  West  Pullman,  was  born  near  Iowa  City, 
I  Johnson  County,  Iowa,  on  the  i6th  of  No- 
vember, 1862,  and  is  a  son  of  Frank  and  Barbara 
Novak,  who  are  still  living  on  a  farm  near  Iowa 
City.  The  former  is  a  native  of  Vienna,  Austria. 
He  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America  in  1858,  and 
became  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Johnson 
County,  Iowa.  He  is  now  one  of  its  most  ex- 
tensive farmers  and  representative  citizens.  His 
wife,  who  was  born  near  Praug,  Austria,  is  a 
daughter  of  Frank  and  Mary  Hiek,  early  settlers 
of  Lynn  County,  Iowa,  who  emigrated  to  America 
from  Praug,  Austria,  in  1855. 

In  taking  up  the  personal  history  of  our  sub- 
ject, we  present  to  our  readers  the  life  record  of 
one  who  is  both  widely  and  favorably  known  in 
this  section  of  Cook  County.  After  attending 
the  common  schools,  he  entered  the  Iowa  City 
Commercial  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  the  Class  of  '85.  He  then  engaged  in  teach- 


ing for  several  terms,  and  met  with  good  success 
in  that  line  of  work.  He  afterward  became  a 
student  in  the  Iowa  State  University,  of  Iowa 
City,  and,  on  the  completion  of  the  collegiate 
course,  entered  the  law  department,  having  de- 
termined to  become  a  member  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession. He  received  his  diploma  in  1889,  and 
was  thereby  entitled  to  admission  to  the  Bar  and 
to  practice  in  the  federal  courts. 

Immediately  after  completing  his  law  studies, 
Mr.  Novak  opened  an  office  in  Iowa  City,  and 
was  there  engaged  in  business  until  August, 
1893,  when  he  crossed  the  Mississippi  into  Illi- 
nois and  located  at  West  Pullman,  where  he  has 
since  made  his  home,  becoming  the  leading  at- 
torney of  that  growing  suburb,  and  doing  business 
as  a  lawyer  and  loan  and  collection  agent.  He 
is  also  interested  in  real-estate  and  in  live-stock 
investments  near  Iowa  City,  where  the  breeding 
of  English  Shire  horses  and  Red  Polled  cattle  is 
made  a  specialty. 


1 66 


JOHN  J.  LEAHY. 


On  the  28th  of  March,  1890,  Mr.  Novak  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Nellie  M.  Burke, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Burke,  a  resident  of  Oxford, 
Iowa.  The  lady  is  a  native  of  Ottawa,  Illinois. 
Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  one  child,  Marie 
Barbara. 

The  parents  both  attend  the  Catholic  Church. 
Mr.  Novak  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
fraternity,  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees  and  the 
Order  of  Red  Men.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat, 


and  warmly  advocates  the  principles  of  that  party. 
He  has  held  a  number  of  public  offices,  was  Town- 
ship Clerk  both  in  Lucas  and  Monroe  Townships 
of  Johnson  County,  Iowa,  was  Assessor  of  Mon- 
roe Township,  and  filled  other  positions  of  public 
trust.  Mr.  Novak  is  a  gentleman  of  pleasing 
address,  good  business  judgment  and  marked  pro- 
fessional ability,  making  friends  of  all  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact  in  either  business  or  social 
relations. 


JOHN  J.  LEAHY,  M.  D. 


(TOHN  J.  LEAHY,  M.  D.,  who  is  successfully 
I  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Le- 
G)  mont,  was  born  in  April,  1863,  and  is  a  na- 
tive of  County  Limerick,  Ireland.  His  father, 
Thomas  Leahy,  was  a  native  of  Tipperary,  and 
his  mother,  Margaret  Leahy,  of  Kitteely.  The 
Doctor  acquired  his  primary  education  in  the  na- 
tional schools  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  and  then  began 
the  study  of  medicine  in  the  College  of  Surgeons 
in  Dublin,  where  he  remained  for  three  years. 
In  1883,  he  emigrated  from  Ireland,  and  in  Sep- 
tember of  that  year  reached  Chicago.where  he  be- 
came a  student  in  Rush  Medical  College.  He 
there  spent  two  years,  and  still  another  year  in  the 
Cook  County  Hospital. 

In  April,  1885,  Dr.  Leahy  acted  upon  the  ad- 
vice given  to  the  young  men  of  America  by  the 
sage  of  Chappaqua  and  went  West,  settling  at 
Delmar  Junction,  Clinton  County,  Iowa.  At- 
tracted by  the  inducements  offered  at  Lemont, 
however,  he,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1885 
settled  in  this  place,  where  he  has  enjoyed  a  large 
and  constantly  increasing  practice.  Much  of  the 


time  Dr.  Leahy  has  been  employed  by  corpora- 
tions working  large  forces  of  men.  From  1886  to 
1891,  he  was  surgeon  for  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad 
Company,  and  during  the  year  1892  he  was 
physician  and  surgeon  for  the  firm  of  Frazier  & 
Chalmers,  manufacturers  of  mining  machinery  at 
Chicago.where  he  was  busily  engaged,  having  in 
charge  a  thousand  men  and  their  families.  Since 
the  beginning  of  1894,  he  has  been  physician  and 
surgeon  to  the  Illinois  Stone  Company,  and  also 
to  Section  5  of  the  Drainage  Canal  at  Lemont,  in 
addition  to  his  general  practice. 

In  1887,  Dr.  Leahy  married  Miss  Margaret 
Reardon,  of  Lemont,  daughter  of  Thomas  and 
Helen  Reardon,  whose  sketch  appears  elsewhere 
in  this  volume.  Three  bright  and  beautiful  chil- 
dren, two  girls  and  a  boy,  have  blessed  this  un- 
ion. They  are  Clara  Louise,  John  J.  and  Mar- 
ion. Dr.  Leahy's  cheerful  disposition  makes  him 
many  friends,  professionally  and  otherwise,  and 
he  enjoys  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  He  has 
one  brother  in  this  country,  Rev.  Patrick  Leahy, 
of  Lyons,  Iowa. 


<RV 
"  THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILl! 


C 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK. 


187 


CYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK. 


EYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK,  measured  by 
his  achievements  and  their  influence  upon 
mankind,  must  rank  as  one  of  the  greatest 
benefactors  of  modern  times.  This  statement  is, 
perhaps,  a  comprehensive  one,  but  it  is  not  un- 
warranted by  facts,  and  indeed  was  given  an  au- 
thoritative stamp  when,  in  the  latter  years  of  Mr. 
McCormick's  life,  he  was  chosen  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences,  on 
the  ground  of  his  having  done  more  for  the  cause 
of  agriculture  than  any  other  living  man.  Why 
this  broad  and  generous  tribute  ?  Why  is  the 
name  of  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  remembered  and 
honored,  and  why  will  his  memory  hold  a  sacred 
niche  in  Fame's  enduring  temple  throughout  all 
coming  time  ?  To  answer  queries  of  this  nature 
we  must  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  life,  the  influ- 
ences, and  the  labors  of  him  concerning  whom 
they  are  asked. 

The  McCormick  family  lived  in  Rockbridge 
County,  Virginia.  They  were  descendants  of  an 
early  settler  in  that  portion  of  the  State,  who  had 
been  invited  thither  by  the  fertile  fields  lying  in 
the  broad  valley  between  the  Shenandoah  and 
Blue  Ridge  mountain  ranges.  It  was  here  that 
Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  was  born  on  the  isth  of 
February,  1809.  His  parents  were  Robert  and 
Mary  Ann  (Hall)  McCormick,  and  their  circum- 
stances, while  perhaps  not  warranting  luxurious 
living,  were,  nevertheless,  conducive  to  comfort 
and  the  peaceful  enjoyments  common  to  that  pe- 
riod. It  was  an  era  when  modern  frivolities  and 
diversions  were  comparatively  unknown,  and 
when  the  hearts  of  men  and  women  found  their 
sweetest  solace  in  the  regularly  recurring  services 
held  in  the  little  church.  Light  literature  was  there 
unknown,  and  books  of  travel,  history  and  biog- 


raphy were  almost  equally  scarce.  As  a  conse- 
quence, the  Bible  was  much  read  in  the  homes  of 
the  people,  and  its  precepts  were  more  carefully 
instilled  into  the  minds  of  its  students  than  is  com- 
mon in  this  push-and-hurry  age  of  ours.  The 
parents  of  young  McCormick  were  recognized  by 
their  neighbors  as  the  possessors  of  marked  abil- 
ity and  integrity  of  character,  and  their  lives  and 
actions  were  shaped  in  conformity  with  the  best 
ideals  of  Christianity. 

It  was  amid  surroundings  such  as  these  that 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  acquired  those  traits 
which  mark  the  career  of  the  successful  man, 
and  to  which  men  of  all  times  and  of  all  nations 
have  paid  the  tribute  of  their  admiration  and 
their  praise.  This  schooling  of  his  character 
at  home  was  supplemented  by  young  McCor- 
mick's attendance  upon  the  "Old  Field "  school, 
where  the  rudiments  of  book  knowledge  were 
acquired,  and  this  was  further  enhanced  by  an 
evident  desire  for  knowledge  not  found  in  books, 
a  knowledge  of  the  practical,  of  the  common  things 
about  him.  Genius  is  rarely  an  accidental  trait, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  natural  environments 
in  which  young  Cyrus  lived  were  shaping  his 
destiny.  His  father  was  a  man  of  more  than  or- 
dinary ability,  himself  a  student  throughout  all  the 
years  of  his  life,  with  an  inclination  toward  in- 
vention, and  indeed  an  inventor  in  fact,  as  sever- 
al useful  devices  are  accredited  to  his  ingenuity 
in  this  line.  He  was  extensively  engaged  in 
farming,  and  had  upon  his  premises  both  black- 
smith and  wood-working  shops  for  the  prompt  re- 
pairing of  the  various  farm  implements,  as  occa- 
sion demanded.  He  appears  to  have  been  fond 
of  the  workshop,  and  it  was  but  natural  that  he 
should  give  considerable  time  and  attention  to  the 


168 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK. 


construction  of  experimental  devices  as  they  sug- 
gested themselves  to  him.  Among  some  of  the 
improvements  resulting  from  his  experiments  were 
a  hemp-breaking  machine,  a  threshing-machine, 
and  a  blacksmith's  bellows.  As  early  as  1809, 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  a  grain-cutting  mechan- 
ism, and  in  the  summer  of  1810  his  conception 
had  assumed  a  tangible  form  and  was  taken  into 
the  field  for  practical  test.  The  cutting  device 
consisted  of  a  system  of  rotary  saws,  revolving  past 
the  edges  of  stationary  knives,  so  as  to  cut  like 
shears.  A  witness  who  saw  its  performance  in 
the  grain  field  described  it  as  "  a  somewhat  fright- 
ful looking  piece  of  machinery  when  moving." 
It  failed  to  meet  the  expectations  of  its  inventor 
and  was  laid  aside,  though  the  idea  of  the  reaper 
kept  possession  of  him  for  several  years  thereafter, 
and  he  in  fact  made  one  or  two  subsequent  at- 
tempts to  perfect  the  machine,  but  without  success. 
To  his  father's  experiments  and  failures  young 
Cyrus  paid  much  attention,  and  it  is  not  un- 
likely that  at  an  early  age  he  brought  himself  to 
believe  that  he  would  some  time  bring  order  out 
of  the  chaos  which  had  marked  the  elder's  reap- 
er-inventing career.  He  had  a  natural  liking  for 
mechanical  inventions,  and  spent  a  goodly  portion 
of  his  time  in  his  father's  workshops,  becoming 
quite  an  adept  in  the  use  of  the  various  tools.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  made  a  grain  cradle,  by  the 
use  of  which  he  was  enabled  to  go  into  the  har- 
vest field  and  keep  pace  with  the  older  laborers. 
A  little  later  he  constructed  a  hill-side  plow,  a 
practical  and  useful  invention,  which  threw  alter- 
nate furrows  either  right  or  left.  This  was  pat- 
ented, but  was  in  turn  superseded  by  his  horizon- 
tal self-sharpening  plow.  It  was  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  that  he  determined  to  devote  his  en- 
ergies to  the  reaper;  and  with  his  father's  fail- 
ures before  him  plainly  showing  what  was  im- 
practicable, and  perhaps  offering  vague  suggest- 
ions as  to  what  the  practicable  machine  must  be, 
he  dreamed,  bethought,  and  he  worked.  He  first 
convinced  himself  that  the  principle  adopted  by 
his  father  was  fundamental'y  wrong,  he  believing 
that  the  cutting  device  should  give  way  to  a  hori- 
zontal reciprocating  blade,  which  should  operate 
upon  the  grain  in  mass.  Deciding  upon  the  de- 


tails of  such  a  machine,  he  set  to  work  with  his 
own  hands  to  combine  them  in  wood  and  iron. 
He  became  so  deeply  absorbed  in  his  work  that  his 
father,  remembering  his  own  futile  attempts  in  the 
same  line,  sought  to  discourage  the  boy,  telling 
him  that  he  was  wasting  both  his  time  and  talents. 
Happily,  however,  Cyrus  saw  deeper,  and  with 
that  persistence  which  was  an  inborn  trait  of  his 
character,  continued  on  in  his  work,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1831  went  into  a  field  of  grain  with  the 
first  successful  reaper  that  was  ever  built.  The 
distinguishing  features  of  that  machine  were  the 
reciprocating  blade,  operating  in  fixed  fingers;  the 
platform  for  receiving  the  falling  grain;  the  reel 
to  draw  the  grain  back  to  the  knives;  and  the 
divider,  to  separate  the  grain  to  be  cut  from  that 
left  standing.  These  features  and  their  combina- 
tion must  be  credited  to  the  genius  and  skill  of 
Cyrus  Hall  McCormick.  They  are  found  in  all 
grain-cutting  machines  now  extant,  of  whatso- 
ever name  or  nature,  and  to  dispense  with  them 
' '  would  be  to  wipe  every  reaper  out  of  existence. ' ' 
The  words  quoted  are  from  "  Knight's  New  Me- 
chanical Dictionary,"  compiled  and  edited  by  Ed- 
ward H.  Knight,  A.  M.,  1,1,.  D.,  in  charge  of 
the  classifications  and  publications  of  the  United 
States  Patent  Office. 

When  the  field  experiment  had  demonstrated 
the  practical  utility  of  his  invention,  it  was  tem- 
porarily relegated  to  a  secondary  place  in  the 
mind  of  its  inventor.  To  enter  at  once  upon  the 
work  of  building  machines  for  general  use  would 
involve  an  expenditure  and  obligation  which,  at 
that  time,  it  was  felt,  could  not  be  assumed;  and 
therefor,  more  perhaps  as  a  stepping-stone  than 
otherwise,  Mr.  McCormick  entered  into  a  partner- 
ship for  the  smelting  of  iron  ore,  a  business  which 
appears  to  have  moved  along  smoothly  and  with 
some  degree  of  success  until  the  panic  of  1837, 
when  it  went  down  in  the  general  crash  which 
carried  with  it  so  many  older  and  more  preten- 
tious enterprises.  Looking  out  upon  the  wreck, 
Cyrus  McCormick  saw  all  material  interests  reced- 
ing from  him;  looking  within,  he  saw  a  sturdy 
young  manhood,  and  felt  the  red  blood  of  ambi- 
tion coursing  through  his  veins.  Little  time  was 
spent  in  repining.  The  first  thing  lo  be  done — 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK. 


169 


or  at  least  to  be  provided  for — was  the  payment 
of  every  obligation  which  the  firm  had  assumed, 
and  to  this  end  Mr.  McCormick  sacrificed  all  his 
possessions,  including  the  farm  which  his  father 
had  given  him.  Then,  with  his  face  turned  toward 
the  light,  with  faith  in  himself  and  the  reaper, 
he  cast  about  him  for  ways  and  means  for  the 
further  improvement  of  his  machine,  its  manu- 
facture and  sale.  Like  most  stories  of  great  suc- 
cesses, this  is  the  story  of  small  beginnings,  many 
vicissitudes  and  perplexities,  and  some  anxiety; 
but  over  all  the  rainbow  of  hope.  The  shops  of 
the  old  Virginia  farm  were  utilized  as  ' '  factories  ' ' 
during  the  first  few  years,  and,  as  may  be  imag- 
ined, the  annual  output  of  machines  was  insig- 
nificant until  the  year  1845,  when  it  was  decided 
to  start  a  plant  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Arrange- 
ments were  also  made  at  this  time  with  a  firm  at 
Brockport,  New  York,  for  building  the  reaper  on 
a  royalty.  It  was  thought  that  from  these  two 
points  the  East  and  West  could  be  supplied,  but 
the  popularity  of  the  grain  cutter  outran  the  ex- 
pectations of  its  inventor,  and,  to  accelerate  the  de- 
velopment of  the  regions  farther  west,  a  demand 
for  it  sprang  up  and  became  so  general  that  it 
was  decided  to  again  enlarge  the  plant,  increase 
the  facilities,  and  locate  near  the  great  and  grow- 
ing market  of  the  West.  Accordingly,  in  1 847 ,  the 
McCormick  Reaper  Works  became  one  of  the 
great  industries  of  the  young  city  of  Chicago.  In 
1848  seven  hundred  machines  were  built  and  sold, 
and  from  that  time  to  this  the  business  has  shown 
a  steady  growth,  until  its  proportions  are  well 
nigh  amazing.  The  present  capacity  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick Reaper  Works  exceeds  150,000  machines 
every  year;  and,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
India,  there  is  no  grain  and  grass  growing  coun- 
try beneath  the  sun  where  the  McCormick  ma- 
chines are  not  employed  in  garnering  the  crop. 

After  the  assured  success  of  the  reaper  at  home, 
Mr.  McCormick  took  measures  to  bring  it  to  the 
attention  of  the  agriculturists  of  the  Old  World. 
As  an  initial  step  in  this  direction,  the  machine 
was  placed  on  exhibition  at  the  first  World's  Fair, 
held  in  London  in  1851.  It  was  at  a  time  when 
English  eyes  were  given  to  the  casting  of  unfriend- 
ly glances  toward  whatever  emanated  from  Yan- 


keedom,  and  the  McCormick  reaper  was  not  al- 
lowed to  escape  the  ridicule  of  the  press,  the 
London  Times  characterizing  it  as  "a  cross 
between  an  Astley  chariot  and  a  wheelbarrow." 
Before  the  Exposition  season  closed,  however, 
the  reaper  completely  conquered  prejudice  and 
the  Times  made  the  amende  honorable  by  stating 
editorially  that  it  was  ' '  alone  worth  the  entire  ex- 
pense of  the  Exhibition, ' '  and  the  Great  Council 
Medal  was  awarded  to  Mr.  McCormick  on  the 
ground  of  the  originality  and  value  of  his  inven- 
tion. From  this  moment  fame  and  fortune  were 
assured,  and  there  were  no  fields  either  at  home 
or  abroad  in  which  McCormick  was  not  conquer- 
or. At  the  UniversalExposition  at  Paris,  in  1855, 
he  was  awarded  the  Grand  Prize.  Again  at  Paris  in 
1867  he  gained  the  Grand  Prize  and  decoration  by 
the  Emperor  with  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Hon- 
or. It  was  at  this  time  that  M.  Eugene  Tisseraud, 
Director-General  of  the  Imperial  Domains,  said: 
' '  The  man  who  has  labored  most  in  the  general 
distribution,  perfection  and  discovery  of  the  first 
practical  reaper  is  assuredly  Mr.  McCormick,  of 
Illinois.  Equally  as  a  benefactor  of  humanity 
and  as  a  skillful  mechanician,  Mr.  McCormick 
has  been  adjudged  worthy  of  the  highest  distinc- 
tion of  the  Exposition."  A  third  triumph  was 
secured  at  Paris  in  1878,  when  the  Grand  Prize 
was  once  more  bestowed  upon  Mr.  McCormick, 
and  he  was  also  honored  by  the  French  Academy 
of  Sciences,  as  was  referred  to  in  the  opening 
paragraph  of  this  sketch.  Many  personal  trib- 
utes might  be  given  illustrating  the  high  regard 
in  which  Mr.  McCormick  was  held,  and  showing 
the  recognition  of  the  value  of  his  invention. 
During  his  life-time  honors  came  to  him  thick  and 
fast,  and  it  is  not  untimely  to  add  here  that  since 
his  death  the  business  which  he  founded,  and  the 
harvesting  machines  which  still  bear  his  name, 
stand  first  and  foremost  in  the  business  and  agri- 
cultural world.  Honors  have  continued  to  come 
to  the  McCormick,  not  the  least  of  which  were 
those  secured  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion of  1893. 

Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  encountered  obstacles 
which  only  a  matchleas  energy  and  ability  could 
have  overcome.  At  the  beginning  of  his  career, 


170 


JOHN  B.  TURNER. 


and  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  he  was  inconveni- 
enced by  a  lack  of  capital  and  by  his  isolation 
from  centres  of  communication  and  trade.  He 
was  forced  to  overcome  the  opposition  originally 
brought  to  bear  against  all  labor-saving  machines. 
Congress  refused  to  give  him  just  patent  protec- 
tion, for  the  reason  that  his  invention  was  so  val- 
uable that  all  should  be  allowed  to  make  it ! 
But  against  all  these  odds  he  came  out  conqueror. 
Steadily  he  overcame  every  obstacle  and  estab- 
lished his  claim  to  be  a  benefactor  of  the  indus- 
trial world. 

Man's  better  nature,  his  human  side,  his  kind- 
lier, gentler  self,  cannot  be  always  seen  to  advan- 
tage in  the  hurly-burly  of  an  active  business  ca- 
reer, and  it  is  pleasant  to  recall  the  memory  of 
Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  as  he  appeared  to  those 
who  knew  him  in  social  life,  in  his  home,  in  his 
church  relations,  and  in  all  those  varied  walks 
that  lead  away  from  business  and  touch  the  strings 
of  human  hearts.  Mr.  McCormick  had  this  gen- 
tler nature,  and,  while  it  is  not  our  purpose  here 
to  rehearse  the  many  ways  in  which  this  charac- 
teristic evinced  itself,  still  a  sketch  of  his  life 
should  contain  a  brief  mention  of  those  more  con- 
spicuous acts  wherein  are  shown  the  trend  of  his 
benevolence  and  the  munificence  of  his  philanthro- 
py. In  1859,  at  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  held  at  Indianapolis,  he 
made  a  proposition  to  endow  the  professorships  of 
the  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Northwest,  on  condition  that  it  be  located  at  Chi- 


cago. The  conditions  were  accepted,  and  the 
seminary,  which,  in  addition  to  the  original  en- 
dowment, received  from  Mr.  McCormick  numer- 
ous other  magnificent  donations,  is  to-day  a  proud 
monument  to  his  liberality  and  nobility  of  heart. 
On  the  educational  and  religious  lines  of  his  work 
was  also  his  purchase  of  the  Interior,  a  news- 
paper established  in  Chicago  to  represent  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  In  the  hour  of  its  financial 
struggles  he  purchased  it,  placed  it  upon  a  sound 
financial  basis,  and  it  is  to-day  one  of  the  most 
able  and  influential  religious  journals  published. 
He  was  also  a  liberal  contributor  to  various  schools 
and  colleges  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
those  of  his  native  Virginia  coming  in  for  gener- 
ous recognition  at  his  hands. 

In  1858  Mr.  McCormick  married  Miss  Nettie 
Fowler,  daughter  of  Melzar  Fowler,  Esq.,  of  Jeff- 
erson County,  New  York.  Four  sons  and  three 
daughters  were  born  to  them,  two  of  whom,  a  son 
and  a  daughter,  died  in  infancy.  The  surviving 
children  are:  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick,  now  Presi- 
dent of  the  McCormick  Harvesting  Machine  Com- 
pany; Mary  Virginia;  Anita,  widow  of  the  late 
Emmons  Elaine;  Harold  and  Stanley. 

Mr.  Me  Cormick  died  on  the  1 3th  of  May,  1884. 
His  life  was  rounded  out  by  something  more  than 
the  three-score  and  ten  years  of  scriptural  allot- 
ment; but  we  live  in  deeds,  not  years,  and,  meas- 
ured by  this  standard,  the  life  of  Cyrus  Hall  Mc- 
Cormick was  long,  and  ever  longer  groweth. 


JOHN  BICE  TURNER. 


(lOHN  BICE  TURNER,  founder  of  the  great     of  great  financial  and  other  difficulties.     Thepio- 


I  railway  system  now  known  as  the  Chicago 
(2)  &  Northwestern,  will  ever  deserve  the  grat- 
itude of  Chicago  for  his  public  spirit  and  perse- 
verance in  carrying  out  his  enterprises  in  the  face 


neers  of  Chicago,  whose  number  is  rapidly  grow- 
ing small,  speak  of  him  in  the  most  kindly  and  ap- 
proving terms.  Probably  but  a  very  small  percent- 
age of  the  thousands  who  daily  ride  to  and  from 


JOHN  B.  TURNER. 


171 


the  city  on  the  "Northwestern"  suburban  trains 
ever  consider  the  hardships  endured  by  those  who 
first  undertook  to  construct  a  railway  to  the  West 
from  the  struggling  young  city  by  the  lake.  It 
had  no  double  track  at  first,  and  no  "parlor"  or 
"palace  sleeping"  cars  followed  its  strap  rails. 
The  generation  which  found  a  modern-equipped 
line  ready  for  its  accommodation  can  little  under- 
stand the  conditions  that  obtained  when  John  B. 
Turner  laid  the  first  "T"  rails  in  Illinois. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  was  born  in  Col- 
chester, Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  on  the  I4th  of 
January,  1799,  less  than  a  decade  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  present  United  States  Government. 
His  father,  Elisha  Turner,  died  when  he  was  but 
two  years  old,  and  his  mother  when  he  was  four- 
teen. Her  maiden  name  was  Patience  Coville,  and 
she  was  of  Dutch  origin.  The  Turners  are  of  Eng- 
lish lineage.  Soon  after  his  father's  death,  J.  B. 
Turner  was  adopted  by  David  Powers,  and  passed 
his  youth  on  a  farm  and  about  a  tanyard  operated 
by  his  foster-father,  in  the  mean  time  receiving  such 
instruction  as  the  country  schools  of  the  time  af- 
forded. In  1819,  he  married  Miss  Martha  Volun- 
tine,  and  settled  down  at  farming.  Five  years 
later,  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  farm  and  pur- 
chased a  mill  and  store,  and  built  a  distillery  at 
Maltaville,  in  Saratoga  County,  which  he  oper- 
ated six  years.  Financial  reverses  caused  him  to 
abandon  these  interests,  and  his  attention  was  first 
turned  to  railroad  construction  in  1835,  when  he 
took  a  contract  to  build  seven  miles  of  the  Ran- 
som &  Saratoga  Railroad.  After  its  completion, 
Mr.  Turner  was  placed  in  charge  of  this  road, 
most  of  whose  trains  were  hauled  by  horses,  of 
which  the  company  owned  thirty  head,  and  he 
constructed  barns  every  ten  miles  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  motive  power.  It  was  on  this 
line,  under  Mr.  Turner's  management,  that  the 
'  'Champlain, ' '  an  engine  of  five  tons'  weight,  was 
placed  in  commission,  being  the  second  of  its  kind 
in  use. 

In  November,  1835,  Mr.  Turner,  with  a  part- 
ner, broke  ground  on  the  Delaware  Division  of 
the  New  York  &  Erie  Railroad,  but  was  forced  to 
suspend  operations  when  the  financial  disasters  of 
April,  1837,  crippled  the  owners,  and  the  capital 


of  the  contractors  appeared  to  be  swallowed  up. 
The  subsequent  resumption  of  the  company  re- 
stored to  Mr.  Turner  the  $16,000  which  he  re- 
garded as  lost,  and  with  a  brother-in-law,  John 
Vernam,  he  engaged  in  building  the  Genesee  Val- 
ley Canal.  The  suspension  of  operations  by  the 
State  on  the  canal  in  1840  again  caused  a  heavy 
loss  to  Mr.  Turner,  but  on  the  resumption  of  con- 
struction this  was,  in  part,  restored  to  him.  By 
the  spring  of  1843,  he  had  completed  a  section  of 
the  Troy  &Schenectady  Railroad  with  profit,  and 
he  turned  his  attention  toward  the  growing  West 
as  the  most  desirable  field  for  the  investment  of  his 
capital.  With  his  wife,  he  made  a  trip  as  far 
West  as  the  Mississippi  River,  and  decided  to  lo- 
cate at  Chicago,  returning  East  at  once  for  his 
family. 

The  1 5th  of  October,  1843,  found  him  again  in 
Chicago,  and  he  took  up  quarters  at  the  old  Tre- 
mont  House.  His  active  mind  readily  grasped 
the  opportunities  for  investment,  and  one  of  his 
first  moves  was  the  purchase  of  one  thousand 
acres  of  land  near  Blue  Island,  on  which  he  placed 
a  herd  of  sheep,  brought  from  Ohio  in  the  spring. 
An  attempt  at  railroad  building  had  been  made 
as  early  as  1837,  and  a  few  miles  of  strap  rails 
had  been  laid,  terminating  on  the  prairie  not  far 
from  the  present  western  limits  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago. In  1847,  Mr.  Turner  and  William  B.  Og- 
den,  the  first  mayor  of  Chicago,  organized  a  com- 
pany to  construct  a  road  westward  from  Chicago, 
and  on  the  5th  of  April  in  that  year,  Mr.  Ogden 
was  elected  President,  and  Mr.  Turner  Acting 
Director  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena  Union  Railroad, 
the  objective  point  being  Galena — a  town  little 
less  than  Chicago  in  size  and  importance  at  that 
time.  Both  the  gentlemen  above  named  were  en- 
thusiastic in  the  interest  of  the  enterprise,  and  by 
their  untiring  labor  in  soliciting  subscriptions  to 
stock  and  securing  right  of  way  from  the  people 
most  benefited  by  its  construction,  said  construc- 
tion was  made  possible.  At  the  election  of  officers 
in  December,  1850,  when  Mr.  Turner  was  made 
President,  the  track  was  completed  beyond  Elgin 
and  reached  Freeport,  where  it  connected  with  the 
Illinois  Central  in  September,  1852. 

By  this  time,  it  had  been  demonstrated  that  the 


172 


E.  F.  L.  GAUSS. 


western  prairies  were  destined  to  support  an  im- 
mense population,  and  attention  was  turned  to  the 
construction  of  the  "Dixon  Air  -Line,"  from 
Turner  Junction  west  to  the  Mississippi  River. 
This  was  rapidly  completed  under  Mr.  Turner's 
active  and  able  management,  and  a  portion  of  the 
line  across  the  State  of  Iowa  was  also  completed 
under  his  presidency,  before  he  resigned  in  1858. 
He  continued  an  active  director  of  the  road,  and 
in  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern,  after  the  consol- 
idation of  the  different  lines,  until  his  death.  In 
1853,  he  organized  the  Beloit  &  Madison  Railroad 
Company,  which  became  a  part  of  the  same  sys- 
tem, being  now  a  part  of  the  Madison  Division, 
and  on  the  consolidation,  in  June,  1864,  of  these 
various  lines,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
having  the  arrangements  in  charge,  and  was  af- 
terward a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Chicago  &  Northwestern.  Mr.  Turner  was 
also  a  director  of  the  North  Side  Street  Railroad, 
incorporated  in  February,  1859,  and  continued  to 
hold  stock  during  his  life. 


In  1853,  Mr.  Turner  was  called  upon  to  mourn 
the  death  of  the  wife  who  had  shared  in  his  early 
toils  and  successes,  and  in  1855  he  married  Miss 
Adeline  Williams,  of  Columbus,  Ga.  Three  sons 
and  three  daughters  were  given  to  him.  He  was 
vigorous  and  active  to  the  day  of  his  death,  which 
was  the  26th  of  February,  1871,  more  than  sev- 
enty-two years  of  life  having  been  his  allotted 
time.  The  end  came  peacefully  and  quietly,  and 
on  that  day  Chicago  lost  one  of  her  most  valued 
and  upright  citizens,  who  did  what  he  could  to 
benefit  his  fellows.  On  the  day  of  his  funeral, 
the  offices  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Rail- 
way were  closed  out  of  respect  for  the  "judicious 
and  faithful  counselor,  genial  companion,  consider- 
ate friend  and  Christian  gentleman.  His  devo- 
tion to  the  material  interests  of  the  country  was 
exceeded  only  by  the  patriotism  which  never  lost 
sight  of  the  highest  duties  of  citizenship.  His 
great  works  live  after  him,  and  will  keep  his 
memory  green  forever." 


E.  F.  L.  GAUSS. 


IT  F.  L.  GAUSS  is  First  Assistant  Librarian  in 
r»)  the  Chicago  Public  Library,  and  the  responsi- 
I  ble  position  which  he  occupies  finds  in  him  a 
capable  incumbent.  He  is  also  a  patron  of  literature 
and  music,  and  indeed  is  a  friend  to  all  those  arts 
which  are  calculated  to  elevate  and  benefit  man- 
kind. He  claims  Germany  as  the  land  of  his 
birth,  which  occurred  in  Stuttgart  in  1842.  He 
came  of  one  of  the  old  aristocratic  families  of  that 
country,  and  was  reared  accordingly.  The  father 
died  in  1848,  and  the  mother  was  called  to  her 
final  rest  in  1845. 

Mr.  Gauss  whose  name  heads  this  record  at- 
tended school  in  his  native  land  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  in  1859,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 


crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America,  settling  in  New 
York  City.  When  the  war  for  the  Union  broke 
out,  and  President  Lincoln  called  for  volunteers 
to  aid  in  crushing  the  rebellion  which  threatened 
to  destroy  the  nation,  he  at  once  enlisted,  joining 
the  boys  in  blue  of  Company  K,  First  New  York 
Infantry.  After  two  years  of  valiant  service  he 
was  honorably  discharged,  in  1863. 

Mr.  Gauss  on  leaving  the  army  went  to  Mis- 
souri, where  he  studied  theology  in  the  Missouri 
Evangelical  School,  and  later  he  pursued  his 
studies  in  an  Episcopal  academy  in  Ohio.  In 
1871,  in  St.  Louis,  he  was  ordained  as  a  minister, 
and  was  given  charge  of  the  church  in  Bunker 
Hill,  111.,  where,  as  there  were  many  German 


ROBERT  S.  HILL. 


settlers  in  that  locality,  his  services  were  con- 
ducted in  his  native  tongue.  In  1874  he  went  to 
Europe  in  order  to  complete  his  studies,  and  from 
1875  until  1878  was  a  minister  in  the  State 
Church  of  the  Canton  of  Zurich,  Switzerland.  In 
the  latter  year  he  again  crossed  the  Atlantic  to 
America,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Galena, 
111.,  being  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  church  at 
that  place,  of  which  he  continued  in  charge  for 
two  years.  In  1880  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  en- 
gaged in  literary  work  while  in  the  employ  of 
the  Government,  in  which  employ  he  continued 
until  1885.  In  1887  he  entered  the  Chicago  Pub- 
lic Library.  He  was  afterward  made  First  As- 
sistant Librarian,  and  still  fills  that  position.  He 
also  continues  his  ministerial  work  to  a  limited 
extent,  although  he  accepts  no  pastorates. 

In    1867    Mr.  Gauss  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Henrietta  Stehlin,   and  to  them  has 


been  born  a  family  of  five  children.  The  parents 
and  their  children  are  all  members  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  and  take  a  most  active  in- 
terest in  church  work,  doing  all  in  their  power 
for  its  promotion  and  success. 

Mr.  Gauss  has  won  a  high  reputation  as  a  pub- 
lic speaker,  and  at  one  time  delivered  many  ad- 
dresses in  support  of  the  Republican  party,  the 
principles  of  which  he  warmly  advocates.  He 
has,  however,  never  aspired  to  public  office.  He 
has  also  won  note  as  a  metrical  translater.  He 
is  a  man  of  most  liberal  education,  and  during 
the  famous  Anarchists'  trial  served  as  official  in- 
terpreter. Socially,  he  is  connected  with  the 
Schiller  Club,  of  which  he  is  Secretary,  and  also 
belongs  to  the  Royal  Arcanum,  the  National 
Union  and  the  German  Press  Club,  which  latter 
he  is  now  serving  as  Treasurer.  He  is  also  Pres- 
ident of  the  Chicago  Library  Club. 


ROBERT  S.  HILL. 


ROBERT  S.  HILL,  who  is  successfully  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  law  in  Chicago,  was 
born  in  Buxton,  York  County,  Maine,  on 
the  3ist  of  August,  1851.  His  ancestors  on  his 
father's  side  came  from  England.  Three  brothers 
of  the  name  of  Hill  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  the 
early  English  colonists  and  settled  in  Massachu- 
setts. One  of  them  afterwards  removed  to  the 
district  of  Maine,  and  from  this  branch  of  the  Hill 
family  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  directly  de- 
scended. The  members  of  the  family  were  prom- 
inent land-owners  and  business  men,  and  often 
bore  an  important  part  in  the  events  which  went 
to  make  up  the  history  of  colonial  days.  Mr. 


Hill's  great-grandfather  was  the  owner  of  the 
property  in  Buxton,  Maine,  now  occupied  by  his 
father.  The  grandfather  was  a  resident  of  Bux- 
ton, and  took  part  in  the  War  of  1812,  during 
which  he  was  commissioned  as  an  officer  by  the 
Governor  of  the  Pine  Tree  State.  Another  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  an  offi- 
cer in  the  Revolution,  and  was  numbered  among 
the  heroes  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Another 
was  captured  by  the  English  and  taken  to  Can- 
ada, where  he  was  forced  to  live  among  the  Indi- 
ans for  an  entire  winter,  during  which  time  he  was 
subjected  to  great  hardships  and  suffering.  He 
finally  escaped  aiid  returned  to  his  home  in  Maine, 


174 


ROBERT  S.  HILL. 


much  to  the  surprise  and  pleasure  of  his  wife  and 
family,  who  supposed  him  dead. 

On  his  mother's  side  Mr.  Hill  traces  his  ances- 
try back  to  the  "  Mayflower,  "  being  descended 
from  Moses  Fletcher,  who  crossed  the  Atlantic 
in  the  vessel  which  brought  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to 
the  shores  of  the  New  World.  The  latter  was  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  and  now  lies 
buried  at  Plymouth  Rock,  Massachusetts,  where 
his  name  appears  on  the  monument  erected  in 
memory  of  those  old  heroes. 

Mr.  Hill's  father,  now  retired  from  business 
with  a  competency,  was  an  active  lumberman  and 
farmer  in  Buxton,  Maine.  He  has  always  taken 
a  keen  interest  in  the  religious,  educational  and  po- 
litical matters  pertaining  to  his  town,  state  and 
country.  He  was  a  great  admirer  and  a  warm 
friend  of  the  late  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine. 

The  boyhood  days  of  R.  S.  Hill  were  pleasant- 
ly passed  in  his  native  town,  and  he  was  given 
good  educational  advantages  by  his  father.  After 
leaving  the  common  schools  in  Buxton,  he  at- 
tended Limington  and  Gorham  Academies,  both 
of  Maine,  and  his  first  effort  in  life  after  leaving 
the  latter  institution  was  to  engage  in  school 
teaching  in  his  native  state,  being  then  twenty 
years  of  age.  After  a  brief  and  successful  experi- 
ence as  a  school  teacher,  he  came  to  the  West  with 
his  uncle,  and  entered  Michigan  State  University 
at  Ann  Arbor,  being  graduated  from  the  law  de- 
partment of  that  institution  in  the  Class  of  '74. 
He  then  returned  to  New  England,  and  for  one 
year  studied  law  in  the  office  of  an  attorney  in  Bos- 
ton. The  year  1876  witnessed  his  return  to  the 
West  and  saw  him  located  in  Chicago.  He  im- 
mediately embarked  in  practice,  which  he  has  car- 
ried on  continuously  since.  He  makes  corpor- 
ation law  a  specialty,  and  has  been  very  success- 
ful, winning  many  important  cases.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  he  is  employed  as  attorney  for  a  number 
of  corporations. 

On  the  26th  of  January,  1877,  Mr.  Hill  was 
married  in  Buxton, Maine,  to  Miss  Fannie  S. 
Owen.  Her  ancestors  came  from  England  and 
aided  the  colonies  in  their  struggle  for  indepen- 


ence,  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  War  of  the  Rev- 
olution. One  of  the  number  was  captured  by  the 
British  in  1807,  taken  on  board  a  man-of-war,  and 
forced  to  serve  as  a  part  of  the  crew.  After  a  few 
weeks'  service,  while  the  ship  was  cruising  off  the 
coast  of  Massachusetts,  he  took  advantage  of  a 
favorable  opportunity,  jumped  overboard,  swam 
safely  ashore  and  returned  home.  To  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hill  have  been  born  five  children,  as  fol- 
lows: Harry  Robert,  who  died  of  diphtheria  in 
1882 ;  Owen  T. ,  now  a  student  of  the  Fuller  School, 
Hyde  Park;  Helen  M.  and  Alice,  who  attend  the 
same  school;  and  Robert  S.,  a  little  lad  of  three 
and  a-half  years. 

Mr.  Hill  is  a  great  admirer  and  firm  supporter 
of  the  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed,  who  is  his 
choice  for  the  presidency.  He  has  known  Mr. 
Reid  all  his  life,  and  on  account  of  a  knowledge  of 
his  character,  ability  and  political  proclivities,  he 
supports  him  as  a  presidential  candidate.  Mr. 
Hill  takes  a  very  warm  interest  in  political  affairs, 
and  labors  earnestly  to  promote  the  growth  and 
insure  the  success  of  his  party.  He  is  recognized 
as  a  good  parliamentarian  and,  because  of  his 
knowledge  of  the  rules  of  parliamentary  usage, 
has  often  been  called  upon  to  preside  over  politi- 
cal meetings  where  trouble  and  turbulence  were 
anticipated,  and  as  such  presiding  officer  has  been 
able,  even  in  very  exciting  meetings,  to  maintain 
order  and  discipline  where  one  less  skilled  would 
have  failed. 

Mr.  Hill  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Maine.  He 
contributes  liberally  to  benevolent  institutions, 
yet  makes  no  display  of  his  charity.  In  his  tastes 
he  is  domestic  and  enjoys  the  companionship  of  his 
family  much  more  than  that  of  general  society. 
In  his  religious  belief  he  is  liberal,  broad  minded 
and  charitable,  believes  in  his  children  attending 
church  and  Sunday-school  and  having  instilled 
into  their  minds  the  principles  of  Christianity.  In 
both  business  and  social  circles  he  is  well  known 
as  an  honorable,  upright  man,  and  is  held  in  the 
highest  regard  by  his  many  acquaintances  and 
friends. 


I       4.RV 

THE 
UNIVERSI..    OF  ILll  ••>,<; 


JESSE  SPALDING. 


JESSE  SPALDING 


(T  ESSE  SPALDING  is  a  descendant  of  one  of 

I  the  oldest  American  families.  The  environ- 
G/  ment  of  the  New  England  fathers  was  calcu- 
lated to  bring  out  and  develop  all  that  was 
sturdy  and  vigorous  in  both  mind  and  body,  and 
their  descendants  continue  to  manifest  the  traits 
of  character  which  enabled  them  to  survive  the 
hardships  which  they  were  compelled  to  endure, 
and  which  rendered  prosperity  possible  in  the 
face  of  the  most  forbidding  conditions. 

The  town  and  family  of  Spalding  are  known 
to  have  existed  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  in  the 
twelfth  century.  Between  1630  and  1633,  Edward 
Spalding  left  that  town  and  settled  in  Braintree, 
in  the  then  infant  colony  of  Massachusetts.  From 
him  the  line  of  descent  is  traced  through  Joseph, 
Nathaniel,  Joseph,  Joseph  and  John  to  Jesse. 

The  Spalding  family  first  settled  in  southern 
Connecticut,  early  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
Its  members  shared  in  the  work  of  subduing  the 
wilderness,  as  well  as  defending  their  homes  from 
the  aboriginal  savages.  Some  of  them  achieved 
distinction  in  the  heroic  defense  of  Fort  Groton, 
Connecticut.  Many  served  in  "King  Philip's 
War, ' '  and  fifty-two  were  active  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, of  whom  nine  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  where  one  fell  from  his  dying  horse. 

Joseph  Spalding,  grandfather  of  Jesse,  was 
born  in  Plainfield,  Connecticut.  He  was  an  of- 
ficer of  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  removed  to 
Pennsylvania  in  1780,  settling  on  land  near  Ath- 
ens, Bradford  County,  on  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Susquehanna  River.  This  land  was  claimed  by 
both  Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr. 
Spalding  was  obliged  to  pay  tribute  to  both  com- 
monwealths before  he  could  secure  a  clear  title. 
This  was  a  great  hardship,  but  he  went  to  work 


with  characteristic  energy,  and  shortly  thereafter, 
despite  all  discouragements,  became  a  prosperous 
farmer  and  leading  citizen  of  the  community. 

John,  father  of  Jesse  Spalding,  was  active  and 
influential  in  Bradford  County  affairs,  and  at  one 
time  occupied  the  office  of  Sheriff,  winning  uni- 
versal approbation  by  the  intrepid  and  vigorous 
manner  in  which  he  discharged  his  official  (and 
often  perilous)  duties  in  a  new  and  somewhat 
lawless  community.  His  wife,  Elizabeth,  was  a 
daughter  of  Dr.  Amos  Prentiss,  a  distinguished 
physician  of  Groton,  Connecticut,  and  a  represen- 
tative of  a  prominent  Colonial  family. 

Jesse  Spalding  was  born  at  Athens,  Pennsylva- 
nia, April  15,  1833.  While  assisting  his  father 
in  farm  work,  he  found  time  to  acquire  such  edu- 
cation as  the  common  schools  and  the  academy 
of  his  native  town  afforded.  On  attaining  his 
majority  he  engaged  in  lumbering  on  the  north 
branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  became  a  woods- 
man and  raftsman.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three 
he  began  to  deal  in  lumber  on  his  own  account, 
and  was  successful.  His  product  was  rafted  to 
Middletown,  Columbia  and  Port  Deposit,  and 
marketed  in  Washington,  Alexandria,  Norfolk 
and  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  other  points. 

Foreseeing  the  rapid  growth  of  the  young  city 
of  Chicago,  he  removed  hither  in  1857,  and 
soon  after  bought  a  sawmill  at  Menekaunee,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Menominee  River,  in  Wiscon- 
sin, where  he  commenced  the  manufacture  of 
lumber.  This  mill  was  burned  in  1870,  rebuilt 
and  burned  in  1871,  rebuilt  in  1872,  and  is  now 
finely  equipped  with  gang,  band  and  circular 
saws  and  modern  machinery,  being  thoroughly 
complete  in  all  its  appointments.  For  a  time 
business  was  conducted  by  the  firm  of  Wells  & 


176 


JESSE  SPALDING. 


Spalding,  the  firm  name  later  becoming  Spalding 
&  Porter,  and  subsequently  Spalding,  Houghtel- 
ing  &  Johnson.  In  1871,  the  concern  was  incor- 
porated as  the  Menominee  River  Lumber  Com- 
pany, and  in  1892  Mr.  Spalding  purchased  the 
interest  of  his  partners,  and  has  since  been  the 
sole  owner.  Shortly  after  he  bought  out  the 
New  York  Lumber  Company  at  Menekaunee,  he 
secured  a  milling  property  at  the  mouth  of  Cedar 
River,  about  thirty  miles  above  the  city  of  Me- 
nominee, and  in  1882  he  organized  the  Spalding 
Lumber  Company,  of  which  he  became  President, 
being  at  the  same  time  its  active  manager.  His 
purchases  of  timber-lands  in  Wisconsin  and  Michi- 
gan to  supply  the  mills  of  these  companies  with 
logs  have  aggregated  two  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  acres.  Besides  its  value  for  timber,  this 
land  has  proven  rich  in  iron  ore,  and  three  mines 
are  now  successfully  operated  on  the  property. 
The  output  of  the  mills  at  Cedar  River  is  shipped 
in  boats  owned  by  the  Spalding  Lumber  Com- 
pany direct  to  Chicago,  whence  it  is  distributed 
from  the  Chicago  yards  to  the  western  and  south- 
western markets  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Nebraska, 
Kansas  and  Missouri.  Lumber  has  also  been  ship- 
ped recently,  in  large  quantities,  direct  from  the 
mills  at  Menekaunee  to  Detroit,  Buffalo,  Roch- 
ester, Albany  and  Boston.  The  companies  of 
which  Mr.  Spalding  is  the  head  are  among  the 
largest  of  their  kind,  and  annually  produce  from 
sixty  to  seventy-five  millions  of  feet  of  lumber. 

Although  he  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  a  pio- 
neer in  the  lumber  business  of  Chicago,  few  men 
have  been  more  closely  identified  with  its  growth 
than  Mr.  Spalding.  In  fact,  his  name  is  indissol- 
ubly  linked  with  the  political,  social  and  business 
interests  of  the  city  and  the  Northwest. 

Mr.  Spalding  is  amply  fitted  by  nature  and 
training  for  the  manipulation  of  large  interests, 
and  his  success  is  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the 
fact  that  he  does  not  despise  small  things.  All 
the  minutiae  of  his  extensive  interests  are  famil- 
iar to  him,  and  his  practical  experience  enables 
him  to  give  attention  to  the  smallest  details.  His 
investments  in  banking  and  other  financial  con- 
cerns are  made  with  the  same  judicious  care,  and 
are  equally  successful  with  his  other  undertak- 


ings. He  is  a  director  in  many  large  corporations 
of  the  city,  and  his  advice  is  frequently  sought  in 
the  conduct  of  many  important  enterprises.  It  is 
not  strange  that  his  fellow-citizens  should  discover 
in  him  a  capable  man  of  affairs;  and  when  the  city 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1871,  he  was  sought  out 
as  one  who  would  be  useful  in  adjusting  public 
business  to  existing  conditions,  and  in  raising 
Chicago  from  its  ashes  and  reviving  business  ac- 
tivity. He  was  three  years  in  the  City  Council, 
and  while  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee, 
he,  by  judicious  management,  aided  in  the  resto- 
ration of  the  city's  financial  credit,  materially 
furthering  the  establishment  of  good  municipal 
government.  In  1861,  when  the  Nation  was 
threatened  with  destruction,  Mr.  Spalding  was 
among  its  most  active  defenders.  He  was  re- 
quested by  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  to  build  and  equip  barracks  for  the  Gov- 
ernment soldiers  (afterward  known  as  "Camp 
Douglas"),  besides  which  he  built  barracks  the 
following  year  on  the  North  Side  for  returning 
soldiers.  He  furnished  all  the  material  for  these 
structures,  receiving  in  payment  the  State  Audi- 
tor's warrants,  there  being  no  funds  in  the  Treas- 
ury to  be  applied  to  this  purpose. 

Mr.  Spalding  has  been  an  active  worker  in  the 
interests  of  the  Republican  party  from  its  incep- 
tion, because  he  believed  the  weal  of  the  Nation 
depended  upon  the  success  of  the  principles  main- 
tained by  that  party.  He  was  a  personal  friend 
of  Grant,  Arthur  and  Conkling,  as  well  as  other 
now  prominent  National  leaders,  and  gave  coun- 
sel in  many  grave  exigencies.  He  presided  at 
the  unveiling  of  the  Grant  monument  in  Lincoln 
Park.  In  1881  he  was  appointed  by  President 
Arthur  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Chicago,  and  filled 
that  office  in  a  manner  most  acceptable  to  the 
Government  and  the  people  of  the  city.  With 
him  a  public  office  is  a  trust,  to  be  executed  with 
the  same  faithful  care  which  one  bestows  on  his 
own  private  affairs;  and  when  he  was  appointed 
Director  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  on  behalf 
of  the  Government  by  President  Harrison,  he 
made  a  personal  investigation  of  the  property  in 
his  own  painstaking  way,  submitting  the  report  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  This  report,  which 


S.  P.  McCONNELL. 


177 


gave  a  careful  review  of  the  resources  of  the 
country  traversed  by  the  line,  and  its  future  pros- 
pects, was  ordered  printed  by  Congress,  and  com- 
manded careful  attention  from  financiers  and  those 
concerned  in  the  relations  of  the  Pacific  roads  to 
the  Government.  It  was  also  embraced  in  the 
annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railway  Company. 

Mr.  Spalding  was  associated  with  William  B. 
Ogden  and  others  in  the  project  for  cutting  a 
canal  from  Sturgeon  Bay  to  Green  Bay,  by  which 
the  danger  of  navigating  "Death's  Door" '  (as  the 
entrance  to  Green  Bay  is  known)  could  be  avoid- 
ed, as  well  as  saving  a  distance  of  about  one  hun- 


dred and  fifty  miles  on  each  round  trip  between 
Chicago  and  Green  Bay  ports.  This  was  com- 
pleted in  1882  by  the  Sturgeon  Bay  &  Lake 
Michigan  Ship  Canal  and  Harbor  Company,  of 
which  Mr.  Ogden  was  the  first  President,  suc- 
ceeded on  his  death  by  Mr.  Spalding.  During 
the  first  year  of  its  operations,  745,128  tons  of 
freight  passed  through  the  canal,  and  in  1892 
the  business  amounted  to  875,533  tons.  In  1891 
4,500  vessels  (trips)  passed  through,  and  the 
next  year  the  number  was  5,312.  Congress  hav- 
ing passed  an  act  to  purchase  the  canal  and  make 
it  free  to  all  navigators,  it  was  turned  over  to  the 
United  States  Government  in  1893. 


HON.  SAMUEL  P.  McCONNELL. 


ON.  SAMUEL  PARSONS  McCONNELL 
was  born  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  July  5, 
1849.  His  parents,  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Parsons)  McConnell,  still  reside  at  Springfield. 
James  McConnell,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  came  from  County  Down,  Ireland, 
about  1810,  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
gunpowder  in  New  Jersey.  He  afterward  re- 
moved to  Sangamon  County,  Illinois,  where  he 
became  an  extensive  farmer  and  wool-grower. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  cultivate  the  prairie 
soil  of  Illinois,  demonstrating  its  fertility  and 
general  advantages  to  his  neighbors.  He  amassed 
considerable  property,  and  died  in  1867. 

John  McConnell  was  born  in  Madison  County, 
New  York,  but  went  with  his  parents  to  Illinois 
in  his  youth.  When  the  United  States  became 
involved  in  civil  strife,  he  recruited  a  company  of 
soldiers,  and  entered  the  military  service  as  a 
Captain,  rising  by  promotion  to  the  rank  of  Gen- 
eral. Since  the  close  of  the  war  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  insurance  business  in  Springfield. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  McConnell  was  born  in  Connecti- 


cut, and  is  descended  from  English  emigrants  who 
located  there  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Her  grandfather,  John  Parsons,  was  a 
Captain  in  the  Continental  army. 

Samuel  P.  McConnell  was  educated  at  the 
Springfield  High  School  and  Lombard  University 
at  Galesburg,  Illinois,  graduating  from  the  latter 
institution  in  1871,  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  He  read  law  with  the  firm  of  Stewart, 
Edwards  &  Brown,  of  Springfield,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar  in  1873.  In  December  of  the 
same  year,  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  has 
since  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Bar,  and 
has  occupied  an  honorable  position  upon  the 
Bench. 

In  1889  he  was  elected  a  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Cook  County,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  death  of  Judge  McAllister,  and,  upon  the 
expiration  of  the  term  in  1891,  he  was  re-elected. 
In  1894  he  resigned  this  office,  and  resumed  his 
private  practice.  He  was  led  to  take  this  step  by 
the  inadequacy  of  the  salary  paid  a  Circuit  Judge. 
It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  almost  any  man 


I78 


MINER  RAYMOND. 


fitted  to  grace  and  honor  the  Bench  is  able  to  earn 
several  times  the  salary  of  a  Judge  in  private 
practice. 

Among  the  most  prominent  cases  tried  before 
Judge  McConnell  may  be  mentioned  the  first 
Croniu  trial,  the  case  of  Ross  versus  White,  the 
Chicago  City  Railway  Company  versus  Springer, 
and  the  receivership  of  the  J.  H.  Walker  Com- 
pany, in  which  property  to  the  amount  of  five 
millions  of  dollars  was  involved.  His  impartial 
and  equitable  decisions  earned  him  the  respect  of 
attorneys,  jurors  and  litigants,  and  his  departure 
from  the  Bench  was  widely  regretted. 

In  1876  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  Rogers, 
daughter  of  Judge  John  G.  Rogers,  of  whom  ex- 
tended mention  is  made  on  other  pages  of  this 
volume.  Judge  and  Mrs.  McConnell  are  the  par- 
ents of  three  children,  named,  respectively,  Julia, 
James  and  Eleanor. 

From  youth  Judge  McConnell  has  been  a  Dem- 
ocrat, departing  from  the  precepts  and  example 
of  his  father.  He  has  never  been  a  candidate  for 


any  other  office  than  that  of  Judge,  though  re- 
peatedly importuned  by  party  managers  to  be- 
come a  political  leader.  Among  the  social  and 
fraternal  associations  into  which  he  has  naturally 
been  drawn,  may  be  mentioned  the  Iroquois,  Lit- 
erary and  Waubausee  Clubs.  While  President  of 
the  first-named  organization,  he  took  a  decided 
position  on  the  silver  question,  which  was  antag- 
onistic to  that  of  many  members,  and  he  felt  it 
incumbent  upon  him  to  resign,  but  this  act 
aroused  such  a  strong  protest  in  the  club,  that  he 
was  induced  to  withdraw  his  resignation. 

He  presided  over  the  city  convention  which  se- 
lected delegates  to  the  State  Democratic  Confer- 
ence, held  at  Springfield  in  June,  1895,  to  deter- 
mine the  attitude  of  the  party  on  the  silver  issue. 
He  was  made  Permanent  Chairman  of  this  con- 
ference, which  wholly  sustained  his  views  upon 
the  question  at  issue.  In  this,  as  in  all  other 
matters  affecting  public  policy,  he  has  been  actu- 
ated by  a  desire  to  promote  the  general  welfare, 
and  without  wish  to  occupy  office. 


REV.  MINER  RAYMOND,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 


|~)EV.  MINER  RAYMOND,  D.D.,  U,.D., 
Y\  the  oldest  college  professor  in  the  Methodist 
P \  denomination,  both  in  respect  to  age  and 
length  of  service,  and  one  of  the  oldest  teachers 
of  theology  now  living,  is  a  resident  of  Evanston, 
and  until  a  short  time  since  was  active  in  edu- 
cational work,  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  for 
more  than  sixty  years.  He  is  a  native  of  New 
York  City,  and  was  born  on  the  2gth  of  August, 
1811.  His  father  was  Nobles  Raymond,  and  the 
genealogist  of  this  family  has  traced  its  descent 
from  Raimonde,  Count  of  Toulouse,  France,  and 
demonstrated  that,  on  account  of  its  espousal 
of  the  Huguenot  faith,  its  members  were  expa- 
triated, and  some  fled  to  Essex,  England,  whence 


the  emigration  to  America  occurred.  The  Ray- 
monds became  settlers  in  New  England,  and  now 
a  host  of  this  name,  many  of  them  prominent  in 
commercial  and  educational  affairs,  trace  their 
descent  to  the  two  or  three  who  came  to  the 
colonies  in  very  early  times. 

Nobles  Raymond  married  Hannah  Wood,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  nine  children,  of 
whom  Miner  was  the  eldest.  Soon  after  his  birth 
his  father  removed  with  his  family  to  the  village 
of  Rensselaerville,  New  York,  and  there  the  boy, 
when  of  school  age,  began  to  receive  the  rudi- 
ments of  his  education,  remaining  in  school  un- 
til twelve  years  of  age.  At  that  time  his  services 
were  required  in  his  father's  shop,  and  he  spent 


MINER  RAYMOND. 


179 


the  following  six  years  in  learning  the  art  of 
making  shoes,  in  which  he  became  so  proficient 
that  his  handiwork  was  second  to  that  of  no  other 
workman  in  style  or  finish.  The  same  rule  of 
doing  well  whatever  he  did  was  as  rigidly  ad- 
hered to  when  he  was  a  mechanic  as  it  has  been 
since  he  has  held  a  position  in  the  forefront  of 
educators. 

The  event  in  his  youth  most  far-reaching  in  its 
results  on  character  and  fortune  was  his  conver- 
sion and  union,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years, 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  which 
he  was  to  be  so  conspicuous  and  honored.  His 
father  and  mother  were  faithful  adherents  of  that 
creed.  For  more  than  twenty  years  they  were 
the  only  permanent  residents  of  Rensselaerville 
who  were  connected  with  that  church,  and  their 
house  was  ever  a  home  for  Methodist  ministers. 
The  account  of  the  great  revival  at  Wilbraham, 
Massachusetts,  kindled  in  Miner  Raymond  a  de- 
sire for  knowledge;  it  was  the  turning-point  in  a 
great  life,  starting  him  on  a  new  course  and 
bringing  him  into  intimate  and  helpful  relations 
with  an  educational  institution.  Through  the 
efforts  of  the  Presiding  Elder  of  the  district  in 
which  he  resided,  he  began  his  advanced  educa- 
tion in  the  Wesleyan  Academy  at  Wilbraham, 
then  the  only  Methodist  institution  of  learning  of 
any  magnitude  on  this  continent,  of  which  only 
three  or  four  were  then  in  existence.  Like  many 
another  student,  he  added  to  his  limited  means 
by  the  labor  of  his  hands;  and  the  proceeds  of 
his  work  on  the  bench,  mending  the  boots  and 
shoes  of  his  fellow-students,  helped  to  meet  the 
expenses  incident  to  his  education.  But  this  did 
not  continue  long.  It  was  soon  discovered  that 
he  was  endowed  with  the  gift  of  teaching,  and  he 
was  made  assistant  teacher,  a  position  which  he 
held  for  three  years,  while  still  a  student  in  the 
academy.  His  especial  faculty  for  elucidating 
the  principles  of  arithmetic,  which  were  then 
very  imperfectly  treated  in  the  textbooks,  led  to 
his  selection  as  teacher  of  a  class  of  teachers,  and 
this  was  the  starting  point  of  his  long  career  as 
an  educator. 

Graduating  in  1831,  he  was  immediately  made 
a  member  of  the  faculty,  and  taught  in  that  in- 


stitution with  marked  success  for  ten  years.  In 
1833  his  name  appears  in  the  catalogue  as  usher, 
and  it  was  then  he  began  his  remarkable  peda- 
gogic labors.  In  1834  he  was  advanced  to  the 
charge  of  the  English  department,  where  he 
labored  with  great  success  and  growing  popu- 
larity for  four  years.  During  this  period  he  had 
been  a  diligent  student  and  had  delved  deep  into 
the  mysteries  of  ancient  languages,  the  natural, 
mental  and  moral  sciences,  and  the  higher  mathe- 
matics, for  which  he  discovered  a  taste  and  apti- 
tude. When  the  degrees  were  conferred  by  the 
Wesleyan  University  upon  the  students  he  had 
taught  at  the  academy,  he  received,  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  high  ability  and  efficient  services, 
the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  In  1838 
he  was  promoted  to  the  chair  of  mathematics, 
which  he  filled  with  distinction  for  the  three 
years  he  remained  as  a  teacher  in  the  institution. 

While  yet  engaged  in  teaching,  Professor  Ray- 
mond joined  the  New  England  Conference,  in 
1838,  and  three  years  later  entered  upon  pastoral 
work.  He  served  two  years  at  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts, four  years  at  Church  and  Bennett  Street 
Churches,  Boston,  and  in  1847  went  to  Westfield, 
where  he  remained  one  year. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Robert  Allyn  as  Prin- 
cipal of  the  Wesleyan  Academy,  Professor  Ray- 
mond was  requested  by  the  trustees  to  take  the 
position  at  the  head  of  that  institution.  The 
pastorate  was  the  ideal  life  work  to  which  he  was 
attached  and  for  which  he  had  educated  himself, 
but,  after  mature  consideration,  he  decided  to  put 
aside  preference,  and  accept  what  he  considered 
a  call  of  duty,  and  entered  upon  the  work  with  a 
devotion  and  energy  that  left  a  very  deep  impres- 
sion upon  the  school  at  the  head  of  which  he 
stood. 

The  first  two  or  three  years  of  Dr.  Raymond 
at  Wilbraham  were  tentative  and  preparatory. 
New  buildings  were  necessary  to  the  success  of 
the  school,  and  how  to  get  them  was  a  problem, 
the  solution  of  which  demanded  his  full  strength; 
but  he  met  the  difficulties  and  conquered  where 
most  men  would  have  failed.  In  spite  of  debt 
and  other  obstacles,  he  succeeded  in  erecting 
Fisk  Hall,  in  1851.  In  the  two  years  following 


i8o 


MINER   RAYMOND. 


the  number  of  pupils  greatly  increased,  and  in 
the  year  1853  rose  to  over  six  hundred,  nearly 
double  the  attendance  of  previous  years.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Dr.  Raymond,  Binney  Hall  was 
built,  in  1854.  The  principal  building  of  the 
institution,  including  its  dormitory  and  board- 
ing apartments,  was  destroyed  by  fire  two 
years  later.  Nothing  daunted  by  this  calamity, 
he  set  about  obtaining  the  means  to  rebuild  it  in 
still  nobler  proportions,  and  that  same  year  suc- 
ceeded in  completing  a  structure  costing  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  By  the  act  of  an  incendiary, 
in  1857,  tnis  structure  was  also  destroyed,  but 
Dr.  Raymond  and  a  few  brave  aids  rose  superior 
to  the  discouragements  that  had  beset  them,  ob- 
tained money  by  popular  subscription,  aroused 
the  friends  of  education  throughout  the  state,  and, 
by  petition  and  strong  personal  influence,  secured 
legislative  aid,  by  which  means  a  third  building, 
more  commodious,  more  beautiful  and  more  cost- 
ly than  its  predecessors,  rose  upon  the  site  of 
their  ruins,  and  to-day  is  the  chief  ornament  of 
this  seat  of  learning,  a  monument  to  the  faith 
and  indomitable  courage  of  Dr.  Raymond. 

In  1864  he  was  elected  to  the  chair  of  system- 
atic theology  in  Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  Evans- 
ton,  Illinois,  and  resigned  his  position  at  the 
head  of  the  academy,  which  he  left  enjoying  a 
high  degree  of  prosperity.  Coming  to  Evanston, 
he  entered  upon  a  work  which  his  long  experience 
as  a  teacher,  ripe  scholarship,  and  devotion  to  his 
profession  have  made  eminently  successful  and 
gratifying  in  its  results.  For  thirty-one  years 
he  filled  a  position  in  which  he  was  eminently 
useful  as  a  teacher,  and  during  three  years  of 
that  time  was  also  pastor  of  the  First  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Evanston.  Soon  after  en- 
tering the  institute,  he  became  convinced  that  he 
was  spending  one-third  of  his  time  in  telling  the 
students  what  the  meaning  of  the  theological 
authors  was.  Then  came  the  determination  to 
write  out  his  lectures  and  make  the  expression 
as  plain  as  possible,  so  that  theology  might  be 
clearly  taught  and  readily  understood.  In  due 
time  appeared  his  "Systematic  Theology,"  in 
three  volumes,  intended  for  students  preparing 
for  the  Methodist  ministry,  which  has  proved  to 


be  a  very  popular  book.  One  distinguished 
authority  is  quoted  as  saying:  "It  is  the  strong- 
est defense  of  Armiuianism  we  have  seen."  Be- 
sides his  pastoral  work,  Dr.  Raymond  has  helped 
to  direct  the  work  of  the  church  in  its  national 
councils.  Six  times  he  was  elected  as  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conferences,  as  follows:  Pitts- 
burgh, in  1848;  Boston,  in  1852;  Indianapolis,  in 
1856;  Buffalo,  in  1860;  Philadelphia,  in  1864; 
and  Brooklyn,  in  1868. 

Dr.  Raymond  was  married,  August  20,  1837, 
to  Elizabeth  Henderson,  of  Webster,  Massachu- 
setts, who  died  September  19,  1877.  Five  chil- 
dren were  born  of  this  union,  all  of  whom  are 
now  living.  Mary  is  the  widow  of  Philip  B. 
Shumway,  the  builder  of  the  Elgin,  Joliet  & 
Eastern  Railroad,  and  now  resides  in  Evanston. 
William  is  in  the  employ  of  that  railroad.  Samuel 
B.  is  a  prominent  citizen  and  prosperous  sugar 
broker  in  Chicago.  James  H.  is  a  well-known 
and  successful  patent  lawyer  in  Chicago.  Freder- 
ick D.  is  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Elgin, 
Joliet  &  Eastern  Railway  Company. 

On  July  28,  1879,  Dr.  Raymond  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Isabella  (nee  Hill),  widow  of  Rev. 
Amos  Binney.  Dr.  Raymond's  domestic  life  has 
been  a  pleasant  one;  his  house  has  been  the  dwell- 
ing-place of  peace  and  happiness.  His  exemp- 
tion from  illness  up  to  the  past  winter,  and  the 
contentment  of  his  mind,  have  conspired  to  pre- 
serve his  physical  vigor,  which  is  evidenced  by 
the  full  head  of  hair,  now  of  flowing  whiteness, 
and  the  clear,  bright  eye  which  lends  vivacity  to 
his  countenance. 

Rev.  David  Sherman,  D.  D.,  author  of  the 
' '  History  of  the  Wejleyan  Academy  at  Wilbra- 
ham,"  has  thus  written  of  Dr.  Raymond: 

' '  His  first  essays  in  teaching  reveal  the  born 
schoolmaster,  destined  to  advance  to  the  fore- 
front. No  one  who  attended  his  classes  can  ever 
forget  his  clear  and  forcible  instructions.  The 
principles  involved  in  the  study  were  seized  upon 
and  traced  onward  through  intricate  problems  as 
in  lines  of  light.  No  one  could  fail  to  see  or  to 
be  carried  with  the  demonstration.  But  his 
superiority  as  a  teacher  was  not  simply  in  the  ex- 
tent and  accuracy  of  his  knowledge,  or  even  in 


JAMES  McMAHON. 


181 


his  ability  to  make  truth  visible;  it  was  rather  in 
that  higher  ability  to  develop  the  student  and  to 
create  in  him  the  capacity  to  investigate  and 
master  truth.  It  was  not  simply  the  amount  of 
knowledge  he  communicated,  it  was  the  way  he 
impressed  himself  upon  other  minds  coming  un- 
der his  instruction.  The  man,  even  more  than 
the  pedagogue,  was  behind  his  utterances. ' ' 

The  same  writer,  in  speaking  of  him  as  a 
preacher,  says: 

' '  With  him  religion  was  the  main  considera- 
tion, and  his  convictions  on  the  subject  were 
deep  and  strongly  expressed.  He  spoke  with 
the  demonstration  of  the  spirit  and  power.  If 
his  prayers  and  exhortations  were  thoughtful  and 
intellectual,  they  were,  at  the  same  time,  intense 


and  fervid,  enlisting  the  emotions  of  the  heart  as 
well  as  the  accurate  formulations  of  the  brain. 
*  *  *  *  Though  gifted  with  large  capacity 
for  astute  and  accurate  thought,  he  was  gladly 
heard  by  the  people,  because  his  logic  usually 
came  to  a  white  heat.  To  the  religious  people  of 
Wilbraham  he  was  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the 
oracle.  No  other  principal,  certainly  after  Dr. 
Fisk,  obtained  so  firm  and  enduring  a  hold  upon 
the  people  as  Miner  Raymond." 

What  was  said  in  those  days  may  be  repeated 
with  emphasis  concerning  his  labors  in  later 
years,  when  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  full  intel- 
lectual strength  and  the  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence gained  in  more  than  half  a  century  of  con- 
tinuous mental  activity. 


JAMES  McMAHON. 


(TAMES  McMAHON.  Few  people  in  Evan- 
I  ston  are  as  well  known,  or  regarded  with  as 
(*/  much  sincere  respect  and  admiration,  as  the 
subject  of  this  notice  and  his  excellent  wife. 
During  their  residence  of  over  thirty  years  in 
Cook  County,  they  have  been  almost  constantly 
identified  with  charitable  and  philanthropic  en- 
terprises, and  have  won  the  friendship  of  both 
rich  and  poor  to  an  unusual  degree. 

Mr.  McMahon  was  born  at  Belfast,  Ireland, 
June  4,  1813.  He  is  a  son  of  Alexander  Mc- 
Mahon and  Mary  Ann  Douglass,  both  of  whom 
were  of  the  stanch  Scotch-Irish  blood  which  has 
ever  been  active  in  promoting  the  best  interests 
of  mankind.  Alexander  McMahon  was  the  de- 
scendant of  a  family  which  had  been  for  many 
generations  engaged  in  the  linen  trade.  Two  of 
his  brothers  were  extensive  merchants  at  Belfast, 
Ireland,  and  amassed  a  fortune  there.  Alexander 
turned  his  attention  to  agriculture,  and  in  1819 
came  to  America.  After  living  for  a  time  near 


Watertown,  New  York,  he  removed  to  a  farm  near 
Kingston,  Canada,  upon  which  he  resided  for  fifty 
years,  departing  this  life  in  1883,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-three  years.  He  was  the  father  of  fourteen 
children,  of  whom  James  was  the  eldest.  He  was 
an  honorable  and  thrifty  business  man,  and  accu- 
mulated a  competence,  in  the  enjoyment  of  which 
his  later  years  were  spent.  He  and  his  wife  were 
devout  Presbyterians.  The  latter  died  at  King- 
ston, several  years  later  than  her  husband. 

James  McMahon  enjoyed  excellent  educational 
advantages,  pursuing  courses  of  study  success- 
ively at  Andover  Academy;  Cheshire  Academy,  at 
Cheshire,  Connecticut;  and  Washington  (now 
Trinity)  College,  at  Hartford,  Connecticut.  His 
parents  designed  to  fit  him  for  the  Presbyterian 
ministry,  but,  while  a  student  at  Washington 
College,  he  became  converted  to  the  Episcopal 
faith,  and  abandoned  his  theological  studies,  to 
their  great  disappointment.  While  a  young  man, 
he  spent  considerable  time  in  travel,  visiting  Eu- 


182 


JAMES  McMAHON. 


rope  three  times,  and  becoming  quite  familiar 
with  the  ways  of  the  world  and  its  business 
methods.  In  1849,  in  company  with  a  party  of 
young  men  of  his  acquaintance,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia, by  way  of  the  Isthmus.  He  remained 
three  years  in  that  state,  during  which  time  he 
mined  successively  at  Hangtown,  American  Val- 
ley and  Big  Bar,  and  also  recovered  his  health, 
which  had  become  considerably  impaired  before 
his  departure  from  the  East.  At  the  last-named 
mines  he  gained  a  rich  reward  for  his  labors,  and 
thence  returned  to  the  East,  again  making  the 
voyage  by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  a  regular  line  of 
steamers  having  been  established  since  he  first 
made  the  journey. 

He  landed  at  New  Orleans,  thence  went  to  Dal- 
las County,  Alabama,  where  he  purchased  an  ex- 
tensive cotton  plantation  with  a  retinue  of  slaves, 
and  had  just  established  a  profitable  business 
when  the  Civil  War  broke  out.  On  account  of  his 
political  views,  he  found  it  impracticable  to  re- 
main there,  and  in  1860  he  was  obliged  to 
abandon  his  property  and  remove  to  the  North. 
He  located  in  Chicago,  where  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  the  insurance  agency  of  Thomas  B. 
Bryan,  and  continued  to  carry  on  that  line  of 
business  for  a  number  of  years,  representing  the 
Mutual  Life,  the  Mutual  Benefit  and  the  Equit- 
able Life  Insurance  Companies.  His  business 
ventures  were  fairly  successful,  and  he  had  accu- 
mulated considerable  property  when  the  great  fire 
of  1871  visited  the  city.  Most  of  what  he  saved 
from  that  disaster  was  swept  away  by  the  panic 
of  1873.  At  the  latter  date  he  moved  to  Evans- 
ton,  and  for  a  few  years  conducted  a  restaurant 
in  Davis  Street.  Since  1882  he  has  filled  the  of- 
fice of  Township  Supervisor,  being  re-elected 
each  season  without  opposition.  In  addition  to 
his  official  duties,  he  acts  as  a  purchasing  agent 
for  Evanston  merchants,  making  regular  trips  to 
Chicago  in  their  interests. 

He  is  a  thirty-second-degree  Mason,  and  is 
held  in  the  highest  regard  by  his  brethren  of  that 
order,  from  whom  he  has  received  many  testimo- 
nials. He  first  joined  Oriental  Lodge,  and  is 
now  identified  with  Evans  Lodge,  Evanston 
Chapter,  Evanston  Commandery  and  Oriental 


Consistory,  his  duties  as  Tyler  of  these  several 
bodies  taking  up  considerable  of  his  time. 

Mr.  McMahon  was  married,  in  1865,  to  Martha 
Cornelia  Converse,  daughter  of  Samuel  Augustus 
and  Anna  (Easton)  Converse,  of  Stafford,  Con- 
necticut. Mr.  Converse,  who  was  a  descendant 
of  the  French  Huguenots  who  located  in  America 
during  the  Colonial  period,  died  in  Connecticut, 
at  the  extreme  old  age  of  ninety-three  years.  He 
was  an  influential  citizen  of  Stafford,  and  a  pen- 
sioner of  the  War  of  1812.  Mrs.  McMahon  came 
to  Chicago  in  1860,  and  was  associated  with  Mrs. 
Mary  A.  Livermore  in  conducting  the  great  San- 
itary Fair.  Mr.  McMahon  was  also  one  of  the 
promoters  of  this  undertaking,  and  sold  thousands 
of  tickets  in  its  support.  Though  not  blessed 
with  children  of  their  own,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mc- 
Mahon have  adopted  and  partially  reared  several 
children,  one  daughter,  Harriet  Wilmina,  having 
been  a  member  of  the  family  from  infancy.  She 
was  first  married  to  Professor  W.  W.  Graves,  an 
instructor  in  the  Northwestern  University,  and 
since  his  death  has  become  the  wife  of  Edwin 
O'Malley,  of  Chicago.  Jennie,  another  adopted 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McMahon,  is  now  Mrs. 
Cameron,  of  Winnipeg,  Manitoba. 

When  he  first  located  in  Chicago  Mr.  McMahon 
resided  on  the  South  Side,  near  the  home  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  became  his  intimate 
friend.  He  helped  to  organize  St.  Mark's  Church, 
on  Cottage  Grove  Avenue,  and  was  for  some 
years  one  of  its  most  active  and  influential  mem- 
bers. He  served  four  years  as  Superintendent  of 
Trinity  Mission,  and  he  and  his  wife  have  been 
communicants  of  St.  Mark's  Church  of  Evanston 
since  removing  to  that  city.  Previous  to  the 
Great  Rebellion,  he  was  a  Democrat,  but  since 
coming  to  Chicago  has  been  a  consistent  Repub- 
lican. He  is  a  life  member  of  the  Masonic  Vet- 
erans' Association  of  Chicago,  and  during  the 
war  acted  as  agent  for  the  numerous  Masonic 
charities  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  securing  relief 
and  transportation  for  many  indigent  members  of 
the  order  belonging  to  the  Union  army.  The 
retrospection  of  his  long  and  useful  life  may  well 
afford  comfort  and  satisfaction  in  his  declining 
years. 


1      -'-.RY 
THE 
UNIVERSI    .'  OF  ILLI 


JONATHAN  CLARK 


JONATHAN  CLARK. 


183 


JONATHAN  CLARK. 


(JONATHAN  CLARK,  prominent  among  Chi- 
I  cago  contractors  and  builders,  was  born  at 
G)  West  Walton,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  Eng- 
land, May  28,  1828.  His  parents  were  William 
and  Christina  Clark,  and  his  father  died  when 
Jonathan,  the  eldest  of  four  children,  was  only 
seven  years  old.  At  the  age  of  eight  he  was  put 
to  work  herding  sheep  on  the  Norfolk  commons 
and  keeping  the  birds  off  the  fields  of  grain,  for 
which  he  received  two  shillings  (fifty  cents)  per 
week.  He  went  out  to  service  on  a  farm  at  twelve 
years  of  age.  His  earnings  during  the  last  year 
of  service  he  saved  to  pay  his  way  to  America. 
Previous  to  that  time  he  had  contributed  his 
wages  to  the  support  of  his  widowed  mother  and 
his  younger  brothers. 

On  the  aist  of  September,  1848,  Mr.  Clark 
sailed  from  England,  and  arrived  in  Chicago  on 
the  27th  of  November,  via  New  York,  being  nearly 
ten  weeks  on  the  journey.  He  came  by  way  of 
the  Lakes  directly  to  Chicago,  penniless  and 
friendless,  but  resolute  and  ready  for  whatever 
came.  His  first  employment  was  hauling  wood 
into  Chicago.  The  winter  was  very  severe,  and 
he  froze  his  feet,  and,  through  the  dishonesty  of 
his  employer,  he  lost  his  wages.  In  the  spring 
of  1849  he  worked  six  weeks  for  Jefferson  Mun- 
son,  of  Downer's  Grove,  and  then  returned  to 
Chicago  and  became  an  apprentice  to  P.  L.  Up- 
dyke  and  John  Sollitt,  with  whom  he  spent  three 
years,  learning  the  trade  of  carpenter  and  joiner, 
and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  receiving  the 
sum  of  $200  for  his  services.  He  spent  six  months 
as  a  journeyman,  and  then  began  contracting  on 
his  own  account,  and  was  successful,  accumulat- 


ing money  from  the  start.  By  saving  his  earn- 
ings, he  was  able  to  pay  his  brother's  passage  to 
America  in  1849,  and  in  1850  the  two  brought 
over  the  remainder  of  the  family. 

In  1860,  in  company  with  his  brother,  Mr. 
Clark  went  overland  to  Denver,  where  they 
fitted  up  the  first  express  building  and  the  post- 
ofEce.  After  spending  the  summer  there,  they 
returned  in  the  fall  by  team,  as  they  had  gone. 
On  the  Platte  River  Mr.  Clark's  horse  was  stolen, 
and  while  trying  to  recover  it,  he  traveled  on 
foot  in  the  night,  and  was  surrounded  by  wolves, 
barely  escaping  with  his  life.  The  thief  was 
captured,  and  Mr.  Clark's  companions  wanted  to 
try  him,  but  as  that  meant  conviction  and  hang- 
ing, he  refused  to  allow  it,  and  the  offender  was 
permitted  to  accompany  the  outfit  to  Omaha,  and 
to  go  unpunished.  In  1867  Mr.  Clark  was  ap- 
pointed by  Gov.  Oglesby  to  superintend  the  con- 
struction of  Illinois  buildings  at  the  Paris  Expo- 
sition. There  the  United  States  Government, 
recognizing  his  worth,  secured  his  services  in  the 
Department  of  Works,  and  appointed  him  assist- 
ant to  the  Superintendent  of  the  American  por- 
tion of  the  exposition.  Before  returning  to  the 
United  States,  he  visited  his  old  home  and  por- 
tions of  Switzerland  and  Germany. 

During  the  years  he  was  engaged  in  contract- 
ing, Mr.  Clark  did  an  immense  business,  and 
erected  many  residences,  stores  and  business 
houses.  Among  them  were  the  Bowen  Block, 
McCormick  Hall  Block,  Kingsburg  Music  Hall, 
Kingsburg  Block,  the  Chicago  Water  Works, 
Bigelow  Hotel,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation building  and  Academy  of  Design,  the 


184 


GEORGE  G.  CUSTER. 


Brother  Jonathan  building  and  the  First  National 
Bank  building.  The  reconstruction  of  the  Chi- 
cago Water  Works  was  the  first  job  he  did  after 
the  fire,  and  the  embers  were  still  hot  when  he 
began  work  on  it.  The  Bigelow  Hotel  occupied 
the  site  of  the  present  postoffice,  and  disappeared 
in  the  great  fire.  Mr.  Clark  was  both  builder 
and  owner  of  the  Academy  of  Design,  which  was 
the  first  building  ever  erected  in  Chicago  for  a 
fine-arts  exhibit. 

In  1852  Mr.  Clark  married  Miss  Alice  Sarde- 
son,  a  native  of  Lincolnshire,  England,  but  then  a 
resident  of  Chicago.  Of  the  marriage,  five  chil- 
dren were  born  and  all  are  now  living  in  Chicago. 
They  are:  Euna,  the  wife  of  Shea  Smith,  of  Shea 
Smith  &  Co.;  F.  W.;  George  T.;  Retta  M.,  now 
the  wife  of  Dr.  KaufFman,  of  Chicago;  and  J.  Y. 
The  sons  F.  W.  and  G.  T.  are  members  of  the  firm 
of  Jonathan  Clark  &  Sons  Co.,  contractors,  who 
have  erected  many  buildings,  notable  among 
which  are  the  Art  Institute  and  the  Government 
buildings  at  Ft.  Sheridan.  The  senior  member  of 


this  firm  is  not  now  actively  connected  with  the 
company,  but  is  employed  in  erecting  and  manag- 
ing buildings,  of  which  he  has  about  a  score,  built 
on  ground  held  on  ninety-nine-year  leases. 

Mr.  Clark  is  a  Republican,  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  and  Sunset  Clubs,  and  a  Thirty- 
second  Degree  Mason,  in  which  order  he  has  held 
many  high  offices.  He  attends,  but  is  not  a  mem- 
ber of,  Dr.  Thomas'  Church.  In  his  later  years 
he  has  traveled  largely  through  the  United  States, 
including  the  Pacific  Coast  and  Florida.  He  has 
a  fruit  farm  and  an  elegant  residence  at  Fru.tland 
Park,  in  the  latter  State. 

Jonathan  Clark  is  numbered  among  the  men 
who  have  made  Chicago,  and  given  it  the  char- 
acter which  it  bears.  Through  trials,  by  perse- 
verance and  an  honest  course,  he  has  risen  to 
prominent  place  in  the  city  which  he  has  made 
his  residence  for  almost  half  a  century,  and  where 
he  is  an  honored  citizen,  who  bears  his  years 
with  dignity,  and  grows  old  gracefully  in  the 
midst  of  a  large  circle  of  devoted  friends. 


GEORGE  GRANGER  CUSTER. 


fJJEORGE  GRANGER  CUSTER,  who  is  now 

b  serving  as  Auditor  of  the  City  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation, was  born  on  the  6th  of  December, 
1838,  in  Sanford,  Edgar  County,  Illinois.  His 
father's  ancestors  bore  the  name  of  Granger,  and 
came  from  England  to  America,  locating  in  Con- 
necticut. His  father  was  a  physician,  and  in 
Newark,  Ohio,  married  Nancy  Link.  His  death 
occurred  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight  years, 
and  soon  after  our  subject,  then  a  child  of  six 
months,  was  taken  for  adoption  by  Isaac  D.  Cus- 
ter,  of  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  whose  name  he 
then  assumed.  He  found  in  his  foster-father  a 
kind-hearted  and  liberal  man,  who  could  not  have 


treated  an  own  son  with  more  kindness  and  con- 
sideration. The  maternal  ancestors  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  were  of  French  origin,  and  on 
emigrating  to  the  New  World  settled  in  Freder- 
icksburg,  Virginia,  about  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  From  there  the  maternal  grand- 
father with  his  family  removed  about  the  year 
1825  to  Newark,  Ohio. 

When  George  was  a  child  of  six  years,  the 
Custer  family  removed  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
and  for  five  years  he  attended  Wyman's  private 
school.  Soon  after  he  accompanied  his  father  on 
a  trip  to  California,  where  they  remained  for  one 
year.  Mr.  Custer  went  to  the  West  to  see  the 


GEORGE  G.  CUSTER. 


185 


country,  and  took  his  adopted  son  on  account  of 
his  poor  health.  The  result  of  the  trip  proved  the 
wisdom  of  the  father,  as  the  son  became  a  strong, 
hearty  boy,  and  now  enjoys  a  vigorous  manhood. 
He  made  the  journey  across  the  plains  on  horse- 
back, leaving  St.  Louis  on  the  4th  of  April, 
1850,  on  the  steamboat  "Princeton,"  and  arriv- 
ing at  old  Ft.  Kearney,  Nebraska,  fifteen  days 
later.  There  they  remained  until  the  early  part 
of  May,  when,  the  grass  having  grown  sufficiently 
to  furnish  feed  for  horses  and  mules,  they  re- 
sumed their  journey.  They  were  eighty-six  days 
in  making  the  trip  from  the  Missouri  River  to 
Hangtown,  now  Placerville,  California.  Their 
next  resting-place  was  Sacramento,  from  whence 
they  went  to  San  Francisco.  They  suffered  the 
usual  hardships  and  privations  incident  to  the 
trip  across  the  plains  in  days  of  the  gold  excite- 
ment, being  sometimes  for  days  with  very  small 
rations  of  food,  and  only  water  sufficient  to  moisten 
the  lips;  but,  notwithstanding,  no  illness  fell  to  the 
lot  of  father  or  son  during  the  trip  to  and  from 
California.  Mr.  Custer  had  no  mining  experi- 
ences, for  he  was  then  too  young  to  dig  for  gold. 
After  a  sojourn  of  a  few  months  in  California,  he 
returned  home,  by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  stopping 
on  the  way  at  the  island  of  Jamaica  and  in  New 
York  City,  from  whence  he  came  West,  by  way 
of  the  Hudson  River  to  Albany,  thence  to  Buffalo 
by  rail,  by  lake  to  Chicago,  by  canal  to  La  Salle, 
and  on  the  steamer  "Robert  Fulton"  to  St.  Louis. 
Mr.  Custer  then  attended  Jones'  College  until 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  resided  in  St.  Louis 
until  1854,  when  the  family  removed  to  a  farm 
near  Davenport,  Iowa.  In  the  fall  of  1855,  he 
returned  to  St.  Louis  and  accepted  a  position  as 
assistant  book-keeper  in  the  retail  grocery  house 
of  Ellis  &  Hutton,  at  that  time  the  largest  estab- 
lishment of  the  kind  in  the  city.  In  the  summer 
following  he  returned  to  Davenport  and  entered 
the  employ  of  Thomas  H.  McGee,  wholesale 
grocer,  as  chief  clerk  and  book-keeper,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1857  took  charge  of  the  office  of  the 
Burtis  House,  then  the  best-equipped  hotel  west 
of  Chicago.  After  a  few  months  he  was  taken 
sick  and  returned  to  the  farm,  where  he  remained 
until  coming  to  Chicago,  in  April,  1862. 


In  the  mean  time  Mr.  Custer  was  married.  On 
the  4th  of  October,  1860,  he  wedded  Miss  Sarah 
Ann  Kelly,  of  Davenport.  The  lady  was  born  in 
Mt.  Carmel,  near  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  September  7, 
1842.  Her  father,  Daniel  C.  Kelly,  a  native  of 
Cincinnati,  is  now  living  in  Davenport,  Iowa, 
where  the  foster-father  of  this  subject  also  resides. 
They  are  aged  respectively  eighty  and  eighty- 
three  years,  and  still  active  and  in  good  health. 
Four  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  Custer  and 
his  wife:  Tillie,  who  is  now  the  wife  of  Robert  J. 
Clark,  and  has  one  child;  Hattie  Winchell,  wife 
of  William  G.  R.  Bell;  Sadie  Belle;  and  George  G. 

On  leaving  the  farm  in  Iowa,  Mr.  Custer  came  to 
Chicago  and  accepted  a  position  as  assistant  com- 
mercial reporter  on  the  Morning  Post,  edited  by  J. 
W.  Sheahan,  with  which  he  was  connected  for  a 
year.  He  then  entered  the  employ  of  Hobbs,  Oli- 
phant  &  Co.  .commission  merchants,  and  at  the  end 
of  three  years  started  in  business  for  himself  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Olcott,  Lash  &  Co. ,  in  the 
same  line  of  business.  This  venture  proved  un- 
successful, on  account  of  the  credit  given  country 
customers.  Mr.  Custer  then  engaged  in  the 
brokerage  business,  but  during  the  great  fire  again 
met  with  losses,  after  which  he  spent  three  years 
with  Hall  &  Winch,  sash  and  door  manufacturers. 
He  then  returned  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  was 
quite  successful  in  business  for  several  years,  but 
at  length  lost  his  fortune  in  a  "big  corner.". 

At  that  time  Mr.  Custer  left  the  city,  removing 
to  Nevada,  Illinois,  where  he  took  charge  of  an 
elevator  owned  by  A.  M.  Wright  &  Co.  On  his 
return  in  1880,  he  accepted  a  position  with 
James  H.  Drake  &  Co.,  commission  merchants, 
with  whom  he  remained  for  a  year  and  a-half, 
when  failing  health  forced  him  to  abandon  that 
work.  Farm  life  had  previously  proved  benefi- 
cial, and  he  again  resorted  to  that  cure,  carrying 
on  agricultural  pursuits  until  his  health  was  re- 
stored. Once  more  he  entered  the  employ  of 
Hall  &  Winch,  with  whom  he  continued  until 
the  death  of  the  junior  partner,  when  the  business 
was  closed  out.  He  was  then  with  the  firm  of 
Garvey  &  Jenkinson  until  they  retired  from  busi- 
ness. 

In  May,  1886,  Mr.  Custer  became  Auditor  of 


186 


WILLIAM  WEST. 


the  Board  of  Education,  and  has  been  unani- 
mously re-elected  since  that  time.  He  was  the 
candidate  for  the  office  of  Assessor  of  West  Chi- 
cago, on  the  Democratic  ticket,  in  1871,  but 
never  sought  political  preferment,  although  he 
took  an  active  part  in  politics  in  early  life.  He  is 
known  as  a  conservative  Democrat.  Socially,  he 
is  connected  with  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  the 
Royal  League,  and  is  the  First  Vice-President  of 
the  California  Pioneers.  In  early  life  he  joined 
the  Baptist  Church,  but  as  its  doctrines  were  not 
in  accordance  with  his  broad  and  liberal  views,  he 


joined  the  Third  Unitarian  Church,  and  was,  until 
his  removal  from  the  West  to  the  South  Side,  one 
of  its  active  and  respected  members.  He  is  so- 
cially inclined,  possessed  of  a  genial  nature  and 
pleasant  disposition.  He  is  popular  among  his 
acquaintances,  and  is  one  who  makes  and  retains 
friends.  He  possesses  a  sanguine  temperament, 
is  an  energetic  worker  and  not  easily  discouraged. 
Fond  of  home  and  family,  he  is  true  to  those  who 
rely  upon  him,  and  his  faithfulness  and  sterling 
worth  have  won  him  warm  regard. 


WILLIAM  WEST. 


P  6JILLIAM  WEST,  one  of  the  enterprising 
\Al  citizens  °f  Cook  County,  now  successfully 
Y  Y  engaged  in  farming  on  section  30,  Niles 
Township,  is  numbered  among  the  early  settlers 
of  the  State,  having  come  to  Illinois  with  his 
parents  in  1836.  He  is  a  native  of  Yorkshire, 
England,  born  on  the  2ist  of  June,  1814.  His 
father,  James  West,  was  born  in  Shipton,  Eng- 
land, in  1768,  and  died  in  the  fall  of  1838,  two 
years  after  his  emigration  to  America.  His  wife 
bore  the  maiden  name  of  Jane  Hodgen,  and  was 
a  daughter  of  Thomas  Hodgen,  a  shoe-maker  of 
Great  Husband,  England.  As  above  stated, 
James  West,  accompanied  by  his  family,  bade 
adieu  to  friends  and  native  land  and  sailed  for 
America  in  the  good  ship  "Sylvenus  Jenkins," 
which  brought  him  to  New  York  after  an  un- 
eventful voyage  of  thirty-one  days.  He  was  de- 
tained in  New  York  quite  a  while  on  account  of 
the  sickness  of  a  relative,  John  Dewes,  but  at 
length  resumed  his  journey  and  traveled  toward 
the  setting  sun  until  he  reached  Cook  County. 
He  became  the  first  settler  of  Jefferson  Township, 
and  it  was  his  intention  to  purchase  a  claim  as 


soon  as  the  land  came  into   market,  but   death 
frustrated  his  plans. 

William  West  pre-empted  a  quarter-section  of 
land  in  Jefferson  Township,  on  which  he  resided 
until  1856,  when  he  came  to  Niles  Township,  his 
present  home.  One  of  the  most  important  events 
of  his  life  occurred  in  1843,  when  was  celebrated 
his  marriage  with  Mrs.  Isabella  Mosley,  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  Kendel,  who  was  a  native  of  York- 
shire, England,  and  a  farmer  by  occupation. 
Mrs.  West  was  born  in  \orkshire,  December  18, 
1821,  and  died  January  28,  1864.  Their  union 
was  blessed  with  four  sons  and  five  daughters, 
and  five  of  the  number  are  still  living,  namely: 
William,  who  was  born  June  n,  1850,  and  now 
resides  in  Chicago;  Mary  Jane,  who  was  born 
April  27,  1852,  and  is  the  wife  of  Robert  Robin- 
son, of  Avondale;  Isabella  E.,  who  was  born 
August  27,  1857,  ar"d  is  the  wife  of  John  Proctor, 
a  resident  of  Arlington  Heights;  Martha  Ann, 
who  was  born  February  20,  1860,  is  the  widow 
of  Emil  Haag,  and  resides  in  Niles;  and  Edward, 
who  was  born  January  18,  1864,  and  is  now  en- 
gaged in  the  flour  and  feed  business  in  Chicago. 


J.  D.  TOBEY. 


187 


In  1866,  Mr.  West  was  again  married,  his  second 
union  being  with  Mrs.  Frances  Ollinger,  who  is 
now  deceased. 

Mr.  West  cast  his  first  vote  for  William  Henry 
Harrison  and  has  voted  at  each  Presidential  elec- 
tion since  that  time.  He  now  affiliates  with  the 
Democracy,  but  from  1860  until  1892  supported 
the  Republican  candidates.  He  received  no  spe- 
cial advantages  in  life,  his  school  privileges  being 


obtained  previous  to  his  tenth  year,  and  his  edu- 
cation from  that  time  was  acquired  through  con- 
tact with  the  world.  He  had  no  capital  or  influ- 
ential friends  to  aid  him  in  business,  and  the  suc- 
cess which  has  crowned  his  efforts  is  the  just  re- 
ward of  his  own  labors.  As  a  citizen  he  is  pub- 
lic-spirited and  progressive  and  devoted  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  community,  and  by  those  who 
know  him  he  is  highly  respected. 


JOHN  D.  TOBEY. 


(TOHN  DILLON  TOBEY,  who  is  doing  an 
I  extensive  business  as  a  dealer  in  hay  and 
O  grain  in  Chicago,  was  born  at  Worth  Sta- 
tion, Cook  County,  on  the  3d  of  September, 
1859,  and  is  a  son  of  Wales  and  Elizabeth  Tobey, 
who  are  represented  on  another  page  of  this  work. 
He  spent  his  early  boyhood  days  upon  his  father's 
farm,  and  acquired  his  education  in  the  district 
school  of  the  neighborhood  and  in  the  High  School 
of  Blue  Island.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  left 
home  with  $2.85  in  his  pocket.  From  that  time 
he  has  made  his  own  way  in  the  world  unaided, 
and  the  success  he  has  achieved  is  therefore  due 
entirely  to  his  own  efforts.  He  began  work  as  a 
farm  hand,  receiving  $15  per  month  in  compen- 
sation for  his  services.  With  his  first  season's 
wages  he  bought  a  half-interest  in  a  threshing- 
machine,  and  the  following  winter  started  a  hay 
press. 

Fifteen  months  after  leaving  home,  Mr.  Tobey 
had  accumulated  $3,300,  besides  a  hay-press, 
teams,  etc.  In  connection  with  his  other  work 
he  also  did  road  contracting  in  Worth  Township. 
For  one  year  after  coming  to  Chicago  he  was  in 
the  employ  of  Nelson  Morris  &  Co. ,  buying  sup- 
plies of  feed  for  the  stock.  Since  1886  he  has 
engaged  in  his  present  business  as  a  dealer  in  hay 
and  grain  at  No.  309  Twenty-sixth  Street.  He  al- 


so handles  ice.  His  business  has  steadily  in- 
creased in  volume,  until  it  has  now  assumed  ex- 
tensive proportions,  and  on  the  ist  of  June,  1894, 
the  J.  D.  Tobey  Hay  and  Grain  Company  was  in- 
corporated. Of  this  Mr.  Tobey  is  president  and 
general  manager.  For  some  years  he  has  been 
the  best  known  dealer  in  his  line  on  the  south  side 
and  is  now  the  largest  retail  dealer  in  the  United 
States.  He  also  deals  in  city  real  estate  and 
farm  property,  and  has  invested  to  some  extent  in 
western  lands. 

On  the  loth  of  September,  1885,  Mr.  Tobey 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Clara  M.  Burt. 
The  lady  is  a  native  of  Westport,  Essex  County, 
N.  Y.,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Alvin  Burt.  Their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  one  child,  Grade. 
They  also  lost  two  sons  who  died  in  infancy 
within  two  weeks  of  each  other. 

Mr.  Tobey  takes  considerable  interest  in  civic 
societies,  and  is  a  member  of  Golden  Rule  Lodge 
No.  726,  A.  F.  &  A.  M. ;  a  life  member  of  Chi- 
cago Commandery  No.  19,  K.  T. ;  and  also  be- 
longs to  Medinah  Temple  and  the  Mystic  Shrine; 
to  Acacia  Club;  to  America  Lodge  No.  271,  K. 
P. ;  Longfellow  Lodge  No.  708,  R.  A. ;  George 
B.  McClellan  Council  of  the  National  Union; 
Chicago  Heavy-Weight  Base  Ball  Club,  the  Sud- 
seite  Turngemeinde,  and  several  other  social  and 


188 


ALEXANDER  McDANIEL. 


insurance  orders.  He  votes  with  the  Republican 
party,  but  has  never  sought  or  desired  political 
preferment,  in  fact  has  several  times  refused  pub- 
lic office.  Physically,  Mr.  Tobey  is  the  picture 


of  health  and  strength.  He  is  of  a  social,  genial 
nature,  and  is  a  gentleman  of  rare  business  abil- 
ity, having  attained  success  through  good  j  udg- 
ment,  ready  decision  and  energetic  determination. 


ALEXANDER  McDANIEL. 


LEXANDER  McDANIEL,  of  Wilmette,  is 
I  I  now  living  a  retired  life,  enjoying  a  rest  which 
/  I  he  has  truly  earned  and  richly  deserves.  He 
has  for  many  years  resided  in  Cook  County,  and 
is  so  widely  and  favorably  known  that  he  needs 
no  special  introduction  to  the  readers  of  this  vol- 
ume. This  work  would  be  incomplete  without 
the  record  of  his  life,  which  is  as  follows:  He 
was  born  February  13,  1815,  in  Bath,  Steuben 
County,  New  York,  and  is  a  son  of  Daniel  Mc- 
Daniel,  who  was  of  Scotch  descent,  but  was  born 
in  the  State  of  New  York  and  made  farming  his 
life  work.  He  married  Rachel  Taner,  a  lady  who 
was  born  and  reared  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  and 
was  a  descendant  of  the  Mohawk  Dutch.  They 
became  the  parents  of  seven  children,  four  sons 
and  three  daughters. 

Alexander  McDaniel  is  the  eldest  son.  The 
days  of  his  boyhood  and  youth  were  spent  in  his 
parents'  home  and  he  became  familiar  with  all  the 
duties  of  farm  life.  He  aided  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  old  homestead  until  he  had  attained  his 
majority,  when  he  started  out  for  himself,  and, 
leaving  the  East  upon  the  tide  of  emigration  which 
was  steadily  moving  westward,  he  came  to  Chica- 
go, arriving  in  this  city  on  the  27th  of  May,  1836. 
Here  he  worked  until  the  I4th  of  August,  when 
he  went  to  New  Trier  Township,  spending  sever- 
al days  looking  up  lands  on  the  Ouilmette  Indian 
reservation.  He  then  returned  to  Chicago,  where 
he  continued  until  October,  when  he  again  came 
to  New  Trier  Township,  and  pre-empted  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  of  Government  land  where 


the  town  of  Winnetka  now  stands.  The  land  in 
the  reservation  had  not  then  been  surveyed.  Mr. 
McDaniel  deposited  the  price  of  the  property  with 
the  Government  agent  until  it  should  be  surveyed 
and  placed  upon  the  market,  which  was  four 
years  later.  He  built  a  log  cabin,  one  of  the  first 
four  houses  which  stood  between  Chicago  and  the 
present  site  of  Winnetka,  and  there  he  kept  bach- 
elor's hall  for  four  years.  The  only  neighbors  he 
had  for  the  first  year,  except  Erastus  Patterson, 
were  Indians,  and  he  was  the  only  young  man  in 
that  locality.  Speaking  of  the  Indians,  he  said 
the  Ouilmettes  were  quite  enlightened  and  good 
neighbors,  always  being  peaceable.  Mr.  McDan- 
iel purchased  three  forty-acre  tracts  of  land,  pay- 
ing the  usual  price  of  $1.25  per  acre,  and  forty 
at  twenty  shillings  per  acre.  Upon  this  land  a 
part  of  the  town  of  Evanston  now  stands.  When 
he  first  came  to  Cook  County  there  were  only 
three  small  log  cabins  north  of  Chicago,  and  many 
of  the  now  thriving  villages  and  cities  had  not 
sprung  into  existence,  while  the  work  of  progress 
and  civilization  seemed  hardly  begun. 

On  the  27th  of  November,  1842,  an  important 
event  in  the  life  of  Mr.  McDaniel  occurred,  his 
marriage  with  Miss  Emeline  Huntoon.  The  la- 
dy was  born  in  Champlain,  New  York,  March  1 1, 
1824,  and  is  a  daughter  of  George  W.  and  Lucin- 
da  (Bowler)  Huntoon,  whose  family  numbered 
ten  children.  The  father  was  a  ship  carpenter, 
and  was  born  in  Vermont,  December  9,  1791. 
The  mother  was  born  January  9,  1796.  With 
their  family  they  came  to  Cook  County  in  1840, 


W.  R.  DERBY. 


189 


settling  on  the  present  site  of  South  Evanston. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McDaniel  became  the  parents  of  six 
children.  Jane,  who  was  the  wife  of  William 
H.  Kinney,  Postmaster  of  Wilmette,  is  now  de- 
ceased; Ellen,  widow  of  A.  B.  Balcam,  resides 
with  her  parents;  Charles,  who  enlisted  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  and  served  three  years  in  the  Eighth 
Illinois  Cavalry,  is  now  a  carpenter  and  contractor 
of  Wilmette;  George  is  interested  in  mining  in 
Colorado;  Henry  is  a  policeman  of  Wilmette; 
and  William  Grant  is  a  fireman  on  the  North- 
Western  Railroad. 

Mr.  McDaniel  exercises  his  right  of  franchise 
in  support  of  the  Republican  party.  His  first  vote 
was  cast  on  the  4th  of  May,  1837,  for  William 
B.  Odgen,  first  mayor  of  Chicago,  and  his  first 
presidential  vote  supported  William  Henry  Harri- 
son .  Soon  after  the  village  of  Wilmette  was  start- 
ed, he  was  appointed  the  first  Postmaster,  hold- 
ing the  office  for  nineteen  successive  years,  when 
he  resigned  in  favor  of  Mr.  Kinney,  the  present 
incumbent.  He  has  never  sought  or  desired  po- 


litical preferment,  his  time  and  attention  being 
largely  occupied  by  his  business  interests.  His 
wife,  a  most  estimable  lady,  holds  membership 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  takes 
an  active  part  in  its  work  and  upbuilding.  For 
twenty-six  years  Mr.  McDaniel  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Wilmette.  His  first  home  at  this  place, 
located  on  Center  Avenue,  was  the  fourth  house 
built  in  the  town,  and  in  it  he  resided  for  twen- 
ty-three years.  In  1891,  he  erected  a  more  sub- 
stantial and  modern  dwelling  on  the  same  street, 
and  there  spends  his  declining  days.  He  has  wit- 
nessed almost  the  entire  growth  and  development 
of  the  county,  the  best  interests  of  the  communi- 
ty ever  find  in  him  a  friend,  and  his  hearty  sup- 
port and  co-operation  are  given  to  those  enter- 
prises which  are  calculated  to  advance  the  gener- 
al welfare.  His  sterling  worth  and  strict  integri- 
ty have  made  him  a  leading  citizen  of  the  com- 
munity and  one  well  worthy  of  representation  in 
this  volume. 


WILLIAM  R.  DERBY. 


fDQlLLIAM  R.  DERBY,  who  was  for  many 
\  A  /  vears  prominently  identified  with  the  his- 
Yf  tory  of  this  community,  was  numbered 
among  the  honored  pioneer  settlers,  having  be- 
come a  resident  of  Cook  County  in  1834.  He 
was  born  in  Dorset,  Bennington  County,  Ver- 
mont, on  the  1 7th  of  March,  1805,  and  was  a 
son  of  Sylvester  Derby,  whose  birth  occurred  in 
the  same  locality  in  1780.  In  1816  the  father 
removed  with  his  family  to  Genesee  County,  New 
York,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety  years. 

William  Derby  spent  the  first  sixteen  years  of  his 
life  at  his  parents'  home,  and  then  began  to  learn 
the  trade  of  a  wool  carder  and  dresser,  which  he 


followed  for  nine  years.  He  later  engaged  in  the 
hotel  business  for  nearly  two  years,  and  in  1834 
he  emigrated  westward  to  try  his  fortunes  on  the 
broad  prairies  of  Illinois.  He  settled  on  section 
34,  township  37,  range  11,  about  three  miles 
southeast  of  the  village  of  Lemont.  At  that 
time  there  were  only  two  houses  between  Joliet 
and  Chicago.  The  latter  place  was  a  small  vil- 
lage, and  the  most  far-sighted  could  not  have 
dreamed  of  the  prominence  and  importance  which 
were  to  make  it  the  metropolis  of  the  West  and 
one  of  the  important  cities  of  the  world.  Mr. 
Derby  had  for  neighbors  a  brother-in-law,  Jere- 
miah Luther,  Orange  Chauncy  and  Joshua  Smith, 
all  natives  of  Vermont  except  Mr.  Luther,  who 


190 


W.  R.  DERBY. 


was  born  in  New  York.  When  Mr.  Derby  came 
to  Cook  County  he  had  a  span  of  horses,  harness 
and  wagon,  some  household  effects  and  $40  in 
money.  He  disposed  of  his  team  in  order  to  pay 
for  his  land  when  it  came  into  market,  and  he 
was  thus  enabled  to  purchase  one  hundred  and 
forty  acres.  It  was  wild  land,  but  with  charac- 
teristic energy  he  began  its  development,  and  in 
course  of  time  transformed  it  into  a  fertile  farm. 
He  built  a  log  house,  in  which  he  lived  for  about 
twenty-five  years,  and  then  erected  a  two-story 
brick  residence,  which  he  made  his  home  until 
1879,  when  he  sold  his  farm  (then  containing 
two  hundred  acres)  and  removed  to  Lemont. 

Mr.  Derby  was  married  on  the  28th  of  June, 
1830,  in  Castile,  New  York,  to  Miss  Eliza  N. 
Luther.  Together  they  traveled  life' s  j  ourney  for 
about  half  a  century.  On  the  5th  of  April,  1880, 
Mrs.  Derby  was  called  to  the  home  beyond.  She 
was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her  and  her  friends 
were  many,  By  their  marriage  were  born  four 
children,  of  whom  two  are  now  living.  Sylvester 
L.,  the  elder,  was  born  in  Castile,  New  York, 
September  18,  1836,  and  at  a  very  early  age  was 
brought  to  Lemont,  where  he  has  since  made  his 
home.  He  graduated  from  the  high  school  of 
Chicago,  and  during  his  early  business  career 
followed  farming,  but  in  1879  he  disposed  of  his 
land  and  removed  to  Lemont,  where  he  embarked 
in  the  lumber  trade,  and  also  in  the  manufacture 
of  lumber  in  Michigan.  His  standing  as  a  busi- 
ness man  is  above  reproach.  His  systematic 
methods,  his  enterprise  and  his  fair  and  honor- 
able dealing  have  gained  him  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  brought 
in  contact.  He  enjoys  a  liberal  patronage,  and 
has  a  well-equipped  lumber-yard.  On  the  24th 
of  September,  1855,  he  was  married  to  Charlotte 
D.  Russell,  of  Dover,  New  Hampshire,  and  to 
them  were  born  five  children,  four  yet  living, 
namely:  Mrs.  Ida  E.  Brown,  Sylvester  O.,O.  R. 
and  J.  A.  L.  The  three  sons  are  associated  with 
their  father  in  the  lumber  trade.  They  are  thor- 
ough business  men,  of  sterling  integrity,  and  the 
firm  is  one  of  prominence  in  the  community. 


Sylvester  L-  Derby  has  been  honored  with  sev- 
eral offices  of  trust,  the  duties  of  which  have 
ever  been  discharged  with  promptness  and  fidel- 
ity. In  politics  he  is  a  Republican.  In  1892  he 
was  President  of  the  Illinois  Retail  Lumber  Deal- 
ers' Association.  Although  he  is  now  nearing 
his  sixtieth  birthday,  he  is  still  hale  and  hearty 
as  a  young  man  of  twenty-five,  and  is  recognized 
as  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Lemont. 

John  T.  Derby,  the  younger  son  of  William  R. 
Derby,  was  born  in  Lemont,  October  29,  1840, 
acquired  his  early  education  in  a  log  schoolhouse 
at  Gooding's  Grove  and  later  was  graduated  from 
Castile  University.  He  began  life  as  a  school 
teacher  in  the  town  of  Palos,  Cook  County,  and 
for  several  years  continued  teaching  in  Cook  and 
Will  Counties.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  J.  P. 
Atwood,  of  Chicago,  where  he  was  admitted  to 
the  Bar,  and  in  1 873  was  chosen  Assistant  County 
Superintendent  of  Schools  under  George  D.  Plant, 
which  position  he  held  until  the  close  of  Mr.  Plant' s 
official  term.  He  was  the  first  City  Attorney  of 
Lemout,  and  was  a  member  of  its  first  Board  of 
Education.  On  the  7th  of  May,  1862,  was  cele- 
brated his  marriage  with  Clara  H.  Dakin,  of 
Millerton,  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  and  by 
their  union  were  born  three  children,  of  whom 
Nettie  E.  and  Edward  D.  are  now  living.  Mrs. 
Derby  died  February  i,  1885,  and  in  1886  Mr. 
Derby  married  Miss  Abbie  E.  Jones,  of  Du  Page, 
Will  County,  Illinois.  He  is  at  present  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  law,  and  is  a  radical  temper- 
ance man,  who  supports  by  his  ballot  the  Prohi- 
bition party. 

William  R.  Derby,  whose  name  heads  this 
record,  was  an  advocate  of  Democratic  principles 
and  was  often  called  to  office  by  his  fellow-towns- 
men. He  served  as  Supervisor,  was  also  Justice 
of  the  Peace  for  five  years,  was  Township  Treas- 
urer sixteen  years  and  Township  Clerk  for  sev- 
eral years.  In  these  various  offices  he  was  ever 
true  and  faithful.  All  who  knew  him  respected 
him  for  his  upright  life  and  straightforward  deal- 
ings and  for  a  public  and  private  career  which 
were  alike  above  reproach. 


JOHN  V.  STEVHNS. 


191 


JOHN  VOSBURGH  STEVENS,  M.  D. 


(TORN  V.  STEVENS  is  a  native  of  New  York, 
I  born  at  Lysander,  Ouondaga  County,  Novem- 
G)  ber  23,  1851,  the  son  of  George  B.  and  Sarah 
(Kellogg)  Stevens.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  of  English  descent,  and  came  to  this  country 
before  the  Revolutionary  War,  his  maternal 
grandfather  being  also  of  an  old  family  and  of 
Holland-Dutch  extraction. 

When  he  was  very  young  his  parents  removed 
to  Cook  County,  Illinois,  where  they  remained 
about  four  years.  The  health  of  the  mother 
becoming  precarious,  the  family  returned  to  New 
York,  to  Oswego  County,  where  she  died  in  1858, 
leaving  a  daughter  seven  months  old,  who  grew 
to  womanhood,  and  died  iu  Wisconsin  in  1883. 

After  his  mother's  dea  h,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  left  largely  to  the  care  of  his  grand- 
mother and  mother's  sister.  During  his  early 
boyhood  he  attended  regi  ,larly  the  public  school 
and  also  received  considerable  benefit  from  study 
at  home.  Later  he  ento  ^d  the  academy  at  Mex- 
ico, New  York,  an  institution  of  high  grade,  and 
made  such  good  use  of  Us  opportunities  that  he 
succeeded  in  passing  th.»  regents'  examination, 
which  entitled  successful  contestants  to  admission 
to  any  college  in  the  State  in  1866.  While  still 
in  his  teens,  young  Stevtus  found  his  health  giv- 
ing away  under  continued  and  close  application 
to  study,  and  on  the  advice  of  the  family  physi- 
cian to  seek  an  outdoor  life  for  him,  his  father 
again  came  to  Illinois,  in  1866,  settling  near  Bar- 
rington,  in  Cook  County,  having  in  the  same  year 
married,  this  time  to  his  former  wife's  youngest 
sister,  Frances  Kellogg. 


Here  for  four  years  the  young  man  remained 
with  his  parents,  attending  school  and  pursuing 
his  studies  at  home,  at  the  end  of  which  time,  or 
when  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  obtained  a 
teacher's  certificate  in  Lake  County,  and  in  the 
winter  of  1870  taught  his  first  term  of  school 
with  success.  In  February  of  the  following  year 
he  came  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  bookkeeping, 
but  soon  bought  out  an  interest  in  a  grocery  and 
crockery  store  on  the  North  Side,  and  was  begin- 
ning to  see  good  business  prospects  ahead  when 
the  great  fire  of  October,  1871,  swept  away  the 
store  and  all  its  contents.  Without  a  dollar, 
young  Stevens  returned  to  Lake  County  soon 
after  the  fire  and  again  taught  school  during  the 
winter  term.  Soon  after  the  conclusion  of  his 
school  he  became  the  agent  of  the  American  Ex- 
press Company  at  Barrington,  and  on  January 
i,  1873,  was  transferred  to  the  messenger  service 
of  the  company  at  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  in 
which  service  he  remained  until  the  following 
June,  when  he  resigned  to  engage  in  a  business 
of  his  own  at  Green  Bay,  and  in  which  he  con- 
tinued with  varying  fortunes  until  1876. 

In  the  latter  year  he  returned  to  Illinois  and 
engaged  iu  teaching  in  McHenry  County.  With 
the  exception  of  the  following  year,  spent  as  a 
bookkeeper  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Stevens  continued 
in  the  work  of  teaching  until  1883,  most  of  the 
time  in  the  high  schools  of  Libertyville  and 
Wauconda.  He  had  long  cherished  the  desire  to 
enter  the  medical  profession,  and  now,  seeing  his 
way  clear,  he  left  his  position  at  Wauconda  in  the 
fall  of  1883  and,  coming  to  Chicago,  entered  Ben- 


192 


JOHN  V.  STEVENS. 


nett  Medical  College,  where  he  was  a  close  stu- 
dent, and  in  March,  1885,  graduated  with  much 
credit  to  himself. 

His  attainments  were  evidently  appreciated,  for 
upon  graduation  he  was  offered  a  professor's  chair 
in  the  college.  This  he  declined,  however,  pre- 
ferring to  enter  upon  the  exclusive  practice  of  his 
profession,  for  which  a  good  opportunity  offered 
in  partnership  with  an  old-established  physician 
in  Wisconsin,  with  whom  he  remained  for  two 
years.  The  partnership  was  then  dissolved,  and 
Dr.  Stevens  continued  an  independent  practice  in 
the  same  location  for  over  six  years,  during  which 
time  he  built  up  a  large  practice  and  became  well 
and  favorably  known  by  the  profession  through- 
out the  State.  While  here  he  became  President 
and  later  the  Secretary  for  two  years,  of  the  State 
Eclectic  Medical  Society  of  Wisconsin,  and  was 
prominent  in  all  its  affairs,  being  Chairman  for 
three  years  of  their  Committee  on  Medical  Legis- 
lation. 

In  1891  Dr.  Stevens  returned  to  Chicago  and 
was  elected  to  the  chair  of  Diseases  of  Children 
in  Bennett  Medical  College,  his  alma  mater,  to 
which  was  added  in  the  following  year  Clinical 
Medicine,  both  of  which  positions  he  still  holds, 
and  in  which  he  has  made  an  excellent  record. 
In  1891  he  was  elected  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  the  National  Eclectic  Medical  Association, 
and  now  serves  in  that  capacity,  having  been  re- 
elected  annuplly  ever  since.  He  was  also  Secre- 
tary of  the  World's  Eclectic  Medical  Congress, 
held  in  Chicago  in  June,  1893,  in  connection  with 
the  World's  Fair.  The  other  eleven  members  of 
the  Executive  Committee,  as  well  as  the  general 
officers  of  the  congress,  ascribe  a  great  part  of  the 
success  of  the  congress  to  his  untiring  efforts  for 
the  previous  nine  months  in  securing  papers  and 
a  very  large  attendance  and  making  all  necessary 
arrangements. 

The  Doctor  is  also  on  the  medical  staff  of  Ben- 
nett Hospital,  attending  physician  at  the  Willie 
Hipp  and  Bennett  Free  Dispensaries  for  children 
and  the  Evanston  Emergency  Hospital. 

Dr.  Stevens  is  a  member  both  of  the  Wisconsin 


and  the  Illinois  State  Eclectic  Societies,  of  the 
National  Eclectic  Medical  Association,  and  of  the 
Wisconsin  Pharmaceutical  Association.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  othei  duties  he  edits  and  publishes 
The  Annual  of  Eclectic  Medicine  and  Surgery,  a 
publication  of  recognized  merit.  It  is  a  royal- 
octavo  book  of  five  hundred  pages,  published 
each  year,  and  containing  the  meritorious  papers 
read  at  the  different  State  societies  at  their  an- 
nual sessions. 

The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  has  taken  much  interest  in  the  various 
degrees,  from  the  Blue  Lodge,  of  which  he  is  a 
Past  Master,  to  the  Commandery  of  Knights 
Templar,  of  which  he  is  a  member.  He  is  also 
an  Odd  Fellow,  a  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Foresters  and  of  other  fraternal  orders, 
in  all  of  which  he  is  popular.  In  his  religious 
associations  Dr.  Stevens  is  a  Methodist  and  an 
active  worker  in  the  church  of  which  he  is  a 
member  at  his  Evanston  home,  although  his  sym- 
pathies and  his  benefactions  extend  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  his  own  church.  In  his  political 
affiliations  he  is  an  all-around  Republican,  as  re- 
gards national  and  State  affairs,  and  for  good 
men  only,  whatever  the  party,  in  the  control  of 
local  affairs. 

Dr.  Stevens  was  married  in  1873  to  Miss  Gertie 
Wood,  of  Lake  County,  Illinois,  of  an  excellent 
and  well-known  family  there.  Mrs.  Stevens  has 
not  only  proved  to  be  an  excellent  wife  and  de- 
voted mother,  but  is  known  outside  the  family 
circle  for  her  many  virtues.  They  have  three 
children,  a  daughter  named  Edith  G.,  aged  six- 
teen, and  two  bright  boys,  aged  six  and  eight, 
and  named  respectively  Clark  Jay  and  Karl  I. 
Personally,  Dr.  Stevens  is  a  fine-looking,  well- 
preserved  gentleman,  whose  genial  face  is  a  cor- 
rect index  to  a  generous  heart  and  a  naturally 
refined  nature.  He  easily  makes  and  keeps 
friends,  and  is  uniformly  regarded  as  a  welcome 
addition  to  any  social  circle.  He  has  fine  literary 
tastes,  and,  so  far  as  his  professional  duties  will 
allow,  finds  pleasant  companionship  among  his 
books. 


CALVIN  T.  HOOD. 


CALVIN  T.   HOOD,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 


TODD  HOOD,  A.  M.,  M.  D.  The 
1 1  remarkable  professional  career  of  Dr.  Hood 
\J  illustrates  the  benefit  of  good  blood  and 
breeding,  supplemented  by  thorough  preparation 
and  intelligent  application.  The  grandfather  of 
Dr.  Hood,  Archie  Hood,  was  a  remarkable  man 
of  his  time,  descended  from  the  early  English 
settlers  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  and  being 
distantly  related  to  the  noted  Confederate,  Gen. 
Hood.  He  was  tall  and  stately,  measuring  six 
feet  and  four  inches  in  height,  without  his  boots, 
and  was  very  intelligent  and  active.  He  was 
what  is  often  called  a  "  natural  bone-setter,"  and 
though  he  never  studied  medicine  or  surgery,  was 
called  upon  by  people  for  forty  miles  around  to 
set  broken  bones,  which  he  did  with  success.  He 
was  straight  as  an  arrow  at  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred in  1872,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  He 
had  three  wives,  the  first  of  whom,  Mary  Walker, 
was  the  mother  of  his  children.  He  built  the 
first  gristmill  constructed  by  English-speaking 
people  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  This  was  at 
Elkhorn  Prairie,  Washington  County,  Illinois. 

Samuel  Gordon,  maternal  grandfather  of  Dr. 
Hood,  was  also  of  English  lineage,  and  opened 
the  first  store  and  blacksmith  shop  at  Kaskaskia 
after  it  became  a  modern  settlement.  He  also 
built  and  operated  the  first  mill  for  extracting  oil 
from  castor  beans,  one  of  the  principal  early  pro- 
ducts of  that  region.  He  stood  six  feet  seven 
inches,  and  was  a  famous  Indian  fighter,  winning 
many  a  contest  with  his  red  neighbors  in  the  early 
days  of  Kaskaskia,  and  participating,  as  well,  in 
the  Blackhawk  War.  When  the  bell  brought  out 
by  the  French  to  Kaskaskia  blew  down  and  was 
cracked  in  a  storm,  he  bargained  to  repair  it,  in 
consideration  of  the  gift  of  a  clock  made  in  Paris 
in  1672  and  brought  to  Illinois  the  next  year. 
The  case  was  destroyed  in  a  subsequent  fire,  but 


the  works  are  still  preserved  by  Mr.    Gordon's 
daughter,  the  mother  of  Dr.  Hood. 

Archie  Hood  had  eight  children,  seven  of  whom 
grew  up  and  are  still  living,  being  residents  of 
Illinois.  James,  the  third  child,  married  Nellie 
A.,  daughter  of  Samuel  Gordon,  and  settled  at 
Sparta,  Illinois,  where  he  engaged  many  years  in 
mercantile  business,  and  where  he  still  resides, 
being  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  his 
business  being  continued  by  his  son,  one  of  the 
most  active  and"  enterprising  citizens  of  that  re- 
gion. Rev.  John  Hood,  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Galesburg,  is  another  of  the 
sons  of  Archie  Hood.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Knox  College,  of  which 
body  he  has  been  President. 

Mrs.  Nellie  A.  Hood  is  a  graduate  of  Oberlin 
College,  Ohio,  a  woman  of  cultivated  tastes  and 
intellectual  attainments,  and  her  influence  in  form- 
ing the  character  and  directing  the  studies  of  her 
sons  (only  one  of  whom  displayed  any  taste  for 
business,  the  others  being  in  professional  life)  has 
been  powerful  and  lasting. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  is  the  eldest  of  a 
family  comprising  four  sons  and  a  daughter.  He 
was  born  at  Sparta,  Randolph  County,  this  State, 
on  the  nation's  eighty-sixth  birthday  anniversary, 
July  4,  1862.  At  a  very  early  age  he  began  as- 
sisting in  his  father's  store,  in  the  intervals  be- 
tween school  days.  He  graduated  from  the  local 
high  school,  and  before  the  age  of  sixteen  began 
the  study  of  medical  science,  which  he  continued 
for  five  years,  under  the  tutelage  of  Dr.  David  S. 
Booth,  a  widely-known  physician  of  Sparta.  He 
attended  Princeton  (New  Jersey)  College  and  the 
University  of  Michigan,  where  he  was  Clinical 
Assistant.  After  teaching  school  a  year,  during 
which  time  he  continued  his  medical  studies,  he 
came  to  Chicago,  March  17,  1884,  and  entered 


194 


R.  H.  CHAMBERUN. 


the  spring  term  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons.  In  February  of  the  following  year  he 
took  his  degree  from  this  institution  and  at  once 
began  practice.  In  September  of  the  same  year 
he  entered  the  Chicago  Homoeopathic  College, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  February,  1886. 
Ever  since  that  time  he  has  enjoyed  a  steadily 
growing  practice.  He  occupies  an  office  in  the 
Marshall  Field  Building,  where  he  is  found  fore- 
noons, making  a  specialty  of  mental  and  nervous 
diseases,  in  the  treatment  of  which  hs  has 
achieved  a  remarkable  success.  He  is  constantly 
driven  with  the  applications  of  patients  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  home  office  on  West  Adams  Street. 

In  1887,  only  a  year  after  completing  his  medi- 
cal courses,  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Physi- 
ology and  Pathology  of  the  American  Dental 
College,  in  which  he  continued  to  lecture  five 
years.  In  1889  he  began  lecturing  on  Electro- 
Therapeutics  in  the  Chicago  Homoeopathic  Col- 
lege, and  a  year  later  was  made  Associate  Pro- 
fessor of  Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases  in  the 
same  institution,  and  has  fulfilled  the  duties  of 
that  chair  ever  since.  He  is  also  Assistant  Busi- 
ness Manager  of  this  institution,  and  has  had 
entire  charge  of  the  buildings  and  appurtenances 
for  the  last  four  years. 

Dr.  Hood  is  a  man  of  wonderful  vitality  and 
remarkably  strong  physique.  If  he  were  not,  he 
certainly  could  not  perform  one-half  the  work 
which  he  has  been  performing  for  many  years.  For 
a  man  of  his  comparative  youth  he  is  carrying 
large  responsibilities,  with  credit  to  himself  and 


the  institutions  with  which  he  is  identified.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Homoeopathic  Society, 
the  Chicago  Academy  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons and  the  American  Institute  of  Homcepathy. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  official  board  of  the  West- 
ern Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and, 
while  not  in  any  sense  a  politician,  adheres  from 
principle  to  the  Republican  party  in  matters  of 
public  policy. 

On  the  ist  of  September,  1886,  Dr.  Hood  mar- 
ried Miss  Ethel  May  Barker,  a  native  of  Nunda, 
New  York,  and  a  daughter  of  O.  W.  and  Mary 
(Swain)  Barker,  of  old  and  long-lived  American 
families.  Mrs.  Hood's  parents  reside  on  a  farm 
near  Nunda,  where  she  was  reared.  Having  fit- 
ted herself  by  a  course  of  study,  she  became  one 
of  the  first  trained  nurses  employed  at  the  Pres- 
byterian Hospital  in  Chicago,  where  she  first  met 
the  Doctor.  They  have  two  daughters,  namely: 
Grace  Gordon,  born  on  the  anniversary  of  her 
father's  birth,  in  1887,  and  Ethel  May,  born 
March  5,  1890. 

Those  who  meet  Dr.  Hood,  either  socially  or 
professionally,  are  at  once  impressed  with  his 
manly  bearing,  his  kindly  courtesy  and  his  cul- 
tured intellect.  In  the  midst  of  his  multifarious 
duties  he  always  has  time  to  pass  a  pleasant  word 
with  any  one  who  may  have  occasion  to  call  upon 
him,  and  his  presence  in  the  community  is  a 
blessing,  for  his  personality,  as  well  as  his  pro- 
fessional skill,  carries  an  elevating  and  restorative 
power. 


RHUEL  H.  CHAMBERLIN. 


RHUEL    HAMPTON    CHAMBERUN,  for- 
merly Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  Division 
of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Rail- 
road, was  born  in  Mendham,  Morris  County,  New 


Jersey,  in  1826.  When  quite  young,  he  was  taken 
by  his  parents  to  Milton,  Pennsylvania,  where 
they  remained  about  two  years.  They  then  re- 
moved to  Pottsville,  in  the  same  State,  and  from 


CANDIDUS  KOZLOWSKI. 


195 


there  to  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  where  they  stayed 
about  three  years.  After  that  the  family  moved 
to  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  where  Rhuel  attended 
the  common  school  for  four  years.  Later  he  was 
at  a  boarding-school  at  Lititz,  Pennsylvania,  in 
which  town  he  also  attended  school  under  the 
tuition  of  Mr.  J.  Beck  for  about  eighteen  months. 
The  family  then  moving  to  Philadelphia,  he  re- 
mained there  about  six  years,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  was  apprenticed  to  a  Mr.  Brewer  in  the 
chair-making  business.  When,  however,  he  had 
been  for  two  years  with  Mr.  Brewer,  his  parents 
moved  to  New  York  City,  and  he  went  with  them. 
He  there  went  under  the  instructions  of  William 
Walling  and  finished  his  trade. 

After  learning  this  business,  Mr.  Chamberlin 
went  to  Troy,  New  York,  and  worked  for  W.  L. 
Adams,  but  being  in  ill  health  while  there  he 
returned  to  New  York  City.  After  his  recu- 
peration he  went  back  to  Troy,  and  there,  mak- 
ing a  contract  with  Burge  &  Bros. ,  who  were  the 
proprietors  of  a  chair  factory  on  Adams  Street, 
he  remained  until  their  factory  was  burned  down, 
about  two  years  later.  After  this  he  went  to 
New  York  City  and  engaged  in  the  chair  busi- 


ness. Being  unfortunate  in  this  enterprise  he 
failed,  but  paid  all  his  debts  in  full,  owing  no  one 
at  the  time  of  shutting  down  his  factory.  He 
then  accepted  an  offer  made  by  Burge  &  Bros. , 
who  had  rebuilt  their  factory  at  Troy.  From  there 
he  again  went  to  New  York  City,  and  secured  a 
position  on  the  Third  Avenue  City  Railway  as 
conductor  when  it  first  opened.  He  stayed  on 
that  road  three  years,  and  later  was  on  the  Dela- 
ware Division  of  the  New  York  &  Erie  Railroad 
as  head  brakeman,  under  Supt.  Hugh  Riddle. 
Here  he  remained  one  year,  and  then  for  about 
four  years  was  conductor  on  an  extra  freight  train. 
After  this,  in  the  year  1873,  he  was  made  pas- 
senger conductor  on  the  New  York  &  Oswego 
Midland  Railroad,  remaining  there  until  June, 
1874.  In  November  he  went  to  Chicago  to  take 
a  position  as  passenger  conductor  on  the  Chi- 
cago, Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad.  On  Jan- 
uary i,  1878,  he  was  appointed  Superintendent 
of  the  Illinois  Division  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
&  Pacific  Railroad. 

Mr.  Chamberlin  is  a  member  of  Port  Jervis 
Lodge  No.  328,  Delta  Chapter  No.  191,  and  Del- 
aware Commandery  No.  44,  K.  T.,  of  Port  Jervis. 


REV.  CANDIDUS  KOZLOWSKI. 


[~)EV.  CANDIDUS  KOZLOWSKI,  Rector  of 
^  the  Polish  Church  at  Lemont,  was  born  on 
p\  the  25th  day  of  March,  1836,  in  the  city 
of  Warsaw,  Poland.  His  father  was  Andreas 
and  his  mother  Josepha  (Majewska)  Kozlowski, 
natives  of  the  same  city.  Andreas  Kozlowski 
was  a  captain  in  the  French  army,  and  served  un- 
der Napoleon  I.  in  Spain,  in  1806,  and  in  the 
European  War  of  1812.  He  was  a  valiant  sol- 
dier, and  fought  for  what  he  considered  the  inter- 
ests of  Poland.  He  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy- 
six  years,  dying  in  1852.  He  was  married  three 


times  (the  second  wife  being  the  mother  of  the 
subject  of  this  biography),  and  was  the  father  of 
twenty-one  children.  Josepha  Kozlowski  was 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  seven  sons  and  three 
daughters,  only  three  of  whom  are  now  living, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  being  the  only  one  in 
America. 

The  father  of  Andreas,  Adalbert  Kozlowski, 
was  also  a  soldier,  and  served  in  the  Polish  army, 
having  witnessed  the  coronation  of  the  last  king 
of  Poland  and  given  him  his  unswerving  adhesion. 
He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  means,  a 


196 


MENZO  RUSSELL. 


landed  proprietor,  and  owner  of  tenement  houses 
in  Warsaw.  He  lived  to  be  upwards  of  eighty 
years  old,  and  died  in  1847. 

Candidus  Kozlowski  is  a  man  of  rare  education 
and  attainments,  and  used  his  best  and  most 
strenuous  efforts  for  the  liberation  of  his  native 
land  from  Russian  rule.  He  was  educated  in  his 
native  city,  and  in  1863  became  a  leader  in  the 
revolutionary  movement  which  resulted  in  the 
complete  subjugation  of  the  Polish  patriots,  and 
the  execution  of  a  large  number  of  their  leaders 
— including  hundreds  of  the  friends  and  relatives 
of  Mr.  Kozlowski.  With  a  handful  of  men,  num- 
bering less  than  a  hundred,  he  fought  his  way 
through  to  the  Austrian  frontier,  where  he  was 
warmly  received  by  the  populace  and  Austrian 
common  soldiers,  who  applauded  his  bravery  and 
assisted  his  escape  toward  Italy.  He  is  still  un- 
der the  ban  of  a  Russian  death  sentence,  and  dare 
not  return  to  the  dominions  of  the  Czar. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1863,  at  Bologna, 
Italy,  he  was  ordained  a  priest  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  After  he  took  holy  orders,  he 
became  a  traveler  and  visited  many  countries,  in 
eluding  the  greater  portion  of  Europe  and  parts 
of  Asia  and  Africa.  He  came  to  the  United 


States  in  1872,  and  established  a  church  at  Cin- 
cinnati. He  purchased  a  Lutheran  Church,  which 
he  converted  into  a  Catholic  institution,  and  chris- 
tened it  St.  Stanislaus.  About  a  year  later,  he 
returned  to  Europe  and  revisited  many  of  the 
countries  in  which  he  had  previously  traveled.  In 
1874  he  became  a  permanent  resident  of  America, 
and  took  charge  of  a  parish  at  La  Salle,  Illinois, 
where  he  remained  seven  years.  After  a  visit  in 
Europe,  he  was  rector  of  St.  Josaphat  Church  in 
Chicago  for  five  years,  and  has  been  for  the  last 
five  years  in  his  present  charge.  His  parish  com- 
prises four  hundred  families,  and  the  school  in 
connection  numbers  three  hundred  and  fifty  pupils. 
Father  Kozlowski's  liberal  education  and  wide 
travels  have  made  him  a  cosmopolite  in  ideas,  a 
practical  man  in  business,  a  genial  gentleman  and 
an  able  priest.  As  a  recreation,  he  gives  consid- 
erable attention  to  the  study  of  astronomy,  and 
is  the  possessor  of  a  fine  telescope,  which  he  pur- 
chased at  the  Paris  Exposition,  and  on  which  he 
was  obliged  to  pay  a  duty  of  $42.  He  is  loved 
and  respected  by  his  people  and  the  entire  com- 
munity, and  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the 
country's  adopted  citizens. 


MENZO   RUSSELL. 


IV  A  ENZO  RUSSELL,  a  farmer  residing  on  sec- 
I V I  tion  22,  Northfield  Township,  has  the  honor 
I  (9 1  of  being  a  native  of  Cook  County,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  the  township  which  is  still  his 
home,  February  17,  1839.  He  is  the  only  child 
of  Jacob  and  Eliza  (Rhints)  Russell,  both  of 
whom  were  natives  of  Sharon,  Schoharie  County, 
New  York.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Henry 
Rhines,  a  shoemaker  and  farmer.  In  1834  Jacob 
and  Eliza  Russell  emigrated  to  Cook  County,  Illi- 
nois, arriving  in  Chicago  with  a  capital  of  $6. 


The  father  first  engaged  in  burning  charcoal 
about  four  miles  from  the  city,  and  in  this  way 
secured  enough  money  to  purchase  a  team,  with 
which  to  engage  in  farming.  He  settled  on  sec- 
tion 22,  Northfield  Township,  where  he  still 
makes  his  home,  residing  with  his  son  Menzo. 
He  became  the  possessor  of  three  hundred  acres 
of  good  land,  and  may  truly  be  called  a  self-made 
man.  He  has  borne  all  the  hardships  and  expe- 
riences of  frontier  life,  and  is  familiar  with  the 
history  of  Cook  County  from  its  earliest  days. 


PETER  CRAWFORD. 


He  has  now  passed  his  eighty-fourth  birthday, 
but  is  remarkably  active  for  one  of  his  years,  and 
still  works  upon  the  farm.  In  early  life  he  was  a 
Democrat,  but  since  the  organization  of  the  Re- 
publican party  has  been  one  of  its  supporters. 
Mrs.  Eliza  Russell  died  January  8,  1892,  aged 
seventy-five  years,  three  months  and  six  days. 

Menzo  Russell  has  always  lived  upon  the  farm 
which  is  yet  his  home,  and  therefore  has  a  wide 
acquaintance  throughout  this  community.  No 
event  of  special  importance  occurred  during  his 
boyhood  and  youth,  which  were  quietly  passed 
on  his  father's  farm.  Having  attained  to  mature 
years,  he  chose  as  a  companion  and  helpmate  on 
life's  journey  Miss  Margaret  Russell,  the  wed- 
ding being  celebrated  July  3,  1859.  The  lady  is 
a  daughter  of  David  Russell,  who  was  a  native 
of  New  York,  and  lived  to  be  seventy-two  years 
of  age.  With  his  brothers,  William  and  John, 
their  wives  and  father  and  mother,  he  was  laid  to 
rest  in  the  family  burying-ground,  two  miles 
southeast  of  Shermerville.  Mrs.  Margaret  Rus- 
sell's three  brothers,  Norman,  Jacob  and  John 
Russell,  promptly  responded  to  their  country's 
call  for  troops  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
War,-  and  valiantly  aided  in  the  defense  of  the 


Union.  Her  grandmother  had  three  brothers  in 
the  Revolutionary  War;  therefore  the  Russell 
family  has  been  well  represented  in  military  af- 
fairs when  the  country  was  in  need  of  valiant 
sons. 

To  our  subject  and  his  wife  were  born  eight 
children,  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  but  the 
former  are  all  now  deceased.  Mary  Elizabeth, 
born  October  17,  1862,  is  the  wife  of  George 
Goebel,  a  stone  and  brick  mason  of  Evanston. 
Catherine,  born  June  16,  1864,  is  the  wife  of 
Joseph  Selzer,  a  farmer  of  Northfield  Township. 
L,eona,  born  December  20,  1866,  is  the  wife  of 
Joseph  Bastien,  a  tinner  of  Evanston.  Lottie, 
born  January  13,  1877,  is  at  home.  The  parents 
of  this  family  are  both  members  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  are  highly  respected  people,  who 
have  many  warm  friends  in  the  community.  Mr. 
Russell  is  a  stalwart  Republican.  He  cast  his 
first  Presidential  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
has  supported  each  Presidential  nominee  of  the 
party  since  that  time.  He  is  a  wide-awake  and 
progressive  citizen,  and  public  enterprises  calcu- 
lated to  advance  the  general  welfare  never  solicit 
his  aid  in  vain. 


PETER  CRAWFORD. 


F^ETER  CRAWFORD,  one  of  the  most  deserv- 
yr  ing  pioneers  of  Cook  County,  was  born  in 
K>  Argyleshire,  Scotland,  in  1796,  and  was  a 
son  of  Peter  and  Janet  (McNaught)  Crawford. 
The  father  was  born  near  Inverary,  on  I/ochTyne, 
Argyleshire,  in  1753,  and  was  a  boat-builder  in 
his  native  land.  He  died  in  Delaware  County, 
New  York,  in  1848.  His  wife  died  in  Hamden, 
New  York,  in  1836,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 


She  was  a  daughter  of  Malcolm  and  Catherine 
(McKinley)  McNaught.  Her  father  was  a  ship- 
carpenter,  and  came  to  America  at  the  age  of  nine- 
ty years.  His  death  occured  in  Delaware  County, 
New  York,  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five. 
His  children  were:  Gilbert,  a  Baptist  minister  of 
Delaware  County,  New  York;  John;  Neil,  who 
died  in  Scotland;  Mrs.  Janet  Crawford;  Cather- 
ine and  Mary,  who  died  in  Scotland;  and  Archi- 


PETER  CRAWFORD. 


bald.     The  mother  of  this  family  passed  away  in 
Scotland  in  1818,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

To  Peter  and  Janet  Crawford  were  born  eight 
children:  Malcolm,  who  died  in  infancy;  Donald, 
who  died  in  Hamden,  New  York,  in  1868,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two;  John,  who  died  in  Scotland  in 
1817,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine;  Gilbert,  a  Pres- 
byterian minister,  who  for  a  number  of  years  was 
pastor  of  a  church  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  but 
died  in  Leroy,  Genesee  County,  New  York,  in 
1848,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six;  Catherine,  who  was 
born  in  1796,  and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-five 
years;  Peter,  of  this  sketch;  Sarah,  who  became 
the  wife  of  Malcolm  McFarland,  and  died  in  Ham- 
den  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two;  and  Janet,  who 
died  in  Hamden  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight. 

Peter  Crawford,  whose  name  heads  this  notice, 
came  to  America  in  1820,  on  a  sailing-vessel,  lo- 
cating first  in  Delaware  County,  New  York,  with 
his  parents.  In  Buffalo,  New  York,  he  wedded 
Juliet  Sophronia  Hubbard,  a  native  of  Westmin- 
ster, Windham  County,  Vermont,  born  October 
19,  1807.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Salmon  and 
Caroline  (Pratt)  Hubbard.  Mrs.  Crawford's  fa- 
ther was  a  son  of  Daniel  Hubbard,  who  died  in 
Massachusetts  in  1813,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years. 
Salmon  Hubbard  was  born  in  Sunderland,  Hamp- 
shire County,  Massachusetts,  in  1774,  and  was 
the  eldest  in  a  family  of  five  children,  the  others 
being  Spencer,  Lemuel,  Polly  and  Electa.  Salmon 
Hubbard  died  in  Canadice,  Livingston  County, 
New  York,  about  1859.  His  children  were:  Hi- 
ram, who  was  proprietor  of  a  livery  and  stage  line 
and  died  in  Canandaigua,  New  York,  in  1848,  at 
the  age  of  forty-nine  years;  Daniel,  who  died,  in 
1849,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight;  Elijah  H.,  who  was 
born  in  Guilford,  Vermont,  and  died  in  New  York 
in  1830,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven;  Salmon,  who 
was  born  in  Westminister,  Vermont,  in  1805,  and 
died  in  1835;  Juliet  Sophronia,  wife  of  Peter 
Crawford;  Almira,  who  was  born  in  Greenwich, 
New  York,  in  1810,  became  the  wife  of  John 
Purcell,  and  died  in  Canadice,  New  York,  in  1884; 
and  Oman,  who  was  born  in  Williamson,  Ontar- 
io County,  New  York,  in  1813,  and  died  in  1834. 
Mrs.  Caroline  (Pratt)  Hubbard  was  born 


Decembers,  1774,  and  died  in  1816,  in  Wind- 
ham  County,  Vermont.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Samuel  and  Mary  (Clark)  Pratt.  One  of  her 
brothers,  Samuel  Pratt,  located  at  Buffalo,  New 
York,  in  1804,  driving  thither  from  Vermont  in 
the  first  carriage  that  ever  entered  that  place. 
He  became  a  leading  merchant  of  Buffalo,  and 
his  descendants  are  prominent  hardware  and  iron 
dealers  in  that  city.  The  Pratt  family  is  supposed 
to  have  been  established  in  America  by  ancestors 
who  came  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  Hub- 
bards  are  probably  of  English  origin.  Both  were 
well-to-do  families  in  Vermont  before  moving  to 
New  York. 

In  1844,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crawford  left  their  New 
York  home  and  came  to  the  young  and  growing 
city  of  Chicago.  In  their  family  were  four  chil- 
dren, who  reached  mature  years.  Gilbert,  who  is 
now  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business  in  Chica- 
go; John,  who  was  prominently  connected  with 
the  same  business  for  some  years,  but  is  now  de- 
ceased; Sophronia  A.,  widow  of  A.  B.  Kellogg  and 
a  resident  of  Denver,  Colorado;  and  Hiram  P., 
whose  sketch  is  given  on  another  page  of  this 
work. 

On  coming  to  Chicago,  in  the  year  1844,  Peter 
Crawford  began  dealing  in  lumber.  Twelve  years 
later  he  removed  to  Cicero  Township,  where,  in 
1848,  he  had  purchased  a  tract  of  land  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  paying  for  the  same  $15 
per  acre.  This  tract  is  now  within  the  city  lim- 
its. Mr.  Crawford  lived  upon  that  farm  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1876,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years.  He  had  been  in  good  health 
until  a  few  days  before  his  death,  which  was  the 
result  of  a  severe  cold,  contracted  while  attending 
an  election.  He  had  voted  at  every  Presidential 
election  from  1836,  at  which  time  he  supported 
William  Henry  Harrison.  He  was  always  an 
advocate  of  a  protective  tariff,  and  his  last  vote  was 
cast  for  R.  B.  Hayes.  His  wife,  who  survived 
him  about  ten  years,  died  in  1886,  at  the  ripe  old 
age  of  eighty  years.  Peter  Crawford  possessed  a 
large  fund  of  general  information,  and  a  remark- 
able memory,  which,  combined  with  good  judg- 
ment and  natural  business  ability,  fitted  him  fora 
successful  and  honorable  business  career. 


JOHN  SOLLITT. 


199 


JOHN    SOLLITT. 


3OHN  SOLLITT,  now  in  his  eighty-first  year, 
was  in  his  younger  days  one  of  the  largest 
contractors  and  builders  of  Chicago.  He  was 
born  November  19,  1813,  in  Stillington,  County 
of  York,  in  what  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sec- 
tions of  England.  His  ancestors  were  Hugue- 
nots, who  emigrated  from  France  to  England  some 
two  hundred  years  ago.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  John  Sollitt,  and  his  maternal  John  Cass. 
The  former  was  a  stone-mason,  and  the  latter  a 
carpenter.  The  father  of  our  subject,  John  Sol- 
litt, was  also  a  stone-mason  and  a  sculptor.  All 
were  prominent  in  their  professions  and  lived  and 
died  in  England. 

At  the  age  of  six  years  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  entered  the  common  schools  of  Stillington, 
and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  his  twelfth  year, 
after  which  he  began  learning  the  carpenter's 
trade  with  his  grandfather.  He  remained  in  his 
employ  until  his  twenty-first  year,  when,  in  May, 
1834,  with  his  wife  and  child,  he  went  to  Canada. 
He  worked  at  his  trade  in  Hamilton  and  Toronto 
for  a  year  or  two,  when  a  friend,  residing  in  Mad- 
ison, Wisconsin,  wrote  to  him  glowing  accounts 
of  that  country,  and  he  decided  to  remove  to  that 
place.  He  started  by  way  of  the  Lakes  for  Milwau- 
kee, but,  experiencing  difficulty  in  reaching  that 
point,  on  account  of  a  storm  raging  on  Lake  Mich- 
igan, he  landed  in  Chicago.  This  was  on  the  6th 
of  June,  1838,  and  he  had  but  $5  in  his  pocket. 
Chicago,  at  that  time,  contained  a  population  of 
about  four  thousand. 

Business  was  very  dull  in  this  city  then,  and  he 
had  difficulty  in  obtaining  employment;  but  he 
finally  made  an  arrangement  with  Azel  Peck,  a 
prominent  contractor  and  builder,  in  whose  em- 
ploy he  remained  for  three  years.  He  then  en- 
tered the  service  of  Peter  Lewis  Updyke,  with 


whom  he  continued  for  five  years.  On  the  expi- 
ration of  that  period  he  entered  into  partnership 
with  Messrs.  Peck  and  Updyke,  and  their 's  be- 
came the  leading  firm  of  the  kind  in  Chicago. 
Mr.  Peck  died  in  1848,  and  the  partnership  was 
continued  between  Mr.  Sollitt  and  Mr.  Updyke 
until  the  latter's  death,  in  1850.  In  the  fall 
of  1849  they  erected  the  old  Tremont  House, 
which  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1871. 
Mr.  Sollitt  then  carried  on  building  operations 
alone,  with  great  success.  He  erected  several  of 
the  finest  buildings  in  Chicago,  including  the  old 
courthouse,  built  in  1852-53,  and  having  acquired 
a  competency  through  thrift  and  enterprise,  he 
retired  from  business,  and  has  since  given  his  time 
to  his  private  interests  and  the  enjoyment  of  a 
well-earned  rest.  Soon  after  his  retirement  from 
building  operations,  he  purchased  large  tracts  of 
land  in  Kankakee  and  Will  Counties,  forty-three 
miles  from  Chicago,  and  there  moved  his  family, 
hoping  the  country  air  would  prove  beneficial  to 
his  wife's  health.  This  hope,  however,  was  disap- 
pointed, for  she  died  in  1871.  During  this  period 
Mr.  Sollitt  spent  a  portion  of  his  time  in  Chicago 
and  the  remainder  with  his  family.  The  town  of 
Sollitt,  in  Will  County,  was  named  in  his  honor, 
and  he  gave  to  the  Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois 
Railroad  Company  $1,000,  with  which  to  build  a 
new  depot  at  that  place.  After  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Sollitt  he  brought  his  family  back  to  Chicago, 
and  now  resides  in  his  handsome  home  at  No.  515 
Jackson  Boulevard. 

When  scarcely  twenty  years  old  Mr.  Sollitt  was 
joined  in  wedlock  with  Mary  Smith,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Smith.  Her  father,  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, resided  in  Tollerton,  Yorkshire,  England. 
Her  uncle,  Thomas  Pollard,  carried  on  a  large  and 
popular  hotel,  called  the  "Angel  Inn,"  situated 


200 


BARNARD  THALMANN. 


near  Tollerton,  on  the  main  stage  road  between 
London  and  Edinburgh.  Mrs.  Sollitt  died  of 
cholera  in  Chicago,  in  1850,  and  was  buried  in 
Graceland  Cemetery.  Eight  children  were  born 
of  their  union.  Elizabeth,  now  a  resident  of  En- 
glewood,  has  been  twice  married.  Her  first  hus- 
band was  Alfred  Bromfield,  and  her  present  hus- 
band is  William  Ivers.  By  each  marriage  she 
has  had  three  children.  Mary  died  in  childhood. 
Hannah,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  Henry  Curtis. 
Jane,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  Thomas  Wallin. 
James  J.  lives  in  Sollitt.  Oliver  died  when  one 
year  old.  John  resides  in  Oklahoma;  and  Fanny 
died  in  Chicago  in  1865.  In  1854  Mr.  Sollitt  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Anna  Rowntree,  who  was 
one  of  a  family  of  seven  children.  She  was  born 
in  or  near  Richmond,  Yorkshire,  England,  and 
came  to  America  with  her  parents,  who  located  in 
Rochester,  Racine  County,  Wisconsin.  On  their 
deaths  she  went  to  live  with  her  brother  Chris- 
topher, who  resided  near  that  city,  and  at 
his  home  was  married.  After  a  happy  wed- 
ded life  of  seventeen  years,  which  was  all  passed 
in  Chicago,  with  the  exception  or  one  year 
in  Sollitt,  she  died  of  consumption,  and  was  laid 
to  rest  in  Graceland.  She  had  two  children. 
Charles,  who  resides  in  Sollitt,  where  he  follows 
farming,  is  married  and  has  two  children,  Leslie 
and  John.  The  daughter,  Blanche,  is  the  wife  of 
Nathaniel  Board,  a  solicitor  for  the  Chicago  & 


North- Western  Railroad,  residing  in  Oak  Park. 
In  1874  Mr.  Sollitt  was  married  in  the  town  of 
Waterford,  Wisconsin,  to  Anna  Blackburn,  and 
they  have  a  son,  Walter,  a  bright  and  promising 
youth  of  seventeen  years,  who  is  now  preparing 
for  college  in  a  Chicago  academy. 

Mr.  Sollitt  cares  little  for  society,  preferring  to 
give  his  time  and  attention  to  his  family.  He  was 
reared  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  he  at- 
tended for  a  time  on  first  coming  to  Chicago. 
Later,  he  joined  Robert  Collyer's  Unitarian 
Church,  and  occupied  a  pew  there  for  a  number 
of  years.  He  erected  the  first  Unitarian  Church 
built  in  Chicago,  its  location  being  on  Washing- 
ington  Street,  between  Clark  and  Dearborn.  Po- 
litically, Mr.  Sollitt  is  a  conservative  Democrat, 
and  has,  with  few  exceptions,  voted  that  ticket. 
He  is  an  advocate  of  free  trade,  the  advantages 
of  which  have  been  made  evident  to  him  since 
leaving  England.  While  never  aspiring  to  office 
or  taking  an  active  part  in  politics,  he  ran  for 
Alderman  in  1852  and  County  Clerk  in  1854.  He 
has  always  been  a  reader  of  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
and  is  a  man  well  informed  on  all  questions  of  the 
day.  He  was  one  of  Chicago's  earliest  settlers, 
and  is  a  model  of  a  healthy  mind  in  a  healthy 
body,  of  business  industry  and  integrity,  and  of 
civic  virtue.  His  memory  of  events  relative  to 
the  past  history  of  Chicago  is  perfect,  and  a  rec- 
ord of  them  would  make  a  volume. 


BARNARD  THALMANN. 


gARNARD  THALMANN,  who  carries  on 
agricultural   pursuits  on   section    30,    New 
Trier  Township,  was   born   in   Prussia   on 
the  23d  of  March,  1836,  and  is  a  son  of  Gerhard 
Thalmann,  who  was  born   in   the  same  country, 
July  24,  1801,  made  farming  his  life  work,  and 
died  on  the   1 6th  of  July,  1867.     His  wife  bore 


the  maiden  name  of  Kerdrad  Kohle,  and  was  a 
daughter  of  Adolph  Kohle,  a  native  of  Prussia, 
and  a  stone-cutter  by  trade.  She  was  born  in 
that  country  in  1 804,  and  by  her  marriage  had  a 
family  of  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom 
three  sons  are  living,  namely:  Barnard  of  this 
sketch;  Henry,  Postmaster  of  Gross  Point;  and 


ADAM  MELZER. 


201 


Joseph,  a  farmer  of  that  community.  The  parents 
came  to  America  in  1847,  landing  in  New  York 
on  the  I4th  of  April,  after  thirty  days  spent  upon 
the  bosom  of  the  Atlantic.  After  visiting  rela- 
tives in  Boston  for  three  weeks  they  came  to 
Cook  County,  and  Mr.  Thalmann  purchased 
eighty  acres  of  land  on  section  30,  New  Trier 
Township.  He  afterwards  added  forty-four  acres 
on  section  33,  and  there  made  his  home  until 
called  to  his  final  rest. 

Barnard  Thalmann  spent  the  first  eleven  years 
of  his  life  in  his  native  land,  and  then  accompa- 
nied his  parents  on  their  emigration  to  America. 
In  his  father's  home  his  childhood  days  were 
passed,  and  during  his  youth  he  became  familiar 
with  farm  work  in  all  its  departments.  On  the 
26th  of  September,  1865,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Mary  Feldmann,  who  was  born  in 
Gross  Point,  June  4,  1848,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Jo- 
seph Feldmann,  whose  birth  occurred  in  Prussia 
on  the  4th  of  August,  1817.  He  came  to  America 
with  his  parents  in  August,  1833.  His  father 
died  in  Albany,  New  York,  while  en  route  for 
Chicago,  and  the  other  members  of  the  family 
continued  their  westward  journey.  For  two  years 
they  lived  in  Chicago,  and  then  removed  to  New 
Trier  Township.  Here  Mr.  Feldmann  still  re- 
sides, making  his  home  with  his  daughter,  Mrs. 
Thalmann.  His  other  children  are:  Christina, 
wife  of  Anton  May,  a  contractor  and  builder  of 
Wilmette;  Frank,  an  engineer  on  the  Ft.  Wayne 


Railroad,  residing  in  Chicago.  Mrs.  Mathias 
Pauly,  Mrs.  Nick  Fellens  and  Mrs.  Peter  Kunz, 
all  of  Chicago;  and  Mrs.  Nick  Surges,  of  Lcm- 
bard,  Du  Page  County,  Illinois. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thalmann  have  been  born 
twelve  children,  of  whom  nine  are  living,  five 
sons  and  four  daughters:  John  G.,  who  was  born 
April  5,  1867,  and  is  a  carpenter  residing  in  New 
Trier;  Joseph,  born  February  24,  1871,  who  fol- 
lows farming;  Barnard,  born  May  25,  1873,  a  car- 
penter; Elizabeth,  born  August  n,  1875;  Kate, 
September  23,  1877;  Frank,  December  7,  1880; 
Anton,  June  27,  1883;  Mary,  March  28,  1885; 
and  Anna,  July  25,  1890.  Elizabeth  attended 
St.  Joseph's  College,  of  Milwaukee,  for  one  year, 
and  all  have  received  good  common-school  ad- 
vantages. The  parents  and  their  family  are 
members  of  St.  Joseph's  Catholic  Church  of  Gross 
Point. 

Mr.  Thalmann  cast  his  first  Presidential  vote  for 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  has  since  been  a  sup- 
porter of  the  Democratic  party  and  its  principles. 
He  was  twice  elected  Overseer  of  Roads,  and  was 
School  Director  for  several  years.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  St.  Joseph's  Library  and  Sick  Benefit 
Association.  His  farm,  located  on  section  30, 
New  Trier  Township,  is  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation  and  well  improved  with  all  modern 
accessories,  and  the  owner  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  leading  agriculturists  of  the  community. 


ADAM  MELZER. 


a  DAM  MEIyZER,  a  self-made  man  and  enter- 
prising citizen,  now  residing  in  the  town  of 
Northfield,  Cook  County,  is  of  German  birth. 
He  was  born  in  the  province  of  Bavaria,  Ger- 
many, March  29,  1844,  and  is  a  son  of  John  C. 
and  Catherine  (Horn)  Melzer.     His  parents  were 


also  natives  of  Germany,  and  were  there  married 
in  1835.  The  father  was  born  on  the  2oth  of 
April,  1811,  and  at  this  writing,  in  the  summer 
of  1894,  makes  his  home  with  his  son  Adam,  en- 
joying remarkably  good  health  for  one  who  has 
attained  the  very  advanced  age  of  eighty-three 


202 


N.  J.   BROWN. 


years.  His  wife  passed  away  in  November,  1893, 
in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  her  age.  The  year 
1853  witnessed  their  emigration  to  America,  and 
after  a  long  and  tempestuous  voyage  of  seventy- 
nine  days  they  reached  New  York.  Their  fam- 
ily numbered  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  yet 
living.  The  eldest  daughter  died  in  New  York 
City  soon  after  the  family  came  to  America.  John, 
a  carpenter  and  farmer,  now  resides  in  Niles 
Township;  Jacob  is  a  cabinet-maker  and  under- 
taker of  Northfield;  Adam  is  next  in  order  of 
birth;  Margaret,  who  became  the  wife  of  John 
Ward,  of  Maine  Township,  died  May  19,  1888;  Jo- 
hanna is  the  wife  of  Nicholas  Haupt,  a  farmer  of 
Maine  Township;  Eva,  twin  sister  of  Johanna, 
and  the  widow  of  Peter  Soergel,  now  lives  in  Chi- 
cago; Nicholas  is  a  cabinet-maker  and  farmer  of 
Northfield;  Katie  makes  her  home  with  her 
brothers  and  sisters;  and  William  carries  on 
agricultural  pursuits  in  Massena,  Cass  County, 
Iowa.  After  landing  in  New  York  the  family  at 
once  resumed  their  westward  journey  and  came 
by  way  of  Buffalo  and  Detroit  to  Chicago.  They 
at  once  took  up  their  residence  in  Maine  Town- 
ship, but  after  three  years  removed  to  Northfield 
Township,  where  different  members  of  the  family 
now  reside. 

No  event  of  special  importance  occurred  during 
the  childhood  and  youth  of  Adam  Melzer.  The 
first  nine  j^ears  of  his  life  were  spent  in  his  native 
land,  and  he  then  came  with  his  father  and 
mother  to  the  New  World.  Since  that  time  he 


has  resided  in  Cook  County,  and  is  therefore 
numbered  among  its  early  settlers.  In  the  fall 
of  1866,  as  a  companion  and  helpmate  on  life's 
journey,  he  chose  Miss  Louisa  Wildhage,  daugh- 
ter of  William  Wildhage,  a  native  of  Hessen- 
Schaumberg,  Germany.  The  lady  was  born  in 
the  same  locality  in  February,  1846.  To  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Melzer  have  been  born  five  children,  a 
son  and  four  daughters,  who  in  order  of  birth  are 
as  follows:  William,  born  March  2,  1868;  Mag- 
gie, August  15,  1872;  Katie,  June  17,  1875; 
Lulu,  May  18,  1881;  and  Josie,  August  5,  1884. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Melzer  have  spent  their  entire 
wedded  life  in  their  pleasant  country  home,  which 
is  the  abode  of  hospitality  and  good  cheer.  Mr. 
Melzer,  with  foresight  and  sagacity,  saw  that  the 
best  investment  a  farmer  could  make  to  improve 
his  land  in  this  locality  would  be  to  drain  it,  so 
he  has  spent  over  $1,000  in  tiling  his  eighty-acre 
tract.  He  is  now  receiving  a  rental  of  $8  per 
acre  for  his  farm,  almost  double  what  he  could 
have  obtained  previous  to  draining  it.  It  is  now 
a  valuable  and  desirable  property. 

Socially,  Mr.  Melzer  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  belonging  to  Vesuvius  Lodge 
No.  81,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  East  Wheeling.  Until 
quite  recently  he  was  a  Democrat  in  his  political 
views,  but  is  now  independent.  Whatever  suc- 
cess he  has  achieved  in  life  is  due  to  his  own 
efforts.  He  started  out  for  himself  empty-handed, 
and  the  property  which  he  has  acquired  is  the 
just  reward  of  his  labors. 


NATHANIEL  J.  BROWN. 


U\ATHANIEL  J.   BROWN  is  one  of  the  noted     idence  on   ihe  frontier,  living  in   Michigan.     He 
\j   pioneers  of  Illinois,  for  many  years  having     was  bom  in  Windsor,  Vermont,  in  1812,  and  at 


m    m       f  —    J       j  o 

1/9  been  prominently  identified  with  the  busi- 
ness interests  and  leading  enterprises  of  Cook 
County.  During  his  boyhood  he  took  up  his  res- 


the  age  of  three  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  New 
York,  living  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rochester 
andLockport  until  1826,  when, with  the  family,  he 


N.  J.  BROWN. 


203 


emigrated  to  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan.  The  public 
schools  of  the  Empire  State  afforded  him  the 
greater  part  of  his  educational  privileges.  Early 
in  life  he  embarked  in  small  business  ventures, 
and  later  became  associated  with  his  brother,  who 
was  the  owner  of  flouring-mills  at  Ann  Arbor. 
His  brother  also  established  a  stage  line,  and  he 
became  one  of  its  agents.  While  thus  engaged 
he  became  familiar  with  a  largeamount  of  territory, 
and  when  a  favorable  opening  presented  itself,  he 
made  good  investments  in  real  estate,  purchasing 
land  in  Kent,  Ionia  and  Clinton  Counties,  which 
afterward  yielded  him  rich  returns.  His  land  in 
Kent  County  was  covered  with  pine  timber,  and, 
with  his  usual  sagacity,  Mr.  Brown  saw  that  it 
would  one  day  become  very  valuable.  He  resolved 
to  place  it  on  the  market  in  Chicago,  and  to  this 
end  chartered  the  schooner  "White  Pigeon." 

Mr.  Brown  built  a  mill  upon  his  land,  and  as 
soon  as  possible  in  the  spring  of  1835,  a  raft  of 
lumber,  which  contained  six  schooner  loads,  was 
launched  at  what  is  now  Granville.  With  a  big 
lumberman  from  Maine  to  assist  him,  Mr.  Brown 
cut  the  craft  loose  from  its  moorings.  No  such 
attempt  as  this  to  carry  lumber  down  the  stream 
had  been  made  before,  or  since,  but  the  journey 
was  safely  accomplished.  Arriving  in  Chicago, 
he  found  that  objections  were  made  by  the  local 
dealers  to  him  selling  lumber  there,  but  he  finally 
obtained  permission,  and  disposed  of  his  cargo  at 
a  handsome  profit.  For  some  time  he  continued 
his  lumber  shipments  to  Chicago  with  excellent 
success. 

While  in  this  city,  Mr.  Brown  formed  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Augustus  Garrett,  who  afterward 
founded  the  Biblical  Institute  of  Evanston.  Mr. 
Garrett  proposed  that  they  form  a  partnership, 
and.  they  finally  agreed  to  form  a  combination 
which  should  not  interfere  with  Mr.  Brown's  land 
speculations  in  Michigan.  He  owned  a  section 
of  land  in  the  center  of  Ionia  County,  Michigan, 
and  a  town  was  platted  upon  it.  Mr.  Garrett  was 
to  have  charge  of  the  sale  of  the  lots,  and  Mr. 
Brown  proceeded  to  the  new  town  of  Ionia  and 
proposed  to  erect  a  sawmill  there.  Lots  sold 
rapidly,  and  the  following  winter  Senator  Ewing 
succeeded  in  having  the  Grand  River  district  land- 


office  located  there.  Through  some  trickery, 
however,  this  was  not  done,  but  Mr.  Brown  man- 
aged to  sell  his  lots  and  realized  therefrom  a  small 
fortune.  This  was  invested  in  Chicago  land,  and 
Garrett  &  Brown  became  the  owners  of  three 
thousand  acres  in  the  Chicago  land  district.  They 
became  the  owners  of  the  most  famous  auction 
house  in  the  West,  and  it  was  soon  filled  with 
goods  of  every  kind  from  the  East,  to  be  sold  at 
auction  or  traded  for  town  lots,  for  settlers  were 
rapidly  coming  in  and  there  was  a  wild  scramble 
for  property.  The  business  done  at  the  first  house 
increased  so  rapidly  that  two  branch  houses  were 
established.  They  not  only  sold  all  kinds  of  com- 
modities and  town  lots,  but  also  disposed  of 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin  property.  At  one  time 
they  owned  nine  thousand  acres  in  and  near  Chi- 
cago. In  1837  the  partnership  was  dissolved. 

Mr.  Brown  is  a  keen,  far-sighted  business  man, 
and  this  characteristic  was  shown  by  his  invest- 
ment in  lands  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  at  the  time 
the  State  Capitol  was  located  there.  Knowing 
that  the  location  would  cause  a  boom,  he  made  ar- 
rangements whereby  he  received  the  news  of  the 
location  eighteen  hours  in  advance  of  any  official 
report;  thus  he  had  ample  opportunity  for  secur- 
ing the  property,  and  within  a  day  he  had  sold 
land  until  he  had  realized  in  cash  more  than  half 
as  much  money  as  he  had  invested.  His  later 
sales  also  added  materially  to  his  income.  Mr. 
Brown  became  interested  in  banking  with  Lyman 
A.  Spaulding,  of  I/x:kport,  New  York,  establish- 
ing a  bank  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan.  In  later 
years  he  was  engaged  in  the  construction  of  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  taking  a  contract  to 
complete  two  sections,  running  through  what  is 
now  the  village  of  I^emont.  The  financial  panic 
caused  by  the  suspension  of  the  National  Bank 
about  that  time  caused  the  canal  contractors  to 
receive  no  pay,  and  Mr.  Brown  suffered  an  enor- 
mous loss.  During  his  work  on  thecanal,  however, 
he  obtained  a  knowledge  of  the  geology  of  the 
neighborhood  and  noted  the  immense  deposits 
of  limestone.  Afterward  investing  in  these,  he  de- 
veloped an  important  industry,  and  became  the 
owner  of  a  valuable  property.  He  removed  to 
Lemont  and  was  soon  recognized  as  its  leading 


204 


FRANCIS  SIXT. 


citizen,  and  now  has  a  larger  property  interest  in 
the  city  than  any  other  citizen. 

Mr.  Brown  has  ever  been  a  friend  to  the  labor- 
ing classes,  in  fact  his  own  life  has  been  one  of 
labor.  The  cause  of  temperance  has  found  in  him 
a  warm  friend  and  he  has  done  much  to  promote 


sobriety  among  working  men.  In  politics,  he 
was  a  Democrat,  and  supported  that  party  until  its 
members  in  the  South  fired  on  Ft.  Sumter,  when 
he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Union  and  joined 
the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  with  which  he 
has  since  affiliated. 


REV.  FRANCIS  SIXT. 


REV.  FRANCIS  SIXT.  In  the  mediseval 
ages  of  chivalry,  when  men  shed  their  blood 
and  gave  up  their  lives  freely  on  the  field  of 
battle  in  support  of  the  principles  they  loved,  it 
was  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  warrior,  after  his 
days  of  wars  and  battles  were  over,  to  retire  to  a 
religious  institution  and  devote  the  remainder  of 
his  days  as  zealously  to  the  cause  of  Christianity 
as  he  had  fought  for  the  success  of  his  chosen 
cause  in  secular  matters.  Loyola,  whose  name 
will  be  ever  dear  to  the  heart  of  true  Catholics, 
was  a  soldier  priest,  whose  military  training  and 
experience  fitted  him  for  the  ecclesiastical  offices 
he  was  later  to  fill  with  so  much  honor.  The 
fathers  in  the  church  at  the  present  day  are  not 
so  frequently  graduates  from  the  school  of  arms, 
or  men  who  have  responded  to  their  country's 
call  for  defenders,  but  there  are  some  such,  even 
now. 

Rev.  Francis  Sixt,  of  Lemont,  is  one.  His 
family  dates  back  to  the  year  1200.  On  the  2ist 
of  May,  1850,  he  first  saw  the  light  of  day  at  the 
village  of  Unterroedel,  among  the  fruit  and  grain 
fields  of  Bavaria,  and  there  his  youth  was  passed. 
At  the  early  age  of  five,  he  began  his  education 
at  the  public  school,  where  he  continued  until  he 
was  twelve  years  old.  At  that  date  he  went  to 
the  Gymnasium  in  Eichstadt,  attending  there  and 
at  Amberg  till  he  had  reached  the  age  of  nine- 
teen. He  was  then  drafted  into  the  army,  and 
served  in  the  Sixth  Cavalry  Regiment  of  Bavaria 


for  two  years.  During  his  term  of  service  the 
Franco- Prussian  War  occurred,  and  he  saw  some 
of  the  most  arduous  service  in  that  hard-fought 
and  terrible  struggle.  He  was  present  at  the 
victories  of  Sedan,  Orleans  and  Paris.  In  follow- 
ing the  army  of  McMahon  with  "Unser  Fritz" 
into  Sedan,  he  spent  twenty-one  hours  in  the  sad- 
dle each  day  for  three  days,  and  he  and  many 
other  soldiers  were  so  blistered  by  hard  riding 
that  the  blood  from  their  mutilated  limbs  ran  into 
their  boots,  and  the  scars  of  their  wounds  yet 
remain. 

In  March,  1871,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  his 
military  service  being  ended,  Mr.  Sixt  came  to 
the  United  States,  landing  at  New  York  on  the 
2ist  of  April.  He  then  proceeded  to  Milwaukee, 
where  he  entered  St.  Francis'  College.  Among 
his  instructors  were  Rev.  Mr.  Salzmann,  D.  D., 
Rector;  Archbishop  Katzer,  Professor  of  Dogmas 
and  Philosophy;  Reverend  (now  Monseignor) 
Zeininger,  teacher  of  Philosophy  and  Chemistry; 
Rev.  Joseph  Reiner,  now  rector  of  St.  Francis  and 
Professor  of  Modern  Languages;  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Moppethorst,  rector  and  Professor  of  Moral  The- 
ology and  Common  Law.  Our  subject  was  gradu- 
ated in  1876,  and  on  the  roth  of  June  of  that  year 
was  ordained  by  Rt.-Rev.  Bishop  Folly,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Chicago.  Soon  after  he  became  assistant 
to  the  Rev.  Patrick  Riordan,  rector  of  St.  James" 
Church,  of  Chicago,  now  Archbishop  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, remaining  six  months,  and  then  taking  a 


A.  W.  BURNSIDE. 


205 


similar  place  with  Rev.  Ferdinand  Kalvelage,  of 
St.  Francis'  Church,  where  he  remained  two  years 
longer.  He  was  then  transferred  to  Lockport,  Illi- 
nois, where  he  took  charge  of  St.  Joseph's  Church, 
with  two  missions,  Gooding's  Grove  and  Mokena, 
attached.  This  work  occupied  his  time  and  at- 
tention for  the  next  six  years. 

On  the  ist  of  April,  1884,  Father  Sixt  was 
transferred  to  Lemont,  since  which  time  he  has 
been  rector  in  charge  of  St.  Alphonsus'  Church. 
At  his  coming,  he  found  the  financial  affairs  of 
the  parish  in  a  very  bad  condition,  two-thirds  of 
the  church  property  sold  for  taxes,  and  the  parish 
about  to  dissolve.  Father  Sixt  is  a  positive  man, 


and  he  took  hold  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
affairs  with  a  firm  hand  and  brought  together  the 
members  of  the  church,  collected  money,  paid  off 
the  indebtedness,  redeemed  the  property,  and  re- 
paired the  buildings,  spending  upwards  of  $10,000 
in  that  way.  He  put  everything  in  a  prosperous 
condition,  and  the  people  of  his  parish  are  now 
among  the  most  happy  and  contented.  He  was 
the  man  for  the  place,  and  by  precept  and  exam- 
ple has  shown  his  people  how  to  succeed,  and 
they  follow  his  teachings  to  a  very  great  de- 
gree, for  his  influence  has  been  and  still  is  great 
among  his  parishioners,  many  of  whom  he  has 
helped  to  buy  homes. 


AARON  W.  BURNSIDE,  M.  D. 


lARON  WALLACE  BURNSIDE,  M.  D. 
The  retrospect  of  a  well-spent  life,  whose 
chief  element  has  been  one  of  usefulness  to 
diseased  and  suffering  humanity,  is  a  thing  that 
any  man  would  contemplate  with  satisfaction. 
The  man  who  has  lived  such  a  life,  coupled  with 
the  elements  of  honesty,  uprightness  and  kind- 
ness of  heart,  is  loved  and  honored  by  his  fellow- 
men.  Such  a  man  is  Dr  Burnside,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch. 

The  Empire  State,  which  has  contributed  so 
many  valuable  citizens  to  the  West,  is  the  place 
of  his  nativity.  He  was  born  March  21,  1829,  at 
Wheeler,  Steuben  County.  His  ancestors  were 
of  the  famous  Wallace  family,  and  were  known 
as  the  Wallaces  of  the  Burnside  (i.  c.,  Brookside) 
from  the  place  of  their  residence  in  Scotland,  and 


in  later  years  adopted  Burnside  as  a  surname,  but 
retained  Wallace  as  a  Christian  name  in  most 
cases.  Three  brothers  of  this  family  came  to 
America  in  an  early  day  and  settled  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  and  from  them  sprung  a  nu- 
merous progeny,  numbers  of  whom  have  located 
in  many  States  of  the  Union,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific.  The  grandfather  of  Dr.  Burnside 
married  at  an  early  age,  and  with  his  brave 
young  wife  made  his  way  from  Albany  to  Otsego 
County,  New  York,  part  of  the  way  following  a 
bridle-path  through  the  wilderness,  and  settled 
in  the  forest,  where  he  had  purchased  land.  He 
erected  a  sawmill,  later  built  others,  and  being  a 
man  of  great  energy  and  endurance,  by  hard 
work  and  economy  succeeded  far  beyond  his  ex- 
pectations. He  died  when  fifty-six  years  of  age, 


2C-6 


A.  W.  LURNSIDE. 


having  been  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  that 
section  of  the  State. 

His  son  John,  the  father  of  Dr.  Burnside,  was 
a  resident  of  Steuben  County,  and  was  exten- 
sively engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  stage 
coaches,  which  were  widely  known  for  their  ex- 
cellence, and  were  used  over  a  large  territory. 
He  married  Ann  Eliza  Teller,  daughter  of  James 
and  Lucretia  (Brown)  Teller,  who  was  descended 
on  the  maternal  side  from  Atineke  Jans,  the 
granddaughter  of  William  IV.  of  Holland,  who 
has  become  celebrated  in  and  out  of  the  courts  of 
law  as  the  owner  of  the  immensely  valuable 
Trinity  Church  property  of  New  York,  over 
which  almost  endless  litigation  has  arisen. 

Aaron  W.  Burnside  is  one  of  a  family  of  seven 
children,  and  accompanied  his  parents  to  near 
Bucyrus,  Ohio,  where  they  settled  in  1842.  His 
home  was  on  a  farm  until  he  attained  his  ma- 
jority, and  in  the  work  he  performed  he  found 
health  and  strength,  and  his  surroundings  were 
such  that  he  grew  to  manhood  in  the  community 
where  manliness  and  morality  were  valued,  and 
his  training  in  those  matters  was  what  it  should 
have  been,  as  his  after  life  has  shown.  The 
common  schools  gave  him  his  education  in  the 
fundamental  branches.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  entered  the  Wesley  an  University,  at  Delaware, 
Ohio,  where  he  spent  two  profitable  years,  and 
then,  having  decided  to  adopt  the  practice  of 
medicine  for  his  life  work,  he  matriculated  at  the 
Eclectic  Medical  College,  of  Cincinnati,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1854.  He  at  once 
engaged  in  practice  in  that  city,  and  enjoyed 
three  years  of  success.  He  then  migrated  west- 
ward and  settled  at  Belvidere,  Boone  County, 
Illinois,  where  for  many  years  he  was  a  leading 
physician  and  did  a  large  practice. 

In  1 88 1,  on  account  of  ill  health,  caused  by 
overwork  and  the  great  amount  of  driving  inci- 
dent to  a  large  country  practice,  he  removed  to 
Chicago.  Here  his  ability  as  a  physician  was 
speedily  recognized,  and  he  was  soon  possessed  of 
a  large  practice.  In  the  year  1882,  Dr.  Burn- 
side  was  appointf.-d  on  the  medical  staff  of  the 
homeopathic  department  of  the  Cook  County 


Hospital,  and  later  becoming  President  of  this 
body  served  in  that  capacity  for  several  years, 
and  then  terminated  his  relation  therewith  by 
resignation.  The  only  other  public  position  the 
Doctor  has  filled  is  that  of  Examining  Surgeon 
of  Pensions,  which  he  held  for  fourteen  years, 
while  residing  in  Boone  County.  During  his  in- 
cumbency of  that  position  he  examined  many 
hundreds  of  applicants  for  pensions  and  never 
had  one  returned  for  re-examination. 

Dr.  Burnside  married  Mary  Ann  Leslie, 
daughter  of  John  Leslie,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in 
1854.  One  son  was  born  to  them  in  1857,  John 
L-  Burnside,  for  many  years  connected  with  the 
firm  of  King  Bros. ,  furnishing  goods. 

Dr.  Burnside  was  again  married,  October  30, 
1864,  this  time  to  Margaret  E.  Fuller,  daughter 
of  Judge  Lucius  and  Candice  (Newell)  Fuller,  of 
Belvidere,  111.,  and  sister  of  Allen  C.  Fuller,  Ad- 
jutant-General of  the  State  of  Illinois  during  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion.  By  this  marriage  one 
child  was  born,  Vincent  Wallace,  who  is  connect- 
ed in  business  with  the  National  Printing  and 
Engraving  Company. 

Dr.  Burnside  became  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
Order  in  1856,  and  has  repeatedly  held  the  posi- 
tions of  Master  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  and  High 
Priest  of  the  Chapter,  having  been  a  Thirty- 
second  Degree  Mason  since  April  29,  1869.  He  has 
been  a  life-long  Republican,  but  has  never  been 
active  in  politics,  nor  held  a  political  office.  In 
1857  he  became  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Homeo- 
pathic Medical  Association,  and  twenty-five  years 
ago  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homeopathy. 
As  has  been  said  above,  Dr.  Burnside  has  never 
sought  office  or  political  preferment.  His  life  has 
been  devoted  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a 
physician  to  his  fellowmen,  and  in  this  he  has 
been  successful,  and  in  his  success  he  has  been 
charitable,  as  is  attested  by  thousands  of  uncol- 
lected  bills  for  medical  attendance  upon  the  poor 
and  distressed.  His  life  shows  him  to  be  a  credit 
to  the  illustrious  family  from  which  he  springs, 
and  to  his  kinsman,  the  'ate  Gen.  Ambrose  E. 
Burnside. 


Tup 

""'VERSI.  :  OF ,LH  -llf 


JOHN  A.  HUTCHINGS. 


J.  A.  HUTCHINGS. 


207 


JOHN  A.  HUTCHINGS. 


(JOHN  ALEXANDER  HUTCHINGS,  of  Oak 

I  Glen,  is  numbered  among  the  boys  in  blue 
Q)  who  during  the  late  war  valiantly  aided  in 
the  defense  of  the  Union.  He  is  recognized  as 
one  of  the  most  loyal  and  patriotic  citizens  of  this 
community,  as  well  as  one  of  the  leading  business 
men.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he 
has  been  prominently  connected  with  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  this  place  and  is  now  success- 
fully engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  tile. 

Mr.  Hutchings  is  a  native  of  Somerset,  Eng- 
land, born  March  14,  1838,  and  is  a  son  of  James 
Young  and  Sarah  Jane  (Linden)  Hutchings. 
His  father  was  born  in  Somerset,  in  the  year 
1 809,  and  was  a  wheelwright  by  trade.  His  moth- 
er was  born  January  18,  1 80 1,  at  Bridgewater, 
London,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Linden,  a 
sea-captain.  In  1838  James  Y.  Hutchings,  leav- 
ing his  family  behind  him,  sailed  from  the  land 
of  his  birth  to  the  New  World,  and  after  a  voyage 
of  one  month  found  himself  on  American  soil. 
He  landed  at  New  York,  and  after  looking  about 
him  for  a  time  was  so  well  pleased  with  the 
country  that  he  sent  for  his  family,  who  joined  him 
the  following  year.  In  1843,  ne  followed  the  "Star 
of  Empire' '  westward  and  took  up  his  residence  in 
Northfield  Township,  Cook  County,  Illinois. 
The  journey  was  made  by  canal  to  Buffalo  and 
thence  to  Chicago  by  way  of  the  Lakes.  Shortly 
before  reaching  their  destination  they  encountered 
a  heavy  gale,  which  drove  them  back  to  Mackinaw 
and  made  the  time  of  their  trip  one  mouth.  In  1847 
Mr.  Hutchings  purchased  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty acres  of  land,  for  which  he  paid  $7.50  per  acre. 
A  few  years  afterwards  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
&  St.  Paul  Railroad  Company  was  induced  to 
build  its  depot  at  Oak  Glen  on  the  Hutchings 


farm,  and  this  land  was  subdivided  and  a  part  of 
the  village  has  been  built  thereon. 

Our  subject  is  the  fourth  in  the  family  of  six 
children.  The  eldest  daughter  died  in  infancy. 
Henry  Joseph  is  a  miller  living  in  Oak  Glen. 
Frederick  James  is  now  deceased.  John  A.  is  the 
next  younger.  William  L.  is  a  farmer  of  Oak 
Glen.  Sarah  Jane  is  the  wife  of  E.  F.  Conner,  of 
Albert  Lea,  Minnesota. 

It  was  during  the  infancy  of  John  A.  Hutch- 
ings that  he  was  brought  by  his  mother  to  Amer- 
ica, and  upon  the  old  home  farm  in  Northfield 
Township  the  days  of  his  boyhood  and  youth 
were  passed.  On  the  3d  of  August,  1861,  when 
rebellion  threatened  the  destruction  of  the  Union, 
he  volunteered  his  services  in  defense  of  his  coun- 
try, and  was  assigned  to  Company  F,  Thirty- 
ninth  Illinois  Infantry — the  celebrated  "  Yates 
Phalanx."  His  captain  was  Amasa  Kennicott, 
and  he  was  under  Cols.  O.  L.  Light,  Thomas 
O.  Osborn  and  O.  L.  Mann.  He  faithfully  and 
valiantly  served  until  November  28,  1865,  when, 
the  war  having  ended,  he  was  honorably  dis- 
charged. At  Weir  Bottom  Church,  Virginia,  he 
was  twice  wounded  in  one  minute.  On  all  nation- 
al holidays  he  demonstrates  his  love  for  ' '  Old 
Glory  ' '  and  the  nation  he  defended  by  unfurling 
to  the  breezes  the  largest  flag  in  Northfield  Town- 
ship. 

On  the  gth  of  December,  1869,  Mr.  Hutchings 
was  married  to  Miss  Amelia  J.  Whitney,  who 
was  born  at  Diamond  Lake,  Lake  County,  Illi- 
nois, March  17,  1852.  Mrs.  Hutchings  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  David  Bagley  and  Elizabeth  (Hicks)  Whit- 
ney. Mr.  Whitney  was  born  in  Topsham,  Orange 
County,  Vermont,  October  i,  1810,  but  most  of 
his  boyhood  was  spent  in  Dalton,  Coos  County, 


208 


JOHN  JENKINS. 


New  Hampshire,  where  his  ancestors  had  lived 
for  several  generations  and  where  some  of  their 
descendants  still  reside.  His  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Andrews.  Her  family  were  early  set- 
tlers of  Orange  County,  Vermont. 

In  1835,  Mr.  Whitney  came  to  Illinois,  first  lo- 
cating at  Joliet.  A  few  years  later  he  removed 
to  Lake  County,  Illinois,  becoming  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  that  county,  where  he  owned  a 
valuable  farm.  His  death  occurred  March  26, 
1886. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Whitney  was  born  in  England, 
and  came  to  America  with  her  parents  when  sev- 
enteen years  of  age.  Her  father,  John  Hicks, 
was  an  early  settler  at  Joliet,  but  afterwards  re- 
moved to  Lake  County,  Illinois,  where  the  bal- 
ance of  his  days  were  spent.  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Whitney  died  at  Diamond  Lake,  Illinois,  Janu- 
ary 31,  1856. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hutchings  have  three  children: 
Oliver  A.,  who  was  born  September  29,  1870, 
and  is  a  live-stock  dealer  of  Kansas;  Elsie  Ada, 
who  was  born  May  8,  1875,  and  is  the  wife  of 
Philip  A.  Kennicott,  a  promising  young  phy- 


sician, who  is  practicing  his  chosen  profession  in 
Oak  Glen;  and  Lillian  Minerva,  who  was  born 
November  14,  1884,  and  is  yet  with  her  parents. 
Mr.  Hutchings  and  his  family  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Oak  Glen.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Republican  until  the  organization 
of  the  Prohibition  party,  when  he  joined  its  ranks. 
Socially  he  is  a  member  of  Vesuvius  Lodge,  A. 
F.  &  A.  M.,  at  Wheeling. 

In  his  business  dealings  Mr.  Hutchings  has  met 
with  success.  For  ten  years  he  was  an  engineer, 
and  in  1866  he  and  his  brothers  put  into  a  grist 
and  saw  mill  the  first  steam  power  in  Northfield 
Township.  For  eleven  years  he  was  a  success- 
ful grocer,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  tile.  This  is  one  of  the  leading  industries  of 
the  town,  and  his  constantly  increasing  business 
yields  to  him  a  good  income.  Mr.  Hutchings  is 
a  gentleman  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence, 
and  his  friendly  and  courteous  manner  makes  him 
at  home  in  all  society  and  wins  him  the  esteem 
and  confidence  of  those  with  whom  he  has  been 
brought  in  contact. 


JOHN  JENKINS. 


(lOHN  JENKINS,  'who  owns  and  operates 
I  forty  acres  of  rich  and  valuable  land  on  sec- 
Q)  tion  5,  Jefferson  Township,  but  now  resides  in 
Forest  Glen,  where  he  has  recently  erected  a  beau- 
tiful home,  claims  Wales  as  the  land  of  his  birth, 
which  occurred  in  Carmarthen  County,  on  the 
8th  of  February,  1818.  His  father,  Thomas  Jen- 
kins, was  a  native  of  the  same  locality,  and  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  In  1834  he  crossed  the 
briny  deep  to  Canada,  taking  up  his  residence  in 
Huron  County.  Six  years  later  he  was  drowned 
in  the  Maitland  River. 
John  Jenkins  is  the  only  surviving  member  in 


a  family  of  five  children.  He  came  from  Canada 
to  Chicago  in  the  summer  of  1843,  and  worked  in 
the  city  until  the  following  winter,  when  he  went 
to  the  town  of  Jefferson,  and  was  engaged  in  tak- 
ing out  ship  timber,  being  employed  by  George 
Allen.  When  that  work  was  completed  he  bought 
of  B.  W.  Ogden  the  timber  on  a  five-acre  tract  of 
land,  and  began  chopping  cordwood  and  making 
staves.  Thus  he  made  his  start  in  life.  Saving 
his  money,  he  at  length  was  enabled  to  enter 
eighty  acres  of  Government  land  on  section  8, 
Jefferson  Township,  where  Gladstone  Park  now 
stands,  At  that  time  many  would  claim  land  to 


GEORGE  DRIGGS. 


209 


which  they  had  no  title,  and  when  Mr.  Jenkins 
secured  his  farm  lie  was  warned  not  to  do  so,  be- 
ing told  that  he  would  never  live  to  enjoy  it;  but 
the  threat  did  not  terrify  him,  and  he  replied 
that  he  expected  to  improve  his  land,  and  that 
he  was  able  to  take  care  of  himself.  On  one  oc- 
casion he  was  attacked,  and  had  quite  a  scuffle 
with  one  of  the  settlers,  during  which  his  team 
got  away  from  him;  but  he  came  off  victorious  in 
the  end,  and  his  property  was  not  wrested  from 
him.  He  can  relate  many  incidents  of  pioneer 
life,  and  was  prominently  identified  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  community.  He  and  Mr.  Bar- 
num,  of  Chicago,  did  the  first  grading  on  Mil- 
waukee Avenue.  While  he  was  working  in  the 
timber,  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  William 
West  approached  him,  and  proposed  that  they 
together  keep  bachelors'  hall.  This  they  agreed 
to  do.  Early  next  day  Mr.  West  started  for 
Chicago  with  a  load  of  wood,  and  Mr.  Jenkins 
concluded  in  his  absence  to  clean  the  house. 
While  doing  this  he  found  a  barrel  of  cabbage 
which  he  thought  had  spoiled,  and  threw  'it  into 


a  hole  and  covered  it  over,  "so  as  not  to  smell  the 
rotten  stuff. ' '  When  Mr.  West  returned  he 
found  that  his  barrel  of  sauerkraut  had  been 
thrown  away,  and  was  anything  but  pleased  with 
Mr.  Jenkins  as  a  housekeeper. 

In  1883  Mr.  Jenkins  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Elizabeth  Ann  Curgenven,  daughter  of  John 
Curgenven,  a  fanner  of  Cornwall,  England. 
They  are  both  members  of  the  Congregational 
Church.  By  a  former  marriage  Mr.  Jenkins  had 
two  children:  Elizabeth,  wife  of  William  Irwin, 
a  real-estate  and  insurance  agent  of  Chicago; 
and  Thomas  W.,  who  died,  leaving  a  son,  John 
J.,  who  is  now  attending  a  business  college  in 
Chicago.  Mr.  Jenkins  resided  upon  his  farm  un- 
til 1894,  when  he  removed  to  his  beautiful  home 
in  Forest  Glen.  By  his  well-directed  efforts  in 
former  years,  he  acquired  a  handsome  compe- 
tency, which  supplies  him  with  all  the  comforts 
of  life,  and  enables  him  to  lay  aside  business 
cares,  resting  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of 
his  former  toil. 


'JUDGE  GEORGE  DRIGGS. 


(JUDGE  GEORGE  DRIGGS  was  born  at 
I  Mount  Morris,  New  York,  May  18,  1846, 
G/  and  was  a  son  of  Elias  and  Sarah  (Rowell) 
Driggs.  His  father  was  a  tinner  and  a  man  of 
moderate  means.  When  he  had  reached  the  age 
of  seven,  both  his  parents  died,  leaving  him  in 
charge  of  his  brother,  Benjamin  P.  Driggs,  who 
sent  him  to  Fairlee,  Vermont,  where  he  began 
work  on  a  farm.  There  he  remained  until  he  was 
thirteen  years  old,  performing  the  heavy,  weari- 
some labor  incident  to  New  England  farming, 
working  early  and  late  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  year,  and  attending  school  in  the  winter.  But 
he  was  a.  hardy  boy  and  ambitious,  and  did  not 


allow  himself  to  be  discouraged  by  his  condition 
or  environment,  but  struggled  manfully  to  better 
his  circumstances  and  get  an  education  —  and 
succeeded. 

Mr.  Driggs  attended  Oxford  Academy,  in  New 
Hampshire,  for  some  time,  and  finally  decided  to 
give  up  farming.  With  this  end  in  view,  he  went 
to  Boston,  expecting  easily  to  obtain  a  position  in  a 
store,  but  he  found  it  a  seeming  impossibility,  and 
became  a  newsboy.  He  had  determined  to  be  in- 
dependent, and  it  was  his  ambition  to  be  a  law- 
yer. To  that  end  he  sought  any  honorable  em- 
ployment that  seemed  to  promise  an  opportunity 
for  study  or  to  provide  the  means  for  carrying  out 


2IO 


GEORGE  DRIGGS. 


his  plans.  It  was  not  an  easy  thing  for  this  coun- 
try boy,  unused  to  city  ways,  to  maintain  him- 
self in  such  surroundings;  but,  with  the  energy 
that  permeated  his  whole  career,  he  did  it,  and 
did  it  well.  In  after  years,  speaking  of  that  time 
in  his  life,  he  said:  '  'I  did  not  make  much  money, 
but  I  had  my  eyes  opened  to  the  intensity  of  busi- 
ness competition,  and  I  think  I  learned  most  of 
the  tricks  of  the  newsboy's  trade."  His  experi- 
ence in  this  line  was  brief,  however,  lasting  only 
four  or  five  months,  after  which  the  future  jurist 
returned  to  his  home. 

Shortly  after  this  he  enlisted  for  service  in  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  but  his  brother  objected  to 
this  on  account  of  his  youth,  and  secured  his  re- 
lease. The  young  man  was,  however,  determined 
to  do  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  his  duty  to  his 
country,  and  it  was  with  a  great  deal  of  difficulty 
that  the  brother  got  him  away  from  the  United 
States  authorities  after  a  second  enlistment.  In 
after  life  Judge  Driggs  manifested  in  many  ways 
the  same  spirit  of  patriotism,  and  was  the  warm 
friend  of  the  veteran  soldier  and  advocate  of  his 
claims  to  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  country. 
In  consideration  of  these  facts  he  was  made  an 
honorary  member  of  the  Union  Veterans'  League 
of  Chicago.  For  a  while  he  acted  as  clerk  in  a 
village  store,  but  in  1865  he  met  the  present  Sen- 
ator from  Vermont,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  and  through 
him  secured  a  position  in  the  treasury  at  Wash- 
ington, with  a  view  to  the  opportunity  for  study 
which  that  connection  offered,  and  entered  the 
Columbia  University  Law  School. 

In  1867  Mr.  Driggs  was  graduated,  and  then 
endeavored  to  find  a  location  in  which  to  settle 
down  to  his  legal  work;  but  neither  New  York 
nor  Washington  suited  him,  and  he  started  west. 
Columbus,  Ohio,  proved  attractive  to  him,  and  in 
1871  he  made  that  place  his  home.  Judge  J.  R. 
Swan,  a  distinguished  jurist,  took  the  young  law- 
yer into  his  office,  and  all  went  favorably  from 
that  time  forward.  A  short  time  later  he  entered 
the  office  of  Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  of  the 
"Panhandle"  Railroad,  and  later  President  of  the 
"Erie,"  and  here  gained  a  practical  knowledge 
and  experience  in  railroad  law.  In  1876  he  went 
to  Pittsburgh,  as  assistant  counsel  of  the  Penn- 


sylvania Railroad  Company,  and  remained  there 
in  that  capacity  until  1881,  when  he  moved  to 
Chicago.  Here  he  entered  into  a  law  partnership 
with  George  Willard,  also  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  staff,  and  continued  to  act  as  solicitor 
for  that  line  until  a  short  time  before  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  Bench. 

This  connection  was  dissolved  in  1887,  when 
Mr.  Driggs  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Tenney,  Driggs  &  Cofieen.  This  association  was 
of  necessity  of  short  duration,  for  with  Judge 
Williamson's  death,  in  1888,  came  the  almost 
unanimous  demand  that  Mr.  Driggs  succeed  him 
on  the  Circuit  Bench.  His  election  was  not  op- 
posed. He  went  upon  the  Bench  immediately  on 
his  election,  and  in  June,  1890,  was  re-elected 
without  opposition  for  a  term  of  six  years,  but  in 
the  midst  of  his  bright  career  of  usefulness  he 
was  removed  by  death,  suddenly  and  unexpect- 
edly. He  died  of  quinsy,  after  an  illness  of  only 
five  days,  March  19,  1892.  His  funeral  services 
were  held  at  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Hyde  Park,  where  fifteen  hundred  persons  at- 
tended, among  them  three  hundred  and  fifty 
members  of  the  Bar  and  every  Judge  of  the  Cir- 
cuit and  Superior  Courts  and  the  jurists  upon  the 
Probate  and  County  Benches. 

On  the  22d  of  February,  1872,  George  Driggs 
and  Miss  Helen  Griffing,  of  Washington,  D.  C., 
were  married.  The  lady  was  born  in  Litchfield, 
Ohio,  and  is  a  talented  member  of  an  old  colonial 
family  of  prominence  in  Connecticut.  Her  father, 
Charles  Griffing,  was  born  in  New  London.  Her 
mother,  Josephine  Sophia  (White)  Griffing,  was 
a  direct  descendant  of  Peregrine  White,  the  first 
child  born  in  Plymouth  Colony.  Both  her  parents 
were  ardent  Abolitionists,  and  severed  their  rela- 
tions with  the  Methodist  Church  on  account  of 
their  radical  views  on  the  slavery  question.  They 
were  persons  of  much  more  than  ordinary  ability, 
and  rendered  all  possible  aid  to  the  Underground 
Railroad,  so  well  known  before  the  war.  Among 
their  friends  and  associates  were  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips  and  Mrs.  Lucy  Stone 
Blackwell.  Mrs.  Griffing  originated  the  idea  of 
the  Freedman's  Bureau,  and,  as  a  Government 
official,  directed  the  work  of  caring  for  the  desti- 


GEORGE  DRIGGS. 


211 


tute  negroes  who  thronged  Washington  after  the 
war,  having  her  residence  there,  and  holding  that 
position  from  1865  until  1872.  Judge  Driggsleft 
two  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  Herbert  and 
Josephine. 

What  Judge  Driggs  was,  and  the  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow-citizens,  is  best 
told  in  the  words  of  those  who  knew  him  best. 
Judge  Oliver  H.  Horton  said  of  his  late  associate: 
"He  was  my  warm  personal  friend  before  he  went 
on  the  Bench.  He  was  a  man  who  drew  others 
to  him.  He  had  a  genial  manner  and  it  was  from 
the  heart;  he  was  a  remarkably  kind-hearted 
man.  He  was  a  gentleman.  His  was  a  well- 
rounded  character.  He  was  an  able  public 
speaker.  His  presence  was  pleasing.  His  eye 
spoke  before  he  had  opened  his  mouth — there  are 
some  men  who  have  the  gift  of  conveying  an  idea 
to  an  audience  without  speaking.  He  had  a  most 
pleasing  voice  and  the  faculty  of  expressing  him- 
self in  full,  round,  felicitous  phrases.  His  death 
was  a  terrible  shock  to  all  his  associates,  and  it 
was  so  unexpected  by  his  wife  that  it  would 
hardly  have  been  a  greater  shock  if  he  had  died 
from  a  pistol  shot." 

M.  L.  Coffeen,  once  his  law  partner,  said:  "He 
was  a  thorough  trial  lawyer,  a  magnificent  pleader, 
and  a  man  who,  in  the  trial  of  a  jury  case,  exer- 
cised a  magnetic  influence.  His  instincts  were 
based  upon  microscopical  integrity  in  every  in- 
stance. He  loved  the  right,  the  true  and  the 
good  with  ardor.  He  was  by  all  means  the  most 
popular  man  we  ever  had  on  the  Bench.  In  social 
life  he  was  equally  loved  and  admired.  He  was 
constantly  sought  for  to  attend  dinners  and  ban- 
quets. He  was  a  true  admirer  of  music  and  art, 
and  a  man  of  the  finest  esthetic  sensibility.  His 
affection  for  his  family  was  tender  and  charming. 
His  geniality  was  unvarying.  Never  was  there 
a  more  approachable  man;  never  was  there  a 
kindlier  spirit.  There  was  never  a  breath  of 
suspicion  blown  upon  his  character,  for  his  face 
was  a  living  refutation  of  calumny,  of  aspersion, 
of  suspicion.  Too  often  it  is  a  fact  that  the  beauty 
of  a  man's  character  becomes  apparent  only  when 
he  lies  cold  in  death;  but  his  character  was  known 
and  loved  all  his  life. ' ' 


It  is  doubtful  if  there  was  a  more  popular  man 
in  Chicago  than  Judge  Driggs.  Pretty  nearly 
everyone  knew  him  and  everyone  liked  him.  He 
was  fond  of  the  innocent  social  pleasures  of  life, 
and  invitations  of  all  kinds  were  showered  upon 
him.  Nor  did  he  slight  the  broader,  more  seri- 
ous, things  of  life.  He  was  a  reader,  a  scholar, 
a  man  of  keen  artistic  instincts,  a  lover  of  music 
and  of  the  stage.  He  was  a  close  friend  of  Joe 
Jefferson.  Between  him  and  Robert  G.  Ingersoll 
there  was  an  unusually  warm  friendship.  Wher- 
ever the  wits  congregated,  there  was  his  pleasure. 
His  special  ties  were  warm  and  many.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Knights  Templar  and  of  the 
Royal  Arcanum.  Of  the  city  clubs,  the  Union 
League,  the  Sunset,  the  Fellowship  and  the 
Forty  Club  claimed  him.  In  his  own  neighbor- 
hood the  Kenwood  Club  had  honored  him  with 
its  presidency,  and  of  the  Hyde  Park  Club  he 
was  a  valued  member.  And  yet  no  man  was 
more  attached  to  his  friends  and  to  his  family;  no 
man  had  a  more  charming  home  life.  His  home 
in  the  '  'East  End1 '  was  the  hospitable  rendezvous 
of  a  large  and  pleasant  circle  of  friends.  He  was 
a  kind  husband  and  an  indulgent  parent;  in  fact, 
he  was  much  like  an  elder  brother  of  his  son  and 
daughter.  He  was  open-handed  and  charitable, 
but  his  foresight  leaves  his  family  in  comfort. 

Judge  Driggs  was  one  of  the  readiest  of  men. 
His  wits  were  always  with  him  and  in  working 
order.  What  his  brain  conceived  his  lips  could 
always  utter,  and  the  thought  lost  nothing  in 
transmission.  It  was  this  faculty  that  made  him 
a  delightful  conversationalist,  whose  range  was  as 
wide  as  his  erudition;  a  kindly  wit,  whose  shafts 
never  hurt  the  most  sensitive;  a  raconteur  whose 
listeners  never  grew  weary;  a  toastmaster  before 
whom  dullness  and  formality  fled :  an  after-dinner 
speaker  whose  graceful  fancy  could  redeem  whole 
programs  of  stilted  nothings;  a  campaign  orator 
whose  political  utterances  were  a  treat;  a  pleader 
whose  arguments  never  failed  to  impress  both 
court  and  jury.  But,  better  still,  his  gift  of  sil- 
ver speech  soared  higher  to  what  men — for  want 
of  a  better  word — call  eloquence.  As  a  public 
speaker,  able  to  handle  the  occasion  and  the  sub- 
ject, he  made  his  mark  by  repeated  successes.  It 


212 


T.  W.  HESLINCTON. 


is  touching  to  remember  that  his  last  public  ad- 
dress was  his  oration  at  the  annual  memorial 
services  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1891,  in  the  Auditorium,  where  a  vast 


audience  listened  to  his  eloquent  tribute  to  the 
profession  he  loved  so  well  and  so  brightly 
adorned. 


THOMAS  W.  HESLINGTON. 


'HOMAS  WILLIAM  HESLINGTON,  a 
worthy  representative  of  the  agricultural 
interests  of  Cook  County,  has  long  made 
his  home  in  this  community  and  is  familiar  with 
much  of  its  history.  He  has  the  honor  of  being  a 
native  of  the  county,  and  has  witnessed  its  growth 
from  the  time  when  the  Indians  were  frequent 
visitors  to  the  neighborhood,  and  when  the  land 
was  wild  and  unimproved.  He  has  seen  the  devel- 
opment of  homes  and  farms  and  the  rapid  growth 
of  Chicago,  and  has  ever  borne  his  part  in  the 
work  of  progress  and  advancement. 

His  father,  George  Heslington,  numbered 
among  the  honored  pioneers  of  Cook  County,  was 
born  in  Maunley,  near  Northallerton,  York- 
shire, England,  on  the  7th  of  August,  1799.  He 
married  Ann  Dewes,  a  native  of  Marton  Grafton, 
Yorkshire,  born  October  i,  1803,  and  a  daughter 
of  John  Dewes,  a  Yorkshire  farmer.  They  be- 
came the  parents  of  the  following  children:  John, 
now  deceased;  Ann,  wife  of  William  Blann,  who 
for  eight  years  has  served  as  night  watchman  in 
the  great  store  of  A.  H.  Revell  &  Co.,  Chicago, 
and  during  all  this  time  has  never  been  absent 
from  duty  a  single  night;  Mrs.  Isabel  Langrehr; 
George,  also  deceased;  Elizabeth  Jane  Dewes, 
widow  of  George  Millen;  Margaret  Ella,  who 
lives  with  her  brother  and  manages  the  affairs  of 
the  household  with  marked  ability ;  Thomas  W. ; 
Mrs.  Sophia  Amelia  Jones,  now  deceased;  and 
Maria  Antoinette,  wife  of  Otto  Linemann,  of 
Northfield  Township.  The  first  four  were  born 
in  England,  the  others  in  Cook  County,  Illinois. 


In  the  summer  of  1833,  the  parents,  accom- 
panied by  their  children,  bade  adieu  to  their  na- 
tive land  and  sailed  for  America.  They  came  at 
once  to  Illinois  and  took  up  their  residence  in 
Niles  Township,  where  the  father  secured  a  Gov- 
ernment claim,  comprising  eighty  acres  of  timber 
land  and  eighty  acres  of  prairie  land.  The  voy- 
age across  the  Atlantic  was  a  very  pleasant  one, 
and  consumed  thirteen  weeks.  The  captain  of 
the  vessel  became  a  friend  of  Mr.  Heslington,  and 
he  made  the  family  his  guests  during  the  trip. 
Mrs.  Heslington  remarked,  "It  was  thepleasant- 
est  thirteen  weeks  that  I  ever  spent. ' '  In  the 
pioneer  home  of  the  family  their  Indian  neighbors 
were  frequently  entertained,  and  as  a  return  for 
his  kindness  Mr.  Heslington  was  the  recipient  of 
many  favors  at  the  hands  of  the  red  men.  He 
continued  an  honored  and  highly-respected  citi- 
zen of  this  community  until  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred in  Northfield  Township,  March  16,  1879, 
aged  nearly  eighty  years.  His  wife  passed  away 
September  4,  1881. 

Thomas  W.  Heslington  whose  name  heads  this 
record  was  born  in  Niles  Township  October  15, 
1839,  but  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  North- 
field  Township,  which  is  yet  his  place  of  resi- 
dence, his  household  being  presided  over  by  his 
amiable  sister,  whose  work  has  been  to  assist 
him  in  making  home  pleasant  and  prosperous. 
By  earnest  labor,  economy  and  careful  manage- 
ment they  have  accumulated  a  respectable  por- 
tion of  this  world's  goods  to  maintain  them  in 
their  declining  years.  Mr.  Heslington  cast  his 


E.  J.  WILBER. 


213 


first  Presidential  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
supported  the  Republican  party  until  recently, 
when  he  cast  his  vote  with  the  Prohibitionists. 
He  has  never  been  an  office-seeker,  preferring  to 


give  his  entire  time  and  attention  to  his  business 
interests.  His  deeds  of  kindness  and  charity  are 
performed  in  a  quiet,  unassuming  way,  and  his 
life  is  well  spent. 


EDWIN  JEREMIAH  WILDER. 


[T  J.  WILBER,  of  Chicago,  who  is  at  the  head 
ft)  of  the  Wilber  Mercantile  Agency,  which  is 
I  known  throughout  the  country,  was  born  in 
Dutchess  County,  N.  Y. ,  on  the  3oth  of  Decem- 
ber, 1826,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Keziah  C. 
(Dodge)  Wilber.  His  mother  was  a  daughter 
of  Dr.  Dodge,  and  was  the  eldest  of  twelve  chil- 
dren. His  father  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  eight 
children. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  as  a  farm- 
er, and  from  an  early  age  was  familiar  with  the 
labors  of  the  field  and  the  other  work  of  an  agri- 
culturist. His  early  education  was  acquired  in 
the  district  schools  of  the  neighborhood,  but  dur- 
ing the  winter  season,  when  between  the  ages  of 
eighteen  and  twenty  years,  he  attended  an  acad- 
emy in  Fairfield,  N.  Y.  He  entered  upon  his 
business  career  as  a  teacher,  and  was  thus  em- 
ployed in  1848  and  1849.  In  the  latter  year  he 
went  to  California,  attracted  by  the  discovery  of 
gold  on  the  Pacific  Slope.  On  reaching  his  des- 
tination he  began  mining,  and  was  thus  engaged 
for  two  years  with  good  success.  Later  he  engaged 
in  selling  supplies  to  the  miners  for  a  year;  and 
spent  one  year  in  farming  near  Sacramento,  Cal. 
At  length  he  determined  to  return  home,  for  he 
had  been  absent  four  years.  In  February',  1853,  he 
took  passage  on  a  steamer  at  San  Francisco.  He 
sailed  to  San  Juan  del  Sur,  Nicaragua,  and  thence 
by  way  of  Lake  Nicaiagua  and  the  San  Juan  River 
to  Grey  town,  where  he  boarded  a  steamer  bound 
for  New  York  City.  He  arrived  in  the  metropolis 


in  March,  and  then  went  to  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y., 
where  the  succeeding  twenty  years  of  his  life  were 
passed.  During  his  residence  in  that  place  he 
was  engaged  for  a  time  in  the  dry-goods  business. 
Subsequently,  he  became  connected  with  East- 
man's Business  College  as  a  teacher,  and  later 
served  as  its  principal  for  six  years.  He  then 
turned  his  attention  to  the  fire-insurance  business, 
and  also  engaged  in  the  publication  of  the  Daily 
News.  Leaving  the  East  in  1873,  he  removed  to 
Michigan,  where  he  spent  two  years,  and  in  1875 
embarked  in  an  enterprise  with  Hon.  MarkD.  Wil- 
ber, bringing  into  use  a  new  system  of  collecting 
and  reporting.  This  soon  became  known  as  the 
Wilber  Mercantile  Agency,  and  business  was  es- 
tablished in  Chicago  in  1876,  withE.  J.  Wilber  as 
Secretary  and  Manager.  Ten  years  later,  John 
D.  and  Marshall  D.  Wilber  became  stockholders, 
and  soon  after  it  was  incorporated,  with  Mark  D. 
Wilber  as  President,  E.  J.  Wilber  Secretary, 
Marshall  D.  Wilber  Treasurer,  and  John  D.  Wil- 
ber Assistant  Secretary  and  Manager  of  the  re- 
porting department.  S.  D.  King  was  made  Su- 
perintendent of  the  collection  department,  and 
John  C.  Cummings  was  made  Superintendent 
of  the  attorney  list  and  was  given  charge  of 
the  annual  and  monthly  revisions.  Great  care 
is  taken  in  the  preparation  of  these  lists  and 
revisions,  and  copies  of  the  same  are  furnished  to 
all  patrons  and  associate  attorneys.  From  the 
beginning  the  business  of  the  company  has  con- 
stantly increased,  until  it  has  now  assumed  exten- 
sive proportions,  and  the  Wilber  Mercantile 


214 


AUGUST  HEUCK. 


Agency  is  known  throughout  the  country.  It 
has  gained  the  confidence  of  people  everywhere, 
and  prominent  business  men  of  various  places  in- 
trust large  moneyed  interests  to  its  care. 

After  removing  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Wilber  studied 
law  in  the  Union  Law  College  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  in  1882.  He  did  this  in  order  to  better 
fit  himself  for  his  work.  Honorable  and  upright 
in  all  dealings,  his  success  has  been  won  by  a 
straightforward  career,  by  enterprise,  persever- 
ance and  well-directed  efforts.  He  is  a  man  of 


untiring  energy,  and  carries  forward  to  a  success- 
ful completion  whatever  he  undertakes.  His 
prosperity  is  certainly  well  deserved.  He  is  an 
earnest  Christian  gentleman  and  has  been  an  of- 
ficer and  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Woodlawn  since  its  organization  in  1884.  Thus 
have  we  briefly  sketched  the  life  of  a  self-made 
man,  who  by  his  own  efforts  has  steadily  worked 
his  way  upward  to  a  position  of  prominence,  and 
is  now  at  the  head  of  his  line  of  business  in  the 
country. 


AUGUST  HEUCK. 


Gl  UGUST  HEUCK,  who  is  engaged  in  black - 
ri  smithing  in  Oak  Glen,  was  born  in  Hano- 
l\  ver,  Germany,  on  the  xoth  of  January,  1839. 
His  father,  George  Heuck,  was  born  in  Kiel, 
Holstein,  Germany,  in  1811,  and  served  as  an 
apprentice  to  the  blacksmith  and  locksmith's 
trades  in  a  machine  shop.  He  also  learned  the 
business  of  manufacturing  surgical  instruments, 
and  was  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  term  a  master 
mechanic.  The  mother  of  our  subject  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Marguerite  Oldenbuttel,  and  was 
born  in  Hanover,  in  1814.  They  were  married 
January  9,  1839,  and  by  their  union  became  the 
parents  of  seven  children,  three  sons  and  four 
daughters,  of  whom  August,  the  eldest,  and  Fred- 
erick, the  youngest,  yetsurvive.  In  1857,  George 
Heuck,  accompanied  by  his  family,  boarded 
the  sailing-vessel  "Atalanta,"  bound  for  America. 
They  were  delayed  by  severe  storms  while  pass- 
ing through  the  English  Channel,  and  collided 
with  a  vessel.  They  also  ran  on  a  rock  in  the 
channel,  and  the  captain,  mate  and  five  sailors 
from  a  wreck  were  picked  up.  After  a  voyage 
of  seven  weeks,  the  "Atalanta"  dropped  anchor 
in  the  harbor  of  New  York  and  they  landed  at 
Castle  Garden.  From  New  York  they  made  their 


way  to  Albany,  and  thence  by  rail  to  Chicago. 
For  two  or  three  years  the  father  rented  land  in 
Northfield  Township,  and  then  purchased  an  acre 
of  ground,  on  which  he  built  a  dwelling  and 
blacksmith  shop.  For  some  years  he  there  car- 
ried on  business  in  his  own  interest.  He  died 
January  5,  1881. 

August  Heuck,  whose  name  heads  this  record, 
began  learning  the  blacksmith's  trade  with  his 
father  when  a  youth  of  nine  summers.  He  also 
attended  school  during  a  portion  of  the  time,  and 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  had  acquired  a  good  practi- 
cal education.  With  the  family  he  came  to 
America,  and  has  since  made  his  home  in  Cook 
County. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1868,  was  celebrated  the 
marriage  of  August  Heuck  and  Miss  Wilhelinina, 
daughter  of  Lorenzo  Heick.  She  was  born  April 
17,  1848,  in  Kiel,  Holstein,  Germany,  and  emi- 
grated to  America  in  1867.  Their  surviving 
children  are:  August,  born  March  20,  1872; 
Henry,  September  14,  1873;  and  Johanna,  No- 
vember 25,  1877. 

Mr.  Heuck  and  his  family  are  all  members  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  He  is  a  Republican  in 
politics,  and  has  always  been  a  zealous  and  active 


NOAH  B.  BACON. 


215 


adherent  of  that  party  since  casting  his  first  Pres- 
idential vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  still  works 
at  his  trade  and  is  also  interested  in  farming.  He 
owns  the  acre  of  land  which  his  father  first  pur- 
chased, and  has  by  industry  and  energy  added  to 
this  until  he  is  now  the  possessor  of  ninety-three 
acres  of  well-improved  land,  and  some  Evanston 
property,  besides  his  pleasant  home  in  Oak  Glen, 


built  in  1877,  which  is  surrounded  by  fruit  and 
ornamental  shrubbery  planted  by  himself. 

Gerhardt  Oldenbuttel,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Mar- 
guerite Heuck,  still  resides  with  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  He 
came  to  America  in  1840,  landing  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  and  has  since  traveled  extens- 
ively in  the  United  States. 


NOAH 


BACON. 


BROCKWAY  BACON,  one  of  the  few 
Py  men  now  living,  with  clear  memories,  who 
I  U>  were  born  in  the  eighteenth  century,  is  an 
example  of  the  benefits  of  temperance  and  right- 
eous living.  When  near  the  close  of  his  ninety- 
fifth  year,  he  wrote  the  following,  at  the  request 
of  the  editor  of  this  volume: 

"I  know  very  little  of  my  ancestors.  My  father 
moved  to  the  State  of  New  York  soon  after  his 
marriage,  leaving  all  of  his  relatives  in  the  East- 
ern States.  He  was  a  son  of  Ebeneezer  Bacon, 
of  Massachusetts.  When  a  boy  of  sixteen  years, 
he  and  two  older  brothers  enlisted  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  One  brother  died  in  the  army 
and  the  other  lost  his  right  arm.  My  father 
served  seven  years,  without  a  day's  relief,  and 
was  honorably  discharged,  a  sound,  strong  man 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty -five  pounds'  weight,  and 
paid  off  in  Continental  money,  of  which  it  would 
take  $5,000  to  buy  a  pair  of  top  boots.  I  have 
heard  my  father  say  it  would  take  $150  to  buy  a 
dinner. 

'  'Some  four  years  after  the  war  my  father  married 
Ruth  Brockway,  a  Connecticut  school  teacher, 
and  moved  west  to  the  State  of  New  York.  The 
result  of  their  marriage  was  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  The  youngest  son  died  in  infancy. 
Their  names  were  Olive,  Elijah,  Noah  B.,  Tru- 
man Norton,  Joseph  Franklin,  Ruth  Anna  and 


Timothy.  Six  lived  to  marry  and  rear  families. 
My  brothers  and  sisters  have  all  passed  on  to  the 
spirit  life,  and  I  am  the  only  representative  of  my 
father's  family.  My  health  is  good  for  one  of 
my  years. 

"I  was  born  on  the  igth  of  December,  1799,  and 
am  this  day  ninety-four  years,  seven  months  and 
twenty-two  days  old,  and  I  write  this  history  from 
memory,  and  without  spectacles,  in  this  cloudy, 
dark  day,  August  10,  1894.  My  cup  of  life  has 
been  mixed  with  joy  and  grief.  Our  sorrows  last 
for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning.  My 
history  is  peculiar  to  myself — perhaps  of  little 
interest  to  others.  I  have  been  told  that  my 
brother,  Joseph  F.  Bacon,  who  died  in  Milwau- 
kee, Wisconsin,  February  5,  1892,  traced  the  line 
of  our  ancestors  back  to  Lord  Bacon.  I  never 
had  time  for  such  work.  Lord  Bacon  was  what 
he  was  in  his  time,  and  I  am  what  I  am  in  my 
day.  Character,  not  genealogy,  is  what  makes 
the  man  of  to-day  famous  or  infamous.  Vice 
may  be  dandled  in  the  lap  of  wealth  and  fame, 
while  virtue,  in  obscurity,  struggles  with  the  iron 
hand  of  poverty,  and  unknown  in  the  annals  of 
the  world's  history.  Yet  virtue  carries  her  re- 
ward with  her,  and  sometimes  it  is  an  open  reward. 
Many  years  of  experience  have  taught  me  to  re- 
gard everyone  according  to  his  virtue,  from  the 
king  on  his  throne  to  the  beggar  in  the  street.  I 


216 


NOAH  B.   BACON. 


have  living  twenty-five  grandchildren,  forty-three 
great-grandchildren  and  three  great-great-grand- 
children. Nine  grandchildren  have  died  and  two 
great-grandchildren  have  died.  Three  of  my 
daughters  have  died,  and  I  have  five  sons  and 
one  daughter  living." 

Elijah  Bacon,  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  1765  (probably  at  Dedham, 
Massachusetts),  and  reached  the  age  of  ninety-six 
years.  His  wife  lived  to  be  ninety  years  old. 
They  were  faithful  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  engaged  chiefly  in  agriculture. 

Noah  B.  Bacon  was  born  in  Westmoreland, 
Ontario  County,  New  York,  and  had  a  limited 
common-school  education.  He  has  been  observ- 
ant and  studious  and  has  secured  a  valuable 
practical  education.  As  shown  in  the  extract 
preceding,  he  has  sound,  practical  views  of  life. 
After  spending  some  years  in  carrying  mail — first 
on  horseback,  then  on  a  stage  line — through  the 
wilds  of  southern  New  York  and  northern  Penn- 
sylvania, in  the  employ  of  Stephen  B.  Leonard, 
Mr.  Bacon  took  a  sub-contract  from  Mr.  Leonard 
to  carry  the  mail  (in  connection  with  which  he 
operated  a  stage  line)  between  Bath.  Steuben 
County,  New  York,  and  Elmira,  Tioga  County, 
in  the  same  State,  which  he  faithfully  carried  out, 
but  without  financial  gain.  Farming  has  been  his 
main  occupation  in  life.  For  about  fifteen  years 
he  operated  a  linseed-oil  mill  at  Bath,  New  York, 
during  part  of  the  year. 

In  1843  he  moved  to  Mukwanago  (then  Mil- 
waukee) County,  Wisconsin,  where  he  rented  land 
four  years.  He  then  removed  to  La  Grange,  Wai- 
worth  County,  in  the  same  State,  and  combined 
farming  with  the  operation  of  a  blacksmith  shop, 
in  partnership  with  his  eldest  son.  Here  he  im- 
proved his  financial  condition  and  established  a 
reputation  for  rectitude,  to  which  the  writer  of 
these  lines  cheerfully  testifies  from  personal 
knowledge.  In  1856  he  went  to  Easton,  Adams 
County,  Wisconsin,  where  he  purchased  wild  land 
and  improved  it  successfully.  Here,  in  1875,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-seven  years,  his  faithful  help- 
mate was  taken  away  by  death,  and  he  soon  after 
retired  from  active  life.  On  the  evening  of  the 
first  day  of  the  year  1821,  in  Bath,  Steuben 


County,  New  York,  Mr.  Bacon  was  wedded  to 
Miss  Charlotte  York.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Stephen  and  Amy  (Franklin)  York,  and  was 
born  in  Canandaigua,  Ontario  County,  New  York, 
being  one  of  a  family  of  three  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters. Stephen  York  was  of  Dutch  descent.  Amy 
Franklin  was  a  daughter  of  Roswell  P.  Franklin, 
a  near  relative  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  Amer- 
ican sage.  Five  sons  and  four  daughters  were 
given  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bacon,  named  in  order  of 
birth:  Mary  Ann,  Joseph  Franklin,  Ruth  Amy, 
George  Brockway,  Huldah  Emmarilla,  Elijah 
Fremont,  Jeremiah  D.,  David  Noah  and  Char- 
lotte Amanda.  Joseph  Franklin  resides  in  Por- 
tage City,  Wisconsin,  and  has  four  living  children ; 
George  Brockway  has  two  children  and  resides  in 
Des  Moines,  Iowa;  Elijah  Fremont,  also  of  Des 
.  Moines,  has  eight  children;  Jeremiah  D.  makes 
his  home  in  Chicago;  David  N.  resides  in  Point 
Bluff,  Wisconsin;  Mrs.  Mahlon  Dewing,  a  widow, 
resides  in  Winfred,  South  Dakota.  Her  husband 
served  for  four  years  in  the  Eleventh  Wisconsin 
Regiment  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  The 
second  daughter  was  buried  in  Bath,  Steuben 
County,  New  York;  the  third  in  Mukwanago, 
Wisconsin;  and  the  eldest  in  White  Creek,  Wis- 
consin. 

Mr.  Bacon,  though  now  so  well  advanced  in 
years,  is  remarkably  well  preserved.  His  health 
is  good,  his  step  firm  and  elastic,  and  his  eyesight 
and  hearing  are  very  slightly  impaired.  He  pos- 
sesses considerable  literary  ability,  and  it  has  been 
his  custom  for  several  years  to  compose  a  poem 
on  his  birthday.  He  also  corresponds  regularly 
with  several  friends  and  writes  daily  in  a  diary. 
Until  his  retirement  his  life  was  a  very  busy  one, 
and  he  is  now  spending  his  declining  years  in  a 
well-earned  rest.  In  pleasant  weather  he  accom- 
panies his  grandchildren  through  the  busy  por- 
tions of  the  city,  and  during  1893  he  several 
times  visited  the  World's  Fair,  which  he  enjoyed 
greatly.  His  excellent  health  is  undoubtedly  due 
in  a  large  measure  to  his  abstinence  from  intoxi- 
cating liquors.  In  religious  faith  he  is  a  Univer- 
salist,  and  has  acted  with  the  Republican  Party 
since  its  organization — "pledged  to  truth  and  the 
public  good:  God  first  and  my  country  next." 


JOHN  M.  MATHIS. 


217 


While  in  Chicago  Mr.  Bacon  resides  with  his 
son,  Jeremiah  D.,  who  was  bora  March  23,  1832, 
in  Bath,  Steuben  County,  New  York.  He  at- 
tended school  at  that  place  and  completed  his 
education  in  Wisconsin.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  began  to  learn  the  blacksmith's  trade  with  his 
brother,  Joseph  Franklin,  with  whom  he  worked 
(at  La  Grange,  Wisconsin)  four  years,  after 
which  he  carried  on  mercantile  pursuits  in  con- 
nection with  another  brother  at  White  Creek, 
Wisconsin.  They  built  a  flouring-mill  and  car- 
ried on  business  along  that  line  until  the  spring 
of  1865,  at  which  time  Jeremiah  Bacon  went  to 
Hannibal,  Missouri,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  for  one  year.  He  then,  with 
others,  organized  an  insurance  company,  with 
which  he  was  connected  for  four  years,  when  he 
returned  to  the  grocery  business,  carrying  on 
trade  until  1876.  On  his  removal  to  Chicago,  in 
the  Centennial  year,  he  embarked  in  the  com- 
mission business  on  South  Water  Street,  being 


thus  engaged  for  two  years,  when  he  entered  the 
employ  of  Rosenbaum  Bros.  He  severed  his 
connection  with  that  firm  to  engage  in  the  grain 
business,  and  subsequently  entered  the  employ  of 
Rogers  Bros. ,  grain  receivers,  and  his  next  ven- 
ture was  in  the  real-estate  business,  which  he  yet 
carries  on. 

Jeremiah  Bacon  has  been  twice  married.  He 
first  wedded  Bianca  A.  Walworth,  and  afterward 
Susan  E.  Lanphear.  His  children  are:  Hattie 
B.,  wife  of  C.  L.  Thayer,  of  Chicago,  by  whom 
she  has  one  child,  Charles  L. ;  Mary  C.,  a  teacher 
in  the  Kershaw  School  of  Chicago;  Lulu  S.,  at 
home;  Anna  L.,  wife  of  W.  C.  Allen,  of  Chicago, 
by  whom  she  has  two  children;  and  Henrietta  L., 
wife  of  E.  G.  Colburn,  a  druggist  of  this  city. 
In  his  political  views  Mr.  Bacon  is  a  Democrat, 
and  is  a  well-informed  man,  who  keeps  abreast 
with  the  times  on  all  questions  of  the  day.  A 
courteous,  genial  gentleman,  those  who  know 
him  esteem  him  highly  for  his  sterling  worth. 


JOHN  M  MATHIS. 


(JOHN  MICHAEL  MATHIS  resides  on  sec- 
I  tion  31,  Niles  Township,  Cook  County.  The 
G/  men  who  start  out  in  life  without  capital  and 
work  their  way  upward  unaided,  depending  en- 
tirely on  their  own  resources,  deserve  great  credit 
for  their  success.  Such  a  man  is  our  subject. 
He  was  the  eldest  of  five  children  and  was  born 
on  the  i  gth  of  May,  1819.  His  ancestors  were 
stalwart  men,  prominent  in  the  military  service  of 
France.  His  father,  John  Michael  Mathis,  Sr. , 
who  lived  to  see  his  eighty-fourth  year,  was  a  sol- 
dier under  Napoleon  and  witnessed  the  fall  of  the 
"Great  Commander."  His  mother,  who  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Barbara  Myer,  was  a  daughter 
of  Casper  Myer,  a  blacksmith.  All  were  natives 
of  Alsace,  Germany,  then  a  part  of  France. 


Mr.  Mathis  whose  name  heads  this  record  en- 
listed in  the  French  army  in  1840,  and  after  six 
years'  service  was  honorably  discharged,  on  the 
26th  of  November,  1846.  While  in  the  army  he 
excelled  in  all  the  athletic  sports  that  so  much 
interest  men  during  soldier-life,  and  in  a  contest 
received  the  prize — a  gold  watch — for  being  the 
"best  man"  in  the  regiment.  He  was  thirty 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  emigration  to  Amer- 
ica. In  1849,  he  crossed  the  briny  deep  and  took 
up  his  residence  in  Lake  County,  Illinois,  near 
the  Cook  County  line.  After  a  few  years  he  re- 
moved to  Arlington  Heights,  in  this  county, where 
he  made  his  home  for  a  period  of  twelve  years. 
He  then  went  to  Mobile,  Alabama,  where  he 
spent  two  years  engaged  in  hunting  and  fishing. 


218 


J.  A.  BOLLMANN. 


While  engaged  in  the  latter  pursuit  his  only  com- 
petitors were  the  Spanish  fishermen,  who  were 
not  adepts  in  inveigling  the  finny  tribe.  His 
superior  ability  in  this  line  made  the  business 
quite  profitable,  he  often  catching  fish  to  the  value 
of  about  $30  in  two  or  three  hours.  In  the  spring 
of  1867  he  came  to  the  village  of  Niles  and  em- 
barked in  the  hotel  and  saloon  business,  which  for 
seventeen  years  proved  to  be  very  remunerative. 
In  1884,  having  acquired  a  handsome  compe- 
tency, he  retired  to  private  life,  and  is  now  living 
in  a  substantial  two-story  residence,  in  a  very  de- 
sirable part  of  the  town,  enjoying  the  rest  which 
he  has  so  truly  earned  and  richly  deserves. 

In    1856,  Mr.  Mathis  was  joined  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Lena  Deabolt,  a  native  of  Alsace.  Her 


death  occurred  in  1884.  Two  of  the  nephews  of 
our  subject,  William  and  Jacob,  sons  of  his 
brother  Jacob,  of  Alsace,  are  living  with  him. 
Jacob  Mathis,  Jr.,  married  Miss  Lena  Laesser, 
and  they  have  two  children,  Bertha  and  Lena. 

Mr.  Mathis  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  in  his  political  affiliation  is  a  Demo- 
crat, but  has  never  had  time  or  inclination  for 
public  office.  His  first  Presidential  vote  was  cast 
for  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  has  lived  a  quiet  and 
unassuming  life.  Being  at  a  very  early  age 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  he  had  few  ad- 
vantages, educational  or  otherwise,  and  his  success 
has  been  achieved  by  earnest  efforts  and  good 
management. 


REV.  JOSEPH  A.  BOLLMANN. 


REV.  JOSEPH  A.  BOLLMANN,  of  Sag 
Bridge,  is  a  native  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
was  born  on  the  7th  of  December,  1854. 
His  father,  Frederick  Bollmann,  was  a  goldsmith, 
born  near  Osnaburg,  Germany,  and  came  to 
America  in  1840.  Nine  years  later,  in  1849,  he 
married  Miss  Lena  Dahme,  a  native  of  Muenster, 
Germany,  who  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in 
1842.  By  this  union  were  born  two  children, 
the  younger  of  whom  is  our  subject.  His  first 
year's  education  was  obtained  in  the  public  schools 
of  Springfield,  Ohio,  after  which  he  attended  the 
high  school  of  the  same  city.  He  studied  the 
classics  in  Mount  St.  Mary's,  in  Cincinnati,  and 
after  completing  the  prescribed  course  entered  the 
school  of  St.  Viateur  at  Kankakee,  where  he  took 
the  theological  course,  being  graduated  from  that 
institution  in  1880.  He  was  ordained  on  the  I7th 
of  June  of  the  same  year  by  Bishop  Spalding,  of 
Peoria,  111.  During  the  last  two  years  of  his 


course  he  was  a  teacher  of  Latin  and  Greek  in 
the  college. 

Rev.  Mr.  Bollmann's  first  pastoral  work  was  as 
assistant  to  Father  Barrett, of  St.  Stephen's  Church 
of  Chicago,  where  he  spent  three  months,  and 
then  he  went  to  Lemont  as  assistant  priest  to  Rev. 
J.  E.  Hogan,  of  St.  Patrick's  Church,  thus  serv- 
ing for  two  years.  In  1882  he  was  made  priest 
in  charge  of  St.  James'  Church  at  Sag  Bridge, 
being  the  first  resident  pastor  at  that  place.  There 
he  built  the  parochial  residence,  enlarged  the 
church  edifice,  and  built  a  steeple  to  it.  This 
church  is  of  stone,  beautifully  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  natural  forest,  on  the  summit  of  a  hill, 
commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  country  around. 
Here  Father  Bollmann  has  passed  twelve  years 
in  the  midst  of  a  community  of  farmers.  Al- 
though he  has  been  offered  the  pastorate  of 
wealthy  city  churches  in  Chicago,  he  prefers  to 
remain  where  he  can  live  close  to  nature,  of  which 


WILLIAM  NETTSTRAETER. 


219 


he  is  a  great  lover.  His  leisure  time  he  spends 
in  reading  the  classics,  of  which  he  is  very  fond, 
in  fishing,  hunting,  and  in  studying  the  things 
of  nature,  which  are  always  interesting  to  a  man 
of  his  education  and  bent  of  mind.  Genial  and 
kindly  by  nature,  with  an  eye  single  to  the  ad- 


vancement of  his  parishioners  in  material  as  well  as 
spiritual  matters,  Rev.  Mr.  Bollmann  fills  a  place 
in  which  he  finds  pleasure  and  success  and  enjoys 
the  profound  respect  and  regard  of  those  of  his 
own  church  over  whom  he  has  charge,  and  those 
of  other  denominations  as  well. 


WILLIAM  NETTSTRAETER. 


REV.  WILLIAM  NETSTRAETER,  pastor  of 
St.  Joseph's  Catholic  Church  at  Wilmette,  is 
a  native  of  Prussia,  his   birth   having   oc- 
curred in  that  country  at  Meschede,  on  the  ist  of 
January,    1843.      His   parents   were   Frank  and 
Josephine  Frances  (Sels)  Netstraeter.  The  former 
came  to  America  in  1867  and  spent  his  remain- 
ing days  in  this  country.     The  mother  died  when 
her  son   William  was  a  lad  of  only  about  eight 
summers. 

The  primary  education  of  Father  Netstraeter 
was  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
town,  and  subsequently  at  the  college  of  Arns- 
berg,  from  which  he  was  graduated  at  the  age  of 
twenty  years.  He  then  entered  the  University  of 
Muenster  to  prepare  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
Here  he  studied  for  a  period  of  two  years,  and 
then  went  to  Paderborn  to  continue  his  studies, 
until  the  year  1867,  which  witnessed  his  emigra- 
tion to  America,  whither  he  had  been  called  by 
the  president  of  St.  Francis'  Seminary  of  Milwau- 
kee. There  he  completed  his  theological  studies, 
and  entered  the  ministry  in  September,  1867. 
His  first  appointment  was  at  Gross  Point,  Illinois, 
where  he  served  for  a  few  months  as  assistant 
pastor.  Shortly  afterwards  he  was  removed  to 
Lincoln,  Illinois,  where  he  had  charge  of  all  the 
German  Catholics  in  Logan  and  McLean  Counties. 
He  organized  congregations  in  Lincoln,  Bloom- 
ington,  Pulaski,  Atlanta  and  several  small  country 
places,  and  through  his  instrumentality  houses  of 
worship  were  erected  at  the  first  two  above-named 
towns. 


On  the  expiration  of  a  period  of  five  years, 
Father  Netstraeter  was  recalled  to  Gross  Point  to 
become  pastor  of  the  church  at  that  place,  and 
still  continues  his  ministerial  labors  there.  The 
membership  of  the  church  has  largely  increased, 
and  several  congregations  have  been  cut  off  from 
the  original  society.  During  the  first  two  years 
of  his  residence  here  he  also  had  charge  of  the 
church  at  Highland  Park.  The  congregation  at 
Wilmette  was  organized  in  December,  1845,  by 
Father  G.  H.  Plathe.  A  block  church  was  first 
built,  and  all  the  Catholics  for  thirty  miles  around 
worshipped  here.  Afterwards  a  frame  church  was 
erected,  and  in  1869  a  large  brick  edifice  was 
built  and  an  extensive  addition  was  made  in  1892. 
The  present  seating  capacity  of  the  building  is 
six  hundred,  with  standing  room  for  two  hundred 
more.  It  is  now  the  intention  to  build  within  a 
few  years  a  new  house  of  worship  and  use  the 
present  church  for  school  purposes  and  assembly 
rooms.  At  an  early  day  a  school  was  organized 
in  connection  with  the  church,  and  at  this  writ- 
ing (in  the  fall  of  1894)  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  pupils  are  instructed  therein. 

Father  Netstraeter  is  not  only  an  able  minister, 
but  manifests  a  keen  interest  in  all  worthy  public 
enterprises  which  are  calculated  to  advance  the 
welfare  of  the  community.  He  has  taken  an 
active  interest  in  the  growth  and  development  of 
the  village  of  Wilmette,  which  has  sprung  into 
existence  during  his  residence  here.  He  served 
for  eight  years  as  Trustee  of  the  village  and  twice 
during  that  time  was  called  to  the  Presidency  of 


22O 


EUGENE  BURHANS. 


the  Board.  He  platted  a  subdivision  of  the  town, 
and  owns  some  choice  property  there.  Father 
Netstraeter  is  a  deep  student,  an  able  speaker  and 
writer,  and  a  progressive  and  useful  citizen.  His 


practical  methods  and  kindly  manners  have 
greatly  endeared  him  to  the  congregation  to 
whom  he  has  ministered  for  so  many  years. 


EUGENE  BURHANS. 


IT  UGENE  BURHANS,  who  since  November 
Ft)  i,  1889,  has  held  the  position  of  depot  mas- 
I  ter  at  the  Chicago  station  of  the  Rock  Island 
and  Lake  Shore  Railways,  is  a  native  of  the 
Empire  State.  He  was  born  in  Kingston,  Ulster 
County,  on  the  26th  of  March,  1851,  and  is  a  son 
of  William  P.  and  Catherine  (Folant)  Burhans. 
The  father  died  January  18,  1892,  in  Bristol, 
Indiana,  when  seventy-three  years  of  age.  He, 
too,  was  born  in  Kingston,  New  York,  and 
was  of  Holland  descent.  His  ancestors  crossed 
the  Atlantic  in  an  early  day,  settling  in  New 
York  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  father 
was  a  shoemaker  by  trade  and  carried  on  a 
shoe  store  in  Kingston  for  many  years,  but  at 
length  disposed  of  his  business  interests  in  the 
East  and  in  1867  removed  to  Bristol,  Indiana, 
where  his  remaining  days  were  passed.  The 
mother  of  Eugene  died  during  his  infancy.  She, 
too,  was  born  in  Kingston,  where  many  of  her 
relatives  still  live.  The  Folant  family  is  also  of 
Holland  origin.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife 
Mr.  Burhans  was  united  in  marriage  with  Mrs. 
Uretta  (Smith)  Heald,  who  is  still  living  in  Bris- 
tol, Indiana.  She  proved  to  Eugene  a  kind  and 
faithful  mother,  taking  the  place  of  the  one  whom 
he  had  lost. 

Mr.  Burhans,  whose  name  heads  this  record, 
acquired  his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  town,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  started 
out  in  life  for  himself.  He  began  to  learn  the 
trade  of  a  confectioner,  serving  a  three-years  ap- 
prenticeship to  the  same.  At  the  age  of  seven- 
teen he  accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal 


to  Indiana,  and  after  spending  two  years  on  the 
farm  he  resumed  work  at  his  trade  at  South  Bend. 
Subsequently  he  abandoned  that  business  and  was 
made  a  member  of  the  police  force  in  that  city, 
thus  serving  some  time. 

While  in  the  Hoosier  State  Mr.  Burhans  was 
married,  on  the  23d  of  November,  1871,  the  lady 
of  his  choice  being  Miss  Sarah  M.  Finch,  daugh- 
ter of  Hiram  Finch,  a  pioneer  of  St.  Joseph 
County,  Indiana.  She  was  born  in  New  York, 
and  died  on  the  i4th  of  December,  1882,  in  her 
twenty-ninth  year,  leaving  three  children:  Ella, 
now  the  wife  of  L.  A.  Babcock,  of  Chicago; 
Emma;  and  William,  who  makes  his  home  in 
Bristol,  Indiana.  Mr.  Burhans  was  again  mar- 
ried, in  November,  1888,  his  second  union  being 
with  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Boys,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife. 
She  had  one  child  by  her  former  marriage,  a 
daughter,  Maud. 

Mr.  Burhans  arrived  in  Chicago  in  September, 
1883,  and  secured  employment  in  the  repair  shops 
of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad 
Company.  He  afterwards  became  assistant  depot 
master,  and  since  the  ist  of  November,  1889,  he 
has  held  the  position  of  depot  master,  the  duties 
of  which  he  discharges  in  a  creditable  and  accept- 
able manner.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  belonging  to  the  Blue  Lodge  of  Engle- 
wood  and  the  Chapter  of  Normal  Park.  In  poli- 
tics he  has  been  a  life-long  Republican. 

During  his  connection  with  the  railroad  inter- 
ests of  Chicago,  Mr.  Burhans  and  his  fellow-officers 
have  twice  been  confronted  by  gigantic  strikes  on 
the  part  of  organized  workmen.  In  these  emerg- 


W.  D.  GORDON. 


221 


encies  the  corporations  whom  he  serves  have  ever 
found  in  him  a  faithful  adherent  and  a  powerful 
ally,  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him.  At  the  same  time  he  has  won  the 


respect  and  good-will  of  the  traveling  public,  who 
always  regard  him  as  a  prompt  and  accommodat- 
ing gent'eman. 


WILLIAM  D.  GORDON. 


DENNIS  GORDON,  Auditor  of 
Receipts  in  the  Treasurer's  office  of  the 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad 
Company,  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  on 
the  I5th  of  April,  1860,  and  is  a  son  of  Dennis 
and  Frances  A.  (Chandlee)  Gordon,  the  latter's 
parents  being  natives  of  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
On  the  paternal  side  the  family  is  of  Scotch  ori- 
gin. The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Benjamin 
Gordon,  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and,  having 
emigrated  to  the  New  World,  he  engaged  in  the 
United  States  Naval  Service,  under  Commodore 
Decatur.  He  took  part  in  the  expedition  to  Al- 
giers, and  during  that  trip  lost  his  life.  His  wife 
was  a  native  of  Ireland.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gordon 
both  died  when  their  son  Dennis  was  a  child  of  six 
summers. 

The  latter  was  reared  and  educated  in  the  South, 
and  in  1858  started  westward,  hoping  thereby  to 
benefit  his  financial  condition.  He  took  up  his 
residence  in  St.  Louis,  where  he  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  a  dealer  in  boots  and  shoes,  carrying  on 
operations  along  that  line  until  the  war  broke  out, 
when  he  enlisted  among  the  Mounted  Patrol.  He 
was  afterwards  connected  with  the  police  force  of 
the  city  until  the  war  ended.  In  1869  he  came  to 
Chicago  and  engaged  with  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  as  Depot  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 
He  was  also  employed  in  a  similar  capacity  with 
the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  and  to  this  work 
devoted  his  energies  until  his  death,  which  resulted 
from  accident.  During  the  severe  snow  storm 
of  February  14,  1885,  he  was  run  over  by  an  en- 
gine, and  death  resulted.  He  was  at  that  time 


sixty-seven  years  of  age.  His  wife  still  survives 
him  and  is  yet  living  in  Chicago.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  Lewis  and  Ann  Chandlee.  Her  mother  was 
a  Quaker,  and  died  in  Chicago  in  1874,  at  the 
very  advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years. 

In  the  Gordon  family  were  nine  children,  four 
sons  and  five  daughters,  namely:  Thomas  B. ,  who 
was  accidentally  killed  on  the  Chicago,  Rock  Is- 
land &  Pacific  Railroad  in  November,  1891;  Lewis 
C. ,  who  was  accidentally  killed  on  the  same  road 
in  November,  1889,  while  serving  as  a  conductor, 
in  which  capacity  his  brother  was  also  employed ; 
George  E.,  who  is  now  in  the  Treasurer's  office 
of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Road; 
William  D.  of  this  sketch;  Margaret;  Susan  C. ; 
Nellie;  Charlotte,  wife  of  P.  F.  Webster,  of  Chi- 
cago; and  Sarah  E. ,  wife  of  George  M.  Black,  of 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  child  of  nine 
years  when  his  parents  came  to  Chicago.  He  at- 
tended the  Cottage  Grove  public  school,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  1877,  and  later  was  a  stu- 
dent in  the  Mosley  High  School.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  entered  upon  his  business  career  as 
city  buyer  for  A.  G.  Spaulding  &  Bros.,  the  lead- 
ing dealers  in  sporting  goods  in  the  city.  Two 
years  were  thus  passed,  after  which  he  entered 
the  Treasurer's  office  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
&  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  He  began  work 
there  in  May,  1880,  in  the  humble  capacity  of  office 
boy,  and  attained  his  present  position  by  a  series 
of  well-merited  promotions. 

On  December  31,  1889,  Mr.  Gordon  wedded 
Miss  Anna  Mary  McPherson,  daughter  of  John  W. 


222 


PETER  WOHLER. 


McPherson,  of  Shippensburg,  Pennsylvania,  in 
which  place  Mrs.  Gordon  was  born.  Their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  two  daughters,  Margaret 
McPherson  and  Dorothy  Chandlee.  The  family 
attends  the  Forty-first  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 
Mr.  Gordon  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  on  questions  of  State  and  National 


importance  is  a  Democrat,  but  at  local  elections, 
where  no  issue  is  involved,  he  votes  independent 
of  party  ties.  During  his  fourteen  years'  connec- 
tion with  the  office  of  which  he  is  an  important 
factor,  Mr.  Gordon  has  become  one  of  the  most 
indispensable  employes  thereof. 


PETER  WOHLER. 


PETER  WOHLER  is  at  the  head  of  a  leading 
industry,  being  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
|>5  of  sash,  doors  and  stairs  in  Chicago.  He 
was  born  in  Fehmer,  Schleswig-Holstein,  Ger- 
many, on  the  28th  of  January,  1846,  and  is  a  son 
of  Henry  and  Mary  (Kolbaum)  Wohler.  He  ac- 
quired his  education  in  the  common  schools,  and 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered  upon  his  business 
career.  It  was  then  that  he  began  to  learn  the 
trade  of  cabinet-making,  serving  an  apprenticeship 
of  four  and  a-half  years,  during  which  he  com- 
pletely mastered  the  business,  becoming  an  expert 
workman. 

The  year  1866  witnessed  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Wohler  in  America.  He  sought  a  home  in  Chi- 
cago, where  he  obtained  employment  in  a  furni- 
ture factory,  and  subsequently  secured  a  situation 
in  a  sash  and  door  factory,  located  at  the  corner  of 
Clark  and  Twelfth  Streets.  Three  years  later  he 
was  offered  a  position  in  a  stair  factory  and  became 
foreman  of  the  business.  After  the  great  fire 
which  swept  away  so  much  of  the  city  in  October, 
1871,  he  established  a  factory  of  his  own  at  the 
corner  of  Centre  Avenue  and  Eighteenth  Street. 
His  place  of  business  was  subsequently  changed 
to  Twenty-first  Street,  near  Laflin,  his  present 
location,  where  he  now  manufactures  sash  and 


doors  and  does  stair  work.  He  also  carries 
on  contracting  and  building,  and  does  a  good  bus- 
iness, employment  being  furnished  to  over  one 
hundred  workmen.  Having  thoroughly  learned 
his  trade  in  boyhood,  he  is  enabled  to  turn  out 
the  finest  and  most  skillful  work  and  to  superin- 
tend his  employes  to  the  best  advantage. 

In  January,  1869,  was  celebrated  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Wohler  and  Mary  Jubekel,  a  native  of 
Holstein,  Germany.  Five  children  have  been 
born  of  their  union:  Lena,  now  the  wife  of  C. 
Shreiber,  of  Chicago;  Lucy,  Sophia,  Emma  and 
Anna.  The  mother  of  this  family,  who  was  a  de- 
vout member  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  a  highly 
respected  lady,  died  on  the  I7th  of  May,  1892,  at 
the  age  of  forty-two  years. 

In  his  social  relations,  Mr.  Wohler  is  connected 
with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  the 
Order  of  Druids  and  the  National  Turners.  In 
his  political  views  he  is  a  Republican,  and  cast  his 
first  Presidential  vote  forU.  S.  Grant  in  1868.  He 
came  to  Chicago  with  no  capital  except  a  good 
trade,  thoroughly  learned,  and  his  success  is  due 
to  his  own  skill,  integrity  and  perseverance.  He 
may  truly  be  called  a  self-made  man,  and  his  ex- 
ample may  well  serve  to  encourage  those  who, 
like  himself,  have  to  start  out  in  life  empty  handed. 


'     'Ry 

THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILl!  ")> 


J.  N.  GAGE. 


223 


JOHN  N.  GAGE. 


(JOHN  NEWTON  GAGE.  The  subject  of 
I  this  sketch  was  born  in  Pelham,  New  Hamp- 
(•/  shire,  May  30,  1825,  unto  Nathan  and  Me- 
hitable  (Woodbury)  Gage.  Being  brought  up 
on  a  farm,  a  fact  which  holds  true  of  most  of  our 
leading  pioneer  citizens,  his  early  educational  ad- 
vantages were  limited  to  such  common  schools  as 
the  ubiquitous  energy  so  characteristic  of  New 
England  Puritans  and  their  descendants  had  at 
that  early  date  made  possible  at  the  scene  of  his 
nativity.  At  about  twenty  years  of  age,  he  put 
forth  his  "best  foot"  in  taking  the  first  step  upon 
his  pathway  through  life,  and  though  he  often 
found  the  way  beset  with  difficulties,  yet  he  was 
always  found  bravely  and  tirelessly  at  work,  per- 
forming his  tasks  as  a  man  and  Christian  in  the 
best  of  the  light  given  unto  him. 

His  first  independent  work  was  in  the  Waltham 
(Massachusetts)  Cotton  Company's  Mills,  where, 
in  he  later  became  overseer  in  its  weaving-room. 
After  a  period  of  eight  years  of  such  service,  mak- 
ing it  his  determination  to  come  West,  he  took 
private  evening  lessons  in  bookkeeping,  so  as  not 
to  interfere  with  the  discharge  of  his  paid  duties, 
which  he  finally  resigned  to  others  (and,  we  fain 
believe,  less  competent)  hands.  He  set  out  for 
Chicago,  the  distant  but  much-sought  El  Dorado 
of  our  country  at  that  time,  which  he  first  saw, 
spread  out  in  a  panorama  almost  as  Nature's  God 
had  made  it,  in  the  spring  of  1857. 

He  soon  met  with  co-operative  energies  in  the 
persons  of  Christopher  C.  and  Daniel  Webster, 
with  whom  he  directly  entered  into  articles 
of  partnership,  establishing  one  of  the  earliest 
wholesale  and  retail  millinery  houses  of  our  city, 
known  then  by  the  firm  style  of  Webster  &  Gage, 


their  first  place  of  business  being  located  on  Lake 
Street.  Having  the  misfortune  of  being  burned 
out  in  1857,  tney  re-opened  at  No.  78  Lake  Street, 
where  they  continued  until  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Websters,  about  1868.  Mr.  Gage  took  into  a 
new  partnership  formed  at  that  time  a  brother, 
Seth  Gage,  and  a  nephew,  Albert  S.  Gage,  under 
the  new  name  of  Gage  Brothers  &  Company,  a 
name  retained  to  this  day  (after  a  brief  interval  of 
change  to  A.  S.  Gage  &  Company),  by  which  the 
house  has  continued  to  grow  and  remain  known 
throughout  the  entire  West  and  Northwest. 

Being  burned  out  by  the  Great  Fire,  they  set  up 
temporarily  in  A:  S.  Gage's  private  house,  until 
they  were  enabled  to  re-open  for  a  period  of  two 
months  in  a  temporary  structure  upon  the  Lake 
Front.  From  this  location  they  removed  to  Wa- 
bash  Avenue,  near  Jackson,  thence  to  the  corner 
of  Madison  Street  and  Wabash  Avenue,  where 
the  trade  still  finds  them  profitably  busy,  one  of 
the  noted  houses  of  the  city. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  sold  out  to  his  part- 
ner, A.  S.  Gage,  about  1878.  Thereafter,  though 
in  excellent  health,  he  lived  a  life  of  respected  re- 
tirement until  the  sad  event  of  his  demise  from 
blood  poisoning,  following  upon  what  seemed  to 
be  a  trivial  complaint,  June  1 1,  1887,  at  his  man- 
sion house,  No.  1308  Michigan  Avenue,  whence 
his  remains  were  borne  to  the  family  lot  in  Oak- 
wood  Cemetery. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Directors  of  the  Wright  &  Law- 
ther  Oil  and  Lead  Manufacturing  Company  on 
this  sad  occasion: 

"WHEREAS,  Death  having  taken  from  us  our 
esteemed  fellow-member  and  Vice-President,  Mr. 


224 


J.  N.  GAGE. 


John  N.  Gage,  one  of  the  founders  of  this  com- 
pany, who  died  June  n,  1887,  it  is  hereby 

"Resolved:  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  John  N. 
Gage  the  company  has  suffered  an  irreparable 
loss.  Appreciating,  as  we  do,  his  worth  as  a 
man,  his  careful,  just  and  conservative  business 
methods,  we  can  never  fully  fill  his  place  in  the 
Company's  affairs; 

"Resolved:  That  the  heartfelt  sympathy  of  each 
and  every  member  of  this  Board  is  felt  for  his 
family  in  their  great  loss  and  affliction;  and  that 
a  copy  of  these  Resolutions  be  sent  to  them,  and 
also  spread  upon  the  records  of  this  Company. ' ' 

In  politics  he  was  an  inflexible  Republican, 
always  casting  his  ballot,  but  as  carefully  avoid- 
ing any  approach  towards  active  politics.  In  re- 
ligious faith  he  was  liberal,  having  for  many 
years  attended  Dr.  Ryder's  church,  St.  Paul's 
Universalist,  whose  pastor  held  and  was  held  in 
mutual  esteem  from  as  far  back  as  the  early  '6os. 

And  so,  with  little  variety  or  romance,  lived 
and  died  one  of  the  sturdiest,  most  useful  of  our 
citizens.  Subsequent  generations,  with  more  lei- 
sure and  wealth,  may  develop  more  elegance  and 
refinement;  but  to  men  of  Mr.  Gage's  virile  stamp 
the  city  of  Chicago  (as  well  as  the  entire  West, 
yes,  in  truth,  all  new  countries)  owes  the  founda- 
tion stones  of  future  greatness  and  prosperity. 
Without  the  first  courses  of  masonry  there  can 
never  be  builded  high  superstructures,  with  or- 
nate, elaborate  and  admirable  dome  and  spire. 
What  Washington,  Jefferson,  the  Adamses  and 
others  were  to  the  infant  colonies,  struggling  for 
very  existence  and  recognition  as  an  independent 
nation,  such  were  Mr.  Gage  and  his  associates  to 
Chicago.  Most  of  them  are  now  gathered  to 
their  fathers,  but  their  deeds  are  immortal.  That 
Chicago  is  now  the  wonder  and  envy  of  the  world 
is  mainly  owing  to  the  persistent,  honest  efforts 
early  and  late  of  such  citizens  as  Mr.  Gage  fitly 
typifies. 

Mr.  Gage  married,  December  15,  1849,  at  the 
scene  of  his  nativity,  Miss  Martha  Webster,  by 
whom,  fortunately,  he  left  one  child,  a  son,  to 
bear  his  esteemed  name,  Frank  Newton  Gage, 
who  was  born  July  24,  1853.  After  receiving  a 
good  education  in  Chicago,  he  entered  his  father's 
store,  but  later  withdrew,  and  is  at  present  an 
active  member  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  He  mar- 


ried, in  1889,  Olive  E.  Lewis,  of  this  city,  who 
has  borne  him  a  son,  John  Newton  Gage,  named 
for  his  grandfather,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Martha  Webster  is  a  daughter  of  Enoch  and 
Betsy  Webster  (relatives  before  marriage)  born  in 
Haverhill,  Massachusetts.  Enoch  was  a  son  of 
Caleb  Webster,  of  Revolutionary  fame.  Betsy  was 
a  daughter  of  Stephen  Webster.  Mrs.  Gage  is  thus 
related  through  both  her  parents  to  the  greatest 
of  America's  statesmen  and  orators,  Daniel  Web- 
ster, of  Marshfield,  Massachusetts.  She  is  also 
related  to  the  famous  Mrs.  Dustin,  of  Colonial 
times.  Captured  by  Indians,  who  dashed  out 
the  brains  of  her  sleeping  babe,  she  was  marched 
miles  into  the  wilderness.  While  her  captors 
were  asleep,  she  loosened  her  fetters,  and,  having 
slain  every  colored  face  of  them,  safely  made  her 
return  home,  as  set  out  in  graphic  early  historical 
authorities.  Of  all  the  heroines  of  "good  old 
colony  times,"  and  there  were  thousands  of  such, 
it  has  always  appeared  that  she  was  queen  of 
them  all  by  this  single  episode. 

The  family  of  Gage  (which  is  of  Norman  ex- 
traction) derives  its  descent  from  one  De  Gaga 
(Gauga  or  Gage),  who  accompanied  William 
the  Conqueror  into  England  in  1066.  After  the 
"Conquest"  he  was  rewarded  by  a  large  grant  of 
land  in  the  forests  of  Dean,  Gloucester  County, 
adjacent  to  which  he  fixed  his  abode  and  erected 
a  family  seat  at  Clerenwell  (otherwise  Clarewell) . 
He  also  built  a  large  mansion  house  in  the  town 
of  Chichester,  wherein  he  died,  and  was  buried 
in  the  neighboring  abbey.  His  posterity  re- 
mained in  the  vicinity  for  many  generations,  in 
credit  and  esteem,  of  whom  there  were  Barons  in 
Parliament  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  The  line 
from  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  has 
been  traced  as  follows:  John  Gage  had  a  son, 
John  Gage,  born  1408;  married  Joan  Sudgrove. 
Their  son  was  Sir  John,  knighted  1454;  married 
Eleanor  St.  Clere;  died  September,  1486.  Will- 
iam, Esquire,  born  1456;  married  Agnes  Bolney. 
Their  son,  Sir  John,  born  1480,  knighted  May 
22,  1541;  married  Phillippa  Guilderford;  died 
April  28,  1557.  Their  eldest  son,  Sir  Edward, 
knighted  by  Queen  Mary,  married  Elizabeth 
Parker.  Their  son,  John,  Esquire  (eldest  of  nine 


E.  McK. 


225 


sons),  thirty  years  old  at  his  father's  death;  heir 
to  fifteen  manors  and  other  Sussex  lands.  John 
(nephew)  made  Baronet  March  26,  1622;  married 
Penelope,  widow  of  Sir  George  Trenchard;  died 
October  3,  1633. 

John  (second son),  of  Stoneham,  Suffolk  Coun- 
ty, England,  came  to  America  with  John  Win- 
throp,  Jr.,  landing  at  Salem  June  12,  1630;  in 
1633  one  of  twelve  proprietors  of  Ipswich;  wife 
Anna  died  in  June,  1658;  married  (2d)  Mary 
Keyes,  November,  1658;  moved  to  Rowley  1664; 
held  many  responsible  offices  of  trust  and  fidelity 
in  Ipswich  and  Rowley,  in  which  latter  place  he 
died  in  1673.  Daniel  (second  son)  married 


Sarah  Kimball  in  1675;  died  November  8,  1705. 
Daniel,  born  March  12,  1676;  married  Martha 
Burbank,  March  9,  1697;  settled  on  the  banks  of 
the  Merrimac  River,  on  the  main  road  to  Me- 
thuen,  where  the  old  Gage  House,  the  oldest  in 
town,  still  stands.  Died  March  14,  1747.  Dan- 
iel (third  son),  born  April  22,  1708,  removed  to 
Pelham,  New  Hampshire;  died  September  24, 
1775.  David  (fourth  son),  born  August  9,  1750. 
Nathan  (fifth),  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  whose  son  and  grandson,  enumerated 
herein,  bring  the  record  up  to  the  extraordinary 
number  of  seventeen  consecutive  male  generations. 


EDWARD  McK.  TEALL. 


ITDWARD  McKINSTRY  TEA1X.  The  de- 
1^  velopment  of  the  insurance  business  has  kept 
[_  pace  with  the  growth  of  other  commercial 
enterprises  and  has  assumed  such  magnitude  and 
variety,  and  become  so  complex  and  at  the  same 
time  so  vital  to  life  and  property,  that  it  must  now 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  important  industries  of 
the  United  State.  The  last  few  years  have  seen 
reductions  in  the  rates  of  insurance,  and  corres- 
ponding advantages  to  property-holders,  in  Chi- 
cago, in  consequence  of  the  rapid  development  of 
the  art  of  constructing  fire-proof  buildings  and 
the  great  improvement  in  the  facilities  for  check- 
ing and  extinguishing  fires.  These  important 
changes,  which  are  still  in  progress,  require 
prompt  attention  and  action  by  the  companies 
doing  business  here,  for  competition  is  just  as 
fierce  in  this  line  of  business  as  in  any  other.  In 
fact,  the  sharp,  but  honorable,  rivalry  among  in- 
surance men  has  developed  a  number  of  experts 
in  the  business,  men  with  sufficient  mental  pene- 
tration to  foresee  the  result  of  changed  conditions, 
and  sufficient  executive  ability  to  carry  out  such 


methods  as  are  most  likely  to  secure  favorable 
results. 

Among  the  most  successful  and  systematic 
manipulators  of  this  art  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  notice.  His  birth  occurred  at 
Albany,  New  York,  July  27,  1839,  his  parents 
being  Edward  McKinstry  Teall  and  Eliza  Perry. 
The  founder  of  the  family  in  America  was  Oliver 
Teall,  who  came  from  England  and  settled  at 
New  Haven,  Connecticut,  about  1723.  His  fa- 
ther had  been  Apothecary  General  to  the  British 
army,  serving  under  the  Duke  of  Marlborough 
during  the  reigns  of  William  I.  and  Queen  Anne. 
Prudence,  the  wife  of  Oliver  Teall,  who  came 
with  him  to  America,  died  at  Killingsworth,  Con- 
necticut, June  24,  1780.  Oliver  Teall,  second 
son  of  this  couple,  married  Ruth  Hurd  and  set- 
tled at  Killingsworth.  He  served  as  a  Surgeon 
in  the  British  Army  during  the  French  and  In- 
dian War,  and  also  during  the  War  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  maintaining  his  loyalty  to  the 
crown  throughout  his  life.  Five  of  his  sons, 
Timothy,  Titus,  Oliver,  Joseph  and  Nathan, 


226 


E.  McK.  TEALL. 


served  in  the  Continental  army.  Father  and 
sons  were  mutually  antagonized  by  their  loyalty 
to  their  respective  causes,  and  never  became  rec- 
onciled. Another  son,  named  Benjamin,  having 
lost  an  eye  during  his  childhood,  was  thus  inca- 
pacitated for  military  service  and  did  not  partici- 
pate in  the  conflict. 

Oliver  Teall  (third)  was  born  in  Middletown, 
Connecticut,  January  i,  1759.  When  only  six- 
teen years  old  he  enlisted  under  General  Putnam, 
Captain  Gale's  company,  and  afterward  served 
in  Captain  Hyde's  company,  which  was  success- 
ively stationed  at  Fort  Trumbull  and  at  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island.  He  was  subsequently  as- 
signed to  Colonel  Sommers'  command  at  Ger- 
mantown,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  one  of  the 
devoted  band  which  endured  the  historic  hard- 
ships of  Valley  Forge,  where  his  brother  Titus 
died  of  smallpox.  Later  in  the  war  he  was  sta- 
tioned at  West  Point  and  on  the  Highlands.  He 
acted  as  guard  to  General  Washington  and  his 
family  while  they  attended  church.  After  peace 
came  he  married  Susan,  daughter  of  Col.  Brin- 
ton  Paine,  of  Dutchess  County,  New  York. 
They  settled  at  Upper  Hillsdale,  Columbia  Coun- 
ty, New  York,  where  he  became  a  prosperous 
farmer.  They  were  the  parents  of  twelve  chil- 
dren. His  death  occurred  at  Albany  on  the  i8th 
of  September,  1842,  aged  eighty-two  years. 

Col.  Brinton  Paine,  who  was  an  officer  of  the 
Continental  army,  was  a  descendant  of  Stephen 
Paine,  who  came  to  Massachusetts  in  1638,  and 
became  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  colony, 
He  was  one  of  the  chief  contributors  to  the  pros- 
ecution of  the  Indian  wars.  His  son  Stephen 
was  present  at  the  great  swamp  fight  in  which 
King  Philip's  band  was  exterminated. 

Edward  M.  Teall,  Sr.,  was  a  son  of  Oliver 
Teall,  third.  He  became  a  prominent  merchant 
of  Albany,  and  was  also  proprietor  of  one  of  the 
first  lines  of  boats  on  the  Erie  Canal.  He  did  a 
general  forwarding  business,  and  the  Chicago 
American  of  April  9,  1839,  the  first  issue  of  a 
daily  paper  in  this  city,  contained  his  business 
advertisement.  He  was  for  many  years  influen- 
tial in  New  York  politics.  Eliza  Perry  was  born 
at  Lenox,  Massachusetts.  Her  father,  Freder- 


ick Perry,  who  was  a  son  of  a  clergyman,  was  a 
native  of  Connecticut.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
Williams  College,  and  became  a  cotton  manufac- 
turer at  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  received  his 
primary  education  in  private  schools,  and  after- 
ward became  a  student  in  the  academy  of  Albany. 
In  the  spring  of  1857  he  came  to  Chicago  and 
soon  after  secured  employment  as  a  clerk  in  the 
insurance  office  of  Higginson  &  James.  This  line 
of  business  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  the  most 
sanguine  enthusiasm  could  not  have  foreseen  the 
extent  to  which  that  industry  would  be  developed. 
He  went  to  work  with  a  will,  and  his  fidelity, 
thoroughness  and  aptitude  soon  won  the  confi- 
dence and  good-will  of  his  employers.  In  1863  he 
became  one  of  the  partners  of  the  firm  of  Alfred 
James  &  Company,  which  continued  to  transact 
business  for  about  three  years.  Their  place  of 
business  was  at  the  southeast  corner  of  South 
Water  and  Clark  Streets,  which  location  was  the 
center  of  the  insurance  business  at  that  time. 
He  afterward  formed  a  partnership  with  Freder- 
ick P.  Fisher,  a  relation  which  continued  for  ten 
years,  during  one  of  the  most  important  eras  of 
the  insurance  business  in  the  West.  At  the  end 
of  that  period  the  present  firm  of  Edward  M. 
Teall  &  Company  was  formed,  Cyrus  A.  Hardy, 
a  trusted  clerk  of  the  former  firm,  being  the  jun- 
ior member.  Mr.  Teall  is  one  of  the  Directors 
of  the  Westchester  Fire  Insurance  Company  of 
New  York,  and  in  addition  to  serving  the  local 
interests  of  that  corporation  the  firm  represents 
several  leading  insurance  companies  of  other 
cities.  The  business  in  its  charge  is  conserva- 
tively and  honorably  conducted,  and  the  firm  en- 
joys the  confidence  of  the  public  and  of  under- 
writers to  a  remarkable  degree.  Mr.  Teall  is 
President  of  the  Chicago  Fire  Underwriters'  As- 
sociation, and  has  been  for  a  number  of  years. 

On  the  nth  of  June,  1862,  Mr.  Teall  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Katherine  Mead,  of  New  York  City, 
daughter  of  Isaac  H.  Mead  and  Rachel  Van  Voor- 
hees  Demorest.  Mrs.  Teall' s  maternal  grand- 
father was  also  a  native  of  New  York  City,  being 
a  scion  of  a  very  old  and  well-known  family  of 
that  municipality.  Mr.  Teall  has  been  for  many 


A.  G.  BURLEY. 


227 


years  a  member  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Chicago,  in  which  he  officiates  as  Trustee  and 
Elder.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Club, 
and  Deputy  Governor  of  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Wars  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  which  he  helped 
to  organize.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
Society  of  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  and 
still  preserves  the  Teall  coat-of-arms  granted  to 
the  family  by  George  I.  in  1723.  He  has  been 


often  urged  to  enter  the  arena  of  politics,  has 
been  tendered  important  nominations  by  the  Re- 
publican party,  of  which  he  is  an  active  and  dis- 
tinguished member,  but  prefers  to  devote  himself 
to  his  business,  home  and  social  duties.  For  rec- 
reation, he  and  his  wife  have  always  spent  the 
summer  at  their  beautiful  farm  and  summer  home 
in  the  Berkshire  Hills,  Stockbridge,  Massachu- 
setts. 


ARTHUR  G.  BURLEY. 


(ARTHUR   GILMAN  BURLEY.    The    year 

Hi8i2  is  a  national  epoch,  for  at  that  time 
the  United  States,  for  a  second  time  within 
the  easy  memory  of  man,  started  in  to  chastise 
the  British  Lion.  What  events  of  world- wide 
significance  have  transpired  during  those  more 
than  eighty  intervening  years  !  To  think  of  it  is 
like  a  dream:  to  have  predicted  it,  would  have  re- 
sulted in  that  day  in  an  inquirendo  de  lunico  pro- 
ceeding concerning  the  lack  of  brain  matter  in  the 
bold  transgressor  of  common  sense  who  should 
prophesy.  Two  years  later,  Robert  Fulton  was 
making  his  (the  very  first)  steamboat  trial  upon 
the  Hudson  River.  Then  came  steam  as  applied 
to  locomotives,  which  has  done  more  than  any- 
thing else  in  so  rapidly  opening  up  the  great  in- 
terior and  West  of  our  immense  country,  where- 
as, before,  ox-carts  and  canal-boats  were  the 
most  approved  forms  of  transportation  of  chattels, 
prior  to  the  advent  of  the  "prairie  schooner," 
which  shortly  preceded  the  "Union  Pacific." 
The  telegraph,  reapers,  thousandfold  manufac- 
tories, electric  light  and  locomotion  (not  to  men- 
tion scores  of  other  wonderful  economic  and  utili- 
tarian inventions  of  more  recent  date  within  the 
present  century) ,  all  cry  out  that,  in  point  of 
actual  comfort  and  intelligent  means  of  effecting 


business  ends,  the  world  has  since  that  year  1812 
done  almost  more  than  had  been  done  in  the 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  which  had  pre- 
ceded. And  all  this  within  the  memory  of  liv- 
ing men;  yes,  within  the  memory  of  one  now  liv- 
ing in  our  midst,  who,  wonderful  to  relate,  like 
Gladstone,  an  octogenarian,  is  still  in  the  harness 
of  active  business  life.  We  who  live  in  Chicago 
know  what  that  means  in  this  day.  Honor  to 
whom  honor  is  due  ! 

Arthur  Gilman  Burley,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  the  aforesaid  year  of  1812, 
upon  the  fourth  day  of  October,  at  Exeter,  New 
Hampshire,  unto  James  and  Charlotte  I.  (Gilman) 
Burley,  his  father  being  the  Cashier  of  the  Exeter 
Bank. 

The  Burleys  are  regarded  Down  East  as  '  'good 
stock;"  that  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  opinion 
in  our  city,  from  all  that  is  thus  far  known  of 
them  in  our  midst.  The  first  by  the  name  who 
came  to  our  shores  was  Giles  Burley,  who,  with 
his  wife,  Elizabeth,  settled  at  Ipswich,  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  year  1648.  Here,  in  1664,  he  took 
the  proper  oath  and  became  a  '  'commoner. ' '  He 
was  also  a  '  'planter, ' '  and  lived  eight  years  of 
his  useful  life  upon  Brooke  Street  of  that  ancient 
town,  and  owned  "Division  Lot  No.  105,  on 


228 


A.  G.  BURLEY. 


Great  Hill,  Hogg  Island,"  in  that  vicinage.  He 
had  a  son,  Andrew  Burley,  who  was  born  at 
Ipswich,  September  5,  1657.  The  latter  married 
Mary,  a  daughter  of  the  rather  celebrated  Roger 
Conant.  Upon  the  death  of  his  father,  while  in 
childhood,  he  was  bound  out  (as  was  the  old  cus- 
tom) to  one  John  Brown.  He  was  called  in 
records  "husbandman  and  yeoman,"  and  bore  the 
rather  dignified  title  of  '  'Cornet. ' '  He  had  a  son, 
Hon.  Andrew  Burley,  who  was  born  at  Ipswich 
in  June,  1 694.  His  career  was  replete  with  hon- 
ors, including  among  others  the  positions  of  Jus- 
tice of  the  Court  of  Sessions  and  Representative 
to  the  State  Legislature  in  the  years  1741  and 
1742.  He  acquired,  and  left  intact,  a  large  es- 
tate. He  was  twice  married;  first,  to  Lydia 
Pengry,  by  whom  he  had  six  children;  secondly, 
to  Mrs.  Hannah  Burnham.  He  had  a  son,  An- 
drew Burley,  Jr.,  who  married  a  Mrs.  Hannah 
Cogswell  (a  daughter  of  his  father's  wife).  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1742,  and  lived 
on  Brooke  Street  in  Ipswich  (near  the  location 
of  his  first  American  progenitor) ,  upon  land  for- 
merly granted  to  Governor  Dudley's  son  Samuel. 

He  left  a  son,  James  Burley,  who  was  by  trade 
a  cabinet-maker,  also  an  officer  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  The  latter  married  Susannah 
Swazey,  and  died  in  Exeter,  New  Hampshire, 
leaving  a  son,  James  Burley,  Jr.,  who  has  been 
already  noticed  as  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

Arthur  Gilman  Burley  received  for  his  educa- 
tion the  best  that  the  common  schools  of  his  na- 
tive Exeter  had  to  offer,  which  information  was 
somewhat  rounded  out  by  a  supplementary  year  at 
the  Exeter  Academy.  He  resolutely  turned  his 
young  face  toward  the  distant  West  at  the  age 
of  twenty-three,  reaching  his  future  home,  Chi- 
cago, on  the  seventeenth  day  of  May,  1835. 
(Sixty  long  years  ago.  Imagine  the  appearance 
at  that  time  of  the  country  which  is  at  present 
covered  by  our  fair  city  !  How  many  of  the 
comers  of  that  day  are  yet  in  the  flesh  ?) 

Mr.  Burley  first  worked  as  clerk  for  John  Hoi- 
brook  in  a  boot  and  shoe  shop  for  about  two 
years.  In  1837  ^e  went  to  New  York  City,  to 
buy  for  his  brother-in-law,  Stephen  F.  Gale,  a 


stock  of  books  and  stationery  (one  of  the  very 
first  to  be  imported  among  us) ,  and  remained  with 
Mr.  Gale  for  about  two  years  following. 

In  1838  the  crockery  business  of  the  North- 
west was  founded  by  Mr.  Burley,  who  bought 
from  the  State  Bank  of  Illinois  a  stock  of  such 
goods,  his  place  of  trade  being  then  located  at 
the  corner  of  La  Salle  and  Lake  Streets.  He 
has  been  in  that  business  ever  since,  a  period  of 
over  fifty-seven  years,  and  is  now  regularly  on 
duty  at  the  old  stand. 

He  was  burned  out  in  1842,  and  then  moved  to 
No.  105  Lake  Street,  later  to  No.  175  on  the  same 
thoroughfare,  where,  in  1852,  he  was  joined  by  a 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  John  Tyrrell,  who  came  on 
from  New  Hampshire  to  enter  into  a  partnership. 
This  still  continues  in  operation,  being  incor- 
porated under  the  firm  style  and  name,  "Burley 
&  Tyrrell,  Importers  and  Dealers  of  Crockery, 
Chicago. ' ' 

They  had  built  their  own  quarters  at  No.  48 
Lake  Street  about  1857,  but,  fortunately,  had 
disposed  of  the  same  before  the  time  of  the  Great 
Fire  in  1871.  They  still  had  their  store  located 
therein,  which,  of  course,  went  up  in  smoke  and 
down  to  the  ground  in  ashes.  After  this  fire 
they  had  a  temporary  office  at  the  corner  of  State 
and  Sixteenth  Streets;  then  occupied  a  store  for 
about  three  years  at  the  corner  of  Van  Buren  and 
Wabash;  then  removed  to  No.  83  State  Street;  and 
finally  to  Nos.  42,  44  and  46  Lake  Street,  which 
premises  they  continue  to  occupy  at  this  time. 
Having  found  it  cheaper  to  rent,  they  have  never 
cared  to  build. 

Mr.  Burley  also  had  the  misfortune  of  having 
his  home  burned  up  in  1874,  when  he  was  living 
below  Harrison  Street.  He  is  now,  as  lor  a  long 
time,  cosily  situated  at  No.  1620  Indiana  Avenue. 

Although  an  unostentatious  man,  Mr.  Burley 
has  been  a  very  prominent  figure  in  social  and 
business  matters  for  very  many  years.  Few  in- 
deed, if  any,  can  antedate  him  in  this  relation. 
He  aided  in  the  formation  of  the  First  Unitarian 
Church  (since  called  the  Messiah)  in  1836,  one 
of  the  oldest  and  foremost  in  the  entire  North- 
west, and  of  which  he  has  always  been  a  most  in- 
terested and  conspicuous  member. 


R.  R.  CLARK 


229 


In  politics,  he  has  always  been,  since  the  days 
of  the  Whigs  were  no  more,  a  consistent  Re- 
publican, but  in  no  sense  or  wish  a  public  charac- 
ter. A  true  exemplifier  of  the  best  principles  of 
Free  Masonry,  with  which  he  affiliated  as  early 
as  1848,  he  has  never  cared  to  go  to  the  height 
of  degrees  his  proficiency  and  long  service  would 
have  richly  entitled  him  to,  and  undoubtedly  have 
brought  choice  flowers  of  honor  in  their  train, 
but  he  has  been  Treasurer  of  Oriental  Lodge  for 
forty-two  years.  He  was  also  for  a  time  much 
interested  in  the  mysteries  of  Odd- Fellowship. 

Not  at  heart  a  club  man,  he  has  nevertheless 
been  a  member  of  the  Calumet,  as  he  is  at  present 
upon  the  roll  of  the  Chicago  Club.  Very  do- 
mestic in  habits,  he  is  not  frequently  found  in  the 


circle  of  club  habitues.  In  public  affairs  and 
whatever  promotes  the  business  and  social  good 
and  welfare  of  the  community,  Mr.  Burley  always 
is  an  interested,  and  usually  a  participating,  citi- 
zen. Young  in  enthusiasm,  certainly  he  bears 
his  laurel  of  years  gracefully,  as  we  will  sincerely 
hope  he  may  long  live  to  do. 

Upon  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  September,  1849, 
Mr.  Burley  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Welthy- 
an  Loomis  Harmon,  who  comes  of  a  good  old- 
time  Down-East  family.  It  is  regretted  that  no 
children  have  been  born  to  them  to  perpetuate 
the  name  and  further  the  noble  traits  the  family 
has  conspicuously  borne  up  to  this  time  in  the 
history  of  our  country. 


ROBERT  R.  CLARK. 


ROBERT  RODMAND  CLARK,  an  early  resi- 
dent of  Lake  View,  now  a  part  of  Chicago, 
is  descended  from  English  ancestors  and  was 
born  in  Clarkson,  Monroe  County,  New  York, 
May  24,  1831.  His  great-grandfather,  William 
Clark,  came  from  England  and  located  first  on 
the  Hudson  River,  at  Albany,  New  York,  later  re- 
moving to  the  Mohawk  Valley.  He  was  pos- 
sessed of  some  means,  and  dealt  in  realty  during 
his  residence  in  America.  His  son  William  had 
large  holdings  of  lands  and  farms  in  central  New 
York,  and  was  one  of  the  first  American  import- 
ers of  Morocco  leather,  having  his  headquarters 
at  Utica,  New  York,  his  native  place.  He  was 
among  the  first  settlers  of  Monroe  County,  and 
the  town  of  Clarkson  was  named  for  him  and 
another  settler  of  the  same  name,  though  no  rela- 


tive, who  located  there  in  the  same  year.  He 
died  there  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years.  Five 
of  his  seven  children,  four  sons  and  a  daughter, 
grew  to  maturity. 

The  third  of  these,  William  L.  Clark,  born  in 
Utica,  was  about  twenty  years  old  when  his  par- 
ents moved  to  Clarkson.  He  married  Cornelia 
Stewart,  a  native  of  Wyoming  County,  New 
York.  Her  parents,  Daniel  and  Sallie  (Fish) 
Stewart,  were  children  of  native  Scotch  parents, 
and  were  born  in  Chemung  County,  New  York. 
She  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-two  years,  passing 
away  at  the  home  of  her  son  in  Lake  View  in 
1886.  William  L.  Clark  was  an  extensive  farm- 
er, but  lost  heavily  in  speculation  in  later  life. 
He  was  an  upright  man,  and  reached  the  age  of 
seventy-two  years,  dying  in  Lake  View  in  1876. 


R.  R.  CLARK. 


He  was  affiliated  with  the  Uuiversalist  Church, 
while  his  wife  adhered  to  the  Presbyterian  teach- 
ings of  her  fathers.  They  were  the  parents  of 
three  children.  The  eldest,  Sallie,  is  the  widow 
of  George  B.  Marsh,  now  residing  in  Chicago; 
and  the  youngest,  Laura,  is  the  wife  of  Charles 
L.  Bassett,  oi  LaPorte,  Indiana. 

Robert  R.  Clark  is  the  second  child  of  his  par- 
ents. He  combines  in  a  happy  degree  the  sturdy 
qualities  of  physical  and  mental  make-up  of  his 
ancestors.  When  a  mere  boy  he  determined  to 
recover  his  father's  lost  homestead  as  a  home  for 
his  parents,  and  before  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
twenty  years  had  accomplished  his  purpose. 
Previous  to  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  had  the 
educational  advantages  afforded  by  the  common 
schools,  and  he  then  went  to  Michigan,  where  he 
found  employment  as  a  school  teacher.  Return- 
ing for  a  short  time  to  the  home  farm,  he  became, 
in  his  eighteenth  year,  check  clerk  on  board  the 
steamer  "Empire  State,"  plying  between  Buffalo 
and  Chicago,  then  the  finest  vessel  on  the  Lakes. 
He  was  subsequently  on  board  the  "Wisconsin" 
one  year,  and  returned,  as  chief  clerk,  to  the 
"Empire  State,"  where  he  continued  five  years. 
He  also  served  on  the  "Southern  Michigan"  and 
"Western  Metropolis,"  all  these  boats  being  the 
property  of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern 
Railroad.  The  last  two  only  ran  from  Buffalo  to 
Monroe  or  Toledo,  where  they  connected  with 
that  portion  of  the  railroad  completed  from  Chi- 
cago to  those  points.  Mr.  Clark  was  on  board 
the  steamer  "Northern  Indiana"  when  it  burned 
on  Lake  Erie,  one  beautiful  morning,  off  Point 
au  Place,  with  a  loss  of  between  four  and  five 
hundred  passengers.  Being  a  good  swimmer, 
he  remained  on  board  until  the  fire  had  swept  to 
the  stern  of  the  vessel  (because  of  its  propulsion 
toward  the  shore),  and  after  entering  the  water 
saved  several  passengers  by  giving  up  to  them 
doors  which  he  had  wrenched  from  the  staterooms 
for  his  own  use.  He  was  finally  picked  up  by  a 
boat  bound  for  Buffalo,  and  made  his  regular 
trip  out  of  that  port  on  another  vessel  the  night 
of  the  same  day.  When  the  "Golden  Gate' '  was 


wrecked  on  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  Erie  Harbor, 
a  short  time  later,  Mr.  Clark  was  on  board,  and 
was  saved  with  all  the  rest  save  one,  who  tried 
to  swim  ashore  in  the  midst  of  the  wreckage.  The 
wreck  was  continually  swept  by  the  waves,  but 
it  was  safer  than  the  choppy  bay,  full  of  the 
floating  cargo  of  the  "Golden  Gate."  All  who 
remained  on  board  were  safely  conveyed  to  shore 
by  a  Government  vessel  in  the  morning.  With 
the  exception  of  one  year,  which  was  spent  as  re- 
ceiver in  charge  of  the  ticket  office  at  Buffalo, 
Mr.  Clark  continued  in  the  marine  service  until 
he  settled  in  Chicago  in  1857. 

Having  made  some  successful  investments  in 
Chicago  during  his  previous  visits  here,  he  de- 
cided to  settle  here,  a  resolution  which  was,  prob- 
ably, strengthened  by  his  marriage,  in  1857,  to 
one  of  Chicago's  fair  daughters.  This  was  Miss 
Blanche,  only  daughter  of  the  late  Daniel  Elston, 
one  of  Cook  County's  most  worthy  and  honored 
pioneers.  In  1859  Mr.  Clark  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  fuel  trade,  and  later  dealt  in  lumber, 
but  his  chief  occupation  has  been  the  handling  of 
realty.  For  the  last  twenty  years  he  has  made  a 
specialty  of  leasing  residence  property  to  others 
who  would  improve  it,  and  has  been  largely  in- 
strumental in  building  up  what  was  formerly  a 
suburb  known  as  Lake  View,  now  a  part  of  the 
great  metropolis  in  name  as  well  as  in  fact.  He 
has  naturally  taken  a  keen  interest  in  the  moral 
and  material  welfare  of  that  section,  and  has  act- 
ively participated  in  the  government  of  the  town 
and  village  of  Lake  View.  In  political  affilia- 
tion he  is  found  with  the  Democratic  party  on 
national  issues.  In  religious  belief  he  is  ex- 
ceedingly liberal,  and  very  independent  in  all 
thought  and  action.  His  early  experience  taught 
him  self-reliance,  and  his  history  should  serve  as 
a  worthy  example  to  the  ambitious  young  man. 
He  is  still  the  owner  of  the  old  homestead  in  New 
York.  Mr.  Clark  is  fond  of  hunting,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Poygan  Shooting  Club,  whose 
members  spend  much  of  the  duck-hunting  season 
on  Lake  Poygan,  in  Wisconsin. 


.  •  THE 
UNIVERSI.  .  OF  ILLI  MI 


G.  M.  PULLMAN. 


231 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN. 


(3  EORGE  M.  PULLMAN  was  born  in  Brocton, 

bChautauqua  County,  New  York,  March  3, 
1831,  and  is  the  third  child  of  James  Lewis 
and  Emily  Caroline  Pullman.  The  father  was  a 
native  of  Rhode  Island.  Emily  C.  Pullman  was 
the  daughter  of  James  Minton,  of  Auburn,  New 
York.  She  was  a  good  wife  and  mother,  and 
assisted  her  husband  in  implanting  in  the  minds 
of  their  children  the  best  moral  principles,  while 
inculcating  habits  of  industry  and  careful  study. 
The  father  was  a  builder  and  house-mover,  and 
George  early  began  to  observe  his  methods,  while 
assisting  in  his  operations.  Some  very  useful  ap- 
pliances of  the  business  are  the  invention  of  the 
elder  Pullman.  He  died  in  1853,  and  the  respon- 
sibility of  head  of  the  family  fell  upon  George, 
who  was  the  eldest  unmarried  son.  Through 
almost  forty  years  of  her  widowhood,  he  was  the 
stay  and  loving  aid  of  his  mother,  who  passed 
away  in  May,  1892,  after  seeing  all  her  seven  chil- 
dren occupying  responsible  and  useful  positions 
in  life. 

Royal  H.,  the  first-born,  is  pastor  of  the  First 
Universalist  Church  of  Baltimore.  His  interest 
in  public  affairs  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that 
he  was  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  Congress  in 
1890.  Albert  B.,  who  died  in  1893,  occupied  up 
to  1882  responsible  positions  in  the  Pullman 
Palace  Car  Company,  which  is  the  creation  of  his 
younger  brother,  George.  James  M.  Pullman, 
D.  D.,  is  pastor  of  the  Universalist  Church  at 
Lynn,  Massachusetts,  the  leading  parish  of  that 
sect  in  America.  Charles  L.  was,  until  Septem- 
ber, 1894,  contracting  agent  for  the  Pullman  Com- 
pany, but  is  now  engaged  in  other  business  in 
Chicago;  and  Frank  W.  was  Assistant  United 
States  District  Attorney  of  New  York,  where  he 
died  in  1879.  Helen  A.  is  the  wife  of  George 


West,  of  New  York;  and  Emma  C.  is  the  wife  of 
Doctor  William  F.  Fluhrer,  chief  surgeon  of  Belle- 
vue  Hospital,  New  York. 

George  M.  Pullman  was  always  of  a  practical 
turn  of  mind,  and  was  a  diligent  student  of 
branches  which  were  calculated  to  fit  him  for  a 
business  life.  He  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  a  com- 
mon-school education,  and  is  remembered  as  an 
industrious  and  hard-working  pupil.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen,  he  undertook  to  sustain  himself,  his 
first  employment  being  that  of  a  clerk  at  $40  per 
year.  Neither  his  remuneration  nor  his  tastes  or 
habits  were  likely  to  lead  him  into  dissipation, 
and  he  seems  to  have  done  his  work  with  credit 
to  himself  and  satisfaction  to  his  employer.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  he  joined  his  eldest  brother, 
who  had  a  cabinet-making  shop  at  Albion,  New 
York.  This  pursuit  was  well  calculated  to  pre- 
pare him  for  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  larg- 
est building  and  furnishing  enterprise  in  the 
world,  though  he  was,  probably,  wholly  uncon- 
scious of  his  future  at  that  time.  He  persevered 
and  was  faithful,  because  it  was  part  of  his  nature, 
as  well  as  the  natural  result  of  his  teachings  and 
early  surroundings.  He  continued  in  the  cabinet 
work  until  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1853.  The 
long  illness  of  the  head  of  the  family,  who  wasted 
away  in  gradual  decline,  had  exhausted  the  means 
of  the  common  purse,  so  that  the  widow  was  con- 
fronted with  the  necessity  of  providing  for  her- 
self and  her  minor  children.  In  doing  this,  she 
was  not  left  to  battle  alone,  for  her  son  George  at 
once  took  up  the  responsibility  of  head  of  the 
household  and  relieved  her  of  financial  burdens. 

The  Erie  Canal  was  about  to  be  enlarged,  and 
the  commissioners  had  asked  for  bids  for  raising 
or  removing  many  buildings  along  its  banks. 
Young  Pullman  was  the  successful  bidder  on  some 


232 


G.  M.  PULLMAN. 


of  these  contracts,  and  so  well  did  he  manage  his 
enterprise  that  he  was  enabled  to  maintain  the 
family  in  comfort,  and  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1859 
with  a  capital  of  $6,000  as  the  result  of  his  sav- 
ings. About  this  time  the  courts  decided  that 
Chicago  had  the  power  to  grade  the  streets,  and 
he  quickly  found  ample  employment  in  raising 
the  buildings  to  correspond  with  the  grade. 
Probably  but  few  of  the  modern  residents  of  the 
city  know  .that  the  streets  of  the  South  Side  are 
some  ten  feet  above  the  original  prairie  level,  and 
that  the  buildings  standing  in  1856  had  to  be 
raised  that  distance  to  meet  the  street  level.  In 
1860  Mr.  Pullman  was  occupying  a  lot  of  two 
hundred  feet  front,  at  the  corner  of  Washington 
and  Franklin  Streets,  with  his  machinery  and  ap- 
pliances, and  a  small  one-story  building  for  an  of- 
fice. He  was  full  of  the  spirit  of  push  and  prog- 
ress which  animated  Chicago  in  those  days,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  enter  upon  undertakings  of 
great  magnitude.  Among  these  was  the  lifting 
of  the  entire  block  of  brick  buildings  facing  the 
north  side  of  Lake  Street,  between  Clark  and  La 
Salle.  This  was  successfully  accomplished  by 
the  aid  of  six  thousand  jackscrews,  without  in- 
terruption to  the  business  conducted  in  the  struc- 
tures, or  the  breaking  of  a  single  pane  of  glass 
or  a  yard  of  plaster. 

A  recent  writer  says:  "  His  true  mission  was 
the  creation  of  the  sleeping-car  system.  * 
Nowhere  else  has  the  matter  of  splendid,  ingen- 
ious, artistic  appliances  for  indoor  comfort  been 
carried  to  such  a  pitch  as  in  the  devising  and 
constructing  of  the  palace  car,  of  which  thousands 
have  been  built;  and  each  year,  if  not  each  day 
and  each  car,  brings  a  studied  advance  on  its  pre- 
decessor. *  *  Giving  his  days  to  labor 
and  his  nights  to  restful  travel,  a  man  may  spread 
his  field  of  usefulness  over  a  continent,  without 
the  sapping  of  his  strength  or  the  shortening  of 
his  days. ' ' 

The  idea  of  the  sleeping-car  came  to  him  one 
night  while  observing  his  fellow  train-passengers 
buying  head-rests  from  a  vendor  to  mitigate  the 
discomfort  of  an  all-night  ride.  Soon  after,  he 
took  passage  on  one  of  the  ' '  night  cars ' '  of  the 
time,  and  while  seeking  repose  on  the  comfortless 


shelf  provided,  evolved  the  idea  of  the  modern 
sleeper.  His  knowledge  of  cabinet-making  here 
came  to  his  aid,  and  he  met  and  overcame  many 
difficulties  in  the  preparation  of  a  model.  The 
general  plan  varied  but  little  from  the  present 
form,  having  comfortable  berths  that  could  be  put 
away  during  the  day,  leaving  a  coach  suitable  for 
day  travel.  In  1859  he  secured  from  the  Chicago 
&  Alton  Railway  two  old  passenger  coaches  to 
experiment  with,  and  in  an  unused  railway  shed, 
on  the  present  site  of  the  Union  Passenger  Station 
at  Chicago,  he  worked  to  realize  his  idea,  wholly 
at  his  own  expense.  The  result  was  the  first 
pair  of  real  "sleepers"  in  the  country,  which 
were  put  in  successful  operation  on  the  night 
trains  between  Chicago  and  St.  Louis. 

This  result  did  not  deter  him  from  an  under- 
taking which  he  had  for  some  time  contemplated, 
namely,  a  trip  to  the  gold  fields  of  Colorado. 
After  three  years  of  mining,  he  returned  to  Chi- 
cago very  little  richer  in  purse,  but  with  addi- 
tions to  his  stock  of  experience.  He  now  set  to 
work  to  improve  his  original  design  of  sleeping- 
cars,  which  no  one  had  had  the  shrewdness  to 
take  advantage  of  during  his  absence.  The  cars 
which  he  had  remodeled  were  too  small  and  not 
of  sufficient  strength  to  carry  out  his  ideas,  and 
he  set  to  work  to  construct  one  especially  for  the 
purpose.  The  car  must  be  higher,  the  berths 
wider,  and  more  taste  and  elegance  employed  in 
its  furnishing.  At  an  expenditure  of  one  year's 
time  and  $18,000  in  money,  he  produced  the  first 
real  ' '  palace  car. ' '  It  was  named  the  ' '  Pioneer, ' ' 
and  is  now  stored  in  honorable  retirement  at 
Pullman;  but  it  was  found  to  be  too  high  to  go 
under  some  of  the  viaducts  spanning  the  rail- 
roads, and  the  wide  steps  would  not  pass  the 
platforms  of  many  stations.  It  began  to  look  as 
if  he  must  build  a  railroad  to  accommodate  his 
invention.  Just  at  this  time  the  body  of  the 
martyred  President,  Lincoln,  was  to  be  brought 
from  Washington  to  his  native  state,  and  the 
obstacles  to  the  passage  of  the  ' '  Pioneer ' '  were 
removed,  in  order  that  it  might  be  employed  in 
that  sad  funeral  journey.  It  formed  a  part  of 
the  train  which  took  the  body  to  its  last  resting- 
place  at  Springfield.  From  that  time  the  eastern 


G.  M.  PULLMAN. 


233 


roads  were  open  to  it  and  its  counterparts.  The 
present  wide  use  of  the  Pullman  sleepers,  in 
Europe  as  well  as  in  America,  is  too  well  known 
to  need  comment.  The  history  of  the  Pullman 
Palace  Car  Company  is  almost  as  well  understood, 
though  many  who  enjoy  the  facilities  for  comfort- 
able travel  afforded  by  it  know  little  of  the  labors 
of  its  founder  in  establishing  a  happy  and  desira- 
ble home  for  its  employes  at  Pullman. 

The  history  of  the  great  strike  at  Pullman  and 
among  railway  employes  in  1894  is  also  now  a 
matter  of  history.  During  its  progress  Mr.  Pull- 
man maintained  a  dignified  and  consistent  atti- 
tude, notwithstanding  much  harsh  and  unjust 
criticism;  and  the  course  of  the  Pullman  Com- 
pany in  that  struggle  has  been  generally  vindi- 
cated. 

The  Nation,  in  its  issue  of  November  22,  1894, 
refers  to  the  general  feeling  that  the  existence  of 
the  Government  and  of  society  itself  was  at  stake 
in  this  strike,  and  that  to  give  in  to  the  strikers 
at  that  point,  or  at  any  point,  would  have  been  a 
deadly  blow  to  liberty  and  the  rights  of  property; 
and  says:  "What  account  of  the  circumstances 
accompanying  this  strike,  which  was  not  so  much 
a  strike  as  a  social  convulsion,  can  be  complete 
if  it  leaves  out  the  intense  anxiety  of  the  best 
citizens  lest  a  fatal  surrender  of  principle  should 
be  made?"  *  *  *  "  There  were  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  the  best  American  citizens  who  re- 
joiced with  great  joy  at  that  critical  moment  that 
Mr.  Pullman  was  unyielding;"  and  "Americans 
abroad  anxiously  scanned  the  fragmentary  des- 
patches and  prayed  fervently  that  Mr.  Pullman 
would  at  any  rate  stand  firm." 

Mr.  Pullman  has  been  identified  as  an  initial 
force  with  other  large  enterprises  than  the  Palace 
Car  Company,  of  which  he  is  the  head.  Among 
these  may  be  mentioned  the  Metropolitan  Ele- 
vated Railway  of  New  York,  which  was  con- 
structed in  the  face  of  determined  and  powerful 
opposition.  He  has  taken  an  active  interest  in 
the  project  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  across 
the  isthmus  of  Nicaragua.  Another  work  in 
which  he  rendered  great  public  service  was  in  the 
distribution  of  relief  funds  after  the  great  fire  of 
1871.  At  the  earnest  appeal  of  Mayor  Mason, 


he  accepted  the  charge  of  disbursements  as  trus- 
tee, which  was  accomplished  without  the  loss  of 
a  dollar,  though  to  the  detriment  of  his  private 
interests  through  consumption  of  his  time. 

In  private  life  Mr.  Pullman  is  a  patron  of  art 
and  literature,  and  a  supporter  of  elegance  and 
refinement  in  society.  In  1867  he  married  Miss 
Hattie  A.,  daughter  of  James  Y.  Sanger  (whose 
biography  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work).  Two 
daughters,  who  are  active  in  philanthropic  and 
religious  work,  and  twin  sons  complete  the  fam- 
ily. They  are:  Florence  Sanger;  Harriet  S., 
now  the  wife  of  Francis  J.  Carolan;  George  M., 
Jr. ,  and  Walter  Sanger. 

It  has  been  Mr.  Pullman's  happy  privilege  to 
erect  for  the  Universalist  Society  at  Albion,  New 
York,  a  memorial  of  his  parents,  in  the  form  of 
a  handsome  and  substantial  church  edifice.  It 
is  built  of  dark  brown  Medina  stone,  125x80  feet 
in  ground  dimensions,  with  perfect  furnishings 
and  decorations.  On  the  right  and  left,  as  one 
enters  the  auditorium,  are  placed  the  bronze 
medallion  portraits  of  Mr.  Pullman's  father  and 
mother.  They  were  designed  by  Sculptor  Carl 
Rohl  Smith,  of  Chicago.  They  are  oval,  two 
feet  five  inches  by  one  foot  nine  inches,  and 
framed  in  a  narrow  moulding,  ornamented  with 
pearls.  The  tablet  inscription  is  as  follows: 

Erected  by  a  Son 

as  a 
Memorial  to  His  Father, 

JAMES  LEWIS  PULLMAN, 

In  Recognition  of  His  Love  and  Work  for  the 
Universalist  Church  and  Its  Faith, 

and 
In  Memory  of  His  Mother, 

EMILY  CAROLINE  PULLMAN, 

One  with  Her  Husband  in  the  Joys  and  Hopes  of 

Religion. 
Dedicated  January,  1895. 

It  is  inclosed  in  a  border  composed  of  a  wreath 
of  ivy,  the  symbol  of  affection.  A  beautiful  me- 
morial window  is  in  the  west  transept. 

The  dedicatory  services  were  held  on  the  last 
day  of  January,  1895,  the  sermon  being  delivered 
by  Rev.  R.  H.  Pullman,  of  Baltimore.  At  the 
installation  of  the  pastor,  on  the  same  day,  the 


234 


C.  G.  HUTCHINSON. 


Rev.  James  M.  Pullman,  of  Lynn,  Massachusetts, 
preached  the  installation  sermon,  when  the  Rev. 
Charles  Fluhrer,  D.  D.,  late  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Michigan,was  made  pastor.  Others  who  officiated 


in  the  services  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  H.  Eaton, 
D.  D.,  of  New  York;  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  K.  Mason, 
D.  D.,  of  Buffalo;  and  the  Rev.  Asa  Saxe,  D.  D., 
of  Rochester. 


CHARLES  G.  HUTCHINSON. 


EHARLES  GROVE  HUTCHINSON,  a  pro- 
gressive and  energetic  business  man  of  Chi- 
cago, was  born  in  Williamsville,  Erie  Coun- 
ty, New  York,  January  24,  1847,  and  is  a  son  of 
William  H.  Hutchinson  and  Jane  Grove.  The 
Hutchinson  family,  which  is,  doubtless,  of  Eng- 
lish origin,  located  in  the  Connecticut  Colony  as 
early  as  the  seventeenth  century.  Joseph,  the 
father  of  William  H.  Hutchinson,  served  through 
the  War  of  1812,  as  lieutenant  of  a  company  of 
Connecticut  troops.  He  took  part  in  the  campaign 
about  Fort  Erie  and  Buffalo,  and  the  close  of  the 
war  found  him  stationed  at  Detroit.  Soon  after  the 
cessation  of  hostilities  he  resigned  his  commission 
and  settled  in  western  New  York.  His  sojourn 
in  this  locality  during  the  war  had  revealed  to 
him  its  pre-eminent  advantages  as  an  agricult- 
ural country.  For  many  years  he  was  landlord 
of  the  Mansion  House  at  Williamsville.  His 
death  occurred  in  Chicago  in  1877,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-nine  years. 

William  H.  Hutchinson,  who  was  born  in  Leb- 
anon, Connecticut,  removed  with  his  family  to 
Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1849.  Soon  after  com- 
ing to  this  city  he  began  the  manufacture  of  soda 
water,  which  he  continued  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1880,  at  the  age  of  six- 
ty-five years.  His  place  of  business  was  at  the 
corner  of  Randolph  and  Peoria  Streets,  where  he 
erected  a  large  factory,  which  escaped  destruction 
in  the  Great  Fire.  The  family  residence,  at  the 


corner  of  North  State  and  Erie  Streets,  was  swept 
away  in  that  conflagration.  His  prompt  loan  of 
a  quantity  of  soda-water  boxes,  which  afforded 
admirable  pigeon-holes  at  the  time,  enabled  the 
postoffice  to  resume  the  distribution  of  the  mails 
with  little  delay  after  the  fire.  He  was  ever  a 
public-spirited  citizen  and  an  enthusiastic  ad- 
herent of  the  Democratic  party,  contributing 
much  of  his  time  as  an  organizer  and  worker  for 
its  success,  though  always  refusing  to  be  himself 
a  candidate  for  any  office. 

Mrs.  Jane  (Grove)  Hutchinson  was  born  in  New 
York.  Her  father,  who  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  of  Dutch  descent.  The  name  was 
originally  written  Groff.  While  returning  from 
a  visit  to  Mackinaw,  in  1856,  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
became  a  victim  of  one  of  the  saddest  disasters 
which  ever  occurred  upon  Lake  Michigan,  being 
one  of  the  passengers  of  the  ill-fated  steamer 
"  Niagara,"  which  burned  off  Port  Washington, 
Wisconsin.  She  was  the  mother  of  four  sons: 
Chester  M.,  of  Hawthorne,  Cook  County,  Illi- 
nois; William  A.,  who  is  in  the  United  States 
revenue  service  at  Port  Townsend,  Washington; 
and  George  C.  and  Charles  G.,  both  of  whom  are 
residents  of  Chicago.  William  H.  Hutchinson 
was  married  a  second  time,  to  Miss  Mary  M. 
Warner,  of  Williamsville,  New  York,  and  they 
became  the  parents  of  two  sons,  Douglas  and 
Eugene,  the  latter  of  whom  is  now  deceased,  and 
the  former  resides  in  Chicago. 


G.  M.  ROGERS. 


235 


Charles  G.  Hutchinson  attended  the  Washing- 
ton School  of  Chicago  until  he  was  fifteen  years 
old,  after  which  he  was  a  student  for  four  years  at 
the  Military  Academy  at  Fulton,  Illinois.  After 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War — there  being  no  further 
promise  of  demand  for  military  service — he  re- 
turned to  Chicago,  and  became  identified  with 
his  father's  business,  which  he  continued  to  con- 
duct for  some  time  after  the  death  of  its  founder. 
In  1879,  in  company  with  his  brother,  George  C. 
Hutchinson,  he  established  a  factory  for  the  pro- 
duction of  bottlers'  supplies  and  extracts,  under 
the  firm  name  of  W.  H.  Hutchinson  &  Son,  which 
is  still  retained.  Two  years  later  the  present 
factory  on  Desplaines  Street  was  built,  and  about 
forty  men  are  employed  therein.  The  subject  of 
this  notice  is  also  identified  with  several  other  im- 
portant industries.  He  is  a  stockholder  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Independent  Brewing  Associa- 
tion, and  President  of  the  Chicago  Fountain  Soda 
Water  Company.  He  is  one  of  the  stockholders 


of  the  Coit  Paint  Company  (incorporated) ,  and  is 
the  inventor  and  patentee  of  the  Hutchinson 
Spring  Bottle  Stopper,  a  unique  and  useful  ap- 
pliance, which  has  come  into  almost  universal  use. 
Mr.  Hutchinson  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  being  identified  with  D.  C. 
Cregier  Lodge,  Washington  Chapter,  Chicago 
Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  Oriental  Con- 
sistory and  Medinah  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 
Like  his  father,  he  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat, 
but  never  seeks  public  position.  He  is  an  en- 
thusiastic and  successful  sportsman,  and  makes 
frequent  excursions  to  the  woods  of  Northern 
Wisconsin  for  the  purpose  of  indulging  his  taste 
for  fishing  and  hunting.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Eagle  River  Fishing  and  Shooting  Club,  and  of 
the  Cumberland  Gun  Club;  two  of  the  leading 
sportsmen's  organizations  of  Chicago.  In  all  his 
business  and  social  relations  he  is  deservedly  pop- 
ular, through  his  genial  and  social  disposition 
and  his  kind  and  courteous  manners. 


GEORGE  M.  ROGERS. 


fgjEORGE   MILLS  ROGERS  is  not  only  dis- 

btinguished  as  one  of  the  foremost  attorneys 
and  jurists  of  Chicago,  but  has  given  much 
study  and  careful  attention  to  the  leading  public 
questions  of  the  day.  He  is  well  versed  in  prob- 
lems relating  to  political  economy  and  municipal 
reform,  and  his  views  are  never  narrowed  by  con- 
siderations of  party  policy,  nor  are  his  expressions 
colored  by  mere  personal  or  mercenary  motives. 
His  professional  integrity  and  his  reputation  as 
a  citizen  have  been  equally  well  maintained,  and 
no  modern  record  of  Chicago's  representative  men 
would  be  complete  without  some  notice  of  his 
achievements. 


Mr.  Rogers  was  born  at  Glasgow,  Kentucky, 
on  the  sixteenth  day  of  April,  1854,  and  is  a 
son  of  the  Hon.  John  Gorin  Rogers  and  Arabella 
E.  Crenshaw,  extended  notice  of  whom,  together 
with  the  genealogy  of  their  families,  is  given 
elsewhere  in  this  volume.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  but  four  years  old  when  the  family 
came  to  Chicago.  He  was  educated  at  the  public 
schools  and  the  Chicago  University,  supplement- 
ing the  instruction  so  received  by  a  course  at  Yale 
College,  from  which  famous  institution  he  was 
graduated  in  1876.  He  began  his  legal  studies 
in  the  office  of  Crawford  &  McConnell,  and  con- 
tinued the  same  in  the  Union  College  of  Law — 


236 


G.  M.  ROGERS. 


now  the  law  department  of  the  Northwestern 
University. 

In  1878  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and  began 
practice  in  partnership  with  Samuel  P.  McConnell, 
a  well-known  barrister,  since  one  of  the  Judges  of 
the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County.  During  the 
continuance  of  this  partnership  he  was  chosen  at- 
torney for  the  Citizens'  Association,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  committee  which  prepared  and 
secured  the  passage  of  the  original  reform  city 
election  law.  He  also  personally  prepared  the 
primary  election  law,  which  was  adopted  verbatim 
by  the  committee  of  the  association  having  that 
subject  in  charge,  and  was  presented  to  the  Legis- 
lature for  adoption.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  this 
bill  was  in  charge  of  Senator  Crawford  during  its 
passage,  it  became  known  as  the  ' '  Crawford 
Election  Law." 

His  services  in  behalf  of  this  association  could 
not  fail  to  attract  attention  to  his  signal  ability  as 
a  lawyer  and  a  statesman,  and  caused  his  ap- 
pointment as  Assistant  City  Attorney.  This  po- 
sition he  filled  with  such  credit  that,  in  1886,  he 
was  appointed  City  Prosecuting  Attorney,  but  ow- 
ing to  the  ill-health  of  his  wife,  which  demanded 
that  he  should  travel  with  her,  he  resigned  the 
office  in  April  of  the  following  year.  After  return- 
ing to  the  city  he  was  appointed,  in  November, 
1887,  to  the  office  of  Assistant  United  States  At- 
torney, but  resigned  that  position  in  the  following 
March,  to  re-engage  in  private  law  practice. 
With  this  business  he  has  combined  that  of  real- 
estate  and  loans,  and  his  transactions  have  grown 
to  such  volume  as  to  require  the  assistance  of 
several  clerks. 

On  the  ist  of  February,  1889,  he  was  ap- 
pointed :i  Master  in  Chancery  of  the  Circuit  Court 
of  Cook  County,  and  has  discharged  the  duties  of 
that  judicial  office  with  such  candor  and  im- 
partiality as  to  earn  and  receive  the  approbation 
of  courts,  attorneys  and  litigants. 

In  1893  it  was  deemed  advisable  by  the  leading 
lawyers  of  Chicago  to  take  some  practical  steps 
toward  the  separation  of  judicial  affairs  from  the 
contamination  of  political  interests.  With  this 
end  in  view,  they  placed  in  nomination  eight 
candidates  for  judicial  positions,  who  were  equally 


divided  in  political  affiliations  between  the  two 
leading  parties.  Mr.  Rogers  received  the  highest 
vote  of  any  candidate  before  the  Bar  Association 
— the  total  number  being  1346,  out  of  which  he 
received  1222.  This  nomination  came  to  him 
without  any  solicitation  on  his  part,  and,  although 
the  "party  machine"  which  dominated  the  Dem- 
ocratic convention  prevented  the  endorsement 
of  his  nomination,  which  he  made  no  effort  to 
secure,  his  endorsement  by  the  members  of  the 
Bar,  who  were  influenced  by  no  political  consid- 
erations, but  by  a  desire  to  elevate  the  judiciary 
and  purify  the  administration  of  justice,  was  re- 
garded as  a  far  greater  compliment  than  an  elec- 
tion as  a  candidate  of  any  political  party  could 
have  been. 

On  the  3d  of  June,  1884,  Mr.  Rogers  was  mar- 
ried to  Philippa  Hone  Anthon,  a  daughter  of  the 
late  Hone  Anthon,  of  New  York  City,  whose 
family  is  conspicuous  for  the  large  number  of 
eminent  professional  men  among  its  members. 

Mr.  Rogers  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Iro- 
quois  Club,  and  among  the  other  clubs  with 
which  he  is  prominently  identified  may  be  men- 
tioned the  Illinois,  University  and  Law  Clubs. 
In  the  fall  of  1888  he  united  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  his  father  had 
been  one  of  the  leading  spirits,  and  he  has  repre- 
sented his  lodge  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois. 
In  1882  he  made  a  foreign  tour  in  company  with 
his  brother,  who  was  suffering  from  ill-health, 
and  visited  the  principal  cities  and  other  points 
of  interest  in  Europe.  His  active  mind  and  keen 
observation  could  not  fail  to  make  this  trip  of 
value  to  him  in  broadening  his  experience  and 
extending  his  knowlege  of  men  and  the  affairs  of 
the  world. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  beginning  his  pro- 
fessional career,  he  was  prominent  in  the  political 
counsels  of  the  Democratic  party.  In  1880  he 
was  nominated  as  the  candidate  of  his  party  for 
State  Senator.  His  personal  popularity  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  the  usual  Republican 
majority  of  two  thousand  in  his  district  was  re- 
duced to  eight  hundred.  For  some  time  he  was 
Vice- President  of  the  Cook  County  Democratic 
Committee,  and  labored  diligently,  though  in 


ROBERT  HERVEY. 


237 


vain,  to  bring  about  some  needed  reforms  in  the 
organization  and  methods  of  the  party.  Becom- 
ing displeased  with  the  methods  of  politicians,  he 
became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Iroquois 
Club,  which  was  established  for  the  purpose  of 


exerting  an  influence  in  National  politics,  leaving 
local  strife  to  those  whose  taste  led  in  that  direc- 
tion, and  he  was  elected  one  of  its  first  Vice- 
Presidents. 


ROBERT  HERVEY,  LL.  D. 


ROBERT  HERVEY,  LL.  D.,  who  was  for 
nearly  forty  years  a  familiar  figure  in  Chi- 
cago court  rooms,  was  born  in  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  August  10,  1820.  He  is  a  son  of  Alex- 
ander and  Elizabeth  (Gibson)  Hervey.  The  fa- 
ther was  a  son  of  Robert  Hervey,  who  founded  a 
mercantile  establishment  at  Glasgow,  in  which 
Alexander  succeeded  him.  The  business  career 
of  the  latter  was  cut  short  by  his  death,  when  his 
son  Robert  was  but  eleven  years  of  age.  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Hervey  afterward  came  to  America,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  resided  with  her  son  in 
Chicago.  She  died  at  Brockville,  Canada,  in 
1862. 

Robert  Hervey  was  educated  in  his  native  city, 
first  at  a  grammar  school  and  later  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow.  While  at  this  institution  he 
began  the  study  of  medicine,  and  the  knowledge 
thus  obtained  was  of  great  use  to  him  in  subse- 
quent legal  practice.  With  this  information  he 
often  surprised  courts,  as  well  as  expert  witnesses. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  went  to  Canada, 
intending  to  enter,  into  mercantile  business  in 
connection  with  uncles  who  were  residing  there. 
By  the  advice  of  one  of  the  latter,  however,  he  de- 
cided to  study  law,  and  became  a  student  of  Hen- 
ry Sherwood,  of  Brockville,  afterward  the  Attor- 
ney-General of  Ontario.  When  this  gentleman 
removed  to  Toronto,  Mr.  Hervey  accompanied 
him  to  that  city,  where  he  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice in  1841.  He  then  opened  an  office  at  Otta- 
wa, then  called  By  town,  the  eastern  terminus  of 
the  Rideau  Canal,  which  had  recently  been  com- 
pleted. He  continued  his  legal  business  at  Otta- 


wa until  1852,  when  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  has 
since  been  continuously  in  legal  practice  here. 

He  first  opened  an  office  in  partnership  with 
Buckner  S.  Morris  and  Joseph  P.  Clarkson,  at 
the  southeast  corner  of  Lake  and  Clark  Streets, 
in  the  same  building  where  Judge  Thomas  Drum- 
mond  then  held  United  States  Court.  Mr.  Her- 
vey subsequently  took  James  R.  Hosmer  into 
partnership  for  a  time,  and  in  May,  1858,  became 
a  partner  of  Elliott  Anthony — since  a  distin- 
guished Judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  Mr.  A.  T. 
Gait  was  afterward  admitted  to  this  firm,  and 
for  many  years  the  firm  of  Hervey,  Anthony  & 
Gait  was  one  of  the  best  known  in  Chicago.  Mr. 
Hervey's  early  partner,  Joseph  Clarkson,  was  a 
brother  of  Bishop  Clarkson,  who  was  then  Rector 
of  St.  James'  Church  on  the  North  Side,  and 
afterward  became  Bishop  of  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Hervey  has  practiced  in  all  courts,  from 
Justices'  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  to  which  latter  he  was  admitted  in  1873, 
and  has  been  employed  on  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant criminal  cases  in  Cook  County.  The  first 
of  these  was  in  1855,  when  he  defended  Patrick 
Cunningham,  accused  of  killing  a  policeman. 
This  case  created  a  great  sensation  in  Chicago,  but 
Mr.  Hervey  secured  a  change  of  venue  to  Wau- 
kegan,  where  the  minds  of  the  jurors  were  less 
prejudiced  than  in  Chicago,  and  his  client  was 
sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for  eight  years  for 
manslaughter.  The  adroit  and  skillful  manage- 
ment of  the  defendant's  attorney  saved  the  latter 
from  a  death  sentence  and  established  the  law- 
yer's reputation.  Though  he  has  defended  some 


238 


ROBERT  HERVEY. 


notorious  criminals,  none  of  his  clients  have  ever 
been  executed.  He  was  attorney  for  some  of  the 
aldermen  and  Cook  County  Commissioners  who 
were  accused  of  "boodling,"  and  all  his  clients 
were  acquitted. 

One  of  the  most  important  cases  taken  up  by 
the  firm  of  Hervey  &  Anthony  was  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  consolidation  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena 
Union  Railroad  Company  with  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad  Company,  a  deal  which 
was  manipulated  by  the  directors  of  the  respect- 
ive roads  to  the  dissatisfaction  and  alleged  dis- 
advantage of  the  stockholders  of  the  former  road, 
who  had  not  been  consulted  in  the  matter.  The 
contest  was  finally  settled  by  payment  of  dam- 
ages to  the  plaintiff  stockholders  of  the  Chicago 
&  Galena  Union. 

For  six  years  past  Mr.  Hervey  has  been  afflict- 
ed with  ill-health,  which  has  confined  him  to  his 
house  and  prevented  his  attendance  at  court  or 
social  gatherings.  While  his  health  permitted 
him  to  do  so,  he  attended  the  Episcopal  Church. 
Since  1865  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  having  joined  Blaney  I/odge  at  that 
date.  While  a  young  man  he  joined  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  at  Ottawa,  and  be- 
came the  Noble  Grand  of  Ottawa  Lodge  No.  1 1. 
His  connection  with  this  order  was  abandoned, 
however,  on  his  coming  to  the  United  States, 
though  he  has  often  regretted  this  action.  While 
a  citizen  of  Canada  he  was  quite  an  active  politi- 
cian, and  spent  considerable  of  his  time,  energy 
and  money  in  the  effort  to  help  shape  local  affairs. 
His  uncle,  who  realized  the  futility  of  this  course, 
exacted  a  promise  from  young  Hervey  on  coming 
to  Chicago,  that  he  would  not  mingle  in  the  pol- 
itics of  the  United  States.  This  pledge  has  been 
faithfully  observed,  and  he  did  not  become  a  voter 
until  1887. 

In  1852  he  became  a  member  of  St.  Andrew's 
Society,  an  organization  in  which  he  has  ever 
taken  an  active  interest,  and  has  probably  done 
as  much  for  its  promotion  as  any  single  member. 
He  has  served  as  President  of  the  society  for  six 
terms.  The  object  of  this  association  is  to  relieve 
the  distress  of  the  unfortunate  among  the  coun- 
trymen and  women  of  its  members,  and  it  has 


come  to  be  one  of  the  leading  charitable  institu- 
tions of  the  city.  In  the  winter  of  1865,  during 
which  there  was  much  suffering  to  be  relieved 
among  the  poor  and  unfortunate,  the  funds  of  the 
society  became  exhausted,  and,  at  the  request  of 
his  friends,  Mr.  Hervey  prepared  and  delivered  a 
lecture  on  Robert  Burns  at  the  old  Metropolitan 
Hall.  The  receipts  of  this  lecture  netted  the 
society  about  $450.  This  address  met  such  pop- 
ular approval  that  it  was  afterward  several  times 
repeated  in  other  places.  In  1883  the  faculty  of 
Wesleyan  University  at  Bloomington,  Illinois, 
invited  him  to  deliver  this  lecture,  together  with 
an  address  to  the  graduating  class  of  that  institu- 
tion. This  request  was  cheerfully  complied  with, 
and  as  a  token  of  their  appreciation  of  this  effort 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  the  university.  Another  lecture  on 
Walter  Scott,  which  he  delivered  several  years 
later  at  the  same  hall,  also  netted  the  society  a 
handsome  sum.  In  1865  he  helped  organize  the 
Caledonian  Club,  and  was  chosen  its  first  Chief, 
a  position  which  he  filled  several  years. 

Mr.  Hervey  was  first  married  to  Miss  Maria 
Jones,  daughter  of  Dunham  Jones,  a  farmer  near 
Brockville,  Canada,  who  removed  thither  from 
the  United  States  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
on  account  of  his  loyalty  to  the  British  CrQwn. 
Mrs.  Maria  Hervey  fell  a  victim  to  the  cholera  in 
1854.  In  1861  Mr.  Hervey  was  again  married, 
to  Frances  W.  Smith,  a  native  of  Rochester,  New 
York,  and  his  present  helpmate.  Her  mother, 
who  is  now  Mrs.  T.  B.  Bishop,  is  a  native  of 
England,  and  resides  in  Chicago,  aged  over  eighty 
years.  Mr.  Hervey  has  three  children.  Alexan- 
der is  a  farmer  near  Charleston,  Missouri.  Rob- 
ert is  the  manager  of  an  extensive  lumber  com- 
pany at  Tonawanda,  New  York;  and  Sophia  is 
the  wife  of  Sidney  F.  Jones,  of  Toronto,  Ontario. 
For  twenty-four  years  past  Mr.  Hervey  has  lived 
near  the  lake  shore,  on  Twenty-fifth  Street,  hav- 
ing moved  to  that  location  a  short  time  previous 
to  the  great  Chicago  Fire,  and  thereby  avoided 
becoming  one  of  its  victims.  In  this  pleasant  lo- 
cation his  most  recent  years  have  been  altogether 
spent,  and  here  his  friends  always  receive  a  hearty 
welcome. 


'       'RY 
THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILL!  ">'« 


S.  T.  HINCKLEY. 


SAMUEL  T.  HINCKLEY. 


QAMUEL  TAYLOR  HINCKLEY  was  a  titi- 

/\  zen  of  Chicago  almost  from  its  beginning. 
Q)  His  ancestry  made  him  heir  to  all  the  noble 
qualities  of  the  best  Puritan  stock.  None  of  our 
citizens  have  come  down  through  stock  more  dis- 
tinguished than  the  Hinckley  and  Otis  families  of 
Plymouth  Colony,  from  whom  is  descended  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  (We  regret  that  the  scope 
of  this  work  does  not  permit  a  more  detailed  gen- 
ealogy of  these  families  than  what  follows.) 

Samuel  Hinckley,  the  common  ancestor  of  all 
bearing  the  name  in  this  country,  was  typical  of 
his  race;  honest,  industrious,  prudent;  qualities 
descended  without  interval  to  the  present  times. 
In  the  spring  of  1635,  as  a  "Dissenter,"  he  came 
from  Tenterden,  Kent  County,  England,  sailing 
from  Sandwich  on  the  ship  "Hercules"  (two 
hundred  tons,  Capt.  John  Witherly) ,  bringing  a 
wife,  Sarah,  and  four  children.  Landing  at  Bos- 
ton, he  went  direct  to  Scituate,  where  he  built  a 
house,  "No.  19,"  on  Kent  Street;  removing  to 
Barnstable  in  July,  1640,  where  he  died  October 
31,  1662,  leaving  eleven  children,  three  sons  of 
which  number,  Thomas,  Samuel  and  John,  left 
descendants. 

Thomas,  son  of  the  emigrant,  was  born  in  Eng- 
land about  1618;  came  to  New  England  with  his 
father;  was  Governor  of  Plymouth  Colony  dur- 
ing the  last  eleven  years  of  its  existence  as  a 
Colony,  and  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  (April 
25,  1705,  at  Barnstable,  ae.  87)  one  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  United  Colonies.  Moore's  "Lives  of 
the  Governors  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts' ' 
gives  extended  due  notice  of  his  deeds;  and  a 


record  of  his  public  life  is  found  in  "The  Records 
of  Plymouth  Colony."  Of  his  private  life  little 
is  known;  but  "during  half  a  century  he  held 
offices  of  trust  and  prominence  in  the  Old  Colony, 
and  had  a  controlling  influence  over  the  popular 
mind.  *  *  The  architect  of  his  own  fortunes. 

*  *  Of  good  common-sense  and  sound  judg- 
ment. *  *  Honest  and  honorable.  *  *  In- 
dustrious, persevering  and  self-reliant;  and  the 
best  lawyer  in  the  colony.  *  *  Independent  in 
religion,  tolerant  before  his  times;  he  possessed 
his  faculties  to  the  very  end. ' ' 

Gov.  Thomas  Hinckley  married,  first,  Decem- 
ber 4,  1641,  Mary  Richards,  of  Wey mouth  (whose 
sister  Alice  married  Dept.-Gov.  William  Brad- 
ford), and,  second,  March  16,  1660,  Mary  Glover 
(widow  of  Nathaniel),  who  is  said  to  have  been 
beautiful  in  person  and  the  most  accomplished 
and  intelligent  woman  in  the  colony;  of  which 
excellent  characteristics  abundance  has  come  down 
to  later  generations. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  had  seventeen 
children,  of  whom  fifteen  lived  to  maturity;  only 
three  of  them,  however,  being  sons  to  leave  issue, 
namely:  Samuel,  John  and  Ebenezer,  from  whom 
are  descended  a  very  numerous  and  widely  scat- 
tered posterity.  By  the  second  wife  he  had  nine 
children;  the  fifth  of  whom,  John,  born  June  9, 
1667,  married  Thankful  Trot  May  i,  1691,  had 
six  children:  one  John,  the  youngest,  born  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1701,  married,  September  17,  1726,  Be- 
thiah  Robinson  and  had  eight  children;  the  fifth 
child,  Adino,  born  December  12,  1735,  married 
Mercy  Otis,  had  three  children,  the  youngest  being 


240 


S.  T.  HINCKLEY. 


Solomon,  born  in  Barnstable,  Massachusetts, 
March  3,  1770,  married  Mercy  Otis,  finally  set- 
tled at  Pomfret,  New  York,  where  he  died  De- 
cember 19,  1831;  he  had  eight  children:  George 
Otis  (father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch),  born 
October  30,1795,  married  Sally  Taylor,  of  Buck- 
land,  Massachusetts,  died  in  Sacramento,  where 
he  was  buried;  left  in  Illinois  the  following  chil- 
dren: Samuel  (subject  of  this  sketch),  Mary  O., 
Sarah  E.,  Otis  D.,  Horace  A.,  Harriet  W.  and 
Abner  T. 

The  Barnstable  (Massachusetts)  family  of  Otis 
is  descended  from  Gen.  John  Otis,  born  in  Barn- 
stable,  Devonshire,  England,  in  1581,  came  to 
Hingham,  Massachusetts,  in  1635,  thence  to 
Scituate,  thence  to  Barnstable.  His  son  John 
came  to  Barnstable  with  his  father,  where  he 
left  descendants,  many  of  them  illustrious.  One 
of  his  sons,  Col.  John  Otis,  was  twenty  years 
Representative,  Commander  of  Militia  eighteen 
years,  First  Judge  of  Probate  thirteen  years,  and 
Chief  Justice  of  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  His 
Majesty's  Counsel  twenty-one  years;  left  six  chil- 
dren: two  females  (of  whom  Mercy,  married 
Gen.  James  Warren,  brother  of  Gen.  Joseph,  who 
fell  at  Bunker  Hill)  and  four  males:  First,  Gen. 
John,  King's  Attorney  and  member  of  Coun- 
cil nine  years;  second,  Nathaniel,  Register  of 
Probate  many  years;  third,  Solomon,  Register  of 
Deeds,  County  Treasurer,  etc.,  etc.,  died  1778; 
fourth,  Col.  James,  two  years  Speaker  of  House 
of  Representatives,  Judge  of  Probate,  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  Member  of 
the  Council,  and,  from  the  time  of  departure  of 
General  Gage  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  Massachusetts,  exercised  the  functions  of  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth  by  right  of  sen- 
iority. He  had  ten  children,  the  most  illustrious 
being  James  Otis,  Jr.,  "The  Patriot,"  immortal- 
ized by  opposing  the  "Writs  of  Assistance," 
"The  Stamp  Act,"  etc.,  etc.,  of  whom  United 
States  President,  John  Adams,  said:  "I  have 
been  young  and  now  am  old,  and  I  solemnly  say 
that  I  have  never  known  a  man  whose  love  of 
country  was  more  ardent  or  sincere;  never  one 
who  suffered  so  much;  never  one  whose  services 
for  any  ten  years  of  his  life  were  so  important  to 


the  cause  of  his  country  as  Mr.  Otis'  from   1 760 
to  1770." 

Samuel  was  born  June  12,  1818,  at  Buck- 
land,  Franklin  County,  Massachusetts,  two  hun- 
dred years  after  Thomas  Hinckley,  the  Governor 
of  Plymouth  Colony.  The  maiden  name  of  his 
mother  was  Sarah  Taylor,  from  whom  he  derived 
his  middle  name. 

While  Samuel  was  yet  a  child,  his  parents 
moved  to  Chautauqua  County,  New  York,  a  sec- 
tion of  country  at  that  time  regarded  as  the  far 
West.  In  1836  his  father  turned  his  footsteps 
still  farther  towards  the  outskirts  of  civilization, 
and  finally  selected  Illinois  as  his  future  home. 

The  journey  was  made  with  ox -teams,  by  slow 
stages,  through  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness, 
which  the  red  man  had  but  recently  ceded  by 
treaty.  Young  Hinckley  drove  one  of  the  teams. 
Passing  beyond  Chicago,  his  father  pre-empted  a 
tract  of  land  where  Lake  Forest  now  has  its  pala- 
tial homes  and  college  halls. 

Here  Samuel  began  his  life  work.  The  priva- 
tions and  trials  of  those  pioneer  days  and  years 
were  numerous  and  extremely  severe.  Every- 
thing had  to  be  made;  the  houses  of  logs  hewn 
from  the  forest;  roads  laid  out  and  cut  through 
heavy  timber;  mills  to  be  erected  and  the  wilder- 
ness cleared  away  and  the  ground  made  ready 
for  civilization. 

In  those  far-off  times,  flour  cost  twenty  dollars 
per  barrel,  and  other  things  in  proportion.  The 
Indians,  too,  were  frequent  visitors  at  the  cabins  of 
the  pioneers.  As  a  rule  they  were  harmless,  but 
wanted  all  the  food  there  was  in  sight. 

It  was  in  this  school  of  trial,  and  sometimes  of 
adversity,  that  Samuel  T.  Hinckley  was  educated 
for  his  business  career,  and  thereby  trained  to 
habits  of  industry,  strict  economy  and  perfect  in- 
tegrity— enduring  qualities  which  he  carried  with 
him  through  life. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  this  young  pioneer  came 
to  Chicago  on  a  quest  of  furthering  his  fortunes, 
and  was  most  fortunate  in  coming  to  the  fa- 
vorable notice  of  Captain  (afterwards  General) 
J.  D.  Webster,  at  that  time  Superintendent  of 
Improvements  in  the  local  lake  harbors,  including, 
besides  our  own,  Milwaukee,  St.  Joseph  and 


S.  T.  HINCKLEY. 


241 


! 


Michigan  City.  Such  work  required  absolute 
freedom  from  ice;  so  in  the  spring,  summer  and 
autumn  months,  our  young  hero  toiled  manfully 
on  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  often  overtaxing  his 
strength,  but  never  his  resolution;  the  outcome 
of  it  all  being  that  he  made  a  very  excellent  im- 
pression upon  his  employer,  which  eventually 
ripened  into  a  most  sincere  friendship,  and  con- 
tinued until  the  General's  death. 

In  winter  the  woods  on  every  side  gave  em- 
ployment for  ready,  strong  hands;  for  instance,  he 
sometimes  hired  himself  out  to  cut  timber  and 
split  rails  down  on  the  Fox  River,  a  hard  task  set 
belore  him,  when  it  is  considered  that  he  usually 
had  to  walk  five  or  six  miles  to  and  from  his  work. 

While  engaged  in  this  severe  physical  labor  he 
did  not  neglect  his  mind.  His  early  tastes  in- 
clined him  to  study,  but  his  educational  advan- 
tages in  boyhood  were  of  the  limited  sort  incident 
to  the  development  of  a  new  country.  His  desire 
for  knowledge,  however,  led  him  to  supplement 
this  rudimentary  training  by  night  study,  a  sys- 
tem of  self-education  which  he  followed  for  many 
years,  poring  over  his  books  by  the  light  of  a 
candle  far  into  the  night.  His  course  of  study  was 
comprehensive,  including  those  branches  which 
pertained  to  mechanics,  as  well  as  those  which 
would  fit  him  for  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  social  and  business  life. 

Thus  year  by  year,  he  laid  the  foundation  for 
what  he  afterwards  became,  a  wisely-useful,  highly 
esteemed,  self-made  man.  Though  not  a  civil 
engineer,  at  different  times  he  was  called  upon  to 
perform  many  of  the  duties  which  now-a-days  fall 
to  such  an  office;  though  not  a  graduated  me- 
chanic, yet  he  used  with  deftness  saws  and  tools 
so  fine  that  it  required  the  aid  of  a  microscope  to 
see  clearly  the  component  parts;  nor  yet  an  artist, 
yet  full  of  artistic  sense  and  adaptability,  leaving 
as  an  example  of  much  not  to  be  mentioned  a 
creation  in  mezzotinting,  full  of  feeling,  of  the 
Mother  of  Christ  and  Infant,  esteemed  almost 
above  all  else  by  the  family 

When  the  Chicago  &  Galena  Union  Railroad 
was  under  construction,  Mr.  Hinckley  became  one 
of  the  first  engineers,  and  had  the  honor  of  run- 
ning the  first  engine  out  of  Chicago  across  the 


Fox  River.  It  was  the  old  "Pioneer,"  the  mem- 
ory of  which  is  treasured  by  many  early  Chica- 
goans,  and  which  now  has  a  place  in  the  Field 
Columbian  Museum. 

In  1852  he  went  into  business  for  himself,  as 
grocer  on  Randolph  Street,  subsequently  remov- 
ing to  State  Street,  near  Van  Buren,  where  for 
long  years  he  was  known  as  an  enterprising  mer- 
chant of  unimpeachable  integrity.  In  1865,  in  com- 
pany with  Gail  Borden,  of  New  York  (father  of 
the  enterprise  and  now  of  world-wide  reputation 
in  connection  with  such  product),  and  Messrs. 
Cole  and  Hubbard,  of  Elgin,  Illinois,  he  founded 
the  Elgin  Condensed  Milk  Company,  now  known 
as  the  Illinois  Condensing  Company,  and  con- 
tinued his  active  relations  with  this  concern  until 
his  death. 

Mr.  Hinckley  was  a  brave  man,  not  only  in  the 
sense  of  not  shrinking  from  responsibilities  which 
confronted  his  life  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  more 
worthily  in  the  taking  up  of  dangerous  situations, 
not  necessarily  a  part  of  his  legitimate  cares,  but 
ever  exemplifying  the  "Golden  Rule."  At  the 
first  season  of  the  cholera,  when  many  sufferers 
were  succumbing  to  the  fell  disease,  for  which 
there  seemed  no  remedy,  when  persons  who  were 
physically  able  were  fleeing  the  place  as  from  a 
plague,  he  stayed  calmly  at  the  post  of  danger, 
down  by  the  river,  nursing,  praying  and  officiat- 
ing at  the  last  sad  rites,  not  himself  falling  a  vic- 
tim, as  God  sometimes  requires  should  happen, 
but  coming  out  of  the  ordeal  chastened  and  up- 
lifted in  soul. 

The  son  of  parents  who  believed  the  holding  of 
human  beings  in  bondage  to  be  wrong,  if  not 
positively  sinful,  he  was  strongly  anti-slavery  in 
his  convictions.  In  early  life  his  sympathies  were 
with  the  Whigs,  but  after  the  formation  of  the 
Republican  party,  his  affiliations  were  with  that 
organization.  While  firm  in  his  political  faith,  he 
took  no  active  part  in  politics,  contenting  himself 
with  casting  his  ballot  for  the  ticket  of  his  choice. 

But  the  keynote  of  his  long,  noble  life  is  to  be 
found  in  his  religion.  A  practical,  vivifying, 
Godly  and  charitable  religion:  not  content  in  lip 
service  of  a  Sunday  morning,  but  celebrating  seven 
days  of  the  week  in  actions  showing  how  man's 


242 


S.  T.  HINCKLEY. 


sphere,  clearly  fead,  stretches  nigh  to  the  very 
throne  of  God. 

For  a  half  century  he  was  identified  with  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  our  city,  ready  at 
all  times  to  assist  in  assuming  disbursements  and 
advancing  moral  well-being,  and  when  the  church 
undertook  the  establishment  of  mission  Sunday- 
schools  he  became  one  of  the  active  workers  in 
the  old  Foster  Mission,  never  losing  interest  in 
works  of  piety  and  true  benevolence.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Humane  Society  and  Secretary  ot 
the  one  at  Elgin  for  some  ten  years. 

Mr.  Hinckley  never  married.  His  interests 
were  centered  on  home,  his  mother  especially  re- 
ceiving more  than  the  usual  share  of  affection, 
and  he  cared  for  her  most  tenderly  while  she  lived. 
This  love  for  kindred  waxed  with  his  increasing 
years,  and  was  as  ardent  and  constant  to  the  last, 
as  when  they  were  togethe*-  under  the  old  roof- 
tree  in  childhood. 

None  the  less  he  loved  his  church  and  country; 
but  better  than  all  else,  he  loved  his  God.  His 
benevolence  was  beautiful  and  Christlike.  Emu- 
lating the  example  of  his  Saviour,  he  cherished 
the  young  with  a  special  affection,  and  into  what- 
ever home  he  entered  as  friend  or  guest,  the  little 
ones  became  at  once  his  fast  friends. 

This  lover  of  the  young  supported  two  mission- 
aries of  the  American  Sunday-school  Union,  who 
gave  their  whole  time  to  caring  for  destitute  chil- 
dren. The  reports  received  from  them  were  very 
gratifying  to  him,  from  the  fact  that  so  many  were 
being  saved  from  lives  of  sin  and  ignorance.  The 
non-sectarian  character  of  the  work  was  particu- 
larly pleasing. 

His  personal  expenditures  were  very  moderate. 
He  ate,  dressed  and  took  his  enjoyment  modestly 
and  inexpensively.  His  extravagances  were  his 
gifts  to  others.  His  benefactions  were  not  con- 
fined in  a  narrow  channel,  he  ever  remembered 
the  poor,  the  sick  and  the  unfortunate,  and  had  a 
heart  overflowing  with  kindliness  and  charity. 

He  gave  with  a  liberal  hand  to  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  the  American  Sunday- 
school  Union,  Mr.  Moody's  Bible  Institute,  the 
Pacific  Garden  Mission,  and  many  other  institu- 
tions. His  benefactions  were  unostentatious. 


He  was  exact  in  his  business,  kind  to  all  who 
served  him,  and  his  employes  loved  him  as  a  friend. 
It  was  said  by  one  who  knew  him  intimately 
for  many  years,  and  who  is  himself  noted  for  his 
correct  judgment  of  men,  that  "he  was  one  of 
Nature's  noblemen,"  careful  and  considerate  in 
his  language  and  action,  never  wilfully  saying  or 
doing  anything  to  wound  the  feelings  of  another. 
In  private  life  he  exemplified  the  most  generous 
and  unselfish  traits  of  character.  An  attractive 
and  interesting  conversationalist,  his  utterances 
were  chaste  and  dignified;  any  unbecoming  jest, 
or  any  departure  from  purity  in  thought  or  ex- 
pression he  treated  with  silent  contempt;  yet  he 
was  one  of  the  most  companionable  of  men.  He 
had  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  and  enjoyed  a  witty 
saying  or  repartee  with  great  pleasure,  which  was 
more  expressed  by  the  smile  in  his  eyes  than  by 
words,  and  at  the  same  time  showing  the  most 
gentle  consideration  for  anyone  who  might  be  the 
object  of  merriment  in  social  conversation. 

He  maintained  this  happy  trait  of  a  genial  heart 
to  the  last,  even  when  suffering  great  pain. 
Though  an  invalid  for  many  years,  he  kept  active 
in  business  till  his  final  sickness,  and  the  fatal 
termination  of  his  disease,  September  5,  1894, 
after  a  short  illness,  was  a  great  sorrow  and  shock 
to  his  family  and  many  friends. 

A  glowing,  but  richly-merited  tribute  was  paid 
to  Mr.  Hinckley's  character  by  his  pastor,  Rev. 
Dr.  John  H.  Barrows,  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church.  Among  other  things,  Doctor  Barrows 
said:  "He  made  himself  the  friend  and  helper  of 
those  in  his  employ  or  associated  with  him. 
Much  might  be  said  of  his  unselfish  and  constant 
benevolence.  He  regarded  himself  as  a  steward 
indeed,  and  he  was  a  faithful  steward.  How  con- 
stantly he  remembered  the  old  First  Church  and 
its  benevolent  causes,  is  well  and  gratefully  known 
to  some  of  us.  We  have  lost  one  of  our  choicest 
members  from  this  church,  and  made  one  of  our 
choicest  additions  to  the  ranks  of  the  redeemed 
on  high. ' ' 

"His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 

So  mixed  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up, 

And  say  to  all  the  world 

•This  was  a  man.1" 


S.  G.  SPAULDING. 


243 


SAMUEL  G.  SPAULDING. 


(SAMUEL  GRAY  SPAULDING  The  name 
?\  Spalding,  like  other  names  ending  in  "ing," 
Q)  is  one  of  the  earlier  surnames  borne  by  Eng- 
lish- speaking  people.  The  Spaldings  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  have  been  fortunate  in  having  the  gen- 
ealogical history  of  the  family  written  by  Samuel 
J.  Spalding,  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  from 
which  we  learn  many  facts  relative  to  its  growth 
and  progress. 

John  de  Spalding  (Burgess  of  Lenn)  was  a  pur- 
chaser of  lands  of  about  the  fifty-first  year  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  III.  (A.  D.  1267).  Other  records 
of  land  transfers  of  very  ancient  date  occur. 

Edward  Spalding  was  the  first  of  the  family  of 
whom  we  have  any  knowledge,  and  he  came  to 
America  in  the  earliest  years  of  the  Massachusetts 
Colony,  probably  between  1630  and  1633.  He 
first  appears  in  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  where 
his  wife,  Margaret,  and  his  daughter,  Grace, 
died,  the  former  in  1640,  and  the  latter  in  1643. 
He  was  made  a  Freeman  May  13,  1640,  and  was 
one  of  the  settlers  of  Chelmsford,  in  the  same 
colony,  which  town  was  incorporated  in  1655.  He 
was  a  Selectman  in  1654,  1656,  1660-61,  and  Sur- 
veyor of  Highways  in  1663.  In  1664  the  town 
records  made  note  of  his  fine  orchard.  His  fam- 
ily has  been  ably  represented  in  every  war  of  the 
Colonies  and  United  States  (see  sketch  of  Will- 
iam A.  Spalding).  He  died  February  26,  1670. 

Samuel  Brown  Spaulding,  the  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  was  descended  from  Edward 
Spalding,  through  Andrew  (2),  Andrew  (3), 
James  (4),  Silas  (5).  He  was  born  January  27, 
1789,  in  Granville,  New  York,  and  later  resided 
at  Brandon,  Vermont,  where  he  was  a  prominent 
merchant.  His  first  wife  was  Anna  Gray,  whom 
he  married  October  2,  1814.  She  was  born  Jan- 
uary 2,  1790,  in  Rutland,  Vermont,  and  died 


July  23,  1841,  in  Brandon.  The  second  wife  was 
Lucy  Lyon,  the  wedding  occurring  November 
18,  1841.  She  was  born  November  25,  1796, 
in  Brandon.  The  children  of  Samuel  B.  and 
Anna  Spaulding  were  four,  Samuel  G.  being 
the  third.  He  was  born  October  26,  1822,  at 
Brandon,  Vermont. 

After  taking  a  course  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  town,  he  learned  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. When  only  about  twelve  years  of  age  he 
became  a  clerk  in  a  store  in  Brandon.  Some 
years  later,  while  still  a  youth,  he  went  to  Clare- 
mont,  New  Hampshire,  leaving  home  with  but 
twenty-five  cents  in  his  pocket.  He  engaged  in 
the  sale  of  books,  and  as  a  compensation  for  his 
services  received  $12  per  month,  out  of  which  he 
paid  all  his  expenses. 

His  next  employment  was  as  commercial  trav- 
eler for  a  book  house  in  Vermont,  and  in  that 
line  he  did  good  work,  obtained  good  wages  and 
saved  something  from  his  earnings.  With  his 
little  capital  he  engaged  in  supplying  notions  to 
wholesale  dealers  in  the  State  of  Vermont.  In 
this  business  he  was  successful,  but,  on  account 
of  poor  health,  he  was  obliged  to  dispose  of  his 
business,  and  James  Fisk,  afterwards  celebrated 
as  a  Wall  Street  broker,  became  the  purchaser. 
Two  weeks  after  this  sale  Mr.  Spaulding  was  on 
his  way  to  the  West,  where  he  expected  to  find  a 
more  congenial  climate  and  better  commercial 
prospects. 

In  April,  1857,  he  arrived  at  Milwaukee,  by 
way  of  the  Lakes.  He  entered  into  partnership 
with  a  man  who  was  engaged  in  the  tobacco 
trade,  but  soon  found  that  he  had  obtained  some 
knowledge  at  the  cost  of  the  capital  invested,  the 
volume  of  profits  not  being  what  had  been  repre- 
sented. Making  the  best  of  the  situation,  Mr. 


244 


S.  G.  SPAULDING. 


Spaulding  became  sole  proprietor  of  the  little 
store,  and  then  put  his  energies  to  work  to  build 
up  a  trade.  In  the  course  of  time  he  added  a 
wholesale  feature  and,  becoming  his  own  solici- 
tor, he  built  up  a  fine  wholesale  business  in  the 
Northwest.  In  those  days  the  railroad  ran  no 
farther  than  La  Crosse,  and  thence  to  St.  Paul 
the  journey  was  made  by  boat. 

As  Milwaukee  did  not  afford  the  advantages 
which  his  growing  trade  required,  Mr.  Spaulding 
removed  to  Chicago  in  November,  1865,  and 
with  Mr.  Levi  Merrick,  of  Milwaukee,  formed  the 
firm  of  Spaulding  &  Merrick,  and  carried  on  the 
wholesale  tobacco  business.  Manufacturing  was 
a  prominent  feature  of  the  industry,  and  in  a 
short  time  the  business  was  so  arranged  that  Mr. 
Spaulding  traveled  for  the  house,  while  Mr.  Mer- 
rick had  charge  of  the  manufacture.  The  volume 
of  their  transactions  rapidly  increased,  and  in 
1871  the  number  of  persons  employed  by  the 
firm  was  between  two  and  three  hundred,  but  the 
great  fire  of  that  year  swept  everything  the  firm 
had  out  of  existence. 

Returning  home,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Mer- 
rick, father  of  his  partner,  after  spending  all  the 
fatal  night  of  the  beginning  of  the  conflagration 
in  observing  its  progress,  Mr.  Spaulding  announ- 
ced to  his  wife,  "All  I  had  is  gone  up  in  smoke." 
To  this  she  bravely  replied,  "We  have  our 
health  and  our  hands."  Mr.  Merrick's comment 
on  this  reply  was,  '  'There  is  good  cheer  for  you. ' ' 
The  situation  was  discussed,  and  the  partners  re- 
solved to  start  anew  in  business.  Friends  who 
admired  their  pluck  and  energy  offered  plenty  of 
financial  assistance.  Out  of  $36,000  insurance, 
they  afterwards  received  $13,000.  The  three- 
story  factory  at  Nos.  9  to  1 5  River  Street  was 
replaced  by  another,  and  a  greater  number  of  per- 
sons employed.  The  history  of  the  firm  from 
this  on  is  a  record  of  success.  Wise  manage- 
ment and  hard  work  built  up  a  great  business, 
the  second  largest  in  their  line  in  the  United 
States.  In  1889  Mr.  Spaulding  sold  his  interest, 
but  the  business  is  still  conducted  under  the  old 
name. 

Samuel  G.  Spaulding  was  married  at  St.  Al- 
bans,  Vermont,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  March,  1857, 


to  Miss  Marcia  Isabel  Hawkins.  She  was  born 
July  17,  1828,  at  Reading,  Vermont,  and  is  a 
descendant  of  William  Adrian  Hawkins,  who 
was  born  January  18,  1742,  and  died  at  Reading, 
Vermont,  in  1817.  His  grandfather  was  a  na- 
tive of  Dublin,  Ireland,  and  married  an  English 
woman.  He  emigrated  to  Bordeaux,  France, 
where  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter,  were 
born.  After  his  death  his  widow  brought  the 
children  to  America.  A  son  of  the  son,  William 
Adrian  Hawkins,  became  a  tailor.  He  went  to 
Wilton,  New  Hampshire,  a  short  time  before  the 
Revolution,  and  resided  there  until  1789,  when  he 
moved  to  Reading,  Vermont.  He  enlisted,  April 
23>  J775.  in  Captain  Walker's  company  of  Col. 
James  Reed's  regiment  New  Hampshire  troops. 
He  rose  through  the  grades  of  first  sergeant,  en- 
sign and  lieutenant  to  the  rank  of  captain.  He 
was  made  ensign  for  gallant  conduct  at  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill.  He  served  in  the  war  seven 
years,  and  was  paid  off  in  the  almost  worthless  cur- 
rency of  those  days.  Forty  bushels  of  rye  was 
the  most  valuable  part  of  the  pay  he  received  for 
his  services.  He  married  Abigail,  daughter  of 
John  and  Abigail  (Livermore)  Keyes,  who  was 
born  at  Northborough,  Massachusetts,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1743,  and  died  at  Reading,  Vermont,  in 
1813.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children. 
William  Lewis,  the  fourth  child,  was  born  at 
Northborough,  Massachusetts,  June  14,  1773, 
and  died  at  Reading,  Vermont,  November  26, 
1859.  He  married  Anna  Townsend,  and  they 
were  the  parents  of  seven  children.  He  was  a 
successful  teacher,  and  taught  out  schools  that 
others  failed  to  govern.  He  held  town  offices, 
and  was  Postmaster  at  the  time  of  his  death,  being 
then  eighty-seven  years  old  and  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  his  mental  faculties. 

Lewis,  eldest  child  of  William  L.  and  Anna 
Hawkins,  was  born  at  Reading,  January  23, 
1798,  and  died  at  Sherburne,  Vermont,  April  29, 
1875.  He  was  a  manufacturer  and  dealer  in 
boots,  shoes,  saddles  and  harness,  and  also  dealt 
in  horses,  which  he  sold  at  Boston.  He  married 
Aliva  Amsden,  and  they  were  the  parents  of 
three  children,  of  whom  Marcia  is  the  youngest. 

Mr.   and  Mrs.  Spaulding  were  the  parents  of 


E.  A.  FILKINS. 


245 


two  children:  Mabel,  the  wife  of  Charles  Fox- 
well,  junior;  and  Howard  Henry  Spaulding,  who 
now  occupies  a  position  with  the  house  of  Spauld- 
ing &  Company,  jewelers  of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Fox- 
well  has  one  child,  Frances.  H.  H.  Spaulding 
married  Florence  Baker,  and  has  two  children, 
Lester  and  Howard,  Jr. 

Samuel  G.  Spaulding  died  on  the  fifth  day  of 
September,  1893,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years. 
Starting  with  but  twenty-five  cents  in  his  pocket, 
he  worked  his  way  from  poverty  to  a  command- 
ing position  in  the  line  in  which  he  spent  most 


of  his  life,  and  in  which  he  took  a  great  interest. 
He  attended  all  the  conventions  of  the  tobacco 
manufacturers,  and  his  views  had  great  influence 
among  his  associates  in  the  trade.  His  geniality 
and  scrupulous  honesty  and  business  tact  were 
the  foundation  stones  upon  which  his  success  was 
built.  Mr.  W.  D.  Spalding,  in  speaking  of  him 
said:  "I  knew  him  over  thirty  years.  I  never  met 
a  pleasanter  man  than  Mr.  Spaulding.  He  was 
genial,  large-hearted  and  a  true  gentleman,  and 
made  friends  with  every  one  he  met." 


EDWARD  A.  FILKINS. 


f"  DWARD  AUGUSTUS  FILKINS,  a  veteran 
re)  of  the  great  American  Civil  War,  has  the 
I  honor  of  being  a  native  of  Cook  County, 
his  birth  having  occurred  in  the  village  of  Wheel- 
ing, on  the  29th  day  of  May,  1842.  He  is  a  son 
of  Joseph  Filkins  and  Clarissa  Johnson,  who  were 
among  the  earliest  and  most  esteemed  pioneers 
of  northern  Illinois.  Their  ancestors  included 
some  of  the  most  loyal  citizens,  and  members  of 
the  Johnson  and  Filkins  families  have  partici- 
pated in  every  war  of  the  Nation. 

Joseph  Filkins  was  born  at  Berne,  Albany 
County,  New  York.  His  father's  name  was 
Richard,  and  his  grandfather,  Isaac  Filkins,  was 
one  of  the  earliest  English  colonists  of  Long 
Island.  He  came  from  Cornwall,  England,  and 
settled  within  the  present  limits  of  the  city  of 
Brooklyn  in  1665.  He  was  a  farmer  and  stock- 
man by  occupation,  and  was  accompanied  to  this 
country  by  two  of  his  brothers,  one  of  whom  was 
named  Richard.  Col.  Henry  Filkins,  a  descend- 
ant of  the  last-mentioned,  commanded  a  regiment 
of  Continental  troops  during  the  Revolution  and, 
upon  the  organization  of  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, in  recognition  of  his  services,  he  was 


appointed  the  first  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New 
York  by  President  Washington. 

Richard  Filkins,  son  of  Isaac,  removed  while  a 
young  man  to  Albany  County,  where  he  became  a 
prominent  farmer,  and  married  a  Miss  Crabbe,  of 
Troy.  Their  son,  Joseph  Filkins,  came  West, 
by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes,  in  1835,  and,  on  land- 
ing from  a  sailing-vessel  at  Fort  Dearborn,  pro- 
ceeded to  Wheeling  and  pre-empted  a  large  tract 
of  land  at  that  point.  He  was  engaged  in  agri- 
culture for  the  next  fifteen  years,  and  in  1837 
built  the  first  frame  house  on  the  stage  line  be- 
tween Chicago  and  Milwaukee.  This  house  is 
still  standing,  and  forms  a  prominent  landmark 
in  the  village  of  Wheeling.  In  1850  he  moved  to 
Chicago,  and,  in  company  with  his  son-in-law, 
embarked  in  the  wholesale  hardware  trade.  The 
name  of  the  firm  was  Filkins  &  Runyon,  and 
their  place  of  business  was  at  the  corner  of  Lake 
and  Wells  Streets  (the  latter  now  known  as  Fifth 
Avenue) .  His  death  occurred  in  Chicago,  No- 
vember 12,  1857,  at  the  age  of  fifty -two  years. 
He  was  a  stanch  Democrat,  and  was  well  known 
as  a  public-spirited  and  progressive  citizen.  In 
1842  he  was  elected  Collector  of  Cook  County, 


246 


E.  A.   FILKINS. 


which  at  that  time  included  several  adjacent 
counties.  He  was  a  member  of  the  County  Board 
of  Supervisors,  and  a  member  of  the  building 
committee  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the 
blue  stone  court  house,  being  chairman  of  the 
board  at  the  time  the  building  was  completed. 

Mrs.  Clarissa  Filkins  was  born  at  Hoosac  Falls, 
New  York,  in  October,  1806.  She  made  the 
journey  from  New  York  to  Cook  County  in  a 
wagon,  accompanying  friends  who  came  in  1836. 
She  brought  her  eldest  child,  who  was  then  an 
infant,  on  this  journey,  and  joined  her  husband 
at  Wheeling,  where  he  had  erected  a  log  dwell- 
ing before  her  arrival.  This  child  was  Elizabeth, 
who  became  the  wife  of  I.  L.  Runyon,  and  is 
now  deceased.  Mrs.  Filkins  was  a  daughter  of 
Capt.  Rufus  Johnson,  who  commanded  a  com- 
pany of  mounted  New  York  troops  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  His  ancestors  accompanied  Roger 
Williams  in  founding  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island. 
He  was  born  in  that  State,  and  removed  while  a 
young  man  to  New  York,  and  married  Sarah 
Gardner,  a  native  of  Bennington,  in  Vermont, 
whose  father,  Samuel  Gardner,  lost  his  life  in  the 
famous  battle  at  that  place. 

Edward  A.  Filkins  was  the  only  child  of  his 
parents  besides  the  sister  previously  mentioned. 
After  completing  the  course  in  the  Chicago  pub- 
lic schools,  he  attended  a  preparatory  school  at 
New  Haven,  Connecticut.  Owing  to  his  father's 
failing  health,  he  abandoned  the  intention  of  en- 
tering Yale  College,  and  returned  to  Chicago. 
He  began  his  business  career  as  salesman  in  a 
wholesale  dry-goods  store,  in  which  employment 
he  continued  until  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
States.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  offer  his  serv- 
ices in  defense  of  the  Union,  and  enlisted  on  the 
igth  of  April,  1861,  as  a  member  of  Company  A, 
Chicago  Zouaves,  an  organization  which  is  en- 
titled to  much  credit  for  having  captured  and 
held  the  important  strategic  point  of  Cairo  at 
the  very  outset  of  the  conflict.  On  the  i  jth  of 
June,  1861,  he  was  mustered  into  the  Nineteenth 
Regiment,  Illinois  Infantry,  and  was  soon  after- 
wards promoted  to  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant 
of  Company  C.  He  took  part  in  engagements  at 


Green  River  and  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  and 
was  among  the  Union  troops  that  entered  the  city 
of  Nashville.  He  afterwards  participated  in  the 
engagements  of  McMinnville  and  Chattanooga, 
in  1862,  the  two-weeks  campaign  at  Stone  River, 
and  the  bloody  battle  at  Chickamauga  and  Look- 
out Mountain.  In  the  spring  of  1864  he  was  de- 
tailed to  fill  a  position  in  the  Quartermaster's  De- 
partment at  Knoxville  and  Loudon,  Tennessee. 
In  June  of  the  same  year  he  was  sent  to  Chicago 
in  the  same  capacity,  and  continued  to  serve  un- 
til October,  1865,  when  he  was  honorably  dis- 
charged. Although  he  spent  four  and  one-half 
years  in  the  service  of  the  Government,  he  never 
received  a  dollar  of  bounty,  and  has  never  applied 
for  a  pension. 

In  1866  he  was  appointed  a  clerk  of  the  Board 
of  Public  Works  of  Chicago,  and  continued  to 
hold  clerical  positions  in  the  city  or  county  for 
the  next  twenty-six  years.  He  served  success- 
ively in  the  office  of  the  County  Clerk,  Circuit 
Court,  as  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  County  Com- 
missioners, and  from  1882  to  1892  was  chancery 
record  writer  of  the  Superior  Court.  From  1872 
to  1877  he  filled  a  position  in  the  United  States 
Revenue  service  in  Chicago,  and  was  afterward 
for  a  time  confidential  secretary  of  Mayor  Heath. 
Since  1893  he  has  been  manager  of  the  Chicago 
interests  of  a  firm  of  commission  merchants  in 
San  Francisco,  California. 

On  the  tenth  of  October,  1865,  Mr.  Filkins  was 
married  to  Sadie  H.  Copelin,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Julia  Copelin,  who  now  reside  at  Winnetka. 
Mrs.  Filkins  was  born  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
her  father  being  at  that  time  attached  to  the  med- 
ical corps  of  the  British  army  in  that  colony. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Filkins  are  the  parents  of  three 
children:  Edward  B.,  Claire  and  Arthur  J.  The 
family  attends  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  Mr. 
Filkins  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  and  the  Illinois  Society,  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Since  attaining  his  major- 
ity he  has  been  a  steadfast  Republican.  His  life 
has  been  a  busy  one,  most  of  which  was  devoted 
to  the  public  service,  in  either  a  civil  or  military 
capacity. 


W.  J.  GOUDY. 


247 


WILLIAM  J.  GOUDY. 


pCJlLLIAM  JUDD  GOUDY.  "Like  father, 
\  A  I  like  son"  is  a  sentiment  often  syllabled, 
Y  Y  with  little  or  no  apparent  sense;  but  in  su- 
perlative meaning  may  it  be  borne  in  mind  while 
considering  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  William 
Judd  Goudy. 

Mr.  Goudy,  son  of  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished jurists  who  has  ever  lived  in  our  midst 
(the  Hon.  William  Charles  Goudy — see  sketch  in 
this  volume),  was  born  in  Chicago,  June  7, 1864. 
Intended  by  his  parent  for  a  successor  in  his  own 
professional  labors,  his  studies  were  very  care- 
fully and  classically  planned  in  Mr.  Barnes'  local 
School  for  Boys;  after  which  he  was  finally  fitted 
to  enter  Princeton  College  by  a  proficient  private 
tutor.  He  entered  Princeton  in  the  fall  of  1882, 
in  the  Class  of '  86,  at  which  latter  time  he  would 
have  been  entitled  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts. 

Filled  to  overflowing  with  that  pent-up  energy 
which  craves  useful  and  fame-bringing  exercise 
(so  characteristic  of  the  young  men  of  our  time), 
he  could  not  remain  at  literary  studies  beyond 
the  end  of  his  third,  the  junior,  year.  At  this 
time,  on  his  return  home  from  college,  he  began 
reading  law  in  the  office  of  his  father,  attending 
lectures  the  while  at  the  Chicago  Law  School, 
from  which  institution,  in  1887,  he  took  a  de- 
gree, which  entitled  him  to  practice  in  the  Illinois 
State  Courts. 

His  first  business  affiliations  was  as  junior 
partner  of  the  firm  of  Goudy,  Green  &  Goudy,  of 
which  his  honored  father  was  the  senior  member. 
Their  office  was  located  at  No.  161  LaSalle 


Street,  where  they  made  a  specialty  of  corpora- 
tion law,  as  well  as  of  that  branch  relating  to 
real  property,  Mr.  Goudy,  ST.,  being  for  a  long 
period  General  Counsel  for  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western Railway. 

In  1892  William  J.  Goudy  withdrew  from  said 
firm  in  order  to  form  with  a  friend  in  business  life, 
Mr.  Robert  F.  Shanklin,  a  new  firm,  under  the 
style  of  Goudy  &  Shanklin,  whose  office,  situated 
at  No.  84  La  Salle  Street,  was  the  scene  of  many 
a  transaction  in  the  mortgage  brokers'  arena. 

If  it  be  a  lamentable  truth  that  "Death  loves  a 
shining  mark,"  one  cannot  say  further  than  this, 
that  the  untimely  fall  of  precociously  ambitious 
young  manhood  certainly  strikes  home  with  un- 
wonted awfulness.  The  gloomy  sequel  of  this 
remorseless  stroke  (saddest  view  of  all)  is  the  not 
infrequent  doubt  thereby  brought  into  being 
whether  all  things,  even  the  termination  of  ex- 
istence under  circumstances  most  harrowing,  real- 
ly do  inflexibly  happen  for  the  best.  Alas,  in  the 
sacred  presence  of  death  we  can  only  bow,  if 
possible,  with  resignation  to  the  Supreme,  "As 
Godwills!" 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  spring  of  1894  Mr. 
Goudy,  who  had  been  remarkably  free  in  youth 
from  juvenile  diseases,  was  stricken,  together 
with  his  little  girl,  by  one  of  the  illnesses  which 
usually  befall  earlier  years  of  life.  His  daughter 
recovered,  but  the  parent,  as  frequently  occurs  in 
similar  kinds  of  affliction,  was,  after  some  weeks 
of  painful  malady,  hurried  into  an  acute  pneu- 
monial  complication,  whose  end  became  speedily 
fatal  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  May  26,  1894. 


248 


W.  J.  GOUDY. 


The  Rev.  Mr.  Tompkins,  pastor  of  St.  James' 
Episcopal  Church,  of  which  the  deceased  had 
been  a  faithful  attendant,  officiated  at  the  obse- 
quies, after  which  the  mortal  body  was  borne  to 
Graceland  Cemetery,  there  to  rest  beside  the  de- 
parted form  of  his  beloved  father,  who  only  the 
preceding  spring  had  been  called  away  in  even 
more  tragic  suddenness. 

True  to  intelligent  family  tradition,  Mr.  Goudy 
was  an  unswerving  Democrat  in  politics,  in  which 
field  he  took  a  very  active  and  influential  interest, 
not,  however,  in  the  way  of  personal  glory  and 
preferment,  but  as  advocate  and  furtherer  of  wise 
party  actions  and  the  bringing  into  power  of  the 
best  citizenship.  Long  time  a  member  of  the 
Waubansee  Club,  a  very  conspicuous  political  or- 
ganization, he  became  one  of  its  Directors;  and 
finally,  at  about  the  time  of  his  death,  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  responsible  position  of  its  President. 
There  has  never  been  any  division  of  opinion  on 
the  part  of  those  informed  as  to  how  well  he  per- 
formed the  exacting  functions  of  this  office.  He 
was  likewise  a  member  of  the  Union,  Washing- 
ton Park  and  University  Clubs,  and  the  Chicago 
Athletic  and  Chicago  Bar  Associations. 

In  personal  and  mental  characteristics  there 
was  a  marked  resemblance  to  his  illustrious  fa- 
ther, although,  probably  owing  to  absence  of 
hardships  in  earlier  years,  without  some  of  the 
rugged  lines  of  the  elder.  Nothing  could  be 
more  touching  than  the  fondness  of  these  two 
men,  father  and  son,  for  each  other.  Despite 
the  disparity  of  ages,  it  was  a  modern  exemplifi- 
cation of  the  almost  fabulous  attachment  of  Da- 
mon and  Pythias  of  ancient  times.  All  their 
plans,  thoughts  and  nobler  emotions  were  enjoyed 
along  the  unvarying  higher  level  together.  In 
truth,  so  profound  was  this  silent  bond  of  union, 
that  one  almost  finds  himself  pondering,  Was  not 
this  unseen  paternal  soul  force,  which  the  year 
previous  had  gone  to  his  Maker,  exercising,  un- 
known to  us  mortals,  its  inalienable  birthright 
with  a  potency  which  drew  his  son  so  untimely 
to  himself  again? 

As  illustrating  the  fondness  of  the  parent,  it  is 
related  that  the  father,  soon  after  the  time  of  his 
son's  marriage,  built  and  gave  him  a  magnificent 


stone  mansion,  No.  46  Astor  Place,  at  the  corner 
of  Goethe  Street,  and  diagonally  across  the  street 
from  a  small  private  park  running  by  the  side  of 
the  father's  mansion  home,  that  they  might  al- 
ways be  close  beside  each  other,  actually  within 
full  view  and  hailing  distance  while  seated  on 
their  individual  premises.  There  is  no  more 
complete  residence  to  be  found  in  our  city  of 
choice  homes  than  this,  which  was  so  generously 
donated. 

Mr.  Goudy,  younger,  was  by  nature  a  reserved, 
reticent,  conservative  kind  of  man.  He  gave  lib- 
erally, but  not  ostentatiously.  He  did  not  like 
either  to  talk  about  himself  or  have  others  make 
him  the  subject  for  conversation.  He  would 
spare  no  trouble  or  expense  to  serve  a  friend. 
He  was  a  domestic  man;  a  dutiful  son,  a  faithful 
devoted  husband,  a  loving,  generous  father. 

He  was  married  on  the  i4th  day  of  December, 
1887,  in  this  city,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Vibbert,  of  St. 
James'  Episcopal  Church,  to  Miss  Carolyn  Har- 
vey Walker,  with  whom  he  enjoyed  the  most 
perfect  wedded  life.  She  survives  her  deeply  la- 
mented husband,  together  with  their  one  child, 
Helen,  who  was  born  October  5,  1889. 

From  what  data  is  available  at  this  writing 
concerning  the  family  lineage  of  Mr.  Goudy,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  sketch  of  Hon.  Will- 
iam C.  Goudy,  to  be  found  elsewhere  herein. 
Mrs.  Goudy  is  the  daughter  of  Samuel  J.  Walk- 
er and  Amanda  (Morehead)  Walker,  of  Chi- 
cago. Mr.  Walker,  one  of  the  old  settlers  of 
the  city,  was  during  his  lifetime  a  very  active 
man  on  the  real-estate  market,  having  at  one 
time  accumulated  quite  a  fortune,  which  suffered 
heavily  by  the  panic  of  1873.  The  beauty  of 
Ashland  Boulevard  upon  the  West  Side,  of  which 
he  may  almost  be  called  the  father,  is  largely 
owing  to  his  interested  foresight. 

Samuel  J.  Walker  was  a  son  of  James  Walker, 
of  Dayton,  Kentucky,  who  married  a  Miss  Caro- 
lyn Cooper. 

Mrs.  Goudy's  maternal  grandfather  was  the 
very  distinguished  Hon.  Charles  S.  Morehead, 
of  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  a  lawyer  of  rare  talents, 
and  at  one  time  Chief  Executive  of  his  native 
state. 


R.  R.  ROLLO. 


249 


RALPH  R.  ROLLO. 


RALPH  RODOLPHUS  ROLLO,  whose  death 
occurred  in  Chicago,  March  22,  1872,  was  a 
man  of  Christian  principles  and  sterling  in- 
tegrity of  character.  He  was  born  at  Gilead, 
Connecticut,  on  the  25th  of  September,  1811,  and 
was  a  son  of  Ralph  R.  Rollo  and  Sibyl  Post, 
whose  genealogy  may  be  seen  in  connection  with 
the  biography  of  William  E.  Rollo,  which  ap- 
pears upon  another  page  of  this  volume. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  educated  at  the 
public  schools  of  South  Windsor,  Connecticut, 
and  for  a  time  was  engaged  in  teaching  in  his  na- 
tive state.  About  1838  he  moved  to  Conneaut, 
Ohio,  where  he  kept  a  book  store  for  some  years. 
While  there  he  also  became  the  editor  and  pub- 
lisher of  the  Conneaut  Reporter.  He  thus  ac- 
quired considerable  local  fame  as  a  journalist.  In 
1844  he  removed  to  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey, 
and  became  the  proprietor  of  a  large  rubber-man- 
ufacturing establishment.  This  enterprise  was 
continued  until  1861,  when,  at  the  solicitation  of 
his  aged  father,  he  returned  to  South  Windsor 
and  resided  upon  the  homestead  farm  until  the 
death  of  the  latter. 

The  following  year,  1870,  he  came  to  Chicago 
and  engaged  in  the  fire-insurance  business  in  con- 
nection with  his  brother,  William  E.  Rollo,  who 
had  preceded  him  hither.  His  business  career  in 
this  city  was  but  fairly  begun  when  it  was  cut 
short  by  an  attack  of  pleurisy,  which  terminated 
in  his  death,  as  above  noted. 

He  had  been  an  active  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  from  boyhood,  and  while  living 
in  New  Jersey  was  an  Elder  in  the  New  Bruns- 
wick Church  of  that  sect.  Upon  coming  to  Chi- 
cago, he  united  with  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  this  city.  He  had  been  a  firm  Repub- 
lican in  political  sentiment  from  the  organization 


of  the  Republican  party,  but  was  seldom  an  active 
participant  in  political  strife.  He  held  liberal 
and  progressive  views  upon  all  public  questions, 
and  wherever  his  lines  were  cast  was  certain  to 
win  numerous  friends  and  make  no  enemies. 

On  the  loth  of  August,  1842,  Mr.  Rollo  was 
married  to  Miss  Gennett  Chester,  who  still  sur- 
vives and  is  a  resident  of  Chicago.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Dr.  Lemuel  L.  Chester  and  Jerusha 
Clark,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  were  descendants  of  early  New  England 
colonists.  Mrs.  Rollo  was  born  at  Westmore- 
land, New  York,  and  while  a  child  removed  with 
her  parents  to  Rome,  Ohio.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rollo 
were  the  parents  of  four  children,  namely:  Charles 
Egbert;  Alice  Amelia,  who  died  in  childhood; 
Lewis  Chester;  and  Lily  Agnes.  All  the  living 
reside  in  Chicago. 

Charles  Egbert  Rollo  was  born  in  Conneaut, 
Ohio,  and  was  educated  at  the  high  school  in  East 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  completing  the  course  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  years.  He  then  came  to  Chi- 
cago and  became  connected  with  the  Merchants' 
Insurance  Company,  in  the  capacity  of  special 
agent.  He  continued  with  that  corporation  until 
it  succumbed  to  the  consequences  of  the  great  fire 
of  1871,  when  he  became  identified  with  the  Trad- 
ers' Insurance  Company.  He  was  afterward  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  William  E.  Rollo  &  Com- 
pany, insurance  agents.  In  1882  he  organized 
the  firm  of  C.  E.  Rollo  &  Company,  fire-insur- 
ance agents  and  brokers,  which  is  still  engaged 
in  conducting  a  flourishing  business,  and  occu- 
pies handsome  offices  in  the  Temple  Building. 
Mr.  Rollo  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  and  Harvard 
Clubs,  and  is  a  popular  citizen  socially,  as  well 
as  in  business  circles. 

Lewis  Chester  Rollo  was  born  at  New  Bruns- 


250 


STEPHEN  REXFORD. 


wick,  New  Jersey,  December  23, 1858.  He  came 
with  his  parents  to  Chicago,  where  he  attended 
the  Skinner  and  Brown  Schools,  leaving  the  lat- 
ter at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  to  enter  the 
office  of  W.  E.  Rollo  &  Company,  insurance 
agents,  and  he  remained  with  them  until  May, 
1882,  when  he  became  the  junior  member  of  the 
firm  of  C.  E.  Rollo  &  Company,  which  connection 
he  still  maintains.  He  was  married  on  the 


of  February,  1888,  to  Edith  May  Van  Schoick,  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Cynthia  Van  Schoick, 
of  Bloomington,  Illinois.  Their  only  child,  Van 
Schoick  Rollo,  is  a  boy  of  seven  years.  Mr. 
Rollo  is  a  member  of  the  Athletic  and  Menoken 
Clubs,  and  has  a  host  of  friends  and  acquaintances, 
by  whom  his  company  is  sought  at  all  opportune 
moments. 


STEPHEN    REXFORD. 


JTEPHEN  REXFORD,  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  esteemed  pioneers  of  Cook  County, 
was  born  in  Charlotte,  Vermont,  May  4, 
1804,  and  died  at  Blue  Island,  Illinois,  October 
7,  1880.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Benajah 
Rexford,  whose  genealogy  will  be  found  in  the 
sketch  of  Norman  Rexford,  elsewhere  in  this 
book. 

While  a  boy,  Stephen  witnessed  the  battle  of 
Plattsburgh  from  the  top  of  a  mountain  near  his 
home, whither  he  went  with  his  father  and  others 
for  that  purpose.  When  he  was  twelve  years  old 
the  family  removed  to  Westfield,  Chautauqua 
County,  New  York,  where  he  attended  the  public 
schools.  On  reaching  manhood  he  went  to  Buf- 
falo, New  York,  and  became  a  clerk  for  a  commis- 
sion firm  of  that  city.  He  continued  with  this 
firm  several  years,  winning  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  his  employers  to  a  remarkable  degree,  and 
by  their  advice,  in  June,  1832,  he  went  to  Chicago 
with  a  view  to  engaging  in  a  commission  business 
in  that  place.  After  a  year  or  two,  however,  he 
decided  to  engage  in  farming,  and  so  took  up  a 
"claim"  at  Bachelor's  Grove,  being  one  of  the 
four  single  men  for  whom  that  place  was  named. 
He  built  a  large  double  log  house,  then  the  most 
pretentious  residence  in  that  part  of  the  country, 
and  otherwise  improved  this  farm,  which  he  con- 


tinued to  own  for  many  years.  A  few  years  after 
coming  to  this  county  he  and  his  brother  Norman 
purchased  most  of  the  land  on  the  east  side  of 
Western  Avenue,  in  the  present  village  of  Blue 
Island,  and  in  1843  he  removed  thither  and  began 
dealing  in  general  merchandise,  erecting  for  that 
purpose  a  large  building,  which  he  purchased  at 
Hobart,  Indiana,  and  which  was  brought  to  Blue 
Island  in  pieces  by  team.  He  also  built  a  large 
warehouse  on  the  "feeder"  to  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal,  and  engaged  in  shipping 
grain,  lumber  and  provisions  on  quite  an  exten- 
sive scale.  When  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  & 
Pacific  Railroad  was  built,  however,  and  the 
canal  ceased  to  be  a  route  of  commerce,  he  dis- 
posed of  his  warehouse  and  dealt  in  live  stock. 
He  carried  on  an  extensive  business,  his  method 
being  to  purchase  large  droves  of  cattle  in  central 
and  southern  Illinois,  have  them  driven  to  Blue 
Island,  where  he  fattened  them  on  the  prairies 
adjacent  for  the  Chicago  market.  Subsequently 
he  disposed  of  his  business  in  Blue  Island  and 
again  engaged  in  farming  for  a  few  years,  later 
returning  to  Blue  Island  where  he  lived  several 
years  before  his  death. 

In  the  year  1835  Mr.  Rexford  married  Miss 
Susan  Wattles,  daughter  of  Chandler  Wattles,  of 
Ripley,  New  York,  where  Mrs.  Rexford  was 


J.  A.  SEXTON. 


251 


born.  She  died  in  Blue  Island  in  1849,  having 
borne  her  husband  the  following  children:  Julia 
Ellen,  wife  of  Dr.  Charles  Morgan,  of  Chicago; 
Susan  Eliza,  wife  of  Dr.  John  Waughop,  of  Fort 
Steilacoora,  Washington;  Alma,  superintendent 
of  the  Home  for  the  Friendless,  in  Chicago; 
Sarah  Elsie  (Mrs.  E.  E.  Bellamy),  of  O' Neil, 
Holt  County,  Nebraska;  and  Anna  Louise  (Mrs. 
Charles  A.  Bellamy),  of  Chicago.  After  the 
death  of  his  first  wife,  Mr.  Rexford  married  Miss 
Elvira  Barber,  of  Wardsboro,  Vermont,  who  still 
resides  at  Blue  Island.  To  the  last  union  were 
born  the  following  children:  Stephen  Barber, 
who  is  deceased;  Henry  Lee,  of  Chicago;  Fannie 
Isabel  (Mrs.  John  H.  Clark),  of  Longwood,  Illi- 
nois; Lewis  Averill,  of  Seattle,  Washington;  and 
Mary  Gushing  (Mrs.  Joseph  P.  Eames),  of  Blue 
Island. 

In  religious  faith  Mr.  Rexford  was  a  Universal- 
ist,  being  a  member  of  the  church  of  that  denom- 
ination at  Blue  Island.  In  early  life  he  was  a  rigid 
Democrat,  but  with  Buchanan's  administration  he 
changed  his  political  adherence,  becoming  a  very 
stanch  Republican.  He  was  one  of  the  three 


commissioners  appointed  to  divide  Cook  County 
into  townships,  and  served  as  postmaster  at  Blue 
Island  for  many  years,  and  as  supervisor  of 
Worth  Township  for  several  years.  Beyond  this 
he  did  not  aspire,  and  he  refused  to  consider  fur- 
ther promotions  which  were  offered  him.  During 
his  residence  in  Chicago  he  was  at  one  time  at 
Fort  Dearborn  with  Colonel  Whistler,  and  assisted 
in  throwing  out  the  provisions  to  the  assembled 
Indians,  which  were  given  them  by  the  United 
States  Government  in  accordance  with  a  treaty 
made  previous  to  their  removal  from  Illinois. 
Mr.  Rexford  always  averred  that  the  distribution 
was  made  in  a  most  unjust  fashion,  the  goods 
being  thrown  from  an  upper  window  and  the  In- 
dians dividing  them  according  to  their  respective 
strength  and  agility  in  seizing  them. 

Mr.  Rexford  was  a  man  of  exemplary  charac- 
ter and  distinctive  business  qualifications,  and 
bore  an  important  part  in  the  transformation  of 
Cook  County  from  the  hunting-grounds  of  a  sav- 
age race  to  the  abode  of  a  populous,  civilized 
community. 


COL.  JAMES  A.  SEXTON. 


EOL.  JAMES  A.  SEXTON.     On  the  street 
upon  which  he  resided  at  the  time  of  his 
death  James  Andrew  Sexton  was  born,  Jan- 
uary 5,    1844.     His  parents,  Stephen  and  Ann 
(Gaughan)  Sexton,  were  pioneer  settlers  of  Chi- 
cago, coming  here  from  Rochester,  New  York,  in 
the  year  1834.     Stephen  Sexton  was  a  contractor 
and  builder,  and  one  of  the  first  schoolhouses  in 
Chicago  was  erected  by  him.     The    youth  of 
Colonel  Sexton  was  spent  in  his  native  city. 

The  public  schools  furnished  all  the  training 
given  to  his  mind,  except  that  afforded  by  his 


varied  experiences,  the  latter  forming  perhaps 
the  most  practical  and  valuable  portion  of  his 
education.  Within  a  few  days  after  he  saw  his 
beloved  parents  placed  in  their  last  resting  places 
(both  dying  within  two  weeks)  the  land  was 
convulsed  by  the  sound  of  civil  war. 

When  President  Lincoln,  in  April,  1861,  issued 
his  famous  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  volun- 
teers to  put  down  the  Rebellion  young  Sexton, 
although  but  little  past  his  seventeenth  birthday, 
was  among  the  first  to  respond  and  enlisted  on 
the  i  gth  of  April,  1861,  as  a  private  soldier. 


252 


J.  A.  SEXTON. 


After  three  months'  service  he  re-enlisted  in  the 
Sixty-seventh  Regiment,  Illinois  Infantry  Vol- 
unteers, and  was  made  first  lieutenant  in  Com- 
pany E.  He  was  later  transferred  to  the  Seventy- 
second  Regiment,  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers, 
and  commissioned  captain  of  Company  D.  He 
served  in  Ransom's  Brigade, _McArthur  Division, 
Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  of  the  army  of  the 
Tennessee,  and  participated  in  nearly  all  its 
campaigns,  sieges  and  battles. 

He  commanded  his  regiment  in  the  battles  of 
Columbia,  Duck  River,  Spring  Hill,  Franklin 
and  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  through  the  severe 
Nashville  campaign.  In  1865  he  was  assigned 
to  duty  on  the  staff  of  Maj.-Gen.  A.  J.  Smith, 
the  commander  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps, 
army  of  the  Tennessee,  acting  as  provost  mar- 
shal and  serving  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when 
he  was  honorably  discharged  from  the  service  in 
1865,  leaving  a  record  which  will  compare  favor- 
ably with  that  of  any  officer  from  Illinois.  Upon 
the  assault  and  capture  of  the  Spanish  Fort, 
Mobile,  Alabama,  April  8,  1865,  he  had  his  left 
leg  broken  below  the  knee,  being  struck  by  a 
piece  of  shell  weighing  seventeen  ounces.  He 
was  slightly  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Franklin, 
and  painfully  wounded  in  the  right  hand  at  the 
battle  of  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

After  the  close  of  hostilities  Colonel  Sexton 
purchased  a  plantation  in  Lowndes  County, 
Alabama,  near  the  city  of  Montgomery,  and 
remained  there  two  years  as  a  planter.  In  1867 
he  returned  to  his  native  city,  which  continued 
to  be  his  home  until  his  death.  Upon  his  return 
to  Chicago  he  established  the  firm  of  J.  A.  & 
T.  S.  Sexton,  dealers  in  stoves  and  hardware. 
In  1872,  alter  the  Great  Chicago  Fire,  this  firm 
was  succeeded  by  that  of  Cribben,  Sexton  & 
Company,  and  the  prosperous  business  built  up 
by  them  was  due  largely  to  Colonel  Sexton's 
untiring  energy  and  business  ability.  It  is  now 
widely  known  throughout  the  country  as  one  of 
its  largest  stove  factories. 

He  was  ever  keenly  alive  to  the  great  questions 
which  affected  the  public  welfare.  For  years 
identified  with  the  progress  of  the  city,  he  de- 
veloped a  personality  that  attracted  public  atten- 


tion and,  in  April,  1889,  President  Harrison,  in 
recognition  of  his  patriotism  and  devotion  to  his 
country,  appointed  him  postmaster  of  Chicago. 
He  was  retained  by  President  Cleveland  until 
January  i,  1895,  when  Colonel  Sexton  resigned. 
He  was  postmaster  of  Chicago  at  a  time  when 
ability  of  the  highest  order  was  essential,  for  dur- 
ing no  time  in  the  history  of  the  city  was  so  much 
mail  matter  handled  as  during  the  year  of  the 
World's  Fair,  1893.  He  evinced  remarkable 
executive  ability  in  his  management,  and  so  ably 
and  satisfactorily  performed  the  duties  of  his  of- 
fice that  he  received  merited  recognition  from  the 
department  at  Washington  and  the  grateful 
thanks  of  the  public  at  large. 

During  his  short  life  he  filled  many  positions 
of  public  trust.  He  was  a  presidential  elector  in 
1884,  Lincoln  Park  commissioner,  a  colonel  in 
the  Illinois  National  Guard  and,  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  was  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Illinois  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Home  at 
Quincy.  He  was  a  member  of  the  military  order 
of  the  Loyal  Legion,  the  society  of  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee,  Columbia  Post  No.  706,  G.  A.  R., 
and  a  Royal  Arch  Mason.  His  greatest  pleasure 
in  life  was  to  mingle  with  his  comrades  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  "to  tell  again 
the  thrilling  stories  of  the  war. ' '  He  was  always 
an  earnest  worker  in  the  cause  of  the  old  soldiers 
and  considered  no  sacrifice  too  great  for  their  wel- 
fare. That  he  was  loved  by  them  in  return  and 
that  his  efforts  in  their  behalf  were  appreciated 
was  manifested  by  his  election  as  post  commander 
and  department  commander  of  the  state  of  Illi- 
nois, and  as  a  crowning  glory  he  received  the 
great  honor  of  having  been  almost  unanimously 
elected  commander  in  chief  at  the  National  En- 
campment held  at  Cincinnati  in  the  fall  of  1898. 
That  his  life  was  not  spared  to  complete  the  year 
so  auspiciously  begun,  that  he  did  not  live  to 
enjoy  the  companionship  of  the  men  he  loved  so 
well  until  the  next  encampment,  is  regretted  by 
thousands  of  his  comrades  throughout  the  nation. 

On  the  8th  of  September,  1898,  Colonel  Sex- 
ton was  appointed  by  President  McKmley  a  mem- 
ber of  the  War  Investigation  Commission  to  ex- 
amine the  conduct  of  the  war  department  in  the 


CHRISTIAN  NIELSEN. 


253 


contest  with  Spain.  He  entered  upon  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  and  labored  conscientiously 
and  earnestly  with  the  commission  and  endeared 
himself  to  all  his  associates  by  his  splendid  per- 
sonal qualities  and  his  genial,  kindly  disposition, 
proving  himself  a  valuable  member  of  the  com- 
mission. While  engaged  upon  this  work  he  was 
taken  sick,  January  10,  1899, at  Washington,  with 
la  grippe,  which  developed  such  serious  com- 
plications that  he  was  removed  to  the  Garfield 
Memorial  Hospital,  where,  after  three  weeks  of 
intense  suffering,  he  quietly  passed  away  on  Sun- 
day morning,  February  5,  1899,  just  one  month 
after  celebrating  his  fifty -fifth  birthday. 

When  it  became  known  that  he  was  dead, 
messages  of  sympathy  and  condolence  were  re- 
ceived from  the  President  and  members  of  the 
cabinet,  from  senators  and  members  of  congress 
and  from  comrades  and  officials  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  On  the  morning  of  his 
death  the  President,  Secretary  of  War  Alger  and 
representatives  of  the  Grand  Army  and  the  War 
Commission  sent  beautiful  floral  offerings.  A 
military  escort  was  tendered  by  the  Government, 
the  War  Commission  and  by  the  Department  of 
the  Potomac  and  District  of  Columbia,  also  a 


special  car  to  convey  the  remains  to  Chicago. 
Everything  that  could  possibly  be  done  as  a  last 
mark  of  respect  and  honor,  was  done  by  the  kind 
hearted  people  of  Washington.  Upon  the  arrival 
at  Chicago  they  were  met  at  the  depot  by  the 
members  of  the  late  commander's  staff,  a  delega- 
tion from  the  Chicago  postoffice,  clerks  and  letter 
carriers,  and  from  the  various  organizations  of 
which  Colonel  Sexton  was  a  member.  The  fu- 
neral arrangements  were  conducted  by  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  with  most  impressive 
ceremonies,  under  the  auspices  of  Columbia  Post 
No.  706.  Beneath  the  dome  of  Memorial  Hall 
in  the  public  library  building,  the  body  lay  in 
state  for  four  hours,  while  thousands  of  friends 
and  comrades  passed  in  line  by  the  bier  and  gazed 
for  the  last  time  on  the  features  of  their  loved 
commander  and  friend.  At  the  grave  a  firing 
squad  from  Company  E,  Seventh  Regiment  Illi- 
nois National  Guard,  fired  a  volley  over  the  open 
grave.  Beautiful  floral  tributes  were  received 
from  representative  men  and  women  and  from 
the  numerous  societies  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber. 

Colonel  Sexton  was  twice  happily  married  and 
leaves  a  widow  and  nine  children  surviving  him. 


CHRISTIAN  NIELSEN. 


EHRISTIAN  NIELSEN  first  saw  the  light 
of  day  August  20,  1864,  in  Jutland,  Den- 
mark, his  father,  Niels  Nielsen,  having  been 
born  in  the  same  place,  as  well  as  his  mother. 

He  attended  the  schools  of  his  native  place 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  when, 
in  1880,  he  emigrated  to  America.  His  first  lo- 
cation was  in  northern  Michigan,  where  he  found 
employment  at  driving  a  team.  In  1886  he  came 
to  Chicago.  Here  he  found  work  by  the  day, 
and  learned  the  trade  of  an  iron  moulder.  This 


calling  he  followed  five  years,  when,  with  the 
money  which  he  had  earned  and  saved,  he  em- 
barked in  the  sale  of  hay  and  grain  on  his  own 
account,  establishing  himself  in  a  small  way  at 
the  same  location  which  he  now  occupies.  To 
feed  he  soon  added  coal,  and  since  his  small  be- 
ginning business  has  wonderfully  prospered. 

Gradually,  but  surely,  he  has  enlarged  his  un- 
dertakings, until  at  present  he  conducts  a  flourish- 
ing livery  and  undertaking  business,  as  well  as 
his  original  venture  (materially  enlarged).  His 


254 


STEPHEN  SEXTON. 


place  of  business  extends  from  No.  387  to  No. 
391  Noble  Street,  and  when  he  looks  back  upon 
the  struggles  of  his  youth  and  early  manhood  he 
may  well  be  pardoned  a  glow  of  gratification  as 
he  reflects  that  his  success  has  been  due  to  his 
own  enterprise,  industry,  economy  and  probity. 
In  1893  Mr.  Nielsen  married  Miss  Marie 
Bradolph,  a  native  of  Norway.  Their  union  has 


been  blessed  with  three  children,  Christine,  Eric 
and  Christian. 

Mr.  Nielsen  is  a  member  of  various  societies 
and  clubs,  as  follows:  Society  Dania,  the  Danish 
Brotherhood  No.  18;  Court  Republic  No.  1043, 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters;  and  the  Flour 
and  Feed  Association.  He  is  affiliated  with  the 
Republican  party. 


STEPHEN  SEXTON. 


(STEPHEN  SEXTON,  among  the  pioneer 
?\  residents  of  Chicago,  is  deserving  of  especial 
Q)  mention  in  this  volume.  His  father,  Syl- 
vester Sexton,  in  whose  veins  the  Scottish  blood 
flowed,  was  born  in  County  Clare,  Ireland,  and 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1808.  He  settled 
at  Rochester,  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1810, 
shortly  before  the  birth  of  his  son  Stephen.  The 
latter  was  the  youngest  of  eight  children.  He 
grew  up  in  Rochester,  where  he  married  Ann 
Gaughan,  who  was  born  in  County  Mayo,  Ireland, 
as  were  her  parents,  Thomas  and  Margaret  (Jack- 
son) Gaughan.  The  last-named  was  a  relative 
of  President  Andrew  Jackson,  for  whom  her 
grandson  (see  sketch  on  another  page)  received 
his  second  Christian  name.  Thomas  Gaughan 
was  numbered  among  the  van  of  Chicago  settlers, 
having  located  on  the  site  of  what  is  now  South 
Chicago  in  1819.  He  died  there  in  1827,  and  his 
widow  survived  until  1864,  reaching  the  age  of 
ninety-three  years. 

Stephen  Sexton  was  a  pioneer  settler  in  Chi- 
cago, coming  here  early  in  the  year  1834,  and 
locating  on  the  North  Side.  He  was  a  carpenter 
by  occupation,  and  became  very  well  known  as 
an  expert  draughtsman,  builder  and  contractor. 
One  of  the  first  public  schoolhouses  in  Chicago 
was  erected  by  him.  He  was  an  ardent  Demo- 
crat, and  took  an  active  part  in  political  move- 


ments during  the  early  days.  He  died  April  7, 
1 86 1,  having  been  preceded  to  the  other  shore 
eleven  days  by  his  wife,  who  died  on  the  27th 
of  March,  that  year.  They  had  eight  sons  and 
four  daughters  who  grew  to  maturity.  Margaret 
Elizabeth  married  James  E.  Cassidy,  and  also 
reared  twelve  children;  Thomas  S.,  for  many 
years  an  employe  of  the  Chicago  postoffice,  died 
in  December,  1889;  Mary  Ann  married  James 
E.  Ennis,  and  reared  nine  children,  all  of  whom 
graduated  at  the  Chicago  High  School;  three  died 
in  early  childhood,  and  James  A.  is  the  seventh; 
William  H.  is  a  citizen  of  New  Orleans,  Louisi- 
ana; Sarah  E.  married  John  Highland,  of  Chica- 
go, who  was  a  Sergeant  in  Colonel  Sexton's  com- 
pany of  the  Seventy-second  Illinois  Infantry; 
Henry  M.  is  superintendent  of  the  refrigerator- 
car  service  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific 
Railway,  being  the  inventor  of  the  cars  used; 
George  M.  is  a  resident  of  Chicago;  Eliza  married 
George  B.  Hopkins,  who  is  superintendent  of  a 
western  division  of  the  Wells-Fargo  Express; 
Austin  O.  and  Joseph  W.  are  residents  of  Chica- 
go, the  former  being  a  prominent  Democratic  pol- 
itician, who  served  several  years  in  the  City  Coun- 
cil and  eight  years  as  a  Member  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature;  and  Louis  N.  resides  in  Liverpool, 
England.  All  the  daughters  are  deceased,  and 
seven  of  the  sons  are  still  living. 


A..  B.  MCLEAN. 


255 


ARCHIBALD  B.  McLEAN. 


RCHIBALD  BRUCE  McLEAN.  It  is  a  re- 
LJ  markable  circumstance  that  this  gentleman, 
/  I  although  he  has  attained  the  age  of  over 
seventy-five  years  and  has  spent  the  greater  part 
of  this  time  either  in  active  business  or  military 
service,  has  never  been  a  witness  of  an  accident. 
He  was  born  at  Stirling,  Scotland,  a  locality  teem- 
ing with  romantic  interest  and  historic  reminiscen- 
ces, on  the  7th  of  April,  1820.  Both  his  parents 
were  worthy  representatives  of  the  Scotch  nation . 

His  father,  Alexander  McLean,  who  was  born 
at  Callendar,  became  a  cabinet-maker  at  Stirling, 
where  his  death  occurred  when  Archibald  was 
but  three  years  old.  The  mother,  Elizabeth 
(Robinson)  McLean,  was  a  native  of  Bannock- 
burn.  After  reaching  the  age  of  eighty  years 
she  came  to  America,  and  died  at  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  in  1871,  at  the  venerable  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  one  years  and  two  months.  She  was 
the  youngest  of  a  family  of  ten  children  which 
was  conspicuous  for  the  longevity  of  its  members. 
Her  eldest  brother,  James  Robinson,  reached  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years,  dying  at 
Glengary,  Canada.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alexander 
McLean  were  the  parents  of  seven  sons,  four  of 
whom  still  survive.  James  is  a  business  man  of 
Glasgow,  Scotland.  Alexander  and  George  are 
citizens,  respectively,  of  Brooklyn  and  Albany, 
New  York.  John  died  in  Cork,  Ireland,  after 
serving  fifteen  years  in  the  British  army.  Neal 
died  in  a  hospital  from  the  effects  of  wounds  re- 
ceived during  the  great  American  Civil  War;  and 
Archibald  B.  is  the  next  in  order  of  birth.  Don- 
ald, the  eldest  of  the  family,  died  in  boyhood. 

Archibald  B.  McLean  grew  to  manhood  in  his 
native  town,  and  at  the  age  often  years  began  to 


learn  the  tailor's  trade,  an  occupation  which  he 
has  continued  ever  since,  with  the  exception  of 
the  time  spent  in  military  service.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen  years  he  entered  the  British  army  as  a 
member  of  the  Seventy-first  Highland  Light  In- 
fantry, which  was  soon  afterward  ordered  to  Can- 
ada to  assist  in  quelling  the  rebellion  then  in 
progress  in  that  colony.  He  saw  considerable 
skirmish  duty  during  this  expedition,  and  was 
stationed  most  of  the  time  at  Montreal  or  St. 
John's,  Canada. 

In  1843  he  was  discharged  from  the  service  of 
the  Crown,  and,  coming  to  the  United  States,  lo- 
cated at  Albany,  New  York,  where  he  worked  at 
his  trade  for  the  next  two  years.  At  the  end  of 
that  time  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States  navy 
and  embarked  on  the  seventy- four-gun  ship  "Col- 
umbus," which  sailed  from  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
upon  a  voyage  around  the  world.  While  at  a 
Chinese  port  the  crew  first  heard  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Mexico  and  received 
orders  to  sail  for  the  coast  of  California.  Upon 
their  arrival  they  patroled  that  coast  until  the 
close  of  hostilities,  when  they  returned  to  the 
Atlantic  Coast  by  way  of  Cape  Horn.  The  voy- 
age, which  terminated  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  had 
lasted  for  thirty-five  months,  during  which  time 
they  had  sailed  sixty-eight  thousand  miles. 

Mr.  McLean  again  went  to  Albany  and  opened 
a  tailoring  establishment,  carrying  on  business  at 
that  place  until  1854,  when  he  came  to  Chicago 
and  engaged  in  business  on  Randolph  Street. 
Three  years  later  he  removed  to  Janesville,  Wis- 
consin. Here  he  carried  on  a  merchant-tailoring 
establishment  until  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion, 
when  he  was  again  seized  with  the  spirit  of  mil- 


256 


R.  N.  TRIMINGHAM. 


itary  enthusiasm.  Soon  after  the  fall  of  Fort 
Sumter  he  recruited  Company  D  of  the  Second 
Wisconsin  Infantry,  and,  declining  a  Captain's 
commission,  became  the  First  Lieutenant  thereof. 
He  reached  the  field  with  his  regiment  in  time 
to  take  part  in  the  disastrous  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  and  after  serving  six  months  resigned  his 
commission  and  applied  for  a  position  in  the  Ma- 
rine Corps.  Having  passed  the  prescribed  age, 
and  the  officers  not  being  aware  of  his  past  naval 
experience,  his  services  were  declined,  and  he  re- 
enlisted  in  Company  C,  of  the  Twenty-seventh 
Wisconsin.  He  chose  the  position  of  color-bearer, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  the  close  of  hos- 
tilities. Though  he  was  constantly  exposed  to 
the  fire  of  the  enemy,  taking  part  in  many  of  the 
bloodiest  engagements  of  the  war,  Mr.  McLean 
received  no  wounds  and  was  never  in  a  hospital. 
After  participating  in  the  battles  of  Fort  Donel- 
son,  Pittsburg  Landing  and  Corinth,  he  took 
part  in  General  Shield's  expedition  in  Arkansas. 
This  campaign  encountered  fourteen  general  en- 
gagements in  twenty-one  days,  besides  meeting  a 
great  deal  of  guerrilla  warfare.  After  the  close  of 
the  campaign  he  was  sent  to  Mobile  and  took 
part  in  the  siege  of  that  place,  which  terminated 
the  war. 

After  peace  came  he  remained  one  year  in 
Janesville,  but  in  1866  again  located  in  Chicago, 


where  he  was  continuously  engaged  in  merchant 
tailoring  until  June,  1894,  when  he  resigned  the 
business  to  his  son,  W.  S.  McLean,  who  had 
previously  been  for  some  years  a  partner  in  the 
business.  During  the  twenty-nine  years'  exist- 
ence of  this  establishment  it  has  won  and  retained 
a  valuable  patronage  and  is  still  in  a  flourishing 
condition. 

On  the  nth  of  April,  1849,  Mr.  McLean  was 
married  to  Margaret  Shields,  a  native  of  Elgin, 
Moray  shire,  Scotland.  Four  children  have  been 
born  to  them,  all  of  whom  are  residents  of  this 
city.  They  are:  William  S.,  the  present  successor 
of  his  father  in  business;  Archibald,  who  is  also 
connected  with  the  establishment;  George,  who 
has  charge  of  a  department  in  the  great  wholesale 
establishment  of  Marshall  Field  &  Co. ;  and  Isa- 
bella, now  the  wife  of  William  L-  Melville.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  McLean  are  the  proud  grandparents  of 
eight  children. 

For  over  forty  years  Mr.  McLean  has  been  con- 
nected with  the  Masonic  order,  and  although  he 
has  been  at  times  a  member  of  other  societies,  is 
not  identified  with  any  other  organization  at  the 
present  time.  He  has  been  a  steadfast  Repub- 
lican from  the  organization  of  that  party,  and  has 
ever  been  a  patriotic  and  public-spirited  citizen  of 
the  land  of  his  adoption. 


RALPH  N.  TRIMINGHAM. 


RALPH  N.  TRIMINGHAM,  Secretary  of  the 
Chicago  Underwriters'  Association,  is  one  of 
the  best  known  insurance  men  in  the  city. 
He  was  born  in  St.  John's,   Newfoundland,  Sep- 
tember 2,  1838,   and  is  the  eldest  son  of  Ralph 
and  Ann  (Brine)  Trimingham,  and  a  member  of 
one  of  the  oldest  Colonial  families. 

The  Trimingham  family  was  founded  in  Ber- 
muda by  James    Trimingham,   who  emigrated 


thither  from  England  during  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.  and  died  there  April  i,  1735,  The  mercan- 
tile house  which  he  established  and  conducted 
there  during  his  lifetime  was  inherited  and  en- 
larged by  successive  generations  of  his  descen- 
dants. He  was  the  father  of  four  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Of  these,  John,  the  third  son,  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Jones.  Francis,  the  third  son  of 
this  couple,  died  in  1813.  He  inherited  the  rare 


R.  N.  TRIMINGHAM. 


257 


commercial  instincts  of  his  ancestors,  and  under 
his  able  guidance  the  business  assumed  extensive 
proportions,  and  branch  houses  were  established 
in  the  Barbadoes,  St.  Vincent,  and  St.  John's, 
Newfoundland.  Several  of  his  sons  became 
partners  in  the  concern,  and  continued  the  busi- 
ness for  some  time  after  his  death.  The  firm 
owned  a  number  of  vessels  and  maintained  exten- 
sive trade  between  the  places  above  mentioned 
and  various  ports  in  Great  Britain  and  South 
America. 

Francis  Trimingham  married  Frances  Light- 
bourn,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren, the  youngest  of  whom  was  Ralph,  father  of 
the  subject  of  this  notice.  The  last-named  gen- 
tleman, who  was  born  at  Bermuda  in  1801,  re- 
moved while  a  young  man  to  St.  John's,  taking 
charge  of  the  company's  interests  at  that  place. 
He  was  married  there,  and  about  1847  removed 
to  Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  the  firm  of  which 
he  was  a  member  also  established  a  mercantile 
house.  Four  years  later  he  disposed  of  his  inter- 
est in  the  business,  and  in  1851  removed  to  St. 
Vincent,  where  he  turned  his  attention  to  agri- 
culture and  operated  a  large  sugar  plantation  for 
the  next  four  years.  He  then  came  to  Chi- 
cago, and  for  a  brief  period  re-engaged  in  mer- 
chandising, but  soon  retired  from  active  business. 
His  death  occurred  in  1869,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight  years.  His  wife  survived  until  August, 
1874,  departing  this  life  at  the  age  of  sixty-three 
years.  She  was  born  in  Newfoundland  and  was 
a  daughter  of  Robert  and  Ann  Brine.  They 
came  from  the  South  of  England  and  settled  at 
St.  John's,  where  Mr.  Brine  was  for  many  years 
a  prosperous  merchant. 

Ralph  N.  Trimingham  was  educated  at  private 
schools,  it  being  the  intention  of  his  parents  to 
give  him  a  college  education  and  fit  him  for 
the  Episcopal  ministry.  This  purpose  had  to  be 
abandoned,  however,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  he  entered  upon  his  business  career  as  clerk 
in  a  lawyer's  office  at  St.  Vincent.  His  subse- 
quent occupations  have  usually  been  of  a  clerical 
order,  and  he  seems  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  for 
the  accurate,  methodical  labors  which  are  so  es- 
seutial  to  success  in  such  avocations.  For  some 


time  previous  to  the  departure  of  the  family  from 
St.  Vincent  he  was  employed  as  cashier  in  a  dry- 
goods  store,  and  his  first  occupation  in  Chicago 
was  of  a  similar  nature.  A  few  years  after  locat- 
ing here  he  entered  the  office  of  Magill  &  La- 
tham, vessel-owners  and  commission  merchants, 
with  whom  he  remained  for  some  time.  He  sub- 
sequently became  a  bookkeeper  for  his  uncle, 
William  Brine,  who  was  a  commission  merchant 
operating  upon  the  Board  of  Trade. 

Since  1866  he  has  been  identified  with  the  fire- 
underwriting  interests  of  the  city.  His  first  con- 
nection in  that  line  was  with  the  Home  Insurance 
Company  of  New  York,  under  the  management 
of  Gen.  A.  C.  Ducat,  with  whom  he  remained 
for  a  little  over  ten  years.  After  leaving  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Home  he  for  a  short  time  became  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  pursuits,  but  soon  re-entered 
the  business  of  fire  insurance.  In  1882  he  was 
elected  Secretary  of  the  Underwriters'  Exchange, 
a  combination  of  insurance  companies,  and  when 
the  members  of  that  organization  united  with 
those  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Underwriters  in 
forming  the  Chicago  Fire  Underwriters'  Associa- 
tion, an  institution  organized  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose, he  continued  to  serve  the  new  concern  in 
the  same  capacity.  In  1894  the  last-named  cor- 
poration was  succeeded  by  the  Chicago  Under- 
writers' Association.  In  recognition  of  his  expe- 
rience and  previous  services,  Mr.  Trimingham 
was  elected  Secretary  of  the  new  association,  and 
the  performance  of  his  duties  to  these  successive 
organizations  has  absorbed  his  time  and  attention 
since  1885. 

On  the  i6th  of  April,  1885,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Carrie  J.,  daughter  of  Robert  G.  Goodwillie, 
an  early  resident  of  Chicago.  They  are  the  par- 
ents of  two  daughters,  named,  respectively,  Eliz- 
abeth and  Anna.  For  thirty-eight  years  Mr. 
Trimingham  held  membership  with  the  Third 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago,  in  which,  for 
seventeen  years,  he  was  Elder  and  Clerk  of  the 
Session.  He  is  now  Elder  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  at  Oak  Park,  where  he  lives.  He 
has  been  identified  with  the  Masonic  order  for 
the  last  twenty  years,  being  a  member  of  Cleve- 
land Lodge,  Washington  Chapter  and  Siloam 


258 


G.  W.  BARNARD. 


Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  of  which  he  is 
Past  Eminent  Commander.  His  life  has  been 
marked  by  diligent,  punctual  habits  and  the  con- 
scientious observance  of  upright  principles.  He 
has  witnessed  the  growth  and  development  of 


Chicago  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  during  all  that 
time  he  has  spent  but  little  time  out  of  the  city, 
his  chief  recreation  being  found  in  his  domestic 
and  social  relations. 


GILBERT  W.  BARNARD. 


0ILBERT  WORDSWORTH  BARNARD  is 

bwell  known  amid  Masonic  circles  through- 
out America  and  Europe,  and  has  a  world- 
wide reputation  for  sterling  character,  accommo- 
dating manners,  and  devotion  to  the  interests  of 
the  order.  He  was  born  at  Palmyra,  Wayne 
County,  New  York,  June  i,  1834,  and  is  the  son 
of  George  Washington  Barnard,  whose  death  oc- 
curred previous  to  the  birth  of  this  son.  The 
father  of  George  W.  Barnard,  whose  name  was 
spelled  Bernarde,  was  a  Frenchman.  Following 
the  noble  example  of  the  immortal  La  Fayette, 
he  came  to  America  to  enlist  in  the  cause  of  free- 
dom, and  upon  the  termination  of  the  conflict 
settled  in  western  New  York,  where  he  married 
and  became  the  father  of  two  sons.  The  elder 
of  these  died  without  issue,  and  the  second  lived 
and  died  in  Wayne  County,  that  state.  The  lat- 
ter became  the  captain  of  a  passenger  packet  on 
the  Erie  Canal,  a  position  of  considerable  import- 
ance in  his  time.  His  wife,  Sabrina  Deming, 
was  a  native  of  New  York,  and  now  resides  in 
Howard  City,  Michigan,  at  the  extreme  old  age 
of  eighty  years,  her  present  name  being  Preston. 
Gilbert  W.  Barnard  was  reared  in  the  family  of 
his  maternal  grandfather,  David  Demming,  a  na- 
tive of  Connecticut,  who  removed  to  Jackson 
County,  Michigan,  soon  after  his  grandson  be- 
came a  member  of  his  family.  The  Demming 
family  was  founded  in  America  by  four  brothers, 
who  settled  in  Connecticut  early  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  name  was  originally  spelled 


Dummund,  but  by  a  process  of  evolution  peculiar 
to  foreign  names  in  America,  it  became  Demming, 
and  was  contracted  by  the  present  generation  by 
the  omission  of  one  "m." 

The  subject  of  this  biography  spent  the  first 
fifteen  years  of  his  life  in  Jackson  County,  Mich- 
igan, whence  he  came  to  Chicago  and  began  his 
business  career  as  clerk  in  a  general  store.  He 
afterward  engaged  in  the  book  and  stationery 
business,  which  line  of  trade  he  carried  on  for 
several  years,  achieving  a  reputation  for  upright 
and  honorable  dealing,  and  winning  the  esteem 
and  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens.  During  the 
first  year  of  his  residence  in  Chicago  he  joined 
the  volunteer  fire  department,  and  during  the  next 
nine  or  ten  years  rendered  much  valuable  service 
to  the  city. 

In  October,  1864,  he  joined  the  Masonic  order 
and  has  ever  since  been  actively  identified  with 
its  interests.  He  has  taken  over  three  hundred 
degrees  known  to  Masonry,  and  has  filled  most 
of  the  principal  offices  in  the  subordinate  and 
grand  lodges.  He  is  at  present  Past  Master  of 
Garden  City  Lodge;  Past  High  Priest  of  Cor- 
rinthian  Chapter  No.  69,  R.  A.  M. ;  Past  Emi- 
nent Commander  of  St.  Bernard  Commandery 
No.  35,  Knights  Templar;  Past  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  Oriental  Consistory ;  Grand  Secretary  of 
the  Grand  Chapter;  Grand  Recorder  of  the  Grand 
Council  and  of  the  Grand  Commandery;  and 
Grand  Secretary  of  the  Council  of  Deliberation, 
S.  P.  R.  S.,  and  other  bodies. 


t       <.RY 
'  THE 
UNIVERSI    :  OF  ILU 


JACOB  MANZ 


JACOB  MANZ. 


259 


In  1877  he  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Capit- 
ular, Cryptic  and  Chivalric  Grand  Bodies  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  a  position  he  has  ever  since  filled, 
and  has  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  the 
interests  of  the  fraternity,  administering  to  the 
wants  of  his  brethren,  and  relieving  the  needs  of 
their  widows  and  orphans  in  distress.  His  sig- 
nal ability  and  unrelenting  efforts  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  duties  have  won  for  him  a  host  of 
friends  and  admirers.  He  has  labored  untiringly 
in  behalf  of  the  Illinois  Masonic  Orphans'  Home, 
of  which  he  was  the  first  Secretary,  and  through 
his  active  efforts  has  contributed  much  to  the  up- 
building of  that  worthy  institution. 


His  long  connection  with  the  Ancient  Accepted 
Scottish  Rite  has  placed  him  in  correspondence 
with  all  branches  of  the  order  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  His  commodious  quarters  in  the  Masonic 
Temple  are  general  headquarters  for  Masonic 
affairs,  and  the  resort  of  brethren  from  every  civ- 
ilized country  on  the  globe.  They  contain  an 
ample  library,  and  are  filled  with  numerous  other 
articles  of  use  or  interest  to  members  of  the  fra- 
ternity. 

Mr.  Barnard  was  married  in  1863,  and  one  child, 
a  daughter,  is  still  living,  he  having  lost  three 
children. 


JACOB  MANZ. 


(JACOB  MANZ,  one  of  the  self-made  men  of 
I  Chicago,  and  prominent  among  its  Swiss- 
\~)  American  citizens,  is  an  excellent  representa- 
tive of  the  benefits  of  a  Republican  Government. 
He  was  born  October  i,  1837,  in  Marthalen,  in 
the  canton  of  Zurich,  Switzerland,  in  which  his 
grandparents  and  parents,  Jacob  and  Elizabeth 
(Keller)  Manz,  were  also  born. 

Jacob  Manz,  Sr. ,  was  a  stone-cutter  in  early 
life,  and  became  an  architect  and  superintendent, 
which  indicates  that  he  made  the  best  use  of  his 
faculties  and  opportunities.  Having  heard  much 
of  the  wonderful  republic  beyond  the  seas,  he 
came  to  America  in  1853,  to  ascertain  for  himself 
if  it  afforded  better  opportunities  for  an  ambitious 
man  than  his  native  land.  He  spent  six  months 
at  Lima,  Ohio,  and  came  to  Chicago  in  the  spring 
of  1854.  He  soon  decided  to  remain  here,  and 
wrote  to  his  wife  to  dispose  of  their  property  in 
Switzerland  and  follow  him,  with  the  children. 
On  account  of  the  youth  of  some  of  the  latter, 
whose  studies  were  not  yet  completed,  as  well  as 
the  difficulty  of  disposing  of  the  property  to  ad- 


vantage, the  move  was  postponed  until  death  pre- 
vented the  meeting  again  on  earth  of  husband 
and  wife.  The  latter  died  in  1860,  at  the  age  of 
fifty -eight  years.  Mr.  Manz  did  some  building 
in  Chicago,  but  was  forced  in  a  short  time  to  give 
up  business  by  the  failure  of  his  sense  of  hearing. 
His  latter  years  were  occupied  in  carving  marble 
monuments,  and  he  died  in  1886,  aged  eighty- 
four  years,  leaving  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Marguerite,  the  eldest,  is  the  wife  of  Ulrich 
Liechty,  residing  at  Polk  City,  Iowa.  Elizabeth, 
Mrs.  Toggenburger,  is  living  at  Bluffton,  Ohio, 
near  which  place  the  younger  son,  William,  also 
resides. 

Jacob  Manz,  the  elder  son  and  third  mature 
child  of  his  parents,  grew  up  in  his  native  village, 
attending  the  public  schools  until  his  thirteenth 
year.  He  was  then  apprenticed  to  a  firm  of  wood- 
engravers  in  Schaflhausen,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained until  sixteen  years  old.  Through  the 
dissolution  of  partnership  of  his  employers,  he 
was  unable  to  finish  the  prescribed  term  of  his  ap- 
prenticeship, but  his  natural  ability  and  industry 


260 


HUGO  NEUBERGER. 


had  already  made  him  a  skillful  engraver.  He 
immediately  set  out  for  America,  crossing  the 
ocean  on  a  sailing-vessel,  and  arriving  in  Chicago 
in  the  middle  of  July,  1855.  He  soon  found  em- 
ployment with  S.  D.  Childs  &  Company,  with 
whom  he  continued  six  years,  and  was  next  for 
five  years  in  the  employ  of  W.  D.  Baker,  a  well- 
known  Chicago  engraver.  His  long  terms  in 
these  connections  are  sufficient  indication  of  his 
faithfulness  and  skill.  After  a  short  period  with 
Bond  &  Chandler,  Mr.  Manz  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  another  engraver  and  went  into  busi- 
ness for  himself,  late  in  1866. 

The  firm  was  known  as  Maas  &  Manz,  and  was 
first  located  at  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Washing- 
ton Streets,  and  was  two  years  later  moved  to 
Dearborn  and  Madison.  While  here,  Mr.  Manz 
became  the  sole  proprietor  of  the  business,  by 
purchasing  the  interest  of  his  partner,  and  was  a 
very  heavy  loser  in  the  great  fire  of  1871,  realiz- 
ing almost  nothing  of  insurance.  He  had  faith, 
however,  in  himself  and  the  city,  and  very  soon 
opened  a  shop  on  West  Madison  Street,  near 
Union,  whence  he  shortly  removed  to  Clinton 
and  Lake  Streets.  He  subsequently  occupied 
locations  on  LaSalle,  Madison  and  Dearborn 
Streets,  and  is  now  established  atNos.  183  to  187 
Monroe  Street.  The  business,  in  the  mean  time, 
has  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  city  and 
the  improvements  in  the  art  of  engraving.  It  is 
now  conducted  by  an  incorporated  company, 


known  as  J.  Manz  &  Company,  of  which  Mr. 
Manz  is  President,  F.  D.  Montgomery  Vice- 
President,  and  Alfred  Bersbach  Secretary  and 
Treasurer.  Every  process  of  engraving  adaptable 
to  the  printing-press  is  carried  on,  and  about  one 
hundred  people  are  employed  in  the  establish- 
ment. 

The  genial  and  benevolent  character  of  Mr. 
Manz  has  naturally  led  to  participation  in  the 
work  of  many  social  and  charitable  organiza- 
tions. He  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Hermann, 
Schweizer  Maennerchor,  Swiss  Benevolent  Socie- 
ty, Germania  Lodge,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  and  Gauntlet  Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
also  of  the  Royal  League  and  National  Union.  In 
religious  faith,  he  adheres  to  the  Swiss  Reformed 
Church,  and  has  been  a  Democrat  in  political 
preference  since  1876.  His  only  visit  to  the  home 
of  his  childhood  was  made  in  the  summer  of  1894, 
when  he  made  a  tour  of  interesting  localities  in 
Europe. 

Mr.  Manz  has  been  twice  married.  January  6, 
1859,  he  wedded  Miss  Carolina  Knoepfli,  who 
died  September  7,  1866.  She  was  a  native  of 
Ossingen,  Switzerland.  Two  of  her  children  are 
living,  namely:  Caroline  and  William  Manz. 
November  24,  1867,  Mr.  Manz  married  Johanna 
Hesse,  who  was  born  in  Crivitz,  Mecklenburg. 
Germany.  Her  children  are  Ida,  Paul,  Adolph 
and  Helena  Manz. 


HUGO  NEUBERGER. 


HUGO   NEUBERGER.     Germans  as  a  class 
are  a  thrifty  people,   and   when,  after  some 
years,  those  who  have  come  from  the  Fa- 
therland return  to  pay  their  visits  to  old,  loved 
scenes,  their  friends  wonder  at  the  wealth  Fort- 
une  has   allowed   them  to    so    quickly     acquire 
in  our  beloved  country  of  such   advantages;    for 
here  each  man  is  equal  in  the  eyes,  not  only  of 


God,  but  the  law;  here  he  may  do  as  he  pleases, 
so  long  as  he  does  not  commit  a  crime  or  trespass 
upon  the  rights  of  his  neighbors.  Politically, 
they  are  formidable  too,  for  we  can  see  in  the 
election  of  Governor  Altgeld  what  power  is  theirs 
when  they  unite  upon  a  candidate. 

A  man  of  influence  among  his  fellow-citizens 
was  Hugo  Neuberger,  who  was  born  at  Camberg, 


HUGO  NEUBERGER. 


261 


near  Frankfort,  Germany,  on  the  8th  day  of  April, 
1819.  He  came  of  a  good  family,  one  of  his 
brothers  afterward  becoming  Mayor  of  his  native 
place,  in  which  office  he  was  continued  for  a 
period  of  twenty  years.  Hugo,  being  a  younger 
son,  and  denied,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Old 
World,  some  of  the  rights  and  advantages  of  an 
elder  child,  like  so  many  other  enterprising  young 
men,  came  to  this  country  to  seek  his  fortune  (or, 
let  us  say,  to  make  his  fortune) ,  in  boyhood.  He 
settled  very  soon  after  his  arrival  in  his  life-long 
home,  Chicago,  which  he  grew  to  love  with  that 
strong  attachment  entertained  by  all  the  old  set- 
tlers, who  have  seen  its  wonderful  rise  from  a 
sandy  lowland  (not  unlike  a  part  of  Holland)  to 
its  present  growth  as  the  metropolis  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  and  destined  before  long  to  be- 
come one  of  the  most  powerful  cities  of  the  globe. 

He  bought,  after  many  exchanges  (for  he  was 
a  man  of  speculation,  a  typical  American,  always 
ready  for  a  trade) ,  the  valuable  piece  of  property 
now  known  as  Nos.  284  and  286  North  Clark 
Street,  about  the  year  1860.  Here  he  built  a 
substantial  frame  house,  used  as  a  grocery  and 
(according  to  the  Old  Country  custom)  a  beer 
hall  combined,  with  his  residence  adjoining. 
This  was  destroyed  some  years  after  his  death, 
in  the  great  fire  of  1871.  His  widow  rebuilt  more 
substantially  in  brick  a  structure  of  three  stories, 
now  used  as  dwelling  flats,  having  by  self-denial 
and  unusual  good  sense  been  able  to  keep  the 
property  and  family  together,  and  to  see  the  latter 
properly  brought  up  to  become  useful  members 
of  the  community. 

Mr.  Neuberger  had  been  a  landscape-gardener 
in  Germany;  but  it  is  needless  to  remark  in  those 
early  days  there  was  no  demand  for  such  services 
in  this  vicinity,  although  no  doubt  at  this  date, 
were  he  again  to  come  among  us  as  he  did  so 
many  years  ago,  his  able  intelligence  would  be 
eagerly  sought  by  the  owners  of  some  of  our  pal- 
atial residences,  for  we  have  already  grown  to 
number  in  our  midst  some  of  the  finest  homes 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  country.  Accord- 
ingly, he  turned  his  active  mind  to  something  that 
was  practicable  in  those  days,  from  which  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he  died  in  fair 


circumstances,  and  future  advances  certainly  con- 
spired to  give  to  his  family  who  survived  him  a 
success  in  life  which  at  that  time  could  not  have 
been  altogether  foreseen. 

He  was  a  consistent  Democrat,  voting  regularly 
but  never  seeking  office.  He  was  a  Catholic  in 
faith,  although  his  family,  like  their  mother,  have 
altogether  embraced  the  Lutheran  tenets.  As  a 
citizen  he  was  law-abiding  and  reliable  and  had 
many  friends.  He  died  in  July,  1863,  and  was 
buried  in  the  family  lot  in  Graceland  Cemetery. 
Had  he  lived  to  more  mature  years  he  would  have 
been  justly  proud  of  his  family,  whom  it  was  fated 
he  should  be  taken  from  in  middle  life. 

Mr.  Neuberger  married,  May  25,  1854,  Miss 
Magdalena  Ludwig,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  a 
daughter  of  Simon  and  Margaret  (Knaben)  Lud- 
wig,  who  emigrated  from  Baden,  Germany.  She 
was  born  in  the  City  of  Straits,  July  18,  1835, 
removing  to  this  city  in  early  life,  where  she 
grew  to  know  and  love  the  subject  of  this  sketch; 
and  although  widowed  in  early  life,  she  has  been 
faithful  to  his  memory  ever  since,  as  she  will  die, 
filled  with  the  trust  of  guiding  aright  the  family 
of  young  people  entrusted  by  God  to  her  moth- 
erly charge.  All  of  them  have  grown  to  be  a 
comfort  to  her,  respectable  members  of  the  com- 
munity, and  some  of  them  with  descendants  who 
call  her  "Grandma."  It  is  owing  to  her  watch- 
ful care  during  the  past  more  than  thirty  years 
that  her  children  grew  up  in  honor,  and  that  they 
could  be  kept  together  in  a  home,  and  with  a 
property  left  them  (of  comparatively  little  value 
at  the  time)  now  grown  to  be  of  considerable 
worth. 

Four  children  were  the  fruits  of  their  happy, 
though  short,  wedded  life.  Louise,  born  April  3, 
1855,  married,  April  5,  1883,  Julian  Vandeberge, 
of  Chicago,  an  editor  in  good  standing;  they  have 
two  children,  Madeline  Marie  and  Julian.  Ba- 
betta  married,  in  1892,  David  J.  Lyons,  of  the 
merchant  police  force,  who  unfortunately  died  the 
following  year,  leaving  no  children.  Magdalene 
is  unmarried.  Hugo  George  married,  in  1887, 
Miss  Emma  L-  Hunting,  of  Chicago,  who  died 
in  1892,  leaving  two  children,  Anna  Louise  and 
Florence  Augusta.  He  has  been  for  some  years  a 


262 


E.  F.  PEUGEOT. 


commercial  traveler,  but  at  present  is  employed 
on  the  merchant  police. 

We  thus  see  that   Mr.  Neuberger  established 


bring  honor  and  fame  to  his  name.  Therefore  it 
is  eminently  fitting  that  his  history  should  be 
preserved  herein,  that  those  who  shall  follow  in 


one  of  the  representative  German  families  of  the     after  years  may  gain  a  faint  idea  of  the  early  life 


city,  whose   members,   as  they  grow   more  and 
more  into  harmony  with  American  ideas,  will 


of  this  Chicago  pioneer. 


EDWARD  F.  PEUGEOT. 


ITDWARD  FREDERICK  PEUGEOT,  an 
ry  early  citizen  of  Chicago,  and  at  one  time  a 
|_  leading  merchant  and  importer,  was  born  in 
Buffalo,  New  York,  September  8,  1836,  and  was 
the  son  of  Peter  Peugeot,  a  native  of  France.  He 
was  also  a  relative  of  Peugeot  Brothers,  the  fa- 
mous bicycle  manufacturers  of  Paris.  Peter  Peu- 
geot was  a  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Buffalo, 
New  York,  to  which  city  he  removed  from  France 
in  1833.  He  was  engaged  several  years  in  the 
hardware  business,  and  as  a  manufacturer  of  ma- 
chinery, but,  having  amassed  a  competency,  he 
retired  from  active  business  twenty  years  before 
his  death,  which  occurred  November  22,  1875,  in 
the  seventy -fourth  year  of  his  age,  having  been  a 
resident  of  Buffalo  forty-two  years.  His  wife,  De- 
siree,  nee  Sachet,  also  a  native  of  France,  survived 
him,  and  her  death  occurred  in  November,  1886. 
They  were  the  parents  of  thirteen  children,  all 
but  two  of  whom  died  before  their  father.  Ellen 
J.  became  the  wife  of  Judge  W.  M.  Oliver,  ol 
Buffalo,  and  died  at  San  Marcial,  New  Mexico, 
while  there  trying  to  restore  her  health.  An- 
other daughter,  Amelia,  now  deceased,  became 
the  wife  of  George  P.  Bird,  now  a  wealthy  mill- 
owner  in  Helena,  Montana. 

The  other  survivor  was  Edward,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  who  came  to  Chicago  in  1857, 
when  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  displayed 
great  ability  in  building  up  the  largest  toy  im- 
porting house  in  the  West,  which  was  known  as 
Peugeot's  Variety  Store.  During  the  time  when 
his  business  was  largest,  he  made  annual  visits 


to  France  to  select  goods.  He  was  the  local  rep- 
resentative of  some  of  the  largest  and  best  known 
manufacturing  companies  in  France.  When  Chi- 
cago was  destroyed  in  1871,  he  lost  everything, 
and,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  the  local  insur- 
ance companies,  caused  by  the  unparalleled  mag- 
nitude of  their  losses,  he  realized  nothing  from 
that  source.  However,  he  went  into  business 
again  after  the  fire,  and  to  some  extent  retrieved 
his  fortune. 

On  the  1 4th  of  March,  1861,  Mr.  Peugeot  was 
married  to  Maria  L,.  Flershem,  daughter  of  Lem- 
uel H.  Flershem,  who  is  mentioned  at  length  in 
this  volume.  Four  children  blessed  the  home  of 
Mr.  Peugeot,  namely:  Nina,  now  the  wife  of 
Conrad  Mueller,  real- estate  dealer  and  Assistant 
Clerk  of  the  Sheriff  of  New  York  County;  she 
has  one  child,  Edward  Herman  Mueller.  lone, 
the  second  daughter,  resides  with  her  mother. 
Pierre  and  Leon  are  now  in  the  employ  of  W. 
McGregor  &  Company,  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Peugeot 
died  August  8,  1886,  and  subsequently  his  widow 
became  the  wife  of  William  McGregor  (see  sketch 
elsewhere  in  this  work). 

Edward  F.  Peugeot  was  a  man  in  whom  those 
elements  so  essential  to  social  popularity  and 
business  success  were  prominent,  and  he  was  al- 
ways the  center  of  a  large  circle  of  admiring 
friends.  He  was  a  very  enterprising  merchant, 
possessing  a  high  character  and  integrity,  and 
left  to  his  children,  as  a  legacy,  a  good  name  and 
an  excellent  example  of  true  manhood . 


FERDINAND  LINK. 


263 


FERDINAND  LINK. 


[~~  ERDINAND  LINK.  '  'Der  Gipfel  des  Ber- 
IV  %es  funk£tt  im  abend  Sonnenschein"  sings 
I  *  the  beautiful,  irresistible  Lorellei,  seated 
upon  the  picturesque  summits  of  those  storied, 
castle-crowned  highlands  of  the  Rhine,  whence 
she  drew  to  herself  all  who  came  within  the  scope 
of  her  vision.  It  is  proper  now  to  write  modestly 
of  one  born  in  the  Fatherland,  to  whom  the  sound 
of '  'America' '  was,  like  the  harmony  of  theold  folk- 
song, an  entrancing  melody,  full  of  bright  proph- 
ecy, the  hope  of  whose  fulfillment  he  could  not 
withstand. 

Ferdinand  Link  was  born  on  the  ist  of  No- 
vember, 1829,  in  Birkigt  Herzogthum,  Meinin- 
gen,  Germany,  his  parents  being  Trougott  and 
Rosina  (Schmidt)  Link,  persons  of  respectable 
attainments,  who  lived  and  died  in  the  Old  Coun- 
try. At  about  his  fourteenth  year  he  had  com- 
pleted the  learning  of  the  same  trade  as  his 
father,  a  carriage-maker,  after  which,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  custom  of  his  countrymen,  he 
traveled  to  improve  his  knowledge  of  the  craft,  a 
phase  of  intelligent  life  very  interestingly  set  forth 
by  the  great  Goethe  in  his  immortal  ' '  Wilhelm 
Meister." 

Having  acquired  whatever  seemed  necessary  to 
thoroughly  fit  his  genius  to  his  life-work,  he  re- 
solved to  come  to  the  United  States  of  America; 
so,  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  set  sail 
from  Bremen  upon  a  passage  which  took  forty- 
nine  days  in  crossing  to  Baltimore,  where  he 
disembarked  on  the  6th  of  July,  1848.  Presently 
he  found  employment  at  his  old  trade  with  a 
Mr.  Bishop,  with  whom  he  remained  for  a  time 
in  mutual  good-will.  Anon,  desirous  to  see  more 
of  the  New  World,  and  getting  on  famously  with 


the  new  language,  he  set  out  for  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, via  the  Natural  Bridge,  up  to  Abington, 
where  he  continued  his  trade  for  a  season,  or  un- 
til the  ist  of  November,  1850.  Thence,  at  that 
time,  he  proceeded  to  Kingston  Springs,  and  by 
way  of  the  Mississippi  River  as  far  south  as  New 
Orleans,  directly  returning  as  far  north  as  this 
city,  which  he  reached  the  last  week  in  Decem- 
ber, 1850,  and  where  for  more  than  forty  years 
he  has  continued  uninterruptedly  to  reside,  pros- 
pered, honored,  and  full  of  dignified  interests  in 
our  midst. 

Mr.  Link  is  a  very  modest  man,  but  in  his 
craft  it  remains  true  that  in  the  younger  days  he 
was  the  peer  of  any  in  our  city,  which  is  amply 
evidenced  by  some  handiwork,  so  superior  and 
excellent,  that  it  raises  a  well-defined  doubt  as 
to  whether  there  was  any  other  here  who  at  that 
time  could  have  done  so  skillfully.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  whence  he  came  to  our 
shore,  he  was  a  master  mechanic,  a  '  'turner' '  of 
rare  ability.  Among  the  things  which  came 
like  magic  from  his  deft  touch  were  the  following, 
which  recur  readily  to  the  mind:  A  finely  carved 
turnout  for  Governor  Wise,  of  Virginia;  the  first 
hearse  ever  used  in  our  city  which  had  glass  sides, 
made  for  Undertaker  Gavin,  before  which  they 
used  a  rough  conveyance  with  a  pall  thrown  over 
the  coffin;  and  the  first  public  hack  ever  con- 
structed here  or  seen  upon  our  pioneer  streets. 
Surely  this  is  quite  sufficient  to  establish  Mr. 
Link's  right  to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  best 
'  'turners' '  who  ever  lived  with  us,  and  certain- 
ly the  man  who  did  the  first  really  fine  kind  of 
work  in  several  valuable  lines. 

For  eleven  years  he  was  foreman  for  Richard 


264 


FERDINAND  LINK. 


Biel,  a  carriage  manufacturer  on  the  West  Side, 
who  has  now  gone  to  the  "bourne  whence  no 
traveler  returns. ' '  While  working  at  his  trade, 
Mr.  Link  also  began  to  turn  his  attention  to  that 
source  of  financial  wealth  which  has  made  most 
of  our  rich  men,  and  that  was  to  real-estate  in- 
vestments; for  never  in  the  history  of  the  world 
has  there  been  so  much  money  made  in  so  short 
a  time  out  of  building  sites  as  right  here  in  our 
little  Cook  County,  Illinois.  Foreseeing  himself 
what  would  certainly  come  of  it,  he  began  to  make 
good  moves  in  this  direction  as  fast  as  he  could 
get  money  to  buy  with.  On  State  Street,  near 
Chestnut,  which  for  the  greater  part  has  been  the 
locality  of  his  winning  moves,  he  purchased  a 
piece  of  land  and  proceeded,  in  1858,  to  put  up 
some  houses  for  rent.  The  results  were  gratify- 
ing from  the  start. 

In  the  winter  of  1 864,  in  reduced  health  (ad- 
vised by  his  physicians  to  do  so  if  he  wished  to 
prolong  his  life),  he  took  his  family  and  went  to 
California.  The  route,  before  the  days  of  the 
steam  horse,  was  from  New  York  City,  via  the 
West  Indies  and  the  Carribean  Sea,  to  Aspinwall 
and  Panama,  and  then  by  another  line  of  steam- 
ers to  San  Francisco,  in  which  last  city  he  stopped 
for  some  time,  his  condition  being  much  amelior- 
ated by  the  salubrious  climate,  and  his  interest 
deeply  aroused  by  the  quaint  customs  of  that 
strange  new  country,  whose  hills  were  made  of 
gold.  For  a  season  he  sojourned  at  Los  Angeles  (at 
a  period  prior  to  this  of  theyfw  de  siecle),  Alame- 
da,  Warm  Springs,  and  returned  home  in  March, 
1867,  via  Nicaragua  and  Greytown.  Mr.  Link's 
love  of  travel  is  remarkable,  and  his  keenly- 
observing  eyes,  with  the  note-book  which  he 
invariably  keeps,  make  it  intensely  interesting 
after  long  years  to  revisit  with  him  in  memorized 
record  those  scenes  of  former  delights. 

On  his  return  he  invested  in  more  real  estate 
near  the  site  of  his  former  possessions,  and  put  up 
houses  upon  the  same;  then  came  the  fire  of  1871, 
that  mighty  holocaust  which  cost  so  many  their 
entire  fortunes,  and  did  inestimable  damage  for  a 
time  to  all  our  citizens,  until  returning  courage 
resulted  in  rebuilding  better  than  was  ever 
dreamed  of  before.  Mr.  Link  lost  by  this  fire 


seven  houses,  which  shows  that  he  had  already 
grown  to  be  quite  a  landlord.  Nothing  daunted, 
with  that  admirable  energy  which  was  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  age,  he  mortgaged  his  land  to  set 
to  work  and  build  again,  this  time  including  the 
construction  of  a  grocery  store  near  the  corner  of 
State  and  Chestnut  Streets,  which  he  personally 
conducted  up  to  the  year  1882,  when  he  finally 
retired  from  business,  well  intrenched  in  his  fort- 
unes, with  hosts  of  friends  his  genial,  honest  and 
frank  nature  had  won  him,  for  he  never  made  an 
enemy  in  his  life. 

That  he  might  spend  his  closing  years  '  'under 
his  own  vine  and  fig  tree, ' '  he  bought  a  fine  lot 
at  Number  76  Walton  Place,  overlooking  the  lake 
at  its  foot  (and  which  now  has  within  plain  view 
the  celebrated  Newberry  Library,  since  construct- 
ed, one  of  the  famous  libraries  of  the  world) ,  where 
he  erected  a  commodious  home,  wherein  the  years 
pass  by  (when  he  is  not  in  other  scenes)  like  a 
dream  of  the  fabled  days  of  old. 

In  1852,  tired  of  single  blessedness,  Mr.  Link 
took  to  his  heart  a  wife  (one  of  the  most  congen- 
ial, entertaining,  whole-souled  women  in  our  whole 
city),  Miss  Mary  Laux  being  her  maiden  name. 
She  was  born,  like  himself,  in  Germany,  in  the 
town  of  Losheim,  County  of  Merzig,  Province  of 
Trier,  West  Prussia,  it  being  territory  formerly 
belonging  to  the  French,  and  quite  adjacent  to 
the  famous  Alsace-Lorraine  country  of  later  years' 
contest.  Her  father,  Peter  Laux  (coming  of  an 
old  French  family),  had  been  a  second  orderly  for 
the  great  Napoleon.  At  the  battle  of  Leipsig, 
his  horse  being  shot  under  him,  he  caught  the 
horse  of  the  first  orderly,  who  had  himself  been 
killed,  which  was  so  bewildered  by  the  fray  and 
smoke  of  battle,  that  when  soldat  Laux,  being  ig- 
norant of  the  way  to  his  troop,  gave  the  horse  his 
head,  he  dashed  away  into  the  very  enemy 's  lines, 
where,  by  a  singular  mistake,  a  French  flag, 
which  had  been  captured,  was  handed  him,  he 
being  taken  for  one  of  their  own  German  forces. 
Thereupon,  he  put  spurs  to  his  horse  and  started 
like  lightning  away  for  the  opposite  side  among 
his  friends.  His  horse  was  shot  by  the  volley 
sent  after  him,  and  he  himself  badly  wounded  in 
the  leg,  sustaining,  besides  several  flesh  wounds, 


FERDINAND  LINK. 


265 


a  fracture  of  the  leg  bone.  Crawling  under  a 
corn  stack,  he  managed  to  escape  apprehension, 
and  in  this  way  was  left  for  three  days  before  be- 
ing rescued  by  his  own  men  and  taken  to  hospital 
to  have  his  painful  wounds  dressed.  In  the  mean 
time,  however,  he  had  crawled  to  the  River  Katz- 
back  to  bathe  himself,  and  had  kept  the  old  flag, 
which  later  came  safely  into  Napoleon's  hands. 
This  episode  stamps  him  as  a  man  not  only  of 
strong  vitality,  to  withstand  such  suffering  and 
hardships,  but  also  as  a  heroic  soul,  of  no  common 
mould. 

Mr.  Laux,  in  1840,  took  his  wife  and  family, 
including  those  who  were  married,  to  America; 
and  at  this  juncture  befel  a  very  pathetic  scene. 
As  they  were  about  to  leave  France  forever,  the 
vessel  bringing  from  St.  Helena  the  remains  of  his 
old  general,  Napoleon,  was  coming  into  port.  He 
wept  like  a  child,  and  exclaimed,  "Why  art  thou 
not  alive,  that  I  might  again  forsake  my  friends 
and  family  to  follow  thee?"  With  Barbara,  his 
wife,  he  landed  upon  Chicago  soil  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  day  of  August,  1840.  They  have  both 
passed  to  their  eternal  rewards,  for  few  of  the 
older  settlers  are  longer  left  to  greet  us. 

Mrs.  Link  was  born  the  twenty-fifth  day  of 
March,  1833,  so  that  she  began  her  blissful  wed- 
ded life  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen.  One  child 
has  blessed  their  union,  Ferdinand  Eugene  Link, 
who  was  born  September  10,  1852.  He  learned 
his  trade  of  druggist  with  Mr.  Van  Derburg,  and 
went  into  the  employ  of  Tollman  &  King,  whole- 
sale druggists,  with  whom  he  still  remains,  his 
services  being  rewarded  with  the  responsible  po- 
sition of  manager.  He  was  married,  in  1875,  to 
Miss  Marion  Langdon  of  this  city,  by  whom  he 
has  three  children,  Ferdinand  (third),  Marion  and 
John. 

Politically  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat, not  an  office-seeker,  nor  fanatic  in  his  views; 
locally,  he  invariably  selects  the  best  man,  in  his 
candid  judgment,  for  support. 

Physically  Mr.  Link  is  not  a  large  man,  but 
so  engaging  in  manner  that  he  seems  to  rise  at 
times  to  the  stature  of  a  giant,  as  he  graphically 
depicts  interesting  experiences  he  has  passed 
through  in  his  varied  life  of  many  vicissitudes. 


He  is  one  of  the  most  unassuming,  genial  men 
it  is  one's  good  fortune  to  run  across,  hospitable 
and  full  of  good  parts.  As  an  instance  of  the  po- 
etic feeling  of  his  soul  (a  thing  somewhat  rare  in 
our  crowding,  rushing  city) ,  at  an  advanced  age, 
he  bought  a  fine  piano,  and  started  in  to  learn 
music.  He  progressed  with  such  amazing  rapidity 
that,  although  he  had  but  six  months'  lessons,  he 
really  plays  very  well,  and  some  difficult  pieces 
of  classical  music,  too.  It  is  one  of  the  proudest 
recollections  of  his  experience  that  he  was  per- 
mitted, on  a  foreign  tour,  to  play  for  a  few  mo- 
ments upon  the  piano  of  Frederick  the  Great,  in 
the  castle  at  Potsdam,  during  which  exceptionally 
honored  occasion  he  very  touchingly  ran  through 
the  pathetic  bars  of  "Sad  Thoughts  of  Thee." 
One  can  readily  picture  this  inspiring  incident,  of 
one  returning  from  a  new  country,  full  of  honor 
and  wealth,  to  the  home  of  his  nativity,  to  view 
for  a  season  the  place  that  gave  him  birth.  Ah, 
it  is  a  strange  world  we  live  in,  and  strange  in- 
deed are  the  changes  which  come  to  us  all! 

The  incident  above  related  occurred  upon  his 
memorable  tour  of  the  continent  in  1892,  when 
he  felt  he  must  visit  again  the  old  endeared  scenes 
of  his  boyhood.  Not  alone  those,  but  France,  Bel- 
gium and  England  were  traversed;  and  if  anyone 
doubts  the  good  use  our  friend  made  of  his  sight, 
let  him  sit  for  a  while  listening  to  the  '  'log  book, ' ' 
as  it  has  been  the  writer's  privilege,  and  doubt 
would  vanish  before  the  perfect  light  of  enrapt- 
ured conviction.  It  is  understood  that  he  is  plan- 
ning another  trip  abroad  for  the  near  future,  for 
he  is  an  indefatigable  traveler. 

In  closing,  we  must  not  forget  to  say,  that  as 
his  earthly  life  has  been  correct,  and  his  surround- 
ings beautiful  and  uplifting,  so  he  has  had  the 
wise  foresight  to  see  to  it  that  his  remains  after 
death  may  be  in  a  temporary  earthly  mansion 
suitable  to  his  wishes.  In  the  family  lot  at  St. 
Boniface  Cemetery,  he  has  finished  the  construc- 
tion of  a  family  tomb,  which  for  exquisiteness  of 
design  and  perfection  of  execution  is  unsurpassed. 
There  is  no  finer  owned  or  erected  in  this  city's 
places  of  burial.  The  exterior  facades  are  of 
that  handsome,  durable  stone,  rock-faced,  known 
as  Blue  Bedford;  while  the  interior  rises  grace- 


266 


W.  W.  PHELPS. 


fully  and  without  that  sense  of  oppression  so  fre- 
quent in  low-constructed  burial  places,  being  com- 
posed of  English  Channel  fire  brick  and  elegant 
imported  Italian  marbles.  In  the  center  rises  the 
catafalque,  which  will  one  day  contain  the  last 
mortal  remains  of  our  dear  friend  and  his  beloved 


spouse.  Each  one  has  his  themes  of  delight.  Can 
there  be  a  more  beautiful  wish  than  to  lie  securely 
safe  after  one's  earthly  existence  is  over,  surround- 
ed by  the  beauties  which,  like  the  hills,  pass  not 
away  until  the  judgment  day? 


WILLIAM  W.  PHELPS. 


fi>C>ILLIAM  WALLACE  PHELPS,  one  of 
\Al  tne  ear^est  arjd  most  conscientious  of  our 
VY  business  men,  was  born  at  Conesville, 
Schoharie  County,  New  York,  June  17,  1825.  His 
parents  were  George  and  Mary  (Chapman) 
Phelps. 

Being  of  the  generation  of  self-made  men,  he 
started  out  with  a  clear,  straightforward  mind, 
aided  by  a  common-school  instruction,  to  do  his 
life  work  as  the  Creator  foresaw  it  would  come  to 
pass. 

First  in  Oneida,  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  and 
elsewhere  in  his  native  State,  he  waited  upon 
customers  as  a  clerk  behind  merchants'  counters, 
and  in  1847  wenttoCatskill,  Greene  County,  New 
York,  to  clerk  for  Potter  Palmer.  It  is  needless 
to  add,  he  did  his  humble  early  duties  as  faith- 
fully and  ably  as  he  bore  the  later  more  hon- 
orable and  distinguished  burdens  which  time 
demonstrated  he  was  more  than  equal  to  carrying. 

Henceforth  he  was  fated  to  join  forces  with  that 
truly  royal  man,  Potter  Palmer,  the  bare  mention 
of  whose  name  thrills  the  listener  with  intense 
admiration,  and  conjures  up  in  his  mind  the 
rapid  achievement  of  our  unrivalled  city;  in  all 
and  through  all  of  which  none  has  been  more 
modestly  conspicuous  and  helpful  than  Mr.  Pal- 
mer. Along  with  Mr.  Palmer,  Mr.  Phelps  was 
mainly  to  work  out  his  destiny.  It  was  fitting, 
for  they  were  brothers-in-law;  and  so  long,  un- 
ruffled and  intimate  were  their  mutual  relations 


and  regard  for  each  other,  that  the  two  men 
actually  grew  more  and  more  in  personal  appear- 
ance alike.  One  glance  at  Mr.  Phelps'  face, 
as  the  artist  left  it  for  our  delight,  and  the 
lineaments  of  his  '  'dear  friend  Potter' '  suggest 
themselves.  Together  they  removed,  in  1851,  to 
Lockport,  New  York,  there  engaging  in  business 
for  about  one  year  only,  for  in  1852  they  started 
resolutely  for  the  then  Far  West,  resting  their 
weary  limbs  by  the  head  of  the  beautiful  Lake 
Michigan,  in  which  place  fortune  had  decreed 
they  should  win  honorable  names  and  a  goodly 
portion  of  the  desires  of  this  life.  One  has  quite 
finished  his  labors  and  is  at  rest  above  all  earthly 
value.  Soon  the  other  will  go  to  his  comrade's 
side,  while  this  scene  shall  know  their  presence  no 
more;  but  history  is  the  better,  and  future  genera- 
tions, though  they  may  lealize  it  not,  will  be  the 
happier  and  better  that  two  such  American  noble- 
men were  among  us  in  our  infancy. 

Soon  after  their  advent,  Mr.  Palmer,  having 
some  capital  at  command,  entered  into  the  dry- 
goods  business,  wherein  Mr.  Phelps  was  his  con- 
fidential friend  and  financial  secretary  for  long 
years,  always  in  every  way  satisfactory  in  his 
discharge  of  onerous  trusts. 

In  1865  Mr.  Phelps  went  for  himself  into  the 
wholesale  and  retail  carpet  business  with  a  part- 
ner, under  the  style  of  Hollister  &  Phelps,  hav- 
ing purchased  the  interest  of  the  former  partner, 
Mr.  Wilkins.  He  sold  out  his  interest  in  this 


W.  W.  PHELPS. 


267 


paying  establishment  the  June  preceding  the  his- 
torical fire  of  1871.  Thereafter  for  some  six 
months  he  enjoyed  the  delights  of  old  Europe, 
with  the  keen  intellectual  appreciation  so  charac- 
teristic of  him,  combining  business  with  health- 
ful recreation,  as  he  did  considerable  buying  for 
Mr.  Palmer,  who  was  furnishing  the  Palmer 
House,  recently  built  at  that  time. 

Returning  to  the  United  States  in  good  condi- 
tion, he  lived  the  easy  life  of  an  "old-school" 
gentleman  for  a  period  of  eight  years.  But  act- 
ive life  extended  too  great  temptations  to  one 
of  his  temperament;  so  it  is  not  surprising,  when 
Mr.  Palmer  made  him  a  flattering  offer,  that  he 
found  it  impossible  to  resist,  and  so  it  is  chronicled 
that  the  last  twelve  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
as  confidential  financial  manager  of  that  great 
hostelry,  one  of  the  grandest  and  best  known  in 
the  wide  world,  the  Palmer  House.  In  him  Mr. 
Palmer  had  full  and  explicit  trust  and  confidence. 
He  said:  "I  can  goto  California;  I  maybe  gone 
six  months;  and  when  I  return,  I  feel  I  shall 
hear  everything  has  gone  on  just  the  same." 

Alas,  all  must  pay  the  sad  debt  of  nature.  Mr. 
Phelps  died  May  18,  1891,  of  Bright's  Disease, 
and  was  interred  in  the  family  lot  at  Graceland, 
where  a  fine  monument  marks  his  beautiful  final 
resting-place.  For  many  years  he  was  an  at- 
tendant at  the  Plymouth  Congregational  Church, 
where  he  held  a  pew.  Bishop  Cheney,  a  warm 
friend,  officiated  at  the  funeral  obsequies  at  his 
magnificent  mansion  house,  No.  2518  Prairie 
Avenue. 

Mr.  Phelps  married,  first,  Lydia  Palmer,  sister 
of  Potter  Palmer,  in  the  fall  of  1867.  She  died 
on  the  very  day  of  the  Fire  of  1871 ,  without  issue. 
September  9,  1873,  he  wedded  Miss  Cornelia 
Austina  Hubbard,  of  Spring  Prairie,  Wisconsin. 
In  good  health,  she  continues  to  survive  her 
lamented  husband,  whose  memory  is  sacred  in 
her  heart  and  whose  worth  she  delights  to  exalt 
and  honor.  How  strong  under  such  circumstances 
does  the  merit  of  this  undertaking  appear  !  They 
who  make  for  themselves  honorable  names,  but 
are  barred  by  fate  against  leaving  children,  must 
herein  find  their  most  lasting  and  fitting  monu- 
ment in  this  record  of  their  good  deeds. 


Cornelia  A.  (Hubbard)  Phelps  is  a  daughter  of 
Alfred  Hubbard  and  Hannah  Steele,  of  Wind- 
ham,  Greene  County,  New  York,  being  the 
youngest  of  eight  children.  Alfred  Hubbard  was 
a  son  of  Timothy  Hubbard  and  Dorothy  Raleigh, 
of  Connecticut.  Hannah  Steele  was  a  daughter 
of  Stephen  Steele  and  Hannah  Simonds,  also  of 
Connecticut. 

Mr.  Phelps  was  a  stanch  Republican,  a  con-  " 
scientious  Christian,  a  gentleman  and  a  lover  of 
home.  Tall  and  straight  of  stature,  his  pale 
blonde  face,  handsome,  yet  full  of  kindly  charac- 
ter, firm  mouth,  prominent  eyes,  heavy  eyebrows 
and  massive  forehead  well  denoted  the  strength  he 
possessed.  He  and  Mr.  Palmer  might  have  been 
taken  for  brothers.  Their  names  are  indelibly 
associated,  and  those  who,  in  coming  years,  when 
the  flowers  are  blossoming  over  ancient  graves, 
shall  read  the  records  of  the  two  lives,  will  un- 
derstand more  deeply  and  solemnly  than  words 
can  depict  what  this  age  and  this  city  owe  to  men 
like  Potter  Palmer  and  William  Wallace  Phelps. 

It  is  fitting  that  this  work  shall  record  the  fol- 
lowing quite  full  and  satisfactory  genealogical 
descent: 

Ichabod  Phelps,  who  was  a  merchant  in  Eng- 
land, married  Betsy  Bristol,  and,  coming  to  this 
country,  in  company  with  three  brothers,  settled 
at  Salisbury,  in  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut. 
Later  he  removed  to  Wyoming,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  until  the  historical 
massacre  there  by  the  Indians  under  the  notorious 
Brant,  upon  which  event  he  took  a  fresh  depart- 
ure for  Broome,  Schoharie  County,  New  York, 
where  he  built  and  conducted  a  general  store. 
His  son,  Othniel  Phelps,  born  in  1777,  died  in 
1856.  He  was  twice  married;  first,  to  Polly  Fiero, 
and  secondly  to  Hannah  Frost,  who  lived  to  the 
remarkable  age  of  ninety-two  years,  dying  in 
1876. 

The  eldest  son  by  the  first  marriage  was 
George  W.  Phelps,  who  was  born  in  1798,  at 
Conesville,  Schoharie  County,  New  York,  and- 
died  July  3,  1866.  He  was  twice  married;  first, 
about  the  year  1820,  to  Zerviah  Potter,  who  died 
three  years  later,  leaving  two  sons,  Othniel  B. 
and  Samuel  P.  (for  a  sketch  of  Othniel  B.  vide 


268 


C.  E.  PIPER 


other  pages  herein);  second,  he  married,  about 
1824,  Mary  Chapman,  who  was  born  February 
25,  1801,  and  died  January  28,  1879.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Samuel  Chapman  (born  January 
13,  1773,  died  November  30,  1858)  and  Rhoda 
Cowles,  his  wife  (born  September  3,  1775,  and 


died  in  1801).  By  this  second  marriage  there 
were  eight  children:  Helen  M.,  John  M.,  Mary 
Z.,  Catherine,  Lucinda  M. ,  George  C.,  Abbie 
A.  and  William  Wallace  Phelps,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch. 


CHARLES  E.  PIPER. 


EHARLES  EDWARD  PIPER  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Chicago  June  12,  1858.  His  fa- 
ther, Otis  Piper,  well  and  favorably  known 
to  the  pioneer  business  men  of  Chicago,  was  of 
English  extraction,  and  traced  his  descent  di- 
rectly to  ancestors  who  arrived  in  America  and 
settled  at  the  town  of  New  Salem  in  1782.  His 
mother,  Margaret  (McGrory)  Piper,  of  Scotch- 
Irish  lineage,  was  a  native  of  Prescott,  province 
of  Ontario,  Canada,  whither  her  father  removed 
in  1824. 

Otis  Piper,  with  his  family,  came  to  Chicago  in 
1851,  at  a  time  when  the  struggling  town  was 
barely  beginning  to  give  promise  of  future  impor- 
tance, and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  few  fervent- 
spirited  citizens  whose  eyes  of  faith  saw,  above  the 
alternating  sand  dunes  and  swamps  of  that  early 
period,  something  of  the  glory  of  the  present  me- 
tropolis. Amid  the  surroundings  common  to  the 
pioneer  outposts  of  civilization  in  our  country, 
Charles  Edward  Piper,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
first  saw  the  light  of  day.  The  foundation  of  his 
education  was  laid  in  the  public  schools  of  the 
city,  and  in  the  face  of  many  trials  and  vicissi- 
tudes was,  nevertheless,  so  firmly  planted  in  the 
mind  of  the  young  boy  that  an  unquenchable 
thirst  for  knowledge,  and  an  indomitable  deter- 
mination to  obtain  it,  impelled  him  to  successively 
graduate  from  the  high  school  in  1876,  the  North- 


western University  in  1882,  and  the  Union  College 
of  Law  in  1889,  earning,  in  the  mean  time,  his 
own  livelihood  and  the  means  to  meet  his  stu- 
dent's expenses. 

After  completing  his  law  course,  he  entered 
upon  practice  with  Mr.  Wilbert  J.  Andrews,  un- 
der the  firm  name  of  Andrews  &  Piper,  a  firm 
which  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  real-es- 
tate law  firms  in  Chicago.  The  business  of  buy- 
ing and  selling  real  estate  has  naturally  grown  up 
with  the  practice  of  real-estate  law,  and  the  sub- 
urban town  of  Berwyn  was  founded  by  and  is  to- 
day, to  a  considerable  extent,  the  property  of  Mr. 
Piper  and  his  associates.  Socially  Mr.  Piper  is  a 
genial,  warm-hearted  gentleman,  easy  in  his  man- 
ners and  a  favorite  in  several  social  organizations 
with  which  he  is  connected,  notably  the  Prairie 
Club,  of  Oak  Park,  and  the  Lincoln  Club,  of 
West  Chicago.  In  religious  matters  he  is  a  fol- 
lower of  Wesley,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  He  is  President  of  the  State 
Epworth  League  and  Treasurer  of  the  National 
Epworth  League.  Politically  he  is  a  Republican, 
"dyed  in  the  wool,"  is  President  of  the  town  of 
Cicero,  and  has  held  the  office  of  Supervisor  of 
the  town  of  South  Chicago,  as  well  as  that  of 
member  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  town 
of  Cicero. 

August  15,  1882,  he  married  Carrie  L.  Gregory, 


FRANCIS  WARNER. 


269 


daughter  of  Edwin  and  Anna  S.  Gregory,  of 
Nauvoo,  Illinois,  and  granddaughter  of  Robert 
Lane,  partner  of  John  Morris,  of  Philadelphia,  of 
Revolutionary  fame.  The  three  living  children 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Piper  are:  Carrie  E.,  born  May 
29,  1884;  Lulu  L.;  and  Robert  G.,  December  6, 
1889. 

Mr.  Piper  vividly  recalls  the  burning  of  Chi- 
cago on  the  fatal  October  8,  1871,  but  at  that 
time,  fortunately,  was  residing  outside  of  the  burnt 
district,  and  escaped  any  serious  personal  dam- 
ages or  loss.  He  is  the  President  of  the  Method- 


ist Forward  Movement  of  Chicago,  and  takes 
deep  interest  in  the  building  of  the  Epworth 
House,  at  Number  229  Halsted  Street,  now  in 
process  of  erection.  This  house,  like  its  prototype, 
Hull  House,  is  designed  to  serve  as  an  oasis  in 
the  desert  of  poverty  and  iniquity,  and  will  aid 
greatly  in  the  regeneration  of  that  benighted  re- 
gion. He  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  is  now  an 
officer,  of  the  Epworth  Children's  Home,  and  is 
at  the  present  time  President  of  the  Chicago  Meth- 
odist Social  Union. 


FRANCIS  WARNER. 


[~~  RANCIS  WARNER,  a  quiet,  worthy  citizen 
rft  of  Chicago,  is  a  descendant  of  very  early 
|  English  and  German  yeomanry.  He  was 
born  at  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  January  26, 
1819.  His  parents,  George  Warner  and  Mary 
Salisbury,  were  natives,  respectively,  of  Pack- 
ington  and  Ashby  de  la  Zouche,  in  Leicestershire, 
near  the  border  of  Nottinghamshire,  England. 
The  family  name  was  originally  Werner,  and  was 
brought  to  England  from  Germany,  after  the  Re- 
formation of  Martin  Luther.  England  had  just 
become  a  Protestant  country,  and  the  founder  of 
this  family  on  English  soil  received  a  grant  of 
land  near  the  Welsh  border.  He  had  a  coat-of- 
arms,  the  principal  objects  on  which  were  a  castle 
surmounted  by  a  squirrel,  with  a  motto  signify- 
ing, "  Not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for  others." 
Mary  Salisbury  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  a  man- 
at-arms  who  flourished  long  before  the  first 
Werner  came  to  England,  and  was  granted  a 
' '  hide  ' '  of  land  (being  all  that  he  could  surround 
with  an  ox's  hide  cut  into  strips)  by  the  lord  of 
the  manor,  whose  life  he  had  saved  in  battle. 


Members  of  the  Warner  family  came  to  America 
in  the  early  Colonial  days,  and  it  is  a  tradition 
that  one  settled  in  each  of  the  colonies  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania. 

George  Warner  and  Mary  Salisbury  were  mar- 
ried in  England  in  1806,  and  removed  four  years 
later  to  Massachusetts,  where  eight  of  their  eleven 
children  were  born.  Mr.  Warner  was  a  lace 
weaver,  and  was  employed  at  his  trade  in  and 
about  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  until  1837, 
when  he  came  to  Illinois.  He  engaged  in  farm- 
ing in  Northfield  Township,  La  Salle  County,  for 
over  twenty  years,  and  then  went  to  Iowa,  and 
settled  on  the  Soldier  River,  near  the  present  site 
of  Ida  Grove.  After  he  retired  from  farming  he 
returned  to  Massachusetts  and  died  at  Ipswich, 
in  that  State,  in  1874,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine 
years.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  born  in  1785. 
The  latter  died  in  Illinois  in  1851,  age  sixty-six. 

All  of  their  seven  sons  and  two  of  their  daugh- 
ters grew  to  adult  life.  Samuel,  born  in  England, 
and  an  upholsterer  by  occupation,  passed  most  of 
his  life  in  Massachusetts,  and  died,  as  the  result 


270 


FRANCIS  WARNER. 


of  an  accident,  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  George, 
born  in  Massachusetts,  was  a  farmer;  he  died  in 
La  Salle  County,  Illinois,  in  1882,  from  the  ef- 
fects of  a  fall.  Mary,  Mrs.  Sanford  Peatfield, 
resides  in  Ipswich,  Massachusetts.  Alfred  is  a 
resident  of  Michigan,  and  John  died  in  Newton, 
Massachusetts,  in  1892,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  sixth. 
Elizabeth,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  William 
Powell,  a  farmer  in  La  Salle  County,  Illinois. 
Thomas  died  in  California  from  the  effects  of 
drinking  alkali  water;  and  William  is  engaged  in 
mining  in  Utah. 

Francis  Warner  was  reared  in  Newton,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  was  taught  to  read  by  his  mother. 
His  only  attendance  at  a  public  school  was  one 
half-day,  at  which  time  the  teacher  was  absent. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  was  apprenticed  to 
a  cabinet-maker,  and  his  articles  of  indenture 
stipulated  that  he  was  to  receive  $50  per  year 
and  his  board.  During  this  apprenticeship  he 
made  the  most  of  his  opportunities  for  material 
and  mental  advancement.  He  joined  several 
others  in  a  plan  to  secure  instruction,  and  they 
were  taught  four  nights  each  week,  for  which  the 
teacher  received  fifty  cents  per  night.  So  faith- 
ful and  diligent  was  young  Warner,  that  he  be- 
came a  journeyman  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  He 
immediately  went  to  Boston,  where  he  continued 
to  ply  his  trade  until  1843,  when  he  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  took  up  farming  on  Somomauk  Creek, 
in  La  Salle  County. 

In  the  spring  of  1861  Mr.  Warner  responded 
to  the  call  for  troops  to  defend  the  Union.  He 
first  went  out  in  the  three-months  service,  under 
General  McClellan,  who  was  a  personal  acquaint- 
ance, in  West  Virginia.  He  was  a  participator 
in  the  battle  of  Rich  Mountain,  and  was  one  of 
the  detail  which  accompanied  the  body  of  the 
Confederate  General,  Garnett,  to  Washington,  en 
route  to  his  home  in  Virginia. 

In  1862  Mr.  Warner  again  joined  the  Federal 
forces,  being  attached  to  the  Provost- Marshal's 
department,  with  the  pay  and  rank  of  Captain, 
and  was  chiefly  employed  in  the  charge  and  hand- 
ling of  prisoners  of  war,  with  headquarters  in 
Washington.  After  the  surrender  of  New  Or- 


leans, he  joined  Colonel  Wood's  command,  the 
First  United  States  Regiment,  with  which  he  con- 
tinued until  May,  1865,  when  he  was  honorably 
discharged. 

While  a  resident  of  La  Salle  County,  Mr.  War- 
ner was  twice  elected  to  the  office  of  Sheriff,  and 
demonstrated  such  superior  ability  in  the  capture 
of  oifenders,  that  his  services  were  sought  by  de- 
tective agencies  throughout  the  country.  Soon 
after  leaving  the  army  he  took  charge  of  Allen 
Pinkerton's  New  York  detective  agency,  where 
he  continued  a  year,  removing  thence  to  Chicago, 
where  he  occupied  a  similar  position  until  his 
health  failed,  in  1879,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
resign.  After  spending  three  months  at  the  sea 
shore,  on  the  advice  of  his  physician,  he  returned 
to  Chicago,  very  much  improved  in  health  and 
strength,  and  at  once,  in  1880,  took  charge  of  the 
detective  service  of  the  American  Express  Com- 
pany at  Chicago.  This  was  his  last  active  em- 
ployment, in  which  he  still  holds  an  honorary  po- 
sition. Though  now  in  his  seventy -seventh  year, 
Mr.  Warner  exhibits  plenty  of  mental  and  physi- 
cal vigor,  and  is  still  a  useful  member  of  society. 

Mr.  Warner  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  was 
for  many  years  active  in  the  order.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  a  con- 
sistent and  stanch  Republican  in  principle,  being 
one  of  the  founders  of  that  political  organization. 
In  1840  he  married  Miss  Juliette  Back,  who  was 
born  in  Burlington,  Vermont,  August  17,  1819, 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Jasper  and  Sally  (Harring- 
ton) Back.  Mr.  Back  was  one  of  the  minute- 
men  who  served  at  the  battle  of  Plattsburgh, 
during  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain.  Four  of 
Mr.  Warner's  eight  children  are  now  living. 
Francis  Armstrong  Warner,  the  eldest,  is  a  resi- 
dent of  Chicago.  Alice,  the  second,  died  while 
the  wife  of  Albert  Forbes,  leaving  an  infant 
daughter,  who  was  reared  by  Mr.  Warner.  Juli- 
ette died  at  the  age  of  eighteen  months,  and  Isabel 
is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Edward  J.  Lewis,  of  Sauk  Cen- 
ter, Wisconsin.  Ernest  died  at  three  years  of 
age,  Charles  at  fourteen,  and  Gray  resides  at 
Denver,  Colorado.  Nellie  is  the  wife  of  Henry 
B.  Gates  and  resides  in  Wilmette. 


' 


'KY 


LYMAN  J.  GAGE. 


271 


LYMAN  JUDSON  GAGE. 


I  YMAN  JUDSON  GAGE,  President  of  the 
I  C  First  National  Bank  of  Chicago,  is  widely 
\  J  known  as  the  leading  financier  of  the 
West,  as  well  as  an  active  power  in  political  and 
other  movements.  As  a  promoter  and  active  Di- 
rector of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  he 
earned  and  received  the  good-will  of  every  citi- 
zen of  Chicago,  as  well  as  of  most  of  the  world  be- 
side. 

Eli  A.  Gage  and  Mary  Judson,  parents  of  the 
subject  of  this  biography,  were  natives  of  New 
York,  of  English  descent,  their  ancestors  being 
numbered  among  the  early  settlers  of  New  Eng- 
land. The  student  of  American  history  cannot 
fail  to  note  that  much  of  the  energy  and  good 
sense  which  gave  direction  to  the  development  of 
the  entire  northern  half  of  the  United  States  was 
contributed  by  the  New  England  blood. 

Lyman  J.  Gage  was  born  at  De  Ruyter,  Madi- 
son County,  N.  Y.,  June  28,  1836,  and  passed 
the  first  ten  years  of  his  life  in  that  village.  On 
the  removal  of  the  family  to  Rome,  N.  Y.,  in 
1846,  he  entered  the  local  academy,  but  left  school 
to  engage  in  business  life  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
For  a  year,  he  was  employed  as  clerk  in  the  Rome 
postoffice,  and  was  detailed  by  the  Postmaster  as 
mail-route  agent  on  the  Rome  &  Watertown  Rail- 
road at  the  age  of  fifteen.  In  1854  he  became 
junior  clerk  in  the  Oneida  Central  Bank  at  Rome, 
at  a  salary  of  $100  per  annum.  His  duties  in 
that  position  were  somewhat  varied,  and  involved 
the  sweeping  of  the  bank,  as  well  as  many  other 
duties  which  are  fulfilled  by  a  janitor  in  larger 
institutions.  The  ambitious  soul  of  the  youth 
who  was  destined  by  fate  to  control  in  time  great 
financial  enterprises,  could  not  always  be  content 
in  this  position,  and  after  a  year  and  a-half  of 


service,  with  no  immediate  prospect  of  advance- 
ment in  position  or  salary,  he  resolved  to  try  his 
fortune  in  the  growing  West. 

On  the  3d  of  October,  1855,  young  Gage, 
being  then  a  little  past  the  completion  of  his  nine- 
teenth year,  arrived  in  Chicago  with  a  capital 
consisting  of  brains  and  energy.  He  shortly 
found  employment  in  the  lumber-yard  of  Nathan 
Cobb,  a  part  of  the  time  in  keeping  books,  and 
often  in  loading  lumber.  He  continued  in  this 
employment  until  the  business  changed  hands  in 
1858.  The  financial  depression  of  that  period 
made  many  changes,  and,  rather  than  remain  idle, 
Mr.  Gage  accepted  the  position  of  night-watch- 
man at  the  same  place.  At  the  end  of  six  weeks 
in  this  service,  in  August,  1858,  he  was  offered 
and  accepted  the  position  of  book-keeper  in  the 
Merchants'  Savings,  Loan  &  Trust  Company,  at 
an  annual  salary  of  $500.  Here  he  found  field 
for  the  exercise  of  his  abilities,  and  his  advance- 
ment was  rapid.  On  the  ist  of  January  follow- 
ing, he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  paying 
teller,  with  the  accompanying  salary  of  $1,200 
per  year.  In  September,  1860,  he  became  As- 
sistant Cashier  at  $2,000  per  annum,  and  a  year 
later  was  made  Cashier.  In  August,  1868,  he 
resigned  this  position  to  accept  a  similar  one  in 
the  First  National  Bank.  On  the  re-organiza- 
tion of  this  institution,  at  the  expiration  of  its 
charter  in  1882,  Mr.  Gage  was  elected  Vice- Pres- 
ident and  General  Manager,  and  became  Presi- 
dent January  24,  1891.  Thus  are  briefly  related 
the  steps  of  his  progress,  but  they  were  not  the 
result  of  accident.  Back  of  them  were  the  quali- 
ities  which  inspired  the  confidence  of  his  fellows, 
and  the  ability  to  make  intelligent  use  of  his  op- 
portunities. 


272 


O.  P.  BASSETT. 


Mr.  Gage  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bankers'  Association  at  Philadelphia,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1876,  and  was  made  President  of  that  body 
in  1882,  and  twice  successfully  re-elected,  a  com- 
pliment both  to  Chicago  and  the  man.  He  is  a 
member  of  two  social  clubs  of  the  city,  the  Chi- 
cago and  the  Union,  an  ex-President  of  the  Com- 
mercial Club  (an  organization  limited  to  sixty 
members) ,  and  a  Director  and  Treasurer  of  the  Art 
Institute.  Mr.  Gage  takes  a  warm  interest  in 
all  matters  affecting  the  public  welfare,  and  has 
been  quite  active  as  a  member  of  the  Republican 
organization,  because  he  considers  the  Republi- 
can party  the  best  exponent  of  his  ideas  on  the 
conservation  of  human  liberty  and  general  pros- 
perity. While  somewhat  active  in  promulgating 
his  principles,  he  is  by  no  means  a  narrow  parti- 
san, and  will  not  tolerate  anything  which  his 
judgment  or  conscience  does  not  approve,  because 
it  bears  the  endorsement  of  his  party.  He  has 
been  frequently  urged  to  accept  a  nomination  for 
some  public  position,  as  the  spontaneous  choice 
of  the  public  urged,  but  his  business  interests 
could  not  be  set  aside  sufficiently  to  permit.  At  the 
last  regular  municipal  election  he  could  have  been 
almost  unanimously  elected  mayor,  had  he  per- 
mitted the  use  of  his  name.  In  spite  of  the  cares 
of  his  responsible  position,  he  gave  much  of  his 
energy  to  the  promotion  of  the  World's  Fair  en- 
terprise, and  was  made  President  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  at  its  organization  in  April,  1890.  This 
he  resigned  on  his  accession  to  the  bank  presi- 
dency, nearly  a  year  later,  but  continued  as  an 
active  member  of  the  Board.  It  is  no  injustice  to 


his  contemporaries  to  say  that  the  final  success  of 
the  scheme  was  in  a  large  measure  due  to  the 
influence  and  efforts  of  Mr.  Gage.  When  the 
hostility  of  New  York  seemed  likely  to  take  the 
location  away  from  Chicago,  Mr.  Gage  was  one 
of  four  local  capitalists  to  guarantee  the  comple- 
tion of  the  ten-million-dollar  guaranty  fund  re- 
quired by  Congress  from  Chicago.  It  was  while 
on  his  way  to  attend  a  banquet  in  New  York  in 
honor  of  this  event,  that  Mr.  Gage  was  stricken 
with  a  serious  illness,  which  it  required  a  dan- 
gerous operation  to  overcome,  and  the  whole  na- 
tion rejoiced  when  it  was  announced  that  he  would 
recover. 

Mr.  Gage  is  a  student  of  rare  discrimination, 
and  his  public  speeches  show  a  cultivated  taste  in 
literature,  as  well  as  a  mind  well  stored  with  use- 
ful knowledge.  He  has  a  happy  faculty  of  im- 
parting information  to  others,  and  his  occasional 
addresses  on  financial,  political  and  other  topics 
are  greeted  with  wide  and  careful  attention.  In 
private  life,  he  is  a  most  companionable  gentle- 
man, and  gives  ear  as  readily  to  the  request  of 
the  humble  individual  as  the  large  investor.  He 
has  been  twice  married.  In  1864  he  espoused 
Miss  Sarah  Etheridge,  daughter  of  Dr.  Francis 
Etheridge,  of  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.  She  died  in 
1874,  and  he  was  married  to  his  present  wife,  Mrs. 
Cornelia  Gage,  of  Denver,  Colo.,  in  1887.  Their 
home  is  on  North  State  Street,  near  beautiful  Lin- 
coln Park,  and  here  Mr.  Gage  spends  most  of  his 
evenings,  ever  gathering  something  from  his  well- 
selected  library. 


ORLAND  P.  BASSETT. 


|  RLAND  P.  BASSETT,  of  the  Pictorial  Print- 
ing House,  of  Chicago,  and  the  owner  of  large 
greenhouses  in  Hinsdale,  where  he  makes 
his  home,  was  born  March  31,  1835,  in  Towanda, 
Pa.  His  father,  John  W.  Bassett,  was  a  wheel- 


wright of  the  Keystone  State,  and  in  1872  became 
to  Illinois,  spending  his  last  days  in  Chicago  at 
the  home  of  his  son,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  His  wife  bore  the  maiden  name 


J.  O.  CLIFFORD. 


273 


of  Angelina  Crocker,  and  passed  away  several 
years  previous  to  the  death  of  her  husband.  Their 
family  numbered  nine  children,  of  whom  four  are 
yet  living:  Henry,  John,  Orland  and  Chauncy. 

Mr.  Bassett  whose  name  heads  this  record  was 
reared  in  his  native  State,  and  remained  with  his 
parents  until  he  had  attained  his  majority.  The 
greater  part  of  his  education  was  acquired  in  a 
printing-office.  In  1854  he  began  the  printing 
business,  which  he  has  followed  up  to  the  present 
time,  and  step  by  step  he  has  worked  his  way  up- 
ward until  now  he  is  President  of  the  Pictorial 
Printing  Company,  of  Chicago.  He  owned  the 
entire  business  until  about  four  years  ago,  when 
he  sold  the  controlling  interest.  It  was  in  March, 
1857,  that  he  came  to  the  West  and  located  in 
Sycamore,  111. ,  where  he  published  a  paper,  the 
Sycamore  True  Republican,  for  nine  years.  He 
then  sold  out  and  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
carried  on  a  job  printing-office  until  1874,  when 
he  bought  out  the  establishment  of  the  Pictorial 
Printing  Company,  as  before  stated. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1858,  Mr.  Bassett  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Betsey  M.  Shelton. 


One  child  has  been  born  to  them,  Kate  B.,  wife 
of  Charles  L.  Washburn,  of  Hinsdale.  They 
have  one  son,  Edgar  B. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Bassett  was  a  supporter  of 
the  Republican  party,  but  is  now  independent  in 
his  political  views.  In  1887  he  removed  to  Hins- 
dale, where  he  makes  his  home,  but  still  does 
business  in  Chicago.  He  also  has  in  Hinsdale 
the  largest  greenhouses  to  be  found  in  the  West, 
does  an  extensive  business  in  this  line,  and  em- 
ploys a  large  number  of  men.  When  he  began 
business  in  Sycamore  he  had  no  capital  and  bought 
his  outfit  on  credit,  but  he  has  steadily  worked 
his  way  upward,  and  the  business  of  the  Chicago 
Pictorial  Printing  Company  has  at  times  amounted 
to  $1,000  per  day.  The  company  is  well  known 
throughout  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and 
also  in  parts  of  Australia  and  South  America,  and 
its  success  is  due  in  a  large  measure  to  the  untir- 
ing efforts  and  good  management  of  Mr.  Bassett. 
He  is  a  genial  and  pleasant  gentleman,  is  very 
popular,  makes  friends  wherever  he  goes,  and  is 
justly  deserving  of  the  high  regard  in  which  he 
is  held. 


JAMES  ORRA  CLIFFORD. 


(TAMES  ORRA  CLIFFORD  was  born  Decem- 
I  ber  8,  1856,  at  Salem,  Kenosha  County, 
(*/  Wis.,  being  the  son  of  Emery  and  Mary  Jane 
(Osgood)  Clifford.  He  comes  of  English  ances- 
try, and  his  forefathers  were  among  the  early  set- 
tlers of  the  New  England  States.  His  paternal 
grandparents,  John  and  Nancy  (Ray)  Clifford, 
were  born  in  New  Hampshire.  They  afterward 
settled  at  Collins,  Erie  County,  N.  Y.  They  were 
the  parents  of  eleven  children.  Emery,  the  sev- 
enth of  these,  was  born  at  Collins,  Erie  County, 
N.  Y.,  October  21,  1832.  In  the  year  1846  his 
parents  removed  from  New  York  and  settled  near 


Salem,  Kenosha  County,  Wis.  His  maternal 
grandparents,  John  Sherman  and  Jane  (Orvis) 
Osgood,  were  natives  of  Brookline,  Windham 
County,  Vt.  They  were  the  parents  of  five  chil- 
dren. Mary  Jane,  the  eldest,  was  born  at  Brook- 
line,  Windham  County,  Vt.,  November  30,  1838. 
In  the  fall  of  1851  they  removed  from  Vermont, 
settling  on  a  farm  near  Salem,  Kenosha  County, 
Wis. 

Emery  Clifford  and  Mary  Jane  Osgood  were 
married  at  Salem,  Kenosha  County,  Wis.,  on 
February  8,  1856.  They  settled  on  a  farm  near 
Salem,  Wis. ,  where  their  four  children  were  born. 


274 


J.  O.  CLIFFORD. 


Emery  Clifford  enlisted  in  the  First  Wisconsin 
Heavy  Artillery,  Company  L,  and  was  stationed 
at  Arlington  Heights,  near  Washington,  D.  C., 
guarding  the  United  States  capital  until  the  close 
of  the  civil  war,  after  which  he  returned  and  was 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  until  the  autumn 
of  1874,  when  he  sold  his  farm  and  removed  to 
Delmar,  Clinton  County,  Iowa,  where  he  still  re- 
sides. Of  his  four  children,  James  O.  is  the  eld- 
est. Jennie  O.  resides  with  her  parents.  Lurie 
E.  died  unmarried  in  1882;  and  Gay  Emery,  the 
youngest,  is  married  and  resides  at  Arthur,  Ida 
County,  Iowa,  where  he  is  the  manager  of  a  lum- 
ber-yard. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  entered  the  public 
(country)  schools  at  the  age  of  eight  years.  From 
the  age  of  eleven  he  was  employed  in  assisting  his 
father  with  the  farm  work  during  the  summer,  and 
attending  school  in  the  winter,  until  the  summer 
of  1873,  at  which  time  he  left  home,  going  to 
Delmar,  Clinton  County,  Iowa,  where  he  entered 
the  railway  service  as  a  messenger  boy  and  ap- 
prentice under  his  uncle  by  marriage,  William  E. 
Roberts,  who  was  agent  for  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western Railway  Company  at  that  station.  Here, 
during  the  following  year  until  October,  he  learned 
telegraphy  and  the  duties  of  a  station  agent 
generally,  and  has  since  been  in  the  employ  of 
the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway  Company 
consecutively,  as  follows:  October,  1874,  to  Au 
gust,  1880,  at  various  stations  on  the  Iowa  Divis- 
ion as  telegraph  operator  and  agent.  In  August, 
1880,  while  he  was  stationed  at  Montour,  Iowa, 
he  was  appointed  to  the  position  of  Traveling 
Auditor.  In  this  capacity  he  traveled  over  the 
entire  Northwestern  System.  On  November  7, 
1887,  he  was  appointed  Freight  Auditor  of  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway;  Fremont,  Elk- 
horn  &  Missouri  Valley,  and  Sioux  &  Pacific 
Railroads,  with  office  at  Chicago,  which  position 
he  holds  at  the  present  time.  His  long  continu- 
ance in  this  position,  where  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  intricacies  of  railway  accounting,  sys- 
tematic supervision,  and  accuracy  in  every  detail, 
are  essential,  attests  his  executive  ability  and 
faithfulness.  His  management  in  business  affairs 
is  characterized  by  a  progressive  spirit,  seeking 


improved  methods  and  higher  efficiency  in  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  his  chosen  profession.  In  har- 
mony with  this  idea  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Association  of  American  Railway  Accounting  Of- 
ficers since  its  organization,  having  always  taken 
an  active  and  influential  part  in  its  deliberations, 
and  having  been  honored  by  his  fellow-members 
with  the  office  of  Vice- President  of  the  Associa- 
tion. 

On  November  7,  1883,  Mr.  Clifford  married 
Miss  May  Elizabeth  Dannatt,  who  was  born  at 
Low  Moor,  Iowa,  June  25,  1859,  and  who  is  a 
daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Jane  (Cortis)  Dannatt, 
natives  of  Lincolnshire  and  Yorkshire,  England, 
respectively.  In  1851  her  grandfather,  Samuel 
Dannatt,  came  from  England  and  purchased  five 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  Clinton  County,  Iowa, 
giving  to  the  location  the  name  of  his  old  home  in 
England,  and  to  his  residence  the  name  of  Kill- 
inghome  Hall,  after  his  English  estate.  They 
resided  at  Clinton,  Iowa,  until  October,  1885,  at 
which  time  they  removed  to  Wheaton,  111. ,  where 
they  now  occupy  a  pleasant  home  on  Main  Street, 
corner  of  Franklin.  To  them  have  been  given 
five  children.  Grace  Edith  was  born  at  Clinton, 
Iowa,  February  i,  1885.  The  other  four  were 
born  at  Wheaton,  DuPage  County,  111. — Lewis 
Dannatt  on  April  17,  1886;  Olive  on  June  8,  1887; 
Marshall  Emery  on  February  26,  1892;  and  Alice 
on  April  8,  1893.  Mr.  Clifford  has  served  two 
terms  in  the  City  Council  of  Wheaton  as  represen- 
tative of  the  ward  in  which  he  lives,  having  de- 
clined further  honors  in  that  direction. 

Mr.  Clifford  possesses  a  fine  physique,  and  has 
the  easy,  cordial  bearing  which  makes  and  retains 
friendships.  He  is  of  a  social  disposition  and  is 
prominently  identified  with  numerous  fraternal 
orders,  among  which  may  be  named  the  Masonic, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Modern  Woodmen  of  Amer- 
ica and  National  Union.  He  attends  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  in  which  Mrs.  Clifford  is  a  com- 
municant, and  gives  his  political  fealty  to  the 
Republican  party.  Mrs.  Clifford  is  a  refined  and 
amiable  lady,  who  presides  over  their  pleasant 
home  with  easy  grace,  and  aids  her  husband  in 
making  it  a  hospitable  and  attractive  abode. 


THEODORE  IIUBBARD. 


275 


DR.  THEODORE  HUBBARD. 


0R.  THEODORE  HUBBARD,  the  first 
Postmaster  of  Babcock's  Grove,  and  a  prom- 
inent citizen  of  Cook  County,  was  born 
in  Putney,  Vt. ,  October  19,  1803,  and  died  in 
Chicago,  February  i,  1873.  His  parents  were 
Theodore  and  Dorothy  (Wilson)  Hubbard.  The 
family  is  descended  from  Edmund  Hubbard,  who 
was  born  in  Hingham,  England,  about  1570,  and 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  Charlestown,  Mass.,  in 
.1633.  He  died  in  Hingham,  Mass.,  March  8, 
1646.  One  of  his  sons,  Rev.  Peter  Hubbard,  a 
dissenting  clergyman,  founded  the  oldest  church 
now  in  existence  in  the  United  States,  located  at 
Hingham.  He  died  there  January  20,  1679,  in 
the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  fifty- 
second  year  of  his  ministry.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  Magdalen  College,  of  Cambridge,  England. 
Among  Edmund  Hubbard's  descendants  are  num- 
bered many  eminent  judges,  ministers  and  educa- 
tors, and  the  present  Earl  of  Buckinghamshire, 
England,  is  a  descendant  of  the  same  family.  The 
Hobarts,  or  Huberts,  of  England  came  from  Nor- 
mandy during  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror. 
The  earliest  known  record  of  the  family  locates 
them  near  Dieppe,  Normandy,  in  1198.  They 
were  a  baronial  family  in  Norfolk,  England,  where 
John  Hobart  resided  in  1260.  One  of  his  de- 
scendants, James  Hobart,  was  made  a  Knight  of 
the  Sword  by  Henry  VII.  in  1504.  They  were 
created  baronets  in  1611.  Our  subject  repre- 
sented the  eighth  generation  in  America.  The 
names  of  his  progenitors  in  direct  line  were  Ed- 
mund, Thomas,  Caleb,  Benjamin,  Peter,  Sr., 
Peter,  Jr.,  and  Theodore. 

Peter  Hubbard,  Sr.,  died  near  Ft.  William  Hen- 
ry during  the  French  and  Indian  War,  of  wounds 
received  in  that  service.  His  son  was  an  Ensign 
in  a  New  Hampshire  company  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  The  father  of  our  subject  was 
born  in  Keene,  N.  H.,  October  25,  1774,  and 


died  in  Hartford,  Vt. ,  February  15,  1814.  His 
wife  died  at  Babcock's  Grove,  July  16,  1840,  at 
the  age  of  sixty -seven  years. 

Doctor  Hubbard  was  the  fourth  in  their  family 
of  seven  children.  He  was  married  November 
25,  1828,  to  Anne  Ward  Ballou,  who  was  born 
December  29,  1809,  in  Deerfield,  near  Utica,  N. 
Y. ,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Marana 
(Ward)  Ballou.  The  Ward  family  has  an  ex- 
tensive genealogical  history,  which  can  be  traced 
back  to  1 1 30.  The  name  is  derived  from  '  'Gar' ' 
or  '  'Garde. ' '  Ralph  de  Gar,  or  de  la  Warde,  flour- 
ished in  Norfolk,  England,  at  the  time  of  Henry 
II. 

Returning  to  the  personal  history  of  Dr.  Hub- 
bard, we  note  that  he  settled  in  Chicago  May  21, 
1836,  and  about  a  year  later  went  to  DuPage 
County,  pre-empting  a  farm  near  the  present  vil- 
lage of  Glen  Ellyn.  A  few  years  later  he  was 
made  the  first  Postmaster  of  Babcock's  Grove, 
keeping  the  office  in  his  house  and  bringing  the 
mail  from  Bloomingdale  on  horseback.  In  1851, 
he  returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  until  his  death.  He  had  pre- 
viously studied  for  the  ministry,  but  later  entered 
the  medical  profession,  and  as  a  physician  se- 
cured a  liberal  patronage.  He  also  had  an  ex- 
tensive knowledge  of  law,  and  was  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  intellectual  ability,  although  he 
had  little  opportunity  for  education  while  a  boy. 
For  several  years  he  served  as  County  Commis- 
sioner of  DuPage  County. 

Of  the  children  of  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hubbard, 
Augustus,  a  civil  engineer,  died  in  Amboy, 
111.,  in  April,  1865.  Carlos,  manager  of  a  wagon 
factory,  died  in  Chicago  at  the  age  of  forty  years. 
Oscar  died  in  Groesbeck,  Tex.,  in  April,  1877; 
Adolphus,  who  was  the  founder  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution  in  1879,  is  now  connected 
with  the  California  University  of  San  Francisco, 


276 


NATHAN  DYE. 


and  is  a  member  of  muny  historical  societies.  Ed- 
ward Clarence,  who  was  a  prominent  attorney  of 
Hartford,  Ky.,  died  in  Chicago,  June  27,  1887, 
at  the  age  of  forty -four  years.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Thirteenth  Illinois  Infantry  during  the 
late  war.  Enlisting  April  21,  1861,  he  was  dis- 
charged June  1 8,  1864,  after  having  participated 
in  the  battles  of  Chickasaw  Bayou,  Arkansas  Post, 
Lookout  Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge,  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  and  other  engagements.  Ellen,  who 
died  soon  after  her  graduation  from  the  Chicago 
High  School,  end  I/aura  complete  the  family. 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  a  life-long  Democrat,  but  all 
of  his  sons  support  the  Republican  party.  In  his  re- 
ligious views  he  was  a  Universalist.  Of  the  first 
Masonic  lodge  of  Chicago  he  was  a  charter  mem- 
ber and  was  made  an  honorary  member  previous 


to  his  death.  Prominent  in  public  and  business  af- 
fairs, he  was  an  honored  and  highly  respected 
citizen,  who  for  many  years  was  connected  with 
the  leading  interests  of  Chicago.  His  skill  and 
ability  as  a  physician  won  him  an  enviable  repu- 
tation, and  he  was  widely  known  as  a  man  of  ster- 
ling worth.  Mrs.  Hubbard  is  an  honorary  mem- 
ber of  Chicago  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution,  and  is  honorary  Vice- Pres- 
ident of  the  Daughters  of  1812.  She  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Historic  Council,  which  was  estab- 
lished to  keep  alive  the  memories  of  the  men  who 
gave  liberty  and  fraternity  to  the  western  world. 
She  now  resides  in  Glen  Ellyn  with  her  daughter 
Laura,  who  is  a  lady  of  intelligence  and  refine- 
ment, and  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago Historical  Society. 


PROF.  NATHAN  DYE. 


.  NATHAN  DYE.  No  mention  of  the 
LX  musical  fabric  of  Chicago  and  the  West  can 
K)  be  considered  complete  without  a  notice  of 
Professor  Dye,  who  was  endeared  to  many  of  the 
early  families  of  Chicago.  A  man  who  attained 
the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-three  years,  he  was 
beloved  by  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 
He  was  a  pioneer  in  his  chosen  profession,  and 
taught  both  vocal  and  instrumental  music  in 
three  generations  of  some  families.  One  of  the 
secrets  of  his  great  success  lay  in  his  love  of  the 
divine  art,  and  his  ability  to  so  simplify  his  meth- 
ods as  to  bring  them  within  the  grasp  of  almost 
infantile  minds. 

Nathan  Dye  was  born  in  the  town  of  De  Ruy- 
ter,  Madison  County,  New  York,  June  30,  1808, 
and  lived  on  the  homestead  farm  until  he  was 
sixteen  years  of  age.  The  country  schoolhouse 
was  a  mile  and  a-half  away,  and  the  boy  attend- 
ed school  half  of  each  year  from  the  age  of  seven 
to  ten  years,  helping  on  the  farm  during  the  in- 
tervals, as  was  customary  with  lads  of  his  time. 


After  this,  he  had  but  three  months'  schooling, 
although  always  a  student.  When  he  was  twelve 
years  of  age,  he  met  with  an  accident  which 
caused  a  lameness  from  which  he  never  entirely 
recovered.  He  was  married,  in  1833,  to  Miss 
Lucy  Maria  Kinyon,  of  Milan,  New  York,  and 
four  years  later  they  removed  to  Kenosha,  Wis- 
consin, then  called  Pike  Creek,  and  later  South- 
port. 

A  few  years  after  coming  West,  Mr.  Dye  deter- 
mined to  devote  his  life  wholly  to  music,  which 
had  hitherto  employed  but  a  portion  of  his  time 
and  energy.  In  1844  he  introduced  his  induct- 
ive method  of  teaching  in  Milwaukee,  Wiscon- 
sin, by  giving  a  series  of  concerts  there  with  a 
class  of  his  Kenosha  pupils.  He  continued  to 
teach  in  Milwaukee,  with  pronounced  success,  un- 
til 1848,  when  he  settled  permanently  in  Chicago. 
His  phenomenal  power  of  teaching  children  to 
read  music  at  sight  attracted  wide  attention.  For 
years  his  classes,  both  adult  and  juvenile,  were 
a  prominent  feature  of  the  musical  world  of  Chi- 


NATHAN  DYE. 


277 


cago  and  adjacent  cities.  A  part  of  his  life  work 
which  is  full  of  beautiful  memories  was  that  con- 
nected with  those  of  his  pupils  whom  he  assisted 
in  the  development  of  musical  powers  that  must 
have  remained  dormant  but  for  this  generous  and 
kindly  teacher.  How  many  were  placed  in  con- 
dition of  self-support  along  the  line  indicated  by 
nature's  gift,  only  their  helper  knew.  Several 
of  Professor  Dye's  pupils  made  brilliant  reputa- 
tions on  the  lyric  stage  and  in  great  oratorios. 
He  numbered  in  his  early  classes  some  of  Chica- 
go's most  prominent  citizens.  The  well-known 
comic  opera  singer,  Lillian  Russell,  first  started 
on  her  musical  career  under  his  tutelage.  In  the 
spring  of  1880  the  Professor  was  tendered  a  tes- 
timonial and  complimentary  benefit  concert  at 
Central  Music  Hall,  which  his  old  friends  and 
pupils  made  a  great  success. 

In  November,  1843,  ^e  was  bereaved  by  the 
death  of  his  wife,  which  occurred  in  Kenosha, 
and  a  year's  illness  followed  this  sad  blow.  The 
loss  was  somewhat  compensated  by  the  survival 
of  his  three  children  for  many  years  thereafter. 

His  only  son,  Byron  E.  Dye,  died  at  Paola, 
Kansas  in  September,  1883,  and  his  remains  were 
taken  to  Kansas  City  for  burial.  His  daughters 
are  Harriet  A.  and  Frances  E.,  of  Chicago,  the 
former  being  the  wife  of  N.  Buschwah,  and  the 
latter  the  wife  of  Gen.  C.  T.  Hotchkiss,  who  won 
his  title  in  the  Civil  War.  This  sketch  is  penned 
in  loving  memory  of  Professor  Dye  by  Mrs.  Hotch- 
kiss. In  1855  Professor  Dye  married  Miss  Cor- 
delia A.  Hamlin,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  E.  H. 
Hamlin,  once  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church 
of  Chicago.  Twin  sons  were  born  of  this  union. 

After  thirty-five  years  of  happy  wedded  life, 
they  were  separated  by  death  only  two  months, 
her  demise  occurring  first.  He  passed  away  July 
30,  1891,  at  his  home,  383  Park  Avenue.  He 
had  been  an  invalid  about  seventeen  months, 
though  his  final  illness  was  a  severe  attack  of 
pneumonia,  which  his  great  age  made  resistless. 
His  funeral  took  place  Sunday,  August  2,  at  Cen- 
tral Music  Hall,  and  his  remains  were  interred 
in  the  family  lot  at  Kenosha,  beside  those  of  his 
first  wife.  The  funeral  services  were  conducted 
by  Rev.  Thomas  G.  Milsted,  of  the  First  Unita- 


rian Church  of  Chicago,  assisted  by  Mrs.  Emma 
J.  Bullene,  a  trance  speaker  and  an  old  pupil  of 
Professor  Dye. 

Professor  Dye  was  an  advanced  thinker  in  the 
line  of  religious  conviction,  investigating  fear- 
lessly and  impartially  new  theories,  and  listening 
gladly  to  the  presentation  of  truth,  as  seen  by 
Christian  or  unbeliever.  He  accepted  the  tenets 
of  spiritualism,  after  the  most  careful  and  can- 
did research,  finding  satisfaction  in  its  teachings 
as  given  by  the  scientific  writers  in  that  line  of 
thought.  He  was  a  great  admirer  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas,  in  whose  discourses  he  found  much  food 
for  reflection. 

Professor  Dye  was  a  descendant  of  old  Revolu- 
tionary stock,  and  imbibed  the  love  of  liberty 
with  his  earliest  breath.  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  he  was  identified  with  the  earliest  Aboli- 
tion movement,  and  labored  unflinchingly  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  colored  man.  Fifteen  mem- 
bers of  the  Dye  family  served  in  the  Continental 
army,  several  of  them  being  officers.  Among 
the  number  was  Gen.  Thomas  Dye,  a  personal 
friend  of  Washington  and  La  Fayette,  who  were 
often  entertained  at  his  house  in  Bergen,  New 
Jersey,  during  the  memorable  winter  of  1777-78. 
Daniel  Dye,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
biography,  endured  the  horrors  of  that  winter  at 
the  Valley  Forge  encampment,  his  feet  being 
swathed  in  rags  for  protection.  He  often  related 
reminiscences  of  the  privations  endured  by  him- 
self and  comrades  at  that  time.  At  one  time  a 
number  of  British  officers  visited  General  Wash- 
ington under  a  flag  of  truce,  and  such  was  the 
destitution  prevailing  in  the  camp  that  the  only 
refreshment  he  was  able  to  offer  them  consisted 
of  baked  potatoes  and  salt,  which  were  served  on 
pieces  of  bark,  in  lieu  of  plates.  Daniel  Dye 
was  born  in  Kent  County,  Connecticut,  February 
10,  1744.  He  enlisted  in  Captain  Beardsley's 
company,  Seventh  Regiment  of  the  Connecticut 
Line,  May  28,  1777,  and  was  under  command  of 
Col.  Heman  Sift.  He  was  discharged  from  that 
company  February  17,  1778.  Prior  to  entering 
the  regular  service,  he  was  a  member  of  Captain 
Fuller's  company  of  militia,  and  did  duty  in  the 
New  York  campaign  of  1 776.  He  was  the  father 


278 


THOMAS  TAGNEY. 


of  eight  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  John 
P.  Dye,  born  May  9,  1768.  About  1791  he 
moved  from  Connecticut  to  western  New  York. 
His  wife's  name  was  Sally  Rhodes,  and  Nathan 
was  the  tenth  of  their  eleven  children. 

Professor  Dye  was  a  member  of  the  old  Tippe- 
canoe  Club,  and  ever  maintained  the  principles 


upon  which  that  organization  was  founded.  He 
was  always  thoroughly  posted  on  current  political 
events  and  matters  of  historical  interest.  Every 
movement  looking  toward  the  moral  and  physical 
uplifting  of  humanity  in  general  received  his 
cordial  support  and  commendation. 


THOMAS  TAGNEY. 


"HOMAS  TAGNEY,  whose  death  occurred 
on  the  seventh  day  of  September,  1 894,  at 
897  Seminary  Avenue,  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Chicago,  having  first  visited  this  city 
in  1836,  nearly  sixty  years  ago.  He  was  a  native 
of  Sheffield,  England,  born  May  15,  1818.  His 
father,  Thomas  Tagney,  was  a  musician  in  the 
British  army,  as  was  also  one  of  his  brothers.  In 
1833  the  elder  Tagney  migrated  with  his  family 
to  Canada,  where  he  taught  music,  in  which  he 
was  very  proficient,  for  several  years.  The  family 
afterward  returned  to  England,  but  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  preferred  to  remain  in  this  country, 
and  continued  for  a  short  time  with  his  uncle  in 
Canada.  Young  Tagney  was  of  a  restless  and 
roaming  disposition,  and  desired  to  see  other  parts 
of  the  world.  He  accordingly  went  into  the 
Southern  States,  and  was  engaged  on  different 
plantations  in  Alabama  and  Louisiana,  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  New  Orleans,  for  several  years.  Al- 
though only  a  boy  in  his  teens  at  the  time  he 
went  there,  he  rapidly  acquired  knowledge  that 
enabled  him  to  direct  plantation  work,  and  he  be- 
came an  overseer.  In  this  employment  he  earned 
good  wages,  a  large  portion  of  which  he  managed 
to  save. 

Abandoning  that  life  in  1836,  he  came  direct  to 
Chicago,  with  a  small  fortune,  which  he  invested 
in  North  Side  property.  Two  lots,  143  and  145 
Illinois  Street,  for  which  he  paid  $600,  he  still 


had  in  his  possession  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
and  their  value  had  increased  to  twenty-five  thou- 
sand. For  several  years  Mr.  Tagney  was  a  steam- 
boat engineer,  and  sailed  all  over  the  Lakes,  from 
Buffalo  to  Duluth  On  retiring  from  the  lake 
service  he  settled  at  Muskegon,  Michigan,  where 
he  resided  five  years,  and  was  engaged  as  engi- 
neer in  the  sawmill  there.  Returning  again  to 
Chicago,  he  engaged  as  mechanical  engineer  in 
the  employ  of  the  Fulton  &  St.  Paul  Grain  Ele- 
vators. He  superintended  the  construction  of  the 
former  (first  known  as  Munn  &  Gill's  Elevator), 
both  in  its  original  construction  and  when  rebuilt 
in  1873.  He  was  continuously  in  the  employ  of 
this  elevator  company  for  thirty-three  years,  a 
testimony  to  his  regular  habits,  ability  and  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  his  employers. 

At  the  time  of  the  great  fire  in  Chicago,  in  1871, 
Mr.  Tagney  owned  houses  and  lots  on  Illinois, 
Indiana  and  Wells  Streets,  which,  of  course,  were 
consumed  by  the  element  which  devastated  the 
entire  North  Side.  But  he  had  great  confidence 
in  Chicago,  and  within  three  months  rebuilt  the 
Illinois  Street  property,  selling  the  other;  this 
property  being  the  first  house  rebuilt.  In  the 
year  1885,  having  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  long 
life  in  active,  arduous  and  useful  labors,  Mr.  Tag- 
ney retired  from  business  and  moved  to  Lake 
View,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  In 
his  later  years  he  bought  residence  property  on 


»""•«• 


ALONZO  J.  CUTLER 


A.  J.  CUTLER. 


279 


Fletcher,  Baxter,  North  Halsted  Streets  and  Lin- 
coln Avenue.  In  1847  he  was1  married  to  Miss 
Alice  Steele,  daughter  of  Hugh  and  Mary  Steele. 
She  was  born  in  May,  1828,  in  Canada,  to  which 
country  her  parents  had  immigrated  from  the 
North  of  Ireland,  and  died  in  Chicago  on  the  7th  of 
August,  1892,  aged  sixty-four  years.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Tagney  were  the  parents  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  five  grew  to  maturity.  Henry  Thomas, 
the  eldest,  was  an  engineer  by  profession,  and 
succeeded  to  the  place  made  vacant  by  his  father 
in  the  Fulton  Elevator.  He  married  Miss  Ella 
Moore,  and  died  in  1893,  leaving  a  widow  and 
three  children,  Henry  T.,  George  and  Effie. 

The  second  son,  James  William,  is  a  sign-paint- 
er, and  resides  on  Lincoln  Avenue  in  Chicago. 
February  27,  1872,  he  married  Miss  Kate  Casey, 
a  native  of  County  Cork,  Ireland,  daughter  of 
Dennis  and  Mary  Casey.  They  have  four  liv- 
ing children,  Thomas,  Charles,  Harry  and  Alice 
Marion.  Alice  Jane,  the  third  child,  was  married, 
in  1873,  to  William  Young,  and  now  has  two 
children.  Hugh,  the  elder,  is  a  salesman,  and 
William,  the  younger  son,  is  an  artist.  Mrs. 
Young  conducts  a  prosperous  business  on  Diver- 
sey  Street.  John  E.  is  an  engineer.  He  married 


Ada  Weinberg,  and  has  three  children,  Willie, 
Charles  and  Nellie.  Charles  S.,  the  youngest  son 
of  Thomas  Tagney,  is  now  engaged  in  the  livery 
business.  He  was  married,  February  18,  1893,  to 
Miss  Hilda  Anderson,  a  native  of  Sweden;  they 
have  one  child,  an  infant. 

Mr.  Tagney  was  one  of  those  men  whose  busy, 
but  quiet,  lives  have  been  spent  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  great  city  of  Chicago,  and  in  the  ac- 
cumulation of  wealth  for  his  posterity.  He  was 
a  man  whose  temperate  life  and  intensely  domestic 
characteristics  were  fit  patterns  for  imitation  of 
those  who  succeed  him.  His  disposition  was 
quiet  and  undemonstrative,  but  his  impulses  were 
generous,  and  he  never  refused  aid  to  the  needy. 
In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat,  supporting  the 
men  whom  he  deemed  best  qualified  for  the  offices 
which  they  sought,  but  never  asking  for  place  for 
himself.  In  his  early  life  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  but  in  his  later  years  he  cher- 
ished liberal  ideas.  In  his  investments  he  was 
fortunate,  in  his  domestic  life  happy,  always  pro- 
viding for  his  wife  and  children  a  comfortable  and 
pleasant  home.  His  sterling  qualities  of  head 
and  heart  attracted  to  him  many  friends,  who  are 
left  to  mourn  his  departure  from  their  midst. 


ALONZO  J.  CUTLER. 


GlLONZO  J.  CUTLER  is  widely  known  as 
I  I  one  of  the  most  daring  and  successful  brok- 
/  |  ers  operating  upon  the  Chicago  Board  of 
Trade.  His  transactions  are  distinguished  by  a 
display  of  exceptional  judgment,  discretion  and 
foresight,  which  causes  his  movements  to  be 
watched  and  commented  upon  by  the  whole  field 
of  speculators  and  investors.  It  is  a  notable  fact 
that  the  men  who  have  made  and  retained  fort- 
unes on  the  Board  of  Trade  were  all  of  a  kind 
especially  endowed  with  the  trading  instinct,  or 


made  wise  in  the  school  of  experience;  and  Mr. 
Cutler  can  justly  be  classed  under  both  these 
heads.  Every  move  made  by  him  is  carefully 
calculated  and  planned,  and  all  his  financial  ar- 
rangements are  faithful  to  well-grounded  princi- 
ples of  business. 

Mr.  Cutler  first  came  to  Chicago  in  the  spring 
of  1869,  being  then  but  seventeen  years  of  age. 
His  cash  capital  at  that  time  consisted  of  about 
$20,  but  this  lack  of  means  was  abundantly  com- 
pensated for  by  brains,  pluck  and  energy,  and  he 


280 


A.  J.  CUTLER. 


immediately  set  about  the  task  of  bettering  his 
financial  condition.  With  that  end  in  view,  he 
vigorously  applied  himself  to  the  first  employment 
which  presented  itself.  This  was  the  position  of 
driver  of  a  wagon  for  the  Singer  Sewing-Machine 
Company.  A  few  weeks'  experience  in  this  ca- 
pacity demonstrated  his  capability  for  employ- 
ment demanding  more  skill  and  acumen,  and 
within  a  few  months  he  was  promoted  to  the  po- 
sition of  head  salesman  of  the  Chicago  agency. 
It  was  not  long  before  he  was  dealing  in  sewing- 
machines  at  wholesale,  and  in  a  single  year 
cleared  over  $5,000  in  this  way.  Such  a  prac- 
tical demonstration  of  business  ability  and  apti- 
tude for  trade  could  not  fail  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  live  business  men,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1883  O.  H.  Roche,  the  well-known  Board  of 
Trade  operator,  suggested  to  him  that  his  trading 
talents  would  find  a  more  extended  field  in  spec- 
ulation. Other  friends  pointed  out  the  dangers 
and  hazards,  and  advised  him  to  persevere  in  his 
previous  line  of  business. 

But  Mr.  Cutler  had  abundant  confidence  in  his 
own  powers,  and,  after  a  brief  consideration,  re- 
solved to  enter  the  speculative  field,  as  a  more 
congenial  and  speedy  method  of  gaining  a  compe- 
tence. He  soon  became  an  active  trader  in  the 
capacity  of  broker  for  Mr.  Roche,  for  whom  he 
has  ever  entertained  the  highest  respect,  and 
whom  he  regards  as  his  preceptor  in  the  specula- 
tive field. 

When  Mr.  Roche  retired  from  business  the  fol- 
lowing year,  Mr.  Cutler  opened  a  brokerage  office 
for  himself,  and  his  rise  has  been  steady  and  not 
less  remarkable  than  that  of  the  renowned  Ed 
Pardridge,  whom  he  has  actively  represented  in 
many  great  deals.  But  he  has  an  outside  busi- 
ness of  his  own,  and  numbers  customers  by  the 
score,  who  have  the  utmost  confidence  in  his 
judgment,  integrity  and  ability.  One  of  the  most 
active  traders  on  the  Board,  Mr.  Cutler  is  always 
in  the  thick  of  the  crowd  when  there  is  any  ex- 
citement in  the  wheat  pit.  He  is  generally  known 
"on  "change"  as  "the  man  behind  Pardridge," 
and  his  natural  instinct  and  adaptability  as  a 
trader  have  made  his  success  no  less  remarkable 
than  that  of  the  great  speculator,  in  whose  service 


and  under  whose  tuition  his  peculiar  talents  have 
been  developed.  That  these  two  men,  being 
similarly  endowed  by  nature,  and  having  knowl- 
edge of  each  other's  abilities,  should  have  made  a 
record  unparalleled  in  successful  speculative  an- 
nals is  not  surprising.  Their  immense  daring 
and  successful  operations  have  become  a  part  of 
the  absorbing  and  wonderful  history  of  the  Chi- 
cago Board  of  Trade.  Some  of  their  boldly  and 
cleverly  executed  plans  have  evoked  the  admira- 
tion of  the  commercial  world.  The  appellation 
of  "plunger"  is  a  misnomer  when  applied  to 
either  of  this  pair,  for  the  reason  that  their  move- 
ments, upon  analysis  and  investigation,  appear 
plainly  to  be  the  results  of  the  most  carefully  laid 
plans  and  calculations.  None  of  their  deals  have 
been  reckless,  although  they  have  been  pro- 
nounced so  by  persons  not  familiar  with  the  inner 
details. 

Alonzo  J.  Cutler  was  born  at  Montpelier,  Ver- 
mont, March  24,  1852.  He  is  the  youngest  in 
the  family  of  four  children  born  to  David  W. 
Cutler  and  Maria  Marshall.  The  father,  who 
was  a  farmer  and  ice  dealer  at  Montpelier,  died 
of  typhoid  fever  during  the  infancy  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  who  was  afterward  placed  under 
the  guardianship  of  Elon  Hammond,  of  East 
Montpelier.-  Owing  to  the  incompetence  and  mis- 
management of  this  guardian,  young  Cutler  was 
removed  to  the  charge  of  Hon.  Clark  King,  a 
prominent  farmer,  in  whose  home  he  remained 
until  about  sixteen  years  of  age.  Most  of  his 
education  was  obtained  by  attending  a  country 
school  in  winter,  and  his  first  money  was  earned 
by  working  as  a  farm  hand  at  $7  per  month.  Be- 
fore coming  West  he  spent  one  year  as  clerk  in 
the  Pavilion  Hotel  in  Moutpelier,  but  becoming 
dissatisfied  with  the  irksomeness  of  this  position, 
which  consumed  nineteen  hours  per  day  of  his 
time,  he  resolved  to  seek  a  change  by  moving  to 
the  West. 

The  Cutler  family  in  America  is  of  English  de- 
scent. The  first  progenitor  of  A.  J.  Cutler  in 
America  was  John  Cutler,  Senior,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  come  from  Sprauston,  a  sub- 
urb of  Norwich,  England.  About  1637  he  set- 
tled at  Hingham,  Massachw  '.etts,  where  he  soon 


W.  O.  TYLER. 


281 


afterward  died,  leaving  a  widow  and  seven  chil- 
dren. He  and  his  immediate  posterity  furnish 
examples  of  the  typical  Puritan  character.  His 
fifth  son,  Thomas  Cutler,  who  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  died  at  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
in  1683.  The  next  in  the  line  of  descent  herein 
traced  was  Jonathan,  a  tailor  by  trade,  and  the 
generations  following  him  are  successively  repre- 
sented by  the  following  names:  David,  Jonathan, 
David,  and  David  W.,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  notice,  who  died  in  1854,  aged  thirty -nine 
years.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  daughter  of 
Daniel  Carroll,  of  Montpelier,  Vermont,  and  a 
niece  of  Charles  Carroll,  the  noted  statesman  of 
Carrollton,  Maryland. 

A.  J.  Cutler  was  married,  December  26,  1891, 
to  Jessie  Estelle,  daughter  of  O.  B.  Warner,  of 
Peoria,  Illinois.  This  lady  is  endowed  with  mu- 
sical and  elocutionary  powers  of  a  superior  order, 


and  is  the  mother  of  two  charming  children. 
They  are  named,  respectively,  E.  Warner  and 
Fanchon  T.  Mr.  Cutler  is  essentially  a  family 
man,  and,  when  able  to  leave  the  haunts  of  trade, 
finds  his  greatest  pleasure  in  the  attractions  fur- 
nished by  the  home  fireside.  He  is  not  connect- 
ed with  any  religious,  social  or  political  organi- 
zations of  importance,  but  always  votes  the  Re- 
publican ticket.  He  is  well  known  and  respected 
in  Vermont,  where  he  has  scores  of  warm  friends, 
who  admire  his  liberal  and  genial  disposition  as 
well  as  his  gift  for  making  a  trade.  Mr.  Cutler 
honors  his  Yankee  ancestors  by  exhibiting  the 
proverbial  New  England  thrift  and  shrewdness, 
and  is  abundantly  able  to  take  care  of  himself. 
In  the  course  of  his  transactions  it  is  no  rare  mat- 
ter for  him  to  handle  checks  representing  a  half- 
million  dollars. 


WARREN  O.  TYLER. 


(DGJARREN  OLIVER  TYLER.  Among  the 
I  A/  1ualife.ctKms  which  are  essential  to  an  hon- 
Y  V  orable  and  successful  business  career  may 
be  mentioned  physical  endurance,  sound  judg- 
ment, ready  decision,  unswerving  integrity,  patient 
application,  keen  foresight  and  prudent  and  reg- 
ular habits.  It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the 
man  of  noteworthy  accomplishments  will  possess 
most,  if  not  all,  of  these  qualities,  and  while  some 
of  them  may  be  acquired  or  developed  by  the  im- 
mediate surroundings  and  conditions  to  which 
the  individual  has  been  subjected,  many  of  the 
most  essential  elements  of  his  character  may  be 
attributed  to  inheritance. 

Hence,  in  contemplating  the  personal  history 
of  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  notice, 


it  is  well  to  observe  that  his  ancestors  were 
among  the  early  and  substantial  colonists  of  New 
England,  to  whose  physical  vigor,  longevity 
and  integrity  of  character  the  present  generation 
is  indebted  for  the  founding  of  some  of  its  most 
cherished  institutions.  The  Tyler  family  was 
planted  in  America  by  several  brothers  of  that 
name  who  came  from  England  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  One  branch  of  this  family  settled  in 
Virginia,  and  among  its  descendants  was  John 
Tyler,  ninth  President  of  the  United  States. 
Another  branch  of  the  family  was  located  in 
Connecticut,  and  a  third  in  Vermont,  near  the 
Canadian  border,  where  for  several  successive 
generations  it  has  furnished  some  of  the  most 
useful  and  patriotic  citizens.  One  of  these  was 


282 


W.  O.  TYLER. 


David  Tyler,  a  man  of  sterling  virtues  and  noble 
impulses.  He  was  born  at  Cambridge,  Vermont, 
and  for  many  years  kept  hotel  at  Essex  Junction 
and  neighboring  places.  In  1864,  he  moved  to 
Chicago,  where  the  balance  of  his  days  was  spent, 
his  death  occurring  in  1886,  in  the  ninetieth  year 
of  his  age.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Clarissa  Butler,  died  in  1890,  in  the  seventy- 
fourth  year  of  her  age.  She  was  born  on  a  farm 
between  Essex  Center  and  Jericho,  Vermont. 
The  Butler  family  was  one  of  the  oldest  of  that 
commonwealth,  and,  like  the  Tyler  family,  of 
English  lineage.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler  had  six 
children  who  attained  mature  years.  Edwin  T., 
of  Stevens  Point,  Wisconsin,  is  the  eldest,  and 
the  rest,  in  order,  are:  Warren  O. ;  Fred  C.  and 
Henry  W.,  dealers  in  paper  mill  supplies  in 
Chicago;  Frank  P.,  connected  with  the  Ameri- 
can Paper  Company;  Mattie  A.,  unmarried,  re- 
siding in  Chicago.  Besides  these,  Mr.  David  Ty- 
ler had  a  daughter  by  a  previous  marriage, 
Amelia,  now  the  wife  of  G.  T.  Woodworth,  of 
Chicago.  The  members  of  this  family  are  con- 
spicuous for  their  domestic  harmony  and  marked 
fraternal  regard — several  of  their  number  having 
avoided  all  matrimonial  or  other  relations  likely 
to  interfere  therewith. 

Warren  O.  Tyler  was  born  at  Essex  Junction, 
Vermont,  March  3,  1844.  When  he  was  but 
seven  years  of  age,  the  family  received  a  visit 
from  an  aunt  of  the  lad,  by  whom  he  was  easily  in- 
duced to  return  with  her  to  Chicago.  He  was 
charmed  with  her  glowing  descriptions  of  the 
growing  metropolis  of  the  West  and  already 
longed  to  be  a  participant  in  the  activity  and 
development  which  were  there  going  on.  Upon 
his  arrival,  he  became  an  inmate  of  the  home  of 
his  uncle,  Mr.  O.  N.  Butler,  by  whom  he  was 
placed  at  school  in  the  village  of  St.  Charles,  Illi- 
nois. He  subsequently  returned  to  Vermont  and 
spent  three  years  in  his  father's  hotel.  He  had 
in  the  meantime  imbibed  too  much  of  the  spirit  of 
western  freedom  to  be  long  contented  in  the  nar- 
row limits  of  Vermont  semi-rural  life,  and  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  we  again  find  him  in  Chicago.  At 
that  time  he  entered  the  employ  of  Butler  & 
Hunt,  manufacturers  of  and  dealers  in  paper, 


then  located  at  No.  48  State  Street.  At  the  end 
of  five  years,  he  was  admitted  to  a  partnership 
in  the  concern  and  continued  to  be  identified 
therewith  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  al- 
though the  name  of  the  firm  underwent  several 
changes  during  that  time  and  the  business  was 
subjected  to  disasters  and  vicissitudes  which 
would  have  discouraged  less  determined  men 
than  Mr.  Tyler  and  his  associates. 

In  1870,  the  greatest  conflagration  which  had 
visited  Chicago  up  to  that  time  occurred  on 
Wabash  Avenue.  The  loss  of  Laflin,  Butler  & 
Company  by  this  disaster  was  $88,000.  In  the 
great  fire  of  the  following  year,  the  firm,  then 
known  as  J.  W.  Butler  &  Company,  suffered  a 
loss  of  $455,000.  Only  a  small  percentage  of 
this  loss  was  recovered  from  the  insurance  com- 
panies. After  the  Wabash  Avenue  fire,  the  firm 
came  near  suffering  a  loss  of  its  books  by  the 
premature  opening  of  its  safe,  and,  warned  by  this 
experience,  in  the  second  instance  the  safe  was 
placed  upon  a  stoneboat  and  drawn  out  upon  the 
paririe  and  carefully  cooled  with  ice  before  being 
opened,  and  its  contents  were  thus  well  preserved. 
Nothing  daunted  by  the  catastrophies  which  had 
overtaken  it,  the  firm  immediately  re-engaged  in 
business,  which  continued  prosperously  for  many 
years.  Under  the  management  of  Mr.  Tyler,  a 
branch  establishment  was  opened  in  Milwaukee, 
known  as  the  Butler  Paper  Company,  afterwards 
succeeded  by  the  Standard  Paper  Company. 

In  1885,  Mr.  Tyler  retired  from  connection 
with  this  establishment  and  organized  the  Tyler 
Paper  Company,  of  which  he  became  the  Presi- 
dent. This  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  the  Calu- 
met Paper  Company,  and  he  disposed  of  his  inter- 
est therein  a  few  years  before  its  annihilation  by 
fire,  in  1893.  He  subsequently,  in  1889,  organ- 
ized the  American  Paper  Company,  of  which  he 
is  now  the  presiding  executive  omcer,  and  which 
is  conducting  a  successful  and  growing  business. 
At  different  times,  he  has  been  a  stockholder  in 
several  paper  mills. 

Mr.  Tyler  attends  the  Episcopal  Church,  with 
which  his  parents  were  identified.  He  has  been 
a  lifelong  adherent  of  Republican  principles,  ful- 
filling his  duty  as  a  voter,  but  never  seeking  any 


W.  H.  ALSIP. 


283 


public  position.  He  has  always  been  a  model  of 
industry,  often  devoting  eighteen  hours  per  day 
to  his  business,  and  has  been  successful  in  the 
face  of  obstacles  which  would  appal  men  of  less 
resolution  and  perseverance.  The  history  of  his 


life  furnishes  an  additional  example  of  the  fact 
that  consistent  and  well-directed  effort  is  certain 
of  an  ultimate  reward,  a  principle  too  often  lost 
sight  of  in  the  modern  scramble  for  pelf. 


WILLIAM  H.  ALSIP. 


(DGjlLLIAM  HENRY  ALSIP,  Secretary  and 
\  A  I  Treasurer  of  the  Alsip  Brick  Company, 
YY  was  born  in  Prairie  du  Chien,  Wisconsin, 
January  23,  1858.  He  is  a  son  of  Frank  and 
Mary  Jane  Alsip.  The  former,  who  is  well 
known  as  one  of  the  leading  contractors  and  man- 
ufacturers of  the  West,  was  born  in  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  and  began  to  learn  the  trade  of 
brick-making  at  that  place  at  the  age  of  twelve 
years.  He  subsequently  spent  two  or  three 
years  in  California,  and  in  1857  located  in  Prairie 
du  Chien.  He  established  extensive  brick  yards 
at  that  place  and  in  McGregor,  Iowa,  and  en- 
gaged in  contracting  and  building.  His  opera- 
tions extended  throughout  northern  Wisconsin, 
eastern  Iowa  and  southern  Minnesota.  The 
period  immediately  subsequent  to  the  great  Chi- 
cago fire  offered  an  immense  demand  for  building 
material  in  this  city,  and  Mr.  Alsip  was  one  of 
the  first  to  respond  to  the  demand.  He  removed 
his  entire  plant  to  the  vicinity  of  Chicago,  where 
he  has  ever  since  had  his  headquarters.  He  has 
become  identified  with  several  large  brick  manu- 
facturing concerns,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of 
the  leading  brick  makers  of  the  world.  The 
product  of  the  Alsip  brick  yards  has  been  used  in 
the  construction  of  many  of  the  principal  build- 
ings of  Chicago,  including  the  Masonic  Temple, 
Great  Northern  Hotel  and  the  Grand  Central 
Station. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  most  of  his 


boyhood  in  McGregor,  Iowa,  where  the  founda- 
tion of  his  education  was  laid  in  the  public  schools. 
He  afterward  attended  the  Chicago  High  School, 
and  in  1880  he  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Chicago,  with  the  -degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 
Two  years  later  he  graduated  from  the  Union 
College  of  Law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar. 

He  began  his  business  career  as  foreman  of  the 
Hayt  &  Alsip  brick  yards,  at  Thirty-ninth  and 
Robey  Streets,  filling  that  position  for  three  years. 
In  1885,  in  company  with  his  father,  he  built  the 
Lincoln  Street  brick  yards,  and  when  the  Alsip 
Brick  Company  was  incorporated — two  years 
later — he  became  its  Secretary  and  Treasurer, 
which  position  he  still  occupies,  having  almost 
exclusive  charge  of  the  office  work.  The  com- 
pany, which  is  composed  of  Frank  Alsip,  William 
H.  Alsip  and  Frank  B.  Alsip,  now  operates  four 
extensive  brick  yards  and  furnishes  employment 
to  about  five  hundred  men.  The  business  has 
been  constantly  increasing,  and  is  recognized  as 
one  of  the  largest  in  that  line.  The  output 
ranges  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  millions  per  day. 

Mr.  Alsip  was  married  on  the  3oth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1887,  to  Marcella  Cusak,  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Joan  Cusak,  of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Alsip  was  born  in 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  has  presented  her  hus- 
band with  two  children — William  Henry  and 
Virginia.  Mr.  Alsip  is  a  member  of  the  Lincoln 
Street  Methodist  Church,  and  is  identified  with 


284 


JOHN  MORRIS. 


the  Illinois  and  Union  League  Clubs.  He  also 
holds  membership  with  the  Royal  League  and 
Royal  Arcanum.  For  six  years  past  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  National  Brick  Makers'  Associa- 
tion, and  is  now  its  President.  He  takes  an 
active  interest  in  political  affairs,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Republican  Committee  of  the  Eleventh 


Ward.  He  positively  and  consistently  declines 
the  use  of  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  office, 
though  he  has  been  repeatedly  requested  to  be- 
come a  candidate  for  Alderman  from  his  ward. 
He  is  a  man  of  recognized  business  ability  and 
unquestioned  integrity,  and  is  filling  a  responsible 
and  useful  position  in  the  community. 


JOHN  MORRIS. 


(JOHN  MORRIS,  assistant  superintendent  of 
I  the  Piano  Manufacturing  Company  at  West 
Q)  Pullman,  was  born  near  Blue  Mounds,  Iowa 
County,  Wisconsin,  on  the  I2th  of  April,  1858,  and 
is  of  Welsh  descent.  His  parents,  Rev.  Owen  R. 
and  Catherine  (Jones)  Morris,  were  both  natives 
of  Wales.  The  father  was  born  in  Blaenan, 
Festiniog,  Merionethshire,  July  18,  1828,  and 
came  to  America  in  1849  from  Merionethshire, 
North  Wales,  with  his  parents,  Robert  and  Ellen 
Morris,  the  family  locating  on  a  farm  in  Iowa 
County,  Wisconsin.  On  October  17,  1851,  he 
married  Mrs.  Catherine  Williams,  widow  of  I.  N. 
Williams,  and  lived  in  Iowa  County  until  March, 
1868,  when,  with  his  wife  and  children,  he  removed 
to  Fillmore  County,  Minnesota,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. For  a  number  of  years  he  was  pastor  of 
the  Welsh  Presbyterian  Church  at  Blue  Mounds, 
Wisconsin,  and  for  twenty-four  years  had  charge 
of  the  Welsh  Presbyterian  Church  at  Bristol 
Grove,  Minnesota.  He  is  an  earnest  and  untir- 
ing worker  in  behalf  of  the  church,  and  his  work 
has  been  productive  of  much  good.  All  who 
know  him  hold  him  in  high  regard.  Mrs.  Morris 
was  born  in  Llanrug,  Carnarvonshire,  North 
Wales,  February  25,  1816,  and  came  to  America 
in  1845.  She  first  married  I.  N.  Williams,  by 
whom  she  had  one  son,  I.  N.,  now  a  resident  of 
Fillmore  County,  Minnesota.  After  the  death  of 
her  first  husband  she  returned  to  Wales,  in  1848, 


but  in  1849  again  came  to  America,  with  her 
father,  Thomas  Jones,  who  died  in  Iowa  County, 
Wisconsin,  a  few  years  later. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morris  had  a  family  of  four  sons, 
three  of  whom  are  yet  living.  William  and 
Thomas  both  reside  in  Fillmore  County;  Evan  is 
now  deceased;  and  John  completes  the  family. 

Mr.  Morris  of  this  sketch  spent  his  boyhood 
days  upon  his  father's  farm  and  was  early  inured 
to  arduous  labor.  He  followed  farming  through 
the  summer  months  and  in  the  winter  season  at- 
tended the  public  schools,  until  eighteen  years  of 
age,  when  he  began  teaching.  He  had  early 
evinced  a  taste  and  aptitude  for  carpentry  and 
machine  work,  and  that  instinct  has  been  con- 
stantly developing  since;  but  it  was  some  time 
before  he  entered  upon  that  line  of  work  as  a 
business.  After  teaching  for  five  seasons,  he  be- 
came a  student  of  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1888,  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Mechanical  Engineering. 
During  his  four  years'  attendance  he  had  received 
some  of  the  highest  markings  ever  given  in  that 
department.  In  1888  he  became  connected  with 
the  city  schools  of  Minneapolis,  and  continued  to 
there  serve  until  1893,  being  for  three  years  an 
instructor  in  the  Manual  Training  Department, 
while  for  two  years  he  was  assistant  superintend- 
ent and  had  entire  charge  of  the  Manual  Training 
Department.  His  services  were  eminently  satis- 


HENRY  ABRAHAMS. 


285 


factory,  and  the  work  of  the  department  prepared 
under  his  direction  for  the  World's  Fair  exhibit 
was  deservedly  worthy  of  the  high  commendation 
it  received.  During  this  period  he  also  engaged 
in  consulting  work  and  mechanical  engineering, 
and  developed  new  devices  and  secured  a  number 
of  patents  for  patrons. 

Prof.  Morris  was  married  on  October  8,  1889, 
in  Cambria,  Wisconsin,  to  Miss  Lizzie  Williams, 
daughter  of  Robert  G.  Williams.  The  lady  was 
born  in  Cambria,  and  died  in  Minneapolis  on  the 
27th  of  February,  1892,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three 
years,  leaving  one  child,  a  daughter,  Lizzie. 

In  June,  1893,  Prof.  Morris  severed  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Minneapolis  public  schools  and  ac- 
cepted the  position  of  assistant  superintendent  and 
mechanical  engineer  of  the  Piano  Manufacturing 
Company  at  West  Pullman.  He  had  previously 
spent  a  number  of  vacations  as  an  expert  and 
traveling  representative  of  the  firm.  His  man- 


agement of  the  affairs  of  the  factory  has  given 
entire  satisfaction  to  his  employers  and  won  him 
high  commendation.  His  natural  inventive  genius 
is  constantly  active,  and  new  mechanical  devices 
are  being  continually  developed  under  his  direc- 
tion. Mr.  Morris  has  invested  in  West  Pullman 
real  estate,  with  the  view  of  making  this  place 
his  home. 

Mr.  Morris  is  a  member  of  the  Welsh  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Minneapolis,  and  for  six  years 
served  on  its  board  of  deacons,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  work  of  the  church  and  everything 
pertaining  to  its  advancement.  In  politics  he  has 
been  a  life-long  Republican,  and  its  men  and 
measures  receive  his  earnest  support.  He  is  a 
warm  advocate  of  temperance  principles,  is  of 
cordial  and  pleasant  manner,  and  takes  a  deep 
and  abiding  interest  in  public  advancement  and 
progress. 


HENRY  ABRAHAMS. 


HENRY  ABRAHAMS,  one  of  the  self-made 
men  of  Chicago,  was  born  September  28, 
1837,  at  Kornmarck,  near  Posen,  Prussia, 
and  was  one  of  the  seventeen  children  of  Louis 
Lipman  and  Rosa  (Moses)  Abrahams.  His  ca- 
reer furnishes  a  forcible  illustration  of  what  may  be 
achieved  through  force  of  natural  ability,  energy, 
perseverance,  industry  and  integrity.  Born  in 
penury  and  reared  in  poverty,  with  no  advanta- 
ges and  every  obstacle,  outside  of  his  own  person- 
ality, to  overcome,  he  won  his  way  to  affluence 
and  an  influential  position  among  the  representa- 
tive citizens  of  Chicago.  Louis  L.  Abrahams 
was  a  tailor,  who  supported  his  large  family  by 
the  earnings  of  his  needle.  Hoping  to  better  hjs 
condition,  he  went  to  Newcastle,  England,  in 


1840,  and  remained  there  until  1849,  when  he 
came  to  Chicago,  where  his  widow  still  resides, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years. 

Henry  Abrahams  showed  his  force  of  character 
and  instinct  for  trade  by  starting  out  in  life  as  a 
peddler  in  Chicago,  at  the  age  of  twelve  years, 
and  was  eminently  successful.  He  continued  in 
this  occupation  for  twelve  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  period  he  felt  able  to  take  a  wife  and  set- 
tle down  in  business.  He  accordingly  married 
Elizabeth  Gerber,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Julia 
(Levy)  Gerber.  Joseph  Gerber  was  a  dry-goods 
merchant  in  Hoston,  near  Prague,  Austria.  Mr. 
Abrahams  established  himself  as  a  retail  grocer 
at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Adams  Street, 
on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Phelps,  Dodge  & 


286 


HENRY  ABRAHAMS. 


Palmer  Company,  where  he  remained  until  his 
buildings  and  entire  stock,  valued  at  $55,000, 
were  swept  away  by  the  great  fire  of  1871.  At 
this  time  he  was  the  owner  of  the  southeast  quar- 
ter of  the  block  upon  which  he  did  business,  be- 
sides nine  houses  on  Adams  and  Quincy  Streets 
and  Fifth  Avenue.  It  is  said  that  he  was  before 
the  fire  the  leading  retail  grocer  of  the  city.  As 
was  the  case  with  many  others,  his  loss  by  the 
fire  was  nearly  total,  on  account  of  the  failure  of 
the  insurance  companies. 

Subsequent  to  the  fire,  Mr.  Abrahams  disposed 
of  all  his  South  Side  property  and  bought  lots  on 
the  corner  of  Van  Buren  and  Halsted  Streets, 
covering  all  of  the  block  fronting  on  Van  Buren 
Street,  except  two  lots,  which  he  owned  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  At  the  same  time  he  purchased 
eight  acres  at  Fifty-fifth  Street  and  Garfield  Boul- 
evard. For  the  latter  property  he  paid  $8,000  in 
1872,  and  sold  the  same  in  1891  for  $60,000.  He 
continued  business  on  the  West  Side  until  his  re- 
tirement from  commercial  relations  in  1880.  He 
subsequently  engaged  in  the  real-estate  and  loan 
business,  giving  his  attention  largely  to  his  own 
investments.  It  was  always  a  gratification  to 
him  to  reflect  that  he  had  never  filled  a  subordin- 
ate position,  being  always  the  proprietor  of  the 
business  in  which  he  was  engaged. 

The  success  of  this  remarkable  man  is  especial- 
ly noteworthy  from  the  fact  that  until  his  second 
marriage,  in  1867,  he  had  not  learned  to  read  or 
write.  He  never  kept  any  books,  and  was  able 
to  refer  with  as  much  reliance  to  his  memory  for 
the  details  of  every  transaction  as  the  ordinary 
merchant  does  to  his  books.  The  date  of  a 
note,  its  maturity  and  the  interest  accrued  could 
always  be  told  by  him  at  a  moment's  notice.  His 
memory  with  regard  to  other  matters  was  equal- 
ly retentive.  He  attributed  this  remarkable  fac- 
ulty to  constant  reliance  upon  his  memory,  unas- 
sisted by  the  usual  accessories. 

In  1866  Mr.  Abrahams  was  bereaved  of  his 
wife  by  cholera,  and  her  body  was  the  first  one 
buried  in  Graceland  Cemetery.  She  left  three 
children:  Abraham  Abrahams,  late  Health  In- 
spector of  the  Fourth  Ward;  Moses,  a  furniture 
dealer  in  Clinton,  Iowa;  and  Albert,  who  died  at 


seven  years  of  age.  In  1867  Mr.  Abrahams 
married  Eleanora,  sister  of  his  first  wife,  who  sur- 
vives him  and  is  the  mother  of  the  following  chil- 
dren: Max,  a  plumber,  and  Fanny,  the  wife  of 
Isadore  Weiskopf,  of  Chicago;  Bessie,  the  wife  of 
Albert  Richmond,  of  Philadelphia,  formerly  pro- 
prietor of  the  Standard  Theatre  of  Chicago, 
and  now  sole  wholesale  agent  for  the  Schlitz 
Brewing  Company  at  Philadelphia,  where  his 
wife  operates  one  of  the  largest  photograph  gal- 
leries; Joseph,  a  graduate  of  the  public  schools  of 
the  West  Side  Business  College,  now  manager  of 
his  father's  estate;  and  George  and  Louis,  at  pres- 
ent students  at  Notre  Dame  University,  Indiana. 
Elizabeth,  the  second,  died  at  eighteen  years  of 
age;  Albert,  the  sixth,  at  thirteen;  and  Sarah, 
the  seventh,  in  childhood.  Mrs.  Abrahams' 
grandchildren  are:  Leo  Weiskopf  and  Leroy  and 
Wilfred  Richmond. 

Mr.  Abrahams'  death  occurred  on  the  eleventh 
day  of  April,  1894,  at  his  home  at  No.  3355  For- 
est Avenue,  which  he  purchased  and  occupied  in 
1891.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  appearance  and 
pleasant  address,  and  his  friendship  was  of  that 
warm  and  earnest  character  which  attracted  and 
held  men  to  him.  He  was  generous,  and  many 
remember  with  pleasure  the  time  when  he  was  to 
them  a  friend  in  need.  His  eminent  geniality 
and  social  qualities  brought  him  so  closely  in  con- 
tact with  his  fellow-men  that  he  naturally  became 
a  member  of  many  societies,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows'  or- 
ders, B'nai  B'rith,  Hebrew  Beneficiary  Associa- 
tion, Sous  of  Benjamin,  Old  Settlers'  Society  of 
Chicago,  and  others.  He  was  prominent  and  in- 
fluential in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  a  man  whose  counsel  had  great  weight 
with  his  associates  in  party  affairs.  He  always 
refused  nominations  for  office,  which  were  fre- 
quently urged  upon  him,  preferring  to  be  a  work- 
er for  the  interests  of  the  party  to  which  he  gave 
his  allegiance  rather  than  receive  the  emoluments 
of  office.  He  was  not  only  a  genial  and  popular 
citizen,  but  was  the  kindest  and  most  indulgent 
of  fathers  and  husbands,  and  was  the  idol  of  his 
family. 


G.  S.  INGRAHAM. 


287 


GRANVILLE  S.  INGRAHAM. 


SHERWOOD  INGRAHAM, 

b  youngest  of  a  family  of  nine,  was  born  May 
27,  1824,  in  Montgomery  County,  New 
York.  His  father,  born  April  23,  1782,  was  a 
tanner  and  currier,  who  came  from  England  to 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island  in  his  boyhood,  remov- 
ing subsequently  to  the  State  of  New  York,  where 
he  became  a  very  prominent  Free  Mason  and  was 
universally  esteemed,  dying  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three.  He  was  one  of  the  claimants  of  the  cele- 
brated "Leeds  Estate"  in  England.  His  mother, 
Philinda  Taylor  by  maiden  name,  was  born  May 
i,  1784,  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  living  to  the 
remarkable  age  of  ninety-two. 

Owing  to  the  disability  of  total  blindness  which 
afflicted  his  father  for  the  last  twenty-five  years 
of  his  life,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  an  or- 
dinary education  obtained  at  the  Union  Mills 
Academy,  was  obliged  to  leave  home  at  the  boy- 
ish age  of  twelve  to  seek  his  own  fortunes,  and 
well  indeed  did  he  find  them.  His  first  employ- 
ment was  in  a  merchant's  store  in  New  York 
City;  afterward,  returning  to  Saratoga  County, 
was  engaged  in  similar  pursuits  for  a  period. 

At  this  juncture  the  turning  point  of  his  busi- 
ness life  was  presented.  James  McKindley,  the 
veteran  pioneer  wholesaler  of  our  metropolis,  had 
spent  many  happy  boyhood  days  in  companion- 
ship with  Mr.  Ingraham;  and  now,  being  at  the 
head  of  the  mercantile  house,  McKindley,  Church 
&  Co. ,  thoughtful  for  and  kindly  disposed  toward 
this  early  associate,  offered  Mr.  Ingraham,  in 
1856,  a  position  with  his  house  as  traveling  sales- 
man. Losing  no  time  in  reaching  his  new  field 
of  employment,  destined  always  to  be  his  home, 
so  well  did  he  foresee  the  requirements  of  his  own 
and  higher  positions,  at  the  same  time  bending 
every  energy  toward  fulfilling  more  duties  than 
those  imposed  upon  him,  that  in  an  incredibly 
short  time,  namely  in  1860,  he  was  elevated  to 
the  standing  of  a  full  partner  in  the  firm,  there- 
after to  be  styled  McKindley,  Ingraham  &  Co. 


The  next  seven  years  witnessed  severest  appli- 
cation and  unremitting  efforts  upon  his  part, 
gaining  him  unstinted  meed  of  praise  from  all 
with  whom  he  had  to  do,  wonderfully  fruthering 
the  interests  of  his  concern,  but  carried  to  the 
excess  of  personal  disability,  so  that  at  the  end 
of  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  quite  de- 
bilitated and  "run  down"  in  health,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  his  office  and  seek  the  means  of 
regaining  strength  for  the  following  two  years. 
The  firm,  in  which  he  still  retained  his  interests, 
was  burned  out  by  the  great  fire  of  1871,  but 
being  well  insured,  it  declined  offers  of  finan- 
cial aid  as  well  as  volunteered  extension  of  time 
on  bills  payable  falling  due.  With  marvelous 
recuperation,  being  actually  engaged  in  trade 
within  a  week  after  the  burning,  and  by  good 
fortune,  it  was  enabled  to  meet  all  obligations  as 
rapidly  as  they  matured. 

About  this  time  was  organized  the  wholesale 
grocery  and  tea  house  of  Ingraham,  Corbin  & 
May  (now  Corbin  and  May) ,  with  which  he  was 
thenceforth  prominently  identified  in  its  very  suc- 
cessful upbuilding,  until,  in  1884,  overtaxation 
of  mental  and  physical  powers  rendered  retire- 
ment again  necessary,  this  time  forced  to  become 
practically  final.  But  his  fortune  continued  to  be 
thus  mainly  embarked  with  his  firm,  and  during 
the  semi-invalid  existence  of  his  slow  decline,  he 
always  enjoyed  thinking  and  speaking  of  trade, 
and  dreaming  the  optimist's  dream  of  the  golden 
days  bound  to  come  to  the  trade  when  the  entire 
Northwest  was  better  developed  in  its  vast  re- 
sources. 

The  last  years  were  made  comfortable  by  a 
portion  of  the  means  his  industrious  ability  had 
accumulated,  the  summers  being  mainly  spent  in 
Chicago,  while  in  winter  he  sought  a  less  rigorous 
climate;  now  in  California,  now  in  Florida,  until 
finding  in  Pass  Christian,  Mississippi,  surround- 
ings thoroughly  congenial  and  beneficial,  he  there 
bought  a  home  in  1888,  that  he  might  regularly 


288 


G.  S.  INGRAHAM. 


surrendei  himself  to  the  delights  of  the  semi- 
tropic  Gulf  Coast.  Alas  for  the  brevity  of  life! 
Love  may  not  entice  away,  nor  fortune  bribe 
against  the  visitation  of  grim,  universally  fated 
death.  The  end  came  on  December  20,  1892,  to 
a  patient,  long  sufferer,  resigned  to  the  will  of 
God. 

In  boyhood  he  had  followed  family  affiliations 
with  the  Christian  Church,  that  being  a  liberal 
and  righteous  faith;  but  in  maturer  years  he  was 
attracted  by  the  stanch  tenets  and  rugged  char- 
acter of  Presbyterianism,  and  so  had  been  for 
many  years  united  with  the  Hyde  Park  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  which,  wholly  obedient,  he 
passed  to  a  reward  of  good  merits. 

In  Whig  days  he  was  a  willing  follower  of 
Henry  Clay,  but  on  the  breaking  up  of  old  lines 
and  the  drawing  of  new  ones,  he  took  and  held  a  . 
liberal  Democratic  attitude,  in  local  affairs  sup- 
porting the  best  man,  irrespective  of  party.  He 
was  always  deeply  interested  in  parks  and  other 
public  improvements,  and  all  educational  works 
had  his  generous  approbation  and  furtherance. 
Being  most  happily  environed,  and  strongly  do- 
mestic in  temperament,  he  cared  not  for  "club 
life"  or  society,  so  called;  yet  he  was  not  a  re- 
cluse, neither,  as  his  friends  well  knew,  was  he 
at  all  unsociable. 

His  first  home  in  Chicago  was  purchased  at 
the  corner  of  Prairie  Avenue  and  Eighteenth 
Street;  removing,  in  1872,  to  Washington  Ave- 
nue, just  south  of  Fifty-fifth  Street,  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  construction  of  an  elegant  mansion 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood  (No.  5520  Wash- 
ington Avenue) ,  when  he  was  taken  away.  She 
who  is  left  to  execute  his  wishes  may  long  find  a 
noble  employment  in  the  finishing  of  his  ap- 
pointed work. 

The  humanitarian  shows  out  nowhere  more 
plainly  than  in  his  will.  Years  of  affliction  had 
taught  him  the  needs  of  the  sick,  while  abundant 
means  enabled  him  to  intelligently  contrast  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  indigent  ill.  Therefore, 
in  his  last  testament,  after  liberal  provisions  for 
his  family  and  near  relatives  (not  overlooking 
generous  legacies  to  several  charitable  institu- 
tions) ,  he  directed  that  the  residue  of  his  estate 


should  be  invested  and  spent  in  the  founding, 
building,  usefully  equipping  and  maintaining  of 
a  hospital  for  the  poor  sick,  to  be  conducted  on  as 
free  a  plan  as  possible.  Would  that  all  our  wealth 
accumulators,  circumstanced  like  unto  himself, 
could  be  prompted  by  as  philanthropic  motives! 
Then  would  riches  become  a  general  blessing  in 
disguise,  and  the  abyss  between  the  financially 
high  and  low  forever  kindly  bridged.  Realizing 
that  he  had  few  dependents,  and  that  he  was 
largely  indebted  to  the  city  of  his  adoption  for  his 
opulence,  he,  in  this  dignified,  munificent,  last- 
ing manner  of  endowing  a  glorious  charity,  con- 
ceived that  that  debt  should  and  would  be  paid; 
and  though  for  a  time  there  be  a  contest  over  the 
will,  while  something  of  doubt  exists  as  to  the 
ultimate  fate  of  the  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars 
thus  bequeathed  by  Mr.  Ingraham  to  the  found- 
ing of  a  hospital,  which  was  to  bear  his  name,  let 
us  trust  the  law  will  vindicate  itself  and  our  testa- 
tor friend's  wishes,  and  that  his  widow,  unswerv- 
ingly devoted  to  the  administration  of  his  estate, 
may  be  speedily  confirmed  in  her  legal  rights  as 
his  representative,  and  so  enabled  to  proceed  un- 
der the  will-terms  toward  the  completion  of  the 
conceived  edifice;  and  generations  to  come  will 
thank  the  justice  of  the  decree  while  blessing  the 
memory  of  him,  their  patron  and  benefactor. 

Mr.  Ingraham  was  twice  married;  (i.)  July 
14,  1847,  to  Miss  Frances  Sarah  Foster,  of  Sara- 
toga County,  New  York,  who  died  January  i, 
1878,  having  had  as  issue  a  son,  Hiram  Foster 
Ingraham,  who  died  February  10,  1874,  leaving 
a  widow,  Fannie  Ingraham  (nee  Wood),  and  a  son, 
Granville  Foster  Ingraham,  which  latter  were 
cared  for  by  the  subject  of  this  sketch  while  liv- 
ing, and  abundantly  provided  for  in  his  last  will. 

(2.)  December  6,  1 88 1,  to  Miss  Harriette  Au- 
gusta Foster  (sister  of  his  former  wife,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Hiram  Clark  Foster),  who  had  no  children, 
but  who  was  and  is  the  soul  of  faithfulness  toward 
him  and  his  house,  and  appointed  as  one  of  the 
executors  of  his  will. 

(For  some  details  of  the  Foster  pedigree,  vide 
under  sketch  of  James  Mairs  Gilchrist,  on  another 
page  herein.) 

Mrs.   Ingraham' s  mother  was  Elizabeth  Platt, 


NICHOLAS  BUSCHWAH. 


289 


of  a  family  of  honorable  standing  and  mention  in 
Eastern  centers.  Elizabeth  was  the  fifth  child 
and  daughter  of  Alexander  Smith  and  Annie 
Platt  (nee  Wakeman,  of  Greenfield,  Connecticut) 
and  Gal  way,  New  York;  Alexander  being  the 
fourth  son  of  Obadiah  and  Thankful  Platt  (nee 
Scudder,  of  Huntington,  Connecticut),  and 
North  Fairfield,  Connecticut;  Obadiah  being  the 
fourth  son  of  Obadiah  and  Mary  Platt,  nee  Smith, 
who  removed  from  Huntington  across  Long  Is- 
land Sound  (with  his  brother  Timothy) ,  found- 
ing the  Fairfield  branch  of  the  family;  Obadiah 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Jonas  and  Sarah  Platt  (nee 
Scudder),  of  the  "Older  Huntington"  (Connecti- 
cut) branch.  Jonas  was  the  second  child  and 
eldest  son  of  Isaac  and  Elizabeth  Platt  (nee 
Wood)  who  (with  his  brother  Epenetus)  founded 
the  "Older  Huntington"  branch.  Isaac  was 


probably  born  in  England,  being  the  third  son  of 
Richard  and  Mary  Platt,  who  came  to  this  coun- 
try from  England  in  1638,  landing  at  New  Haven, 
Connecticut, where  he  afterward  acquired  valuable 
landed  possessions.  The  old  family  seat,  how- 
ever, is  at  Milford,  a  few  miles  thence  west, 
where  the  first  American  progenitor  is  buried, 
and  where  have  ever  since  dwelt  the  honored  de- 
scendants. 

The  English  seat  of  the  emigrating  branch  is 
believed  to  be  Bovingdon,  a  village  near  Hert- 
ford, England.  The  Herald's  College  shows 
some  seven  coats-of-arms  assigned  and  granted 
to  different  English  families  by  the  name  of  Platt. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  Mrs. 
Ingraham,  through  her  mother,  represents  the 
eighth  generation  of  Platts  in  the  United  States. 


NICHOLAS  BUSCHWAH. 


BUSCHWAH  is,  doubtless,  the 
best  informed  man  living  in  regard  to  titles  to 
Cook  County  realty.  His  long  experience  of 
over  thirty  years  in  the  preparation  and  examin- 
ation of  abstracts,  together  with  his  reliability  and 
unquestioned  integrity  of  character,  has  earned 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  political  parties, 
and  of  investors  and  business  men  generally.  He 
was  born  amid  the  romantic  scenery  bordering 
the  River  Rhine,  the  place  of  his  birth  being  the 
village  of  Wahlen,  Rhenish  Prussia,  and  the  date 
of  his  advent  being  the  iQth  of  October,  1842. 
His  parents,  Nicholas  and  Marie  (Dewald) 
Buschwah,  were  natives  of  Germany,  of  French 
extraction.  The  father  was  a  carpenter  and 
builder  by  occupation.  In  1844  he  sold  his  beau- 
tiful home  and  grounds  in  the  land  of  his  birth 
and  emigrated  with  his  family,  which  then  in- 
cluded four  children,  to  the  United  States,  in  or- 


der to  secure  to  them  the  blessings  of  political 
and  religious  liberty.  He  located  in  Chicago, 
where  he  followed  his  trade  until  death,  January 
24,  1864.  His  wife  survived  him  several  years, 
dying  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  They  em- 
bodied the  regular  habits  and  sturdy  character 
for  which  our  German  citizens  are  conspicuous, 
and  left  to  their  posterity  sacred  memories  and  a 
good  name.  Seven  of  their  children  survive  and 
are  residents  of  Chicago.  Margaret,  the  eldest, 
is  now  Mrs.  John  Woltz;  Catherine  is  the  widow 
of  Caspar  Koerper;  and  the  others  are  Matthew, 
Nicholas,  John,  Peter  and  Jacob.  One  died  in 
childhood,  and  Mary,  who  was  the  wife  of  Mi- 
chael Schwiser,  passed  away  May  4,  1877. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  received  his  primary 
education  at  the  Kinzie  School,  then  the  only 
public  school  in  North  Chicago,  and  known  as 
Alden  G.  Wilder 's  School.  He  afterward  became 


2oo 


NICHOLAS  BUSCHWAH. 


a  student  at  the  Franklin  School,  Daniel  C.  Fer- 
guson Principal,  and  completed  the  course  of 
study  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  the  Chicago 
High  School  not  being  built  at  that  time.  He 
then  entered  the  real -estate  office  of  James  H. 
Rees,  to  learn  the  real-estate  business,  and  subse- 
quently he  entered  the  office  of  Rees,  Chase  & 
Company,  abstract  makers,  with  whom  he  began 
his  clerical  career,  serving  their  interests  for  eight 
years,  during  which  time  the  style  changed  to 
Chase  Brothers.  He  became  very  proficient  in 
the  preparation  of  abstracts,  and  after  the  ter- 
mination of  his  engagement  with  this  house  he 
served  one  year  as  money-delivery  clerk  in  the 
office  of  the  American  Express  Company.  This 
was  a  responsible  and  arduous  position,  and  he 
often  handled  a  million  dollars  in  a  single  day. 
He  was  next  employed  by  Fernando  Jones  & 
Company,  the  well-known  abstract  makers,  whose 
office  was  then  located  at  No.  42  Clark  Street. 
He  remained  with  this  firm  four  years,  filling  the 
place  of  chief  abstract  maker,  after  which  he  was 
employed  in  the  office  of  the  City  Comptroller  up 
to  the  time  of  the  great  fire  of  October  8  and  9, 
1871.  During  the  period  immediately  subsequent 
to  that  catastrophe  he  assisted  the  Chicago  Relief 
and  Aid  Society  as  chief  clerk  and  paymaster  of 
the  Third  Division  of  the  city.  For  two  and  one- 
half  years  thereafter  he  was  an  assistant  in  the 
office  of  the  City  Clerk.  At  this  time  the  firm  of 
Williams  &  Thielcke  sought  his  services  in  the 
conduct  of  their  abstract  office,  and  when,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1885,  their  books  became  the  property  of 
Cook  County,  he  continued  with  the  work,  re- 
maining in  the  employ  of  the  county  over  seven- 
teen years — making  the  first  abstract  turned  out 
by  the  county — and  was  chief  abstract  maker  in 
the  department  of  abstracts  in  the  Recorder's  of- 
fice throughout  this  period.  During  his  long  ex- 
perience in  the  examination  and  production  of 
abstracts,  he  has  becomes  familiar  with  all  the 
details  and  technicalities  of  the  business,  and  has 
prepared  more  instruments  of  the  kind  than  any 
other  individual. 

In  April,  1893,  he  resigned  his  position  in  the 
Recorder's  office,  since  which  time  he  has  con- 
ducted an  independent  business  as  examiner  of 


titles,  in  connection  with  which  he  does  a  general 
loan,  real-estate  and  investment  business.  The 
extensive  acquaintance  which  he  has  formed  dur- 
ing his  connection  with  this  line  of  work  brings  to 
him  an  ample  and  lucrative  patronage,  and  many 
large  investors  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  en- 
trust to  him  the  conduct  of  their  financial  trans- 
actions. For  many  years  past  he  has  conducted 
a  loan  and  real-estate  agency  in  connection  with 
his  other  undertakings,  and  has  displayed  such 
judgment  and  discretion  in  placing  funds  entrust- 
ed to  his  care  that  he  has  never  found  it  necessary 
to  foreclose  a  mortgage  or  trust  deed.  His  integ- 
rity, justice  and  fairness  are  recognized  alike  by 
creditors  and  debtors,  and  every  man  who  forms 
his  acquaintance  through  a  business  transaction 
becomes  a  permanent  friend.  By  his  shrewd 
management  many  a  poor  and  delinquent  debtor 
has  been  saved  from  total  loss,  while  the  interests 
of  the  creditor  have  been  at  the  same  time  fully 
protected. 

On  New  Year's  Day  of  1868  occurred  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Nicholas  Buschwah  to  Miss  Har- 
riet A.  Dye,  daughter  of  Prof.  Nathan  Dye, 
whose  life  history  appears  on  another  page  of  this 
work.  She  was  born  at  Truxton,  Cortland  Coun- 
ty, New  York,  and  at  an  early  age  began  to  de- 
velop a  talent  and  taste  for  music,  taking  her  first 
lesson  from  her  father  at  the  age  of  three  years. 
At  fourteen  she  became  a  teacher  of  music,  and 
for  many  years  previous  to  her  marriage  gave 
instruction  in  both  vocal  and  instrumental  work, 
often  assisting  her  father  in  the  conduct  of  his 
classes  and  concerts.  Ida  A.,  the  only  child  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buschwah,  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Chicago  Conservatory  of  Music,  and  a  teacher  of 
recognized  ability  in  musical  circles.  She  is  the 
wife  of  Leroy  Grant,  with  whom  she  resides  at 
Laramie  City,  Wyoming. 

For  many  years  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buschwah  were 
members  of  Unity  Church  of  Chicago,  the  soci- 
ety established  by  Rev.  Robert  Collyer,  who  con- 
ducted the  ceremony  at  their  wedding  and  the  wed- 
ding of  their  daughter,  Ida  A.  They  are  among 
the  original  members  of  the  Independent  Liberal 
Church,  organized  by  Rev.  T.  G.  Milsted  in  Oc- 
tober, 1894.  It  is  a  society  founded  upon  prin- 


GEORGE  DEARLOVE. 


291 


ciples  of  benevolence  and  Christian  brotherhood. 
Mrs.  Buschwah  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  soci- 
ety, and  both  she  and  her  husband  are  enthusiastic 
and  active  in  good  works.  She  is  a  member  of 
Chicago  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Rev- 


utive  Board  of  the  Twenty-first  Ward  Republican 
Club,  and  has  been  a  life-long  supporter  of  the 
principles  of  that  party,  and  numbers  among  his 
friends  many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Cook 
County,  irrespective  of  political  or  other  connec- 


olution.    Mr.  Buschwah  is  a  member  of  the  Exec-     tions. 


GEORGE  DEARLOVE. 


EORGE  DEARLOVE,  a  prominent  pioneer 
of  Northfield  Township,  now  living  in  Chi- 
cago,  was  born  in  Harrowgate,  Yorkshire, 
England,  in  May,  1824.  He  is  the  only  surviving 
child  of  Richard  and  Hannah  (Matterson)  Dear- 
love,  who  in  1836,  with  their  family,  came  to 
America,  settling  in  Northfield  Township,  Cook 
County,  where  they  became  the  owners  of  an  ex- 
tensive tract  of  land  on  Milwaukee  Avenue. 
This  tract,  which  is  still  retained  in  the  family, 
includes  several  of  the  finest  and  most  productive 
farms  in  Cook  County,  well  supplied  with  first- 
class  improvements. 

The  children  of  Richard  and  Hannah  Dear- 
love  were  Mary,  William,  Peter,  Richard, 
Thomas,  George  and  Hannah,  all  of  whom  be- 
came leading  citizens  of  Northfield  Township, 
but,  as  stated  above,  are  now  deceased,  with  the 
exception  of  George.  The  latter  became  the 
owner  of  several  fine  farms  in  Northfield  Town- 
ship, but  in  1885  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
has  since  dealt  in  real  estate,  his  long  acquaint- 
ance with  the  county  giving  him  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  land  values  which  has  helped  him 
materially  in  his  business. 

Mr.  Dearlove  was  married  in  1872 — Miss  Mary 
A.  Dwyer,  daughter  of  Peter  and  Maria  Dwyer, 
of  Newport,  Herkimer  County,  New  York,  be- 
coming his  wife.  Mrs.  Dearlove,  who  is  a  lady 
of  refinement  and  ability,  acquired  her  primary 


education  in  the  public  schools  of  Herkimer 
County,  and  later  attended  a  select  school  at  New- 
port for  one  year.  She  then  took  a  three-years 
course  at  Fairfield  Seminary,  and  still  later  at- 
tended the  State  Normal  School  at  Albany,  New 
York,  but  did  not  finish  the  course  on  account  of 
sickness.  From  the  age  of  seventeen  years  she 
was  engaged  at  intervals  in  teaching.  She  came 
to  Cook  County  in  the  year  1867,  and  taught  for 
several  years  after  her  arrival,  she  and  her  sister 
being  the  first  teachers  of  the  Normal  System  in 
Cook  County. 

March  5,  1888,  Mrs.  Dearlove  graduated  from 
Bennett  Eclectic  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery, 
with  the  degree  of  M.  D.,  and  afterwards  grad- 
uated from  the  Chicago  College  of  Ophthalmia 
and  Aural  Surgery.  Since  her  graduation  she 
has  practiced  her  profession  with  marked  success, 
and  has  won  the  confidence  of  the  public  and  of 
her  associates  to  a  most  flattering  degree.  Dr. 
Dearlove  holds  membership  in  the  Chicago  Eclec- 
tic Society,  and  in  the  State  Eclectic  Medical  So- 
ciety, and  during  the  progress  of  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  was  in  charge  of  the  Illi- 
nois Woman's  Hospital  at  the  Exposition 
grounds. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dearlove  were  born  the  fol- 
lowing children:  George  M.,  whose  biography 
appears  elsewhere  in  these  pages;  Thomas,  a 
student  at  the  North- Western  Military  Academy; 


292 


JOHN  CRAWFORD. 


and  Mabel  H.  In  his  religious  adherence  Mr. 
Dearlove  is  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  in  his  political  leanings  he  is  a  Republican, 
though  not  a  strict  partisan,  and  never  an  as- 


pirant for  public  honors.  He  is  a  successful 
farmer  and  business  man,  and  he  and  his  family 
enjoy  the  esteem  of  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances. 


JOHN  CRAWFORD. 


(JOHN  CRAWFORD,  deceased,  was  for  years 
I  connected  with  the  business  and  official  in- 
O  terests  of  Cook  County,  and  was  a  prominent 
and  representative  citizen.  He  was  born  in  Buf- 
falo, New  York,  October  14,  1832,  and  died  in 
Chicago  on  the  ist  of  February,  1894.  His  father, 
Peter  Crawford,  is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this 
work.  John  spent  the  first  twelve  years  of  his 
life  in  the  Empire  State  and  then  accompanied 
his  parents  on  their  removal  to  Chicago.  Here 
he  became  his  father's  assistant  in  the  lumber 
trade,  and  was  thus  employed  until  nineteen 
years  of  age,  when  he  entered  Knox  College,  at 
Galesburg,  Illinois,  where  he  pursued  a  prepara- 
tory course  of  study.  Later  he  entered  Hamilton 
University  (now  Colgate  University)  of  Hamil- 
ton, New  York,  and  when  his  literary  education 
was  completed  he  taught  in  Cicero  Township, 
Cook  County,  for  several  years. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  Mr.  Crawford  began 
reading  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Buckner  S. 
Morris,  of  Chicago.  He  did  not  complete  his 
legal  studies,  but  yet  obtained  a  knowledge  of  law 
which  proved  of  great  benefit  to  him  in  his  sub- 
sequent business  and  official  transactions.  For 
many  years  he  dealt  largely  in  real  estate,  hand- 
ling not  only  his  own  subdivisions  at  Crawford 
Station,  but  also  much  other  property.  He  served 
for  several  terms  as  Supervisor  of  Cicero  Town- 


ship, also  as  Trustee  and  Assessor,  and  in  numer- 
ous other  local  offices.  He  was  County  Commis- 
sioner for  two  terms,  being  a  member  of  the  Board 
at  the  same  time  with  Carter  H.  Harrison,  about 
the  beginning  of  the  latter' s  political  career.  They 
were  elected  on  the  ' '  Fire  Ticket, "  as  it  was 
called,  the  election  being  held  soon  after  the  great 
fire  of  1871. 

On  the  22d  of  August,  1861,  Mr.  Crawford  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Adelaide  F.  Neff, 
daughter  of  William  and  Olive  Neff,  of  Chicago, 
and  a  native  of  Buffalo,  New  York.  When  a  little 
maiden  of  six  summers  she  came  with  her  par- 
ents to  this  State.  Her  father  died  in  March, 
1887,  but  her  mother  is  still  living  in  Chicago. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crawford  were  born  three  chil- 
dren: John  H.,  a  real-estate  dealer  of  Chicago; 
Florence,  who  is  now  deceased;  and  Genevieve. 

Mr.  Crawford  was  a  member  of  the  Millard 
Avenue  Baptist  Church,  and  the  family  still  at- 
tends that  church.  He  belonged  to  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  in  his  political  affiliations  was  a 
Republican.  He  was  a  man  of  earnest  convic- 
tions and  conscientious  motives,  and  by  straight- 
forward dealing  and  uniform  courtesy  he  won  the 
good-will  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 
Probably  no  man  in  Cook  County  had  fewer 
enemies. 


C.  P.  BRYAN. 


293 


CHARLES  P.  BRYAN. 


/TJHARLES  P.  BRYAN  was  bora  in  Chicago, 
1 1  Octobers,  1855.  His  childhood  was  spent 
\J  at  Elmhurst,  where  his  parents  took  up  their 
residence  in  1856.  Young  Bryan  completed  his 
education  at  the  University  of  Virginia  and  the 
Columbia  Law  School.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  1878.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  removed  to  Colorado,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  mining  and  in  editorial  and  literary 
work.  He  edited  the  Denver  Inter  Ocean  and  the 
Colorado  Mining  Gazette,  which  he  owned,  and 
was  elected  President  of  the  Colorado  Editorial 
Association  in  1884.  A  year  after  his  arrival  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
Clear  Creek  County  in  the  Legislature,  of  which 
he  was  the  youngest  member.  He  was  Chairman 
of  the  Railroad  Committee.  As  champion  of  the 
people  against  monopolies,  he  was  called  the 
"Plumed  Knight  of  the  Rockies."  He  had  a 
voice  in  every  Republican  State  convention  during 
his  sojourn  in  Colorado,  and  stumped  the  State 
for  Elaine.  Twice  he  was  urged  by  the  slate- 
makers,  but  declined  to  allow  his  name  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Republican  State  Convention  as  a  can- 
didate for  Secretary  of  State.  The  probable  nom- 
ination for  Lieutenant-Governor  was  also  offered 
him  as  an  inducement  to  remain  in  Colorado. 
Filial  duty,  however,  called  him  back  to  Illinois 
in  1885. 

In  1890,  Col.  Bryan  was,  unsolicited,  nominated 
for  the  Legislature  and  elected.  In  1892  he  was 
re-elected  to  represent  DuPage  County.  His  chief 
efforts  in  the  Legislature  have  been  directed  to- 
ward ballot  reform,  World's  Fair  and  National 
Guard  measures,  and  those  locally  of  interest  to 


his  constituents.  As  a  boy,  he  entered  the  First 
Regiment  of  Illinois  National  Guards,  and  has 
nearly  ever  since  served  in  the  State  troops  of  Illi- 
nois or  Colorado,  having  been  commissioned  Aide- 
de-Camp  by  four  Governors.  Col.  Bryan  is  now 
on  the  general  staff  of  the  Illinois  National 
Guard.  His  occupation  is  that  of  contributor  to 
newspapers  and  magazines,  his  line  of  work  be- 
ing editorial,  historical  and  descriptive. 

The  paternal  and  maternal  families  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  the  Bryans  and  the  Pages,  set- 
tled in  Virginia  about  1660.  They  intermarried 
with  the  Lees,  the  Carters,  Barbours,  Crawfords 
and  Penns.  Daniel  Bryan,  the  grandfather  of 
Charles,  made  speeches  in  the  Senate  of  Virginia 
as  far  back  as  the  '  303  advocating  the  abolition 
of  slavery.  On  account  of  his  pronounced  Union 
views  he  endangered  his  life  at  Alexandria  at  the 
beginning  of  the  late  war.  His  son,  Thomas  B. 
Bryan,  came  to  Illinois  in  1852.  As  a  member  of 
the  Union  Defense  Committee,  as  president  of  the 
Soldiers'  Home  and  Sanitary  Fair,  and  in  aiding 
to  equip  regiments  for  the  war,  he  constantly 
showed  his  loyalty  to  the  Union.  Company  H 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  Illinois  Infantry, 
composed  of  the  flower  of  the  youth  of  DuPage 
County,  was  called  the  "Bryan  Blues"  in  honor 
of  the  liberality  of  Thomas  B.  Bryan.  As  cham- 
pion of  Chicago  for  the  site  of  the  World's  Fair  in 
speeches  made  in  Washington  and  other  cities,  as 
Vice-President  of  the  Columbian  Exposition,  and 
as  Commissioner-at- Large  to  Europe,  Mr.  Bryan 
has  won  international  fame.  His  son  has  seconded 
him  in  all  these  efforts.  Famous  men  from  all 
over  the  world  have  been  entertained  at  the 


294 


A.  F.  HATCH. 


"Bird's  Nest,"  the  Bryans'  home.  Edward  Ev- 
erett, President  and  Mrs.  Harrison,  the  Logans, 
Blaines,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  princes,  nobility  and 
ministers  and  commissioners  from  nearly  every 


land  have  been  guests  at  this  beautiful  home, 
whose  hospitalities  have  helped  to  give  renown  to 
Elmhurst  and  to  DuPage  County. 


AZEL  FARNSWORTH   HATCH. 


Gl  ZEL  FARNSWORTH  HATCH,  a  promin- 
I_|  ent  and  well-known  attorney-at-law  of  Chi- 
I  I  cago,  living  in  Lisle,  was  born  on  the  6th 
of  September,  1848,  in  Lisle  Township,  DuPage 
County,  and  was  the  fifth  in  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren born  to  James  C.  and  Charlotte  (Kidder) 
Hatch.  He  remained  upon  the  home  farm  until 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and  attended  the  public 
schools  of  the  neighborhood,  there  acquiring  his 
primary  education.  In  1867  he  entered  Oberlin 
College,  of  Oberlin,  Ohio,  where  he  continued 
his  studies  until  1870,  when  he  became  a  student 
of  the  senior  class  in  Yale  University.  In  1871 
he  was  graduated  from  that  institution,  after 
which  he  accepted  the  principalship  of  the  High 
School  of  Sheboygan,  Wis.,  where  he  continued 
for  a  year. 

Mr.  Hatch  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1872,  and  be- 
gan the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Shorey  & 
Norton,  attorneys,  with  whom  he  continued  for 
about  two  years,  when,  in  September,  1874,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  In  December  following 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and 
during  the  first  year  was  associated  with  Messrs. 
Norton  and  Hulburd,  under  the  style  of  Norton, 
Hulburd  &  Hatch.  In  1880  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  O.  F.  Aldis,  and  under  the  firm 
name  of  Hatch  &  Aldis  these  gentlemen  con- 
tinued business  for  several  years,  when  the  part- 
nership was  dissolved.  Mr.  Hatch  is  now  alone 
in  business.  He  has  been  very  successful  in  his 
legal  practice  and  has  won  an  enviable  reputation 
therein. 


On  the  sth  of  February,  1880,  our  subject  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Grace  H.  Greene,  of 
Lisle,  daughter  of  Daniel  Greene,  of  DuPage 
County.  By  their  union  were  born  four  daugh- 
ters: Alice  V.,  Helen,  Laura  and  Grace  P.  All 
are  still  with  their  father.  The  mother's  death 
occurred  in  Chicago,  on  the  i8th  of  April,  1886. 

Mr.  Hatch  is  a  Republican  in  political  sentiment, 
but  is  not  strongly  partisan,  and  has  never  been 
an  office-seeker,  preferring  to  devote  his  entire 
time  and  attention  to  his  legal  practice  and  other 
business  interests.  He  is  connected  with  various 
important  concerns  of  the  city.  He  is  one  of  the 
Directors  and  owners  of  the  Chicago  Herald  and 
the  Chicago  Evening  Post,  and  is  also  one  of  the 
exchequer  committee  of  the  Equitable  Trust  Com- 
pany of  Chicago.  He  is  a  Director  of  the  United 
Press,  and  is  also  connected  with  several  other 
enterprises.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Chicago  Library  for  three 
years.  He  had  charge  of  the  organization  of  the 
committees  of  the  World's  Fair  and  of  the  first 
meeting  of  the  stockholders.  This  was  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  corporations  ever  formed,  as 
there  were  at  that  time  over  twenty-eight  thou- 
sand stockholders.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
promoting  the  interests  of  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition,  and  did  all  in  his  power  toward  mak- 
ing the  Fair  a  success.  He  is  a  well-known  and 
leading  citizen  and  a  worthy  representative  of  the 
enterprise  and  progressive  spirit  which  have  made 
Chicago  the  second  city  of  the  Union. 


'      'MY 

THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILLI 


X    d 


P.  D.  ARMOUR. 


295 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR. 


DANFORTH  ARMOUR,  who  is 
yr  known  throughout  the  world  through  his 
^9  extensive  business  interests,  is  also  widely 
known  for  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  his  fellow-men. 
While  his  financial  gains  have  been  great,  he  has 
not  neglected  opportunities  for  devoting  a  fair 
proportion  to  benevolent  and  educational  work. 
Through  his  generosity  and  fostering  care,  the 
Armour  Mission,  originally  established  in  1881 
by  a  bequest  of  $100,000  from  his  brother,  Jo- 
seph F.  Armour,  has  grown  to  cover  a  very  wide 
extent  of  educational  and  philanthropic  work,  be- 
ing permanently  endowed  and  supplied  with  ade- 
quate buildings  and  apparatus  and  a  large  corps 
of  instructors.  This  institution  is  recognized  as 
a  powerful  factor  in  the  city's  literary  develop- 
ment, and  one  of  Mr.  Armour's  benevolent  works 
is  thus  made  too  prominent  to  be  hidden.  Of  his 
many  private  and  quiet  acts  of  charity  the  world 
will  know  but  little. 

Philip  D.  Armour  was  born  in  Stockbridge, 
Madison  County,  N.  Y.,  on  the  i6th  of  May, 
1832,  being  one  of  a  family  of  six  sons  and  two 
daughters  given  to  Danforth  Armour  and  Juliana 
(Brooks)  Armour,  his  wife.  The  parents  left 
Union,  Conn.,  in  September,  1825,  and  settled  at 
the  above-named  place,  where  they  engaged  in 
farming.  The  paternal  ancestors  were  of  Scotch- 
Irish  lineage,  and  were  early  established  in  this 
country.  The  maternal  progenitors  were,  no 
doubt,  of  English  blood,  though  they  must  have 
early  renounced  allegiance  to  the  mother  coun- 
try, as  we  find  them  honorably  mentioned  for 
acts  of  daring  in  the  struggle  for  American  inde- 
pendence. 


Amid  the  simple  surroundings  of  a  New  York 
country  home,  P.  D.  Armour  and  his  brothers 
and  sisters  grew  to  maturity,  imbibing  the  frugal 
and  industrious  habits  which  have  been  handed 
down  from  New  England,  and  have  done  so  much 
to  develop  and  husband  the  resources  of  the 
United  States.  Wherever  the  New  England 
spirit  has  been  prevalent,  schools,  churches  and 
manufactories  have  risen  simultaneously,  and  so- 
ciety has  rapidly  advanced  in  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences. The  mother  of  this  family  was  noted  for 
a  joyous  disposition,  and  under  her  loving  care  its 
members  grew  up  in  a  strong  affection  one  for 
another,  and  readily  adopted  habits  of  cheerful 
industry,  which  led  them  all  to  material  success. 

Circumstances  so  favored  Philip  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  district  school,  he  was  privileged  to 
attend  the  village  academy.  Here  he  became  a 
leader  in  both  sports  and  studies,  and  it  was  con- 
sidered a  privilege  to  belong  to  his  "set,"  for  he 
early  developed  a  perseverance  and  determination 
that  carried  through  whatever  he  undertook. 
His  ambition  had  already  looked  beyond  the  nar- 
row limits  of  a  country  hamlet,  and  when  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California  became  a  topic  of  gen- 
eral interest  throughout  the  country,  he  eagerly 
joined  a  company  which  proposed  to  make  the 
overland  trip  to  the  land  of  gold.  They  left 
Oneida,  N.  Y.,  in  the  spring  of  1852,  and  reached 
their  destination  after  six  months  of  toilsome  and 
dangerous  journeying.  Not  all  the  dreams  of  all 
the  Argonauts  were  realized.  They  found  the 
country  full  of  desperate  adventurers,  who  had 
everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose,  with  lit- 
tle or  no  law  to  restrain  them.  Here  the  habits 


296 


P.  D.  ARMOUR. 


and  ideas  absorbed  in  early  life  by  young  Armour 
served  him  well.  He  went  to  work,  and  after 
four  years  of  moderate  success,  in  which  the  sal- 
ient points  of  his  character  were  more  fully 
brought  out,  he  returned  for  a  short  visit  with  his 
parents  and  the  companions  of  his  youth. 

After  a  visit  of  a  few  weeks  at  his  native  place, 
he  again  started  West,  and  located  at  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  where  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
Frederick  B.  Miles  in  the  grain  and  commission 
business.  To  this  business  he  gave  his  time  and 
energies,  with  the  result  that  it  flourished  and 
gave  him  a  high  standing  among  business  men. 
In  1863,  the  firm  was  dissolved,  and  in  the 
spring  of  that  year  he  formed  a  connection  which 
gave  ample  scope  to  his  energies  and  abilities, 
and  hastened  his  pecuniary  advancement.  This 
was  a  partnership  with  John  Plankinton,  a  wide- 
ly-known merchant  and  provision  dealer,  who 
had  been  long  established  at  that  point,  and  the 
new  firm  engaged  extensively  in  pork-packing 
for  the  market.  At  this  period,  the  tendency  of 
prices  was  ever  upward,  because  of  the  large  de- 
mands and  limited  supply  made  by  the  Civil  War, 
and  business  prospered  with  Plankinton  &  Ar- 
mour. Herman  O.  Armour,  a  brother  of  the 
junior  partner,  had  established  himself  in  the 
grain  and  commission  business  at  Chicago  in 
1862,  and  three  years  later  he  was  induced  to 
take  an  interest  in  and  charge  of  a  New  York 
branch,  under  the  style  of  Armour,  Plankinton  & 
Co.  At  the  same  time,  the  Chicago  business  of 
H.  O.  Armour  &  Co.  was  placed  in  charge  of  Jo- 
seph F.  Armour,  and  so  continued  until  1870. 
In  1868,  Armour  &  Co.  began  packing  meats  in 
Chicago,  and  two  years  later  absorbed  the  busi- 
ness of  all  the  Armour  brothers  in  this  city.  In 
1871,  Armour  &  Plankinton  established  a  pack- 
ing-house at  Kansas  City,  under  the  supervision 
of  Simon  B.  Armour,  who  gave  the  same  judi- 
cious and  active  care  to  its  interests  which  have 
characterized  all  the  business  undertakings  of  the 
Armours.  In  1883,  the  Kansas  City  business 
was  assumed  by  the  Armour  Packing  Company, 
in  which  Kirkland  B.  Armour  was  the  leading 
spirit.  For  four  years  previously  it  had  been  op- 


erated by  the  Armour  Brothers  Packing  Compa- 
ny, with  Andrew  Watson  Armour  as  President. 

In  1875,  P.  D.  Armour  came  to  Chicago,  and 
from  this  center  of  the  provision  business  has  ever 
since  manipulated  the  business  of  the  several 
plants.  The  extent  of  this  can  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  the  distributive  sales  of  the  Chicago 
branch  exceed  the  receipts  of  any  single  railroad 
corporation  in  the  world.  Mr.  Armour  has  as 
yet  relaxed  but  little  of  his  labor,  and  is  found  at 
his  desk  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  directing 
business.  To  all  he  is  most  affable  and  courte- 
ous, and  he  is  regarded  by  his  friends  as  the  most 
genial  of  men.  His  only  departure  from  atten- 
tion to  his  private  business  consisted  in  the  ac- 
ceptance of  a  directorship  in  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  Railroad,  at  the  earnest  re- 
quest of  his  friend,  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  Mil- 
waukee, now  deceased.  He  has  been  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Milwaukee  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  and  many  other  enterprises  which  de- 
served and  needed  his  sanction  and  support.  The 
simple  habits  and  healthful  surroundings  of  his 
boyhood  gave  him  a  vigorous  physique,  which, 
seconded  by  a  sound  constitution,  has  enabled 
him  to  perform  wonders  in  the  line  of  business, 
and  he  still  possesses  a  wonderful  vitality,  which 
promises  many  more  years  of  labor  to  him.  He 
is  ably  assisted  by  his  sons,  Jonathan  Ogden  Ar- 
mour and  Philip  D.  Armour,  Jr. ,  who  have  proven 
themselves  apt  pupils  in  the  school  of  business  in 
which  their  sire  is  past  master. 

Mr.  Armour  was  married  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
in  October,  1862,  to  Miss  Belle,  only  daughter  of 
Jonathan  Ogden.  Starting  in  life  with  the  same 
sound  New  England  training,  Mrs.  Armour  has 
been  a  true  sharer  in  the  labors  and  successes  of 
her  husband.  The  family  is  affiliated  with  the 
Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  in  the  work  of 
which  strong  organization  Mr.  Armour  takes  a 
deep  interest  and  bears  his  due  share.  If  the  am- 
bitious American  youth  seeks  an  example  worthy 
of  his  emulation  in  the  struggles  of  life,  let  him 
study  the  qualities  which  have  made  Mr.  Armour 
financially  successful,  and  which  have  led  him  to 
share  his  prosperity  with  those  around  him. 


T.  E.  LEWIS. 


297 


THOMAS  EDWARD  LEWIS. 


"HOMAS  EDWARD  LEWIS,  a  self-made, 

enterprising  and  progressive  citizen  of  Whea- 
ton,  is  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois,  hav- 
ing come  to  the  State  with  his  parents  in  1839. 
He  is  a  native  of  Swansea,  Wales,  born  on  the  zd 
of  July,  1826.  His  ancestors  were  prominent  in  the 
military  service  of  Great  Britain,  and  were  among 
the  most  ancient  in  that  country.  His  grandfather, 
Joshua  Lewis,  was  a  farmer,  and  lived  to  be  over 
ninety  years  old,  being  succeeded  on  retiring  by 
his  son  Joseph,  father  of  Thomas  E.  Lewis,  all 
being  born  on  the  same  farm.  Joseph  Lewis 
married  Margaret,  only  daughter  of  Thomas  Rob- 
erts, a  neighboring  farmer.  Beside  this  daugh- 
ter, Mr.  Roberts  had  two  sons,  John  and  Thomas. 
The  former  was  a  very  stalwart  specimen  of 
manhood,  being  six  feet  and  six  inches  in  height. 
He  led  the  choir  in  the  Independent  Church  near 
his  home. 

As  above  stated,  in  1839  Joseph  Lewis  came 
with  his  family  to  America.  Proceeding  at  once 
to  West  Northfield,  Cook  County,  111.,  he  pre- 
empted a  quarter-section  of  land,  on  which  he 
passed  the  balance  of  his  life.  His  wife  died  in 
her  seventy-first  year,  and  he  lived  to  see  his 
eighty -eighth.  Of  their  thirteen  children,  twelve 
grew  to  maturity,  the  third  dying  in  Wales,  and 
nine  are  now  living.  Following  are  their  names: 
Joseph,  Mary,  Elizabeth,  Thomas,  Evan,  John, 
William,  Sarah,  David,  Charles,  Eli,  Maria  and 
Margaret.  The  eldest  mastered  Hebrew,  Greek, 
Latin,  navigation  and  surveying  before  he  was 
twenty  years  old,  and  became  a  Methodist  Epis- 
copal clergyman.  He  died  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-seven  years,  at  Norwood  Park,  111.,  where 
he  was  buried,  though  his  home  was  at  Beloit, 
Wis.,  where  he  built  the  first  Methodist  Church 


of  that  city.  David  and  Mary  are  deceased,  and 
William  is  a  resident  of  Portland,  Ore.  Charles 
is  practicing  medicine  in  Chicago. 

Thomas  E.  Lewis  attended  school  in  his  native 
place  till  he  was  nine  years  old,  when  he  went  to 
work.  His  first  week's  wages  were  eighteen 
cents,  which  he  kept  as  a  souvenir  for  many 
years.  With  the  exception  of  about  a  quarter's 
attendance  at  night  school  in  Chicago,  the  balance 
of  his  education  has  been  supplied  by  contact 
with  the  world,  and  he  has  proved  a  most  apt 
pupil.  Nature  blessed  him  with  a  sound  mind 
and  constitution,  and  he  is  considered  one  of  the 
solid  men  whose  presence  in  the  community  is  a 
blessing,  for  his  judgment  is  correct  and  he  has 
the  courage  to  carry  out  his  convictions.  With 
no  early  advantages,  with  no  aid  save  his  own  in- 
dustry and  adherence  to  an  ideal,  he  has  amassed 
a  modest  competence,  and  has  earned  the  respect 
and  good-will  of  his  fellows. 

The  old  proverb  says,  "Where  there  is  a  will, 
there  is  a  way,"  and  one  morning  in  the  spring 
of  1843  young  Lewis  set  out  on  foot  for  Chicago 
to  find  the  way,  his  capital  on  starting  consisting 
of  fifty  cents.  His  feet  becoming  sore  from  the 
action  of  a  pair  of  new  and  stiff  boots,  he  made  a 
bargain  with  a  teamster  bound  for  the  city  to 
carry  him  thither  for  eighteen  cents.  Arriving 
on  South  Water  Street,  he  came  opposite  the 
lumber-yard  of  Sylvester  Lynd,  the  first  person 
to  whom  he  had  spoken  after  alighting,  and  he  at 
once  engaged  to  work  in  the  lumber-yard  at  such 
remuneration  as  Mr.  Lynd  found  him  worth  after 
trial.  This  was  soon  fixed  at  $i  2  per  month,  and 
in  addition  his  kind  employer  provided  him  with 
a  new  suit  of  clothing,  complete,  in  order  that  he 
might  attend  Sabbath-school.  He  soon  made 


298 


T.  E  LEWIS. 


himself  familiar  with  the  lumber  business,  and 
was  promoted  to  the  position  of  inspector,  with  a 
corresponding  salary.  He  remained  in  the  city 
for  seven  years,  being  for  a  short  time  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  late  Deacon  Philo  Carpenter,  a  well- 
known  pioneer  of  Chicago. 

In  the  spring  of  1850  Mr.  Lewis  took  a  help- 
mate, in  the  person  of  Miss  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Edward  and  Elizabeth  Jones,  all  of  Bala, 
Wales,  where  the  family  has  dwelt  for  many  gen- 
erations on  the  same  farm,  called  "Nanthir,"  and 
which  is  still  occupied  by  some  of  its  members. 
Mrs.  Thomas  J.  Evans,  a  pioneer  of  Racine,  Wis. , 
is  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Lewis.  Mr.  Lewis  immediately 
took  his  bride  to  a  farm  of  his  own  at  Arlington 
Heights  (then  called  Dunton),  Cook  County, 
where  he  broke  up  and  improved  wild  land  and 
got  a  good  start  in  the  world.  He  remained 
there  eighteen  years,  serving  continuously  as 
School  Director,  and  then  removed  to  Blue  Is- 
land, in  the  same  county,  and  continued  his  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  being  there  also  a  school  officer 
for  six  years.  Beside  farming,  Mr.  Lewis  has 
dealt  extensively  in  lands,  and  is  a  large  owner 
of  Chicago  and  Hyde  Park  real  estate,  as  well  as 
numerous  farms.  He  dwelt  two  years  in  Engle- 
wood,  and  removed  thence  on  the  ist  of  May, 
1891,  to  Wheaton,  where  he  built  a  handsome 
home  on  an  eminence  near  College  Avenue  Station. 
He  still  occupies  himself  with  the  care  of  his  large 
farms  near  Wheaton,  though  he  finds  time  to  give 
attention  to  all  matters  of  public  concern,  especi- 
ally education,  on  which  his  judgment  is  emi- 
nently sound  and. practical.  He  has  striven  to 
equip  his  children  for  the  battle  of  life,  and  six  of 
his  daughters  are  graduates  of  the  Cook  County 
Normal  School,  and  successful  teachers. 

Like  all  true  Welshmen,  Mr.  Lewis  is  proud 
of  his  native  land,  its  people  and  their  achieve- 
ments, though  this  does  not  detract  in  the  least 
from  his  loyal  American  spirit.  He  is  a  Director 
and  Treasurer  of  the  Cambro  Printing  Company, 
of  Chicago,  which  publishes  a  Welsh  and  English 
newspaper  called  Columbia,  the  largest  of  its  kind 
in  the  world.  For  a  short  time  Mr.  Lewis  was 
President  and  General  Manager  of  this  company, 
but  as  soon  as  it  was  firmly  established  he  re- 


signed those  positions,  because  he  could  not  de- 
vote his  time  to  them.  When  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  provide  a  bond  for  the  payment  of  prizes 
offered  for  competition  in  the  International  Ei- 
steddfod, in  Festival  Hall,  at  the  World's  Colum- 
bian Exposition,  Mr.  Lewis,  with  true  patriotic 
spirit,  came  forward  and  gave  his  personal  secur- 
ity for  $12,500,  which  was  ultimately  paid  out  of 
the  receipts  of  the  festival,  thus  justifying  his 
faith  in  his  compatriots  and  the  Fair. 

In  religious  matters,  Mr.  Lewis  is  liberal  and  pro- 
gressive. He  attends  the  Congregational  Church 
with  his  entire  family.  In  political  concerns,  he 
adheres  to  the  Republican  party,  because  he  be- 
lieves it  rests  on  true  underlying  principles,  but 
has  never  found  the  time  nor  had  the  inclination 
to  seek  preferment.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  public  school  management,  because  he  had  a 
large  family  to  educate,  and  gave  much  time  to 
this  interest,  always  insisting  on  the  conduct  of 
the  schools  with  a  sole  view  to  the  public  welfare, 
sometimes  making  enemies  by  his  course,  but  al- 
ways triumphing  in  the  end.  He  is  now  serving 
as  Alderman  from  the  Second  Ward  of  Wheaton. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Welsh  Society,  Cymrodo- 
rion,  and  the  League  of  American  Wheelmen,  he 
being  an  expert  bicycle-rider. 

On  the  6th  of  May,  1889,  death  entered  the 
home  of  Mr.  Lewis  and  took  the  kind,  faithful 
wife  and  mother,  leaving,  beside  the  bereaved 
husband,  seven  of  her  nine  children  to  mourn  her 
absence.  The  eldest  of  these,  Margaret  J.,  wife 
of  George  H.  Brewster,  of  Wheaton,  died  July  9, 
1891.  Joseph  W.  resides  at  Blue  Island,  where 
he  is  engaged  in  manufacturing;  and  Sarah  M., 
who  for  some  time  held  the  position  of  Critic 
Teacher  at  the  Cook  County  Normal  School,  is 
now  her  father's  housekeeper.  Alice  U.,  wife  of 
James  H.  Kerr,  resides  at  Amsley,  Neb.,  and  is 
prominent  in  temperance  and  Sunday-school 
work,  making  frequent  public  addresses  in  their 
behalf.  Mary  A.,  Mrs.  William  H.  Hoar,  died 
a  few  weeks  before  her  mother.  Cora  E.  gradu- 
ated at  the  Blue  Island  High  School,  at  the 
Cook  County  Normal  (being  valedictorian  of  the 
two-years  graduating  class),  and  at  Oberlin  Col- 
lege, Ohio.  She  is  now  Principal  of  the  Belle 


R.  S.  GOUGH. 


299 


Plaine  School  in  Chicago,  and  Chairman  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Illinois  State  Teach- 
ers' Association.  She  makes  frequent  addresses 
on  educational  topics,  and  was  chosen  to  conduct 
the  model  school  which  served  as  a  World's  Fair 
exhibit  near  Jackson  Park,  and  carried  it  through 
successfully.  Ada  I,.,  widow  of  J.W.  Bannerman, 
with  her  son  Tommy,  resides  with  Mr.  Lewis. 
Edward  J.  is  engaged  in  the  real-estate  and  fire- 
insurance  at  Wheaton,  111.  Grace  May  (often 
called  Minnie)  is  pursuing  a  medical  course  at 
the  Woman's  College  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Lewis  is  a  frank,  whole-souled  gentleman, 
with  refined  instincts  and    manly    self-respect, 


which  forbid  his  doing  a  mean  or  low  act,  and  his 
conversation  is  always  cheerful  and  entertaining. 
Out  of  a  ripe  experience,  he  has  gathered  a  large 
stock  of  general  and  useful  knowledge.  Now,  in 
his  sixty-eighth  year,  he  is  in  the  full  vigor  of  a 
temperate  and  well-spent  life.  He  has  a  closely 
knit  frame,  weighing  one  hundred  and  ninety 
pounds,  and  has  promise  of  an  extended  continu- 
ance of  an  existence  which  has  blessed  himself, 
his  family,  and  the  community  at  large.  When 
his  time  comes  to  lay  down  the  active  duties  of 
life,  which  have  been  a  perennial  source  of  pleas- 
ure, he  can  safely  consign  the  good  name  that  he 
has  won  to  the  care  of  a  worthy  posterity. 


RICHARD  S.  GOUGH. 


RICHARD  S.  GOUGH,  Manager  of  the  Postal 
Telegraph  Cable  Company  at  the  stock  yards 
in  Chicago,  although  doing  business  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  West,  makes  his  home  in  Turner, 
preferring  the  quiet  of  a  small  town  in  which  to 
spend  his  leisure  hours.  England  has  furnished 
a  number  of  valued  citizens  to  DuPage  County, 
among  whom  is  our  subject.  He  was  born  in 
Buckingham,  England,  February  6,  1844,  and 
his  parents,  James  and  Ann  (Scott)  Gough,  were 
also  natives  of  the  same  country.  The  paternal 
grandfather  was  an  English  farmer,  and  spent  his 
entire  life  in  his  native  land.  The  maternal  grand- 
father, William  Scott,  who  was  also  an  agricul- 
turist, was  a  member  of  the  regular  militia,  and 
was  an  Episcopalian  in  religious  belief.  He 
reached  a  very  advanced  age. 

James  Gough  was  an  extensive  farmer  of  Buck- 
inghamshire, and  died  in  the  land  of  his  birth  in 
1851,  at  the  age  of  forty -two  years.  His  wife 
long  survived  him,  passing  away  in  1892,  at  the 
age  of  eighty.  They  were  both  members  of  the 
Episcopalian  Church.  He  was  one  of  the  parish 


officials,  and  belonged  to  the  Royal  Bucks  Yeo- 
manry, a  cavalry  association.  In  the  Gough 
family  were  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  but 
only  two  are  now  living:  Richard  S. ,  and  Re- 
becca, who  is  now  a  resident  of  Great  Marlow, 
England. 

Richard  S.  Gough  left  his  native  land  in  1859, 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  and,  coming  to  Amer- 
ica, located  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where  he  spent 
one  winter.  The  next  summer  was  also  spent  in 
the  Empire  State,  and  in  1861  he  made  his  way 
westward  to  Chicago.  He  there  enlisted  in  the 
war,  in  the  telegraph  service,  and  served  for  two 
and  a-half  years,  when  he  was  discharged  on  ac- 
count of  sickness.  After  the  war  he  went  to  Dixon, 
111.,  as  telegraph  operator,  spending  one  year 
at  that  place,  and  going  thence  to  Bureau  Junc- 
tion, where  he  served  in  the  capacity  of  operator 
for  two  years.  His  next  location  was  in  Musca- 
tine,  Iowa,  and  subsequently  we  find  him  in 
Wilton  Junction,  Iowa,  where  he  was  employed 
as  agent  for  the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  Railroad 
Company,  remaining  in  that  place  until  1867. 


300 


EDWARD  HAMMETT. 


That  year  witnessed  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  and 
saw  him  employed  in  the  Chicago  Union  Stock 
Yards,  as  chief  operator  in  the  office  of  the  West- 
ern Union  Company.  In  May,  1872,  he  was  ap- 
pointed manager  of  the  office,  which  position  he 
filled  until  1881,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the 
position  of  manager  for  the  Mutual  Union  Com- 
pany at  the  stock  yards.  With  that  company  he 
remained  until  1883,  when  the  two  companies 
consolidated,  and  he  then  accepted  the  position  of 
manager  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Cable  Company, 
which  he  has  filled  to  the  present  time,  employing 
two  assistants.  He  now  has  charge  of  thirty- 
seven  men,  and  the  business  has  increased  from 
$3,600  to  $200,000  per  year. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1864,  Mr.  Gough  wedded 
Miss  Sarah  E.,  daughter  of  E.  H.  and  Jane  (Sher- 
man) Ketcham.  Seven  children  have  blessed 
this  union,  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  Ger- 
trude, the  eldest,  married  Connell  Sheffler,  who  is 
engaged  in  business  in  the  stock  yards  in  Chicago, 
and  they  have  two  sons,  Richard  and  Rankin. 


Julia  is  the  next  younger.  Jennie  is  the  wife  of 
Charles  E.  Trescott,  a  printer  of  Choteau,  Mont., 
by  whom  she  has  two  children,  Gertrude  and 
Richard.  The  other  members  of  the  family  are 
Alice,  Rea  and  Raymond.  One  died  in  infancy. 
The  family  occupies  a  pleasant  home  in  Turner, 
which  is  the  property  of  Mr.  Gough,  who  also 
owns  several  town  lots.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen,  and  of  the  Telegraphic  Mutual  Benefit 
Association.  For  about  two  years  he  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  School  Board  in  Turner,  and  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  that  position  with  the  same 
fidelity  which  has  characterized  all  his  affairs, 
both  public  and  private.  He  now  occupies  a  very 
responsible  position,  and  that  he  discharges  his 
duties  faithfully  and  well  is  manifest  by  his  long 
continuance  in  the  service.  He  is  a  man  of  good 
business  ability,  honorable  and  upright  in  all  his 
dealings,  and  has  the  confidence  and  good-will  of 
those  with  whom  he  has  been  brought  in  contact. 


EDWARD  HAMMETT. 


ITDWARD  HAMMETT,  Cashier  of  the 
j^  coin  National  Bank,  Chicago,  and  a  resident 
L  °f  Wheaton,  is  descended  from  an  old  New 
England  family  of  English  origin.  His  great- 
grandfather, Nathan  Hammett,  spent  his  life  in 
Newport,  R.  I.,  where  he  had  an  estate  on  the 
harbor  front,  which  he  divided  at  death  between 
his  surviving  sons,  Edward  and  Nathan.  He 
passed  away  July  18,  1816,  and  his  wife,  Cathar- 
ine Yates,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  survived  him 
many  years,  dying  February  17,  1837. 

Edward,  eldest  son  of  Nathan  Hammett,  was  a 
builder  and  vessel-owner,  interested  in  the  whal- 
ing industry,  and  passed  his  life  at  Newport. 
He  died  about  1858,  being  upwards  of  eighty 


years  old.  His  wife,  Amy  Lyon,  was  of  English 
descent,  and  was,  like  himself,  a  native  of  New- 
port. They  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Albert,  the  youngest  of  these,  is  still  a  resident  of 
Newport,  being  seventy-two  years  of  age,  and 
being  still,  as  always,  engaged  in  the  lumber 
trade,  occupying  the  site  of  his  grandfather's  es- 
tate on  the  harbor  front.  For  a  few  years  he 
dwelt  at  New  Bedford,  but  returned  to  Newport 
in  1853.  His  wife,  Sarah  Swasey,  was  born  in 
Salem,  Mass.,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Alexander 
Swasey,  a  captain  in  the  merchant  marine  service, 
making  voyages  to  China.  Through  her  mother, 
Mrs.  Hammett  was  descended  from  Jerathmel 
Bowers,  who  came  from  England  about  the  mid- 


EDWARD  HAMMETT. 


301 


die  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  settled  on  the 
Taunton  River,  near  Somerset,  Mass.  He  was 
an  extensive  shipbuilder  and  slave-owner,  and 
built  a  magnificent  mansion  near  his  shipyards. 
On  account  of  its  commercial  surroundings,  this 
is  now  an  undesirable  residence  property,  and  is 
used  as  a  tenement  for  laborers. 

Edward  Hammett  was  bom  at  New  Bedford, 
Mass.,  June  26,  1848,  and  was  reared  at  Newport. 
He  attended  the  public  school  and  a  private  school 
there,  and  a  business  college  at  Providence,  but 
left  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  and  has 
since  been  actively  engaged  in  business.  He 
was  employed  for  a  time  in  the  Newport  postoffice, 
and  later  in  his  father's  lumber  office.  With  an 
ambition  to  be  numbered  among  the  citizens  of 
the  growing  West,  he  set  out  for  Chicago  at  the 
age  of  nineteen.  He  secured  employment  as  a 
clerk  with  S.  H.  McCrea  &  Co.,  grain  and 
produce  commission  dealers,  and  remained  in 
their  employ  fourteen  years,  which  is  a  strong 
testimonial  to  his  ability  and  faithfulness.  For 
several  years  subsequently  he  was  a  partner  in  the 
firm  of  W.  F.  Johnson  &  Co. ,  in  the  same  line  of 
business.  He  was  one  of  the  original  stock- 
holders and  corporators  of  the  Lincoln  National 
Bank,  and  was  one  of  its  first  officers,  and  after 
two  years  in  other  business,  resumed  his  connec- 
tion with  that  bank,  of  which  he  is  now  Cashier. 
In  the  spring  of  1883  he  became  a  resident  of 
Wheaton,  and  purchased  sixteen  acres  of  land, 
with  a  handsome  mansion  facing  College  Avenue, 
at  the  corner  of  President  Street.  This  house 
occupies  an  elevation  commanding  a  view  of  the 
city  of  Wheaton  and  surrounding  country,  and  is 
an  ideal  home  in  which  to  rear  a  family. 

On  November  28,  1870,  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Ham- 
mett married  Miss  Mary  E.  Culver,  who  is  a 
native  of  that  city.  Her  parents,  John  Breese 
Culver  and  Margaret  A.  Boyd,  were  born  in  New 
Jersey,  and  the  city  of  Leith,  Scotland,  respec- 
tively, the  latter  being  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Jeannette  Boyd.  Mrs.  Hainmett's paternal  grand- 
father, Phineas  Culver,  was  born  March  17,  1764, 
in  Bernard,  Somerset  County,  N.  J.  His  father 
came  from  Shrewsbury,  England,  to  Bernard  when 
an  old  man,  and  Phineas  was  early  left  an  orphan. 


With  three  elder  brothers  he  joined  the  fortunes 
of  the  Continental  Army,  being  employed  for  sev- 
eral years  as  errand  boy,  and  carrying  a  musket 
at  last.  He  settled  at  Horseheads,  N.  Y.,  and 
became  wealthy,  owning  five  hundred  acres  of 
land,  but  he  refused  to  employ  slave  labor,  as  did 
many  of  his  neighbors.  His  wife,  Phoebe  Breese, 
was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  (Gilder- 
sleeve)  Breese,  the  former  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers at  Horseheads,  N.  Y. ,  and  his  wife  a  scion 
of  an  old  Protestant-Irish  family.  John,  father  of 
John  Breese,  was  born  in  Shrewsbury,  England, 
in  1713,  and  settled  at  Bernard,  Somerset  County, 
N.  J.,  in  1735.  His  wife,  Dorothy  Riggs,  was 
also  a  native  of  Shrewsbury.  John  Breese,  their 
son,  was  born  at  Bernard  in  November,  1738. 
Hannah  Gildersleeve  was  born  in  June,  1 750,  and 
they  were  married  June  30,  1769,  a  date  which  is 
supposed  to  have  followed  his  settlement  at  Horse- 
heads.  Phcebe  and  Deborah  Breese,  their  twin 
daughters,  were  born  in  February,  1773.  From 
the  Breese  family  are  descended  many  noted 
American  citizens,  among  whom  may  be  men- 
tioned the  late  Judge  Samuel  Sidney  Breese,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  State  of  Illinois;  Samuel  Findlay 
Breese  Morse,  inventor  of  the  electric  telegraph; 
and  Samuel  Sidney  Breese,  Rear- Admiral  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  who  was  buried  at  Newport. 

John  B.  Culver,  one  of  the  prominent  early 
citizens  of  Chicago,  now  resides  with  his  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Hammett,  at  Wheaton.  The  children 
of  the  latter,  nine  in  number,  are  as  follows: 
Albert,  a  student  in  the  medical  department  of 
the  Michigan  University  at  Ann  Arbor;  Llewel- 
lyn; Edith  May;  Edward;  Helen;  Amy;  Law- 
rence; -Dorothy  and  Margaret.  The  eldest  mar- 
ried Mary  lone  Cook,  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hammett  are  communicants  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  in  many  ways  are  active 
in  furthering  the  best  interests  of  the  community. 
Their  home  bears  many  evidences  of  refined  and 
cultivated  taste,  arid  is  the  domicile  of  a  happy 
and  well-trained  group  of  children,  the  central 
figure  being  the  cheerful  wife  and  mother.  Mr. 
Hammett  has  never  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
political  affairs,  but  has  always  adhered  to  the 
Republican  party,  as  the  advocate  and  admiuis- 


302 


P.  P.  MATTHEWS. 


trator  of  sound  principles  of  government.  He 
has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Town  Council  of 
Wheaton,  and  is  now  a  Trustee  of  the  Adams 
Memorial  Library.  Without  any  sound  of  trump- 


ets, he  proceeds  daily  to  perform  to  the  best  of 
his  ability  his  duty  to  himself,  his  family  and  his 
fellow-men. 


PASCHAL  P.  MATTHEWS. 


[~}ASCHALP.  MATTHEWS,  one  of  the  highly 

LX  respected  citizens  of  Hinsdale,  who  well  de- 
[3  serves  representation  in  the  history  of  his 
adopted  county,  is  a  native  of  the  Empire  State. 
He  was  born  in  Herkimer  County,  August  3, 
1811,  and  is  a  son  of  Edmund  and  Lucy  (Mc- 
Clelland) Matthews,  the  former  of  French  descent, 
and  the  latter  of  Scotch  lineage.  Edmund  Matth- 
ews was  twice  married,  and  by  his  first  union 
had  a  son,  Charles.  By  the  second,  there  were 
five  children:  Henry;  Lucy,  deceased,  wife  of 
Reuben  Wellington;  Paschal  P.;  Emery,  and 
Lucretia,  deceased,  wife  of  Myron  Everetts.  In 
early  life  the  father  of  this  family  was  a  carpenter, 
and  helped  to  build  the  first  market-place  in  Bos- 
ton. Later,  however,  he  followed  agricultural 
pursuits.  He  served  during  the  War  of  1812,  as 
Quartermaster,  and  died  on  his  farm  in  New 
York  September  2,  1848,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three  years.  His  wife  survived  him  some  time, 
and  passed  away  February  17,  1862.  They  held 
membership  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Mexico,  Oswego  County,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Matthews  whose  name  heads  this  record 
spent  his  boyhood  and  youth  upon  his  father's 
farm,  remaining  at  home  until  he  had  reached  his 
twentieth  year,  when  he  began  to  earn  his  own 
livelihood.  Later,  he  attended  school  for  a  few 
months,  and  then  engaged  with  a  stage  company 
for  ten  years.  He  was  afterward  for  nearly  ten 
years  captain  of  a  packet-boat  on  the  Erie  Canal, 
running  between  Syracuse, Schenectady  and  Utica. 
With  the  hope  of  bettering  his  financial  condi- 


tion, he  determined  to  come  to  the  West  in  1859, 
and,  carrying  out  this  resolution,  took  up  his 
residence  in  Chicago.  He  embarked  in  the  grain 
business,  and  was  connected  with  the  Board  of 
Trade  for  many  years,  continuing  operations  along 
this  line  until  1883,  when  he  retired  from  active 
business. 

On  the  2 1  st  of  May,  1840,  Mr.  Matthews  wedded 
Miss  Louisa  Vinton,  and  they  became  the  parents 
of  one  child,  a  daughter,  Alice,  now  the  wife  of 
Nelson  R.  Davis.  The  mother  died  in  1891,  since 
which  time  a  niece  of  Mr.  Matthews  has  been 
keeping  house  for  him. 

For  many  years  our  subject  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Odd  Fellows'  fraternity.  In  early  life 
he  exercised  his  right  of  franchise  in  support  of 
the  Whig  party,  but  on  its  dissolution  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  new  Republican  party  and  has  since 
fought  under  its  banner.  It  was  in  1889  that  he 
came  to  Hinsdale,  where  he  has  a  beautiful  home 
and  ten  acres  of  valuable  land  within  the  corpora- 
tion limits  of  the  town.  He  has  now  reached  the 
age  of  eighty-two,  but  his  years  rest  lightly  upon 
him,  and  he  is  still  strong  and  active.  His  eyes 
are  bright,  his  mind  clear  and  keen,  and  he  is  a 
good  and  rapid  penman.  While  not  a  church 
member,  he  has  always  attended  religious  services 
and  contributed  liberally  to  church  and  benevo- 
lent work.  He  is  a  man  of  fine  physique  and 
excellent  carriage,  and  bids  fair  to  live  for  many 
years  to  come.  His  life  has  been  honorable  and 
upright,  and  his  many  friends  hold  him  in  high 
regard. 


'  THE 
UNIVERSI..   OF  ILLI  MIS 


MARSHALL   FIELD 


MARSHALL  FIELD. 


303 


MARSHALL  FIELD. 


I ARSHALL  FIELD,  the  merchant  prince  of 
Chicago,  who  believes  in  sharing  his  pros- 
perity with  his  fellow-citizens,  comes  of  the 
hardy  New  England  blood  which  has  done  so 
much  toward  developing  the  whole  northern  half 
of  the  United  States.  He  was  born  in  Conway, 
Franklin  County,  Mass.,  in  1835,  and  is  a  son  of 
a  farmer  of  that  town.  His  early  life  differed 
none  from  that  of  lads  of  that  time  and  region. 
His  education  was  supplied  by  the  local  public 
school  and  academy,  and  his  attention  was  early 
turned  toward  a  mercantile  career,  which  accord- 
ed best  with  his  tastes  and  ambition. 

The  student  of  human  progress,  and  the  youth 
who  seeks  an  example  worthy  of  his  emulation, 
in  the  struggle  for  success  will  find  in  the  career 
of  Marshall  Field  one  more  proof  that  the  road 
to  prosperity  is  a  plain  and  narrow  path,  which 
lies  open  to  almost  every  American  youth.  With 
no  capital  other  than  an  active  brain  and  the  en- 
ergy of  youth,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  mag- 
nificent estate,  and  a  firm  adherence  to  a  simple 
rule  of  business  has  enabled  him  to  complete  the 
superstructure.  He  has  never  borrowed  money, 
and  has  always  insisted  on  the  same  rigid  com- 
pletion of  contracts  on  the  part  of  others  which 
has  characterized  his  own  actions. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  young  Field  went  to 
Pittsfield,  in  his  native  State,  where  he  spent  four 
years  as  clerk  in  a  general  store.  Having  thor- 
oughly mastered  the  details  of  the  business,  he 
began  to  look  about  for  a  field  that  promised  a 
wider  opportunity  for  a  young  man.  At  that 
time  (1856),  Chicago  was  a  city  of  about  sixty 
thousand  people,  and  he  resolved  to  cast  his  lot 
in  the  growing  town,  which  showed  an  energy 
that  promised  a  rapid  development.  On  his  ar- 


rival in  Chicage,  he  at  once  secured  employment 
in  the  wholesale  dry-goods  house  of  Cooley, 
Wadsworth  &  Co.,  which  soon  after  became 
known  as  Cooley,  Farwell  &  Co.  Though 
he  occupied  a  subordinate  position,  his  ability 
and  familiarity  with  business  soon  became  appar- 
ent to  his  employers,  and  at  the  end  of  four  years 
he  was  taken  into  partnership,  and  the  largest 
house  of  its  kind  in  the  West  became  Farwell, 
Field  &  Co.  In  1865  this  firm  was  dis- 
solved, and  Mr.  Field  entered  into  a  partnership 
with  Potter  Palmer  and  L.  Z.  Leiter,  under  the 
title  of  Field,  Palmer  &  Leiter,  which  connection 
continued  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
Mr.  Palmer  withdrew,  and  the  house  was  hence- 
forth known  as  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.  until 
1881,  when,  upon  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Leiter, 
the  style  became  Marshall  Field  &  Co.,  and 
has  so  continued.  For  almost  thirty  years  Mr. 
Field  has  been  the  head  of  the  firm,  and  under 
the  operation  of  his  simple  business  rules  it  has 
steadily  prospered.  In  1868  the  business  was 
located  at  State  and  Washington  Streets,  where 
the  buildings  and  stock  were  totally  consumed  in 
the  great  fire  of  1871,  entailing  a  loss  of  three 
and  one-half  millions  of  dollars.  After  serious 
delays,  and  with  much  difficulty,  two  and  one- 
half  millions  of  this  were  collected  from  the  insur- 
ance companies,  and  with  a  dead  loss  of  one  mill- 
ion dollars,  the  business  was  continued,  being 
temporarily  located  at  State  and  Twentieth 
Streets,  while  the  rebuilding  of  the  house  at  State 
and  Washington  went  on.  This  has  been  grad- 
ually increased  in  size  by  purchase  and  construc- 
tion until  it  covers  more  than  one-half  of  the 
block  bounded  by  State,  Washington  and  Ran- 
dolph Streets  and  Wabash  Avenue.  In  the  year 


304 


J.  A.  DOLLINGER. 


1893,  the  portion  covering  the  southeast  corner 
was  constructed,  embodying  every  essential  of 
comfort  and  convenience  known  to  the  modern 
builder's  art.  The  wholesale  department  was 
separated  from  the  retail  in  1872,  and  removed  to 
the  corner  of  Madison  and  Market  Streets.  This 
location  was  soon  found  inadequate  foivthe  needs 
of  the  business,  which  was  continually  increasing, 
and  in  1885  the  construction  of  a  building  for  the 
wholesale  business  was  begun  on  the  block  sur- 
rounded by  Fifth  Avenue  and  Franklin,  Adams 
and  Quincy  Streets.  This  was  completed  in  1887, 
and  at  once  occupied,  and  continues  to  be  the 
model  of  its  kind  for  the  whole  world. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  record  of  achievements. 
Let  none  ask  for  further  details.  To  the  subject 
of  this  biography  all  publicity  is  extremely  dis- 
tasteful. The  public  demands  all  the  knowledge 
obtainable,  some  from  motives  of  mere  curiosity,  • 
others  from  honest  desire  to  benefit  from  the  ex- 
perience of  a  successful  man.  If  one  would  em- 
ulate his  example,  let  him  adopt  the  same  rules 
of  life:  Always  pay  cash,  never  give  a  note  or 
mortgage,  labor  steadily,  and  never  speculate 
or  spend  anything  idly.  In  the  conduct  of 
the  great  wholesale  house  of  Marshall  Field  & 
Co.,  goods  are  purchased  for  cash  and  sold 
on  short  time.  Customers  are  strictly  required 
to  meet  their  payments,  and  are  thus  led  to  be 
cautious  in  contracting  obligations,  and  prompt 
in  their  cancellation.  By  this  method,  the  house 
retains  the  trade  of  the  best  and  most  success- 
ful merchants,  and  the  interests  of  all  are  con- 
served. Under  this  safe  and  wholesome  system, 


the  trade  has  grown  to  the  annual  dimensions  of 
$35,000,000.  The  pay-roll  of  the  two  stores  in- 
cludes from  3,500  to  4,000  persons,  and  to  all  of 
these,  as  well  as  any  who  may  have  business  with 
him,  Mr.  Field  is  always  accessible.  With  a  won- 
derful power  of  organization,  and  the  ability  to 
gauge  the  qualifications  of  his  subordinates,  he 
encourages  each  by  uniform  kindness  and  consid- 
eration, and  all  are  most  loyal  and  faithful  aids 
in  the  prosecution  of  business. 

Mr.  Field's  home  is  the  seat  of  quiet  luxury, 
with  no  ostentation.  He  goes  little  into  society, 
but  takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  city 
of  his  home,  and  responds  liberally  to  all  just 
calls  upon  his  purse,  though  much  of  his  benevo- 
lence is  secretly  bestowed.  When  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  new  University  of  Chicago  was 
made  possible  by  the  liberality  of  Mr.  Rockefeller 
and  others,  Mr.  Field  donated  a  valuable  tract  of 
city  ground  as  a  part  of  the  site.  This  gift  seems 
all  the  more  liberal  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
institution  is  controlled  by  the  Baptist  Church, 
while  Mr.  Field  is  a  Presbyterian.  After  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  was  closed,  the 
people  of  Chicago  began  to  agitate  the  idea  of 
preserving  as  much  as  possible  of  the  exhibits  in 
a  permanent  home,  which  was  made  possible  by 
Mr.  Field's  gift  of  one  million  dollars.  On  the 
second  day  of  June,  1894,  this  institution  was 
formally  opened,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Field 
Columbian  Museum,  ' '  with  a  few  simple  ceremo- 
nies, and  its  benefits  are  likely  to  extend  to  many 
generations  and  many  millions  of  the  American 
people. 


JOHN  ANTON  DOLLINGER. 


q 


OHN  ANTON  DOLLINGER,  a  traveling 
salesman  residing  at  Wheaton,  is  numbered 
_,  among  the  early  residents  of  DuPage  County, 
and  has  made  his  own  way  in  the  world  since  he 
was  ten  years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  Baden, 


Germany,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1845,  and  is 
the  eldest  child  of  Christopher  Dollinger,  a  native 
of  the  same  place.  His  mother  died  when  he  was 
an  infant,  and  when  he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years  his  father  brought  the  four  children 


D.  N.  CHAPIN. 


305 


to  America.  The  second  child,  Adelaide,  Mrs. 
George  Rieser,  resides  in  Naperville  Township, 
DuPage  County.  Christopher,  Jr.,  is  a  resident 
of  Colorado  Springs,  Colo. ;  and  Margaret,  Mrs. 
Luther,  dwells  in  Fredericksburg,  Neb.  Chris- 
topher Dollinger  engaged  in  farming  in  Naper- 
ville Township,  where  he  died  in  1873,  aged 
about  sixty  years. 

From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  America,  our 
subject  has  been  independent  of  parental  aid  in 
supporting  or  educating  himself.  He  took  em- 
ployment in  a  hotel  and  meat-market  kept  by  his 
maternal  uncle,  Nicholas  Graff,  at  Danby,  now 
Glen  Ellyn,  attending  school  a  portion  of  the 
time,  and  continued  in  this  way  until  the  death 
of  his  uncle.  He  was  afterward  employed  in  a 
general  store  until  1862,  when  he  entered  the 
military  service,  as  a  member  of  Company  I,  One 
Hundred  and  Fifth  Illinois  Infantry,  in  defense 
of  the  American  Union.  This  service  continued 
about  three  years,  and  involved  a  participation  in 
many  of  the  most  decisive  battles  of  the  war.  Mr. 
Dollinger  was  mustered  out  at  Washington  in 
June,  1865.  While  in  front  of  Chattanooga,  he 
was  excused  from  duty  on  account  of  illness,  but 
refused  to  leave  his  comrades,  and  remained  at 
the  front  to  the  finish. 


Since  1 867  Mr.  Dollinger  has  been  in  mercan- 
tile business,  and  for  some  years  kept  a  grocery 
in  Chicago.  For  the  last  seventeen  years  he  has 
traveled  in  the  capacity  of  salesman,  and  twelve 
of  those  years  have  been  passed  in  the  service  of 
his  present  employers,  Franklin  MacVeagh  &  Co. 
In  1872  he  became  a  resident  of  Wheaton,  and 
he  is  the  owner  of  a  handsome  brick  residence  on 
Wesley  Street,  near  Scott.  He  takes  an  active 
interest  in  the  social  affairs  of  the  town,  being  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public and  Knights  of  Pythias,  as  well  as  a  genial, 
magnetic  gentleman,  whose  friends  are  numbered 
by  his  list  of  acquaintances.  He  entertains  lib- 
eral religious  views,  and  is  an  ardent  supporter 
of  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party. 

In  1868  Mr.  Dollinger  married  Miss  Emagene 
C.  Wicks,  who  was  born  in  Carthage,  N.  Y.,  and 
bears  in  her  veins  the  blood  of  the  principal  Eu- 
ropean settlers  of  New  England  and  New  York 
— French,  English  and  Dutch.  Her  parents 
were  Stutley  and  Ann  E.  (Strong)  Wicks,  the 
former  being  a  son  of  Stutley  Wicks,  whose  wife's 
maiden  name  was  Treadway.  Three  children 
complete  the  family  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dollinger, 
namely:  Anna  W.,  Charles  A.  and  William. 


DEACON  NEWTON  CHAPIN. 


0EACON    NEWTON    CHAPIN,   deceased, 
a  prominent  resident  of  northeastern  Illinois, 
was   a  man   widely   and  favorably  known. 
He  was  born  in  Chicopee,  Mass.,  April  17,  1821, 
and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Lucy  (Day)  Chapin. 
The  family  is  descended  from  Deacon  Samuel 
Chapin,  who  emigrated  from  England  about  1640. 
He  was  one  of  the  seven  men  who  founded  Spring- 
field, Mass.,  and  was  prominent  in  the  govern- 
ment of  that  town  for  many  years.    Twenty 


thousand  of  his  descendants  contributed  to  the 
erection  of  a  monument  to  his  memory  in  Spring- 
field a  few  years  since.  His  direct  descendants 
now  number  fifty  thousand  people,  about  three- 
fourths  of  whom  are  professed  Christians,  many 
of  them  being  widely  known  in  church  work  and 
other  fields  of  labor.  The  family  is  indeed  an 
honored  one. 

Newton  Chapin  spent  his  boyhood  upon  a  farm, 
aiding  in  the  labors  of  the  fields  from  an  early 


306 


D.  N.  CHAPIN. 


age.  His  school  privileges  in  youth  were  limited, 
but,  wishing  to  acquire  a  good  education,  he  at- 
tended Andover  Academy  after  reaching  the  age 
of  twenty-one,  meeting  his  tuition  with  money 
saved  from  his  wages  as  a  mechanic.  Leaving 
school,  he  engaged  in  carpenter  work  in  Spring- 
field, and  followed  that  occupation  and  bridge- 
building  until  1856,  when  he  decided  to  seek  a 
home  in  the  West,  hoping  thereby  to  benefit  his 
financial  condition.  Coming  to  Illinois,  he  located 
in  Chicago.  The  previous  season  he  spent  a  few 
months  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  In  1867,  he  removed 
to  Lombard,  where  he  made  his  home  until  1874, 
when  he  returned  to  Chicago.  In  this  city  Mr. 
Chapin  was  engaged  in  bridge  and  depot  building, 
his  first  contract  being  the  building  of  the  first 
Van  Buren  Street  bridge.  He  was  associated 
first  with  William  B.  Howard,  and  later  with  D. 
L-  Wells,  and  built  many  bridges  for  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad,  and  other  corpor- 
ations. He  was  the  inventor  of  the  "Newton 
Chapin  Clamp  and  Key' '  for  truss  bridges. 

In  the  great  fire  of  1 87 1 ,  he  lost  all  his  property, 
but  managed  to  pay  off  his  creditors  in  full,  al- 
though he  never  afterward  became  a  wealthy  man. 
He  was  a  man  whose  word  was  as  good  as  his 
bond,  and  no  one  ever  suffered  loss  at  his  hands. 
After  the  fire  he  became  interested  in  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  the  Babcock  Fire  Extinguisher, 
and  was  also  associated  with  his  son  in  the  station- 
ery business.  He  was  the  publisher  of  "  Chapin 's 
Lumber  Reckoner,"  which  is  now  in  general  use 
throughout  the  United  States  and  Europe.  A 
short  time  before  the  great  fire  Mr.  Chapin  had 
returned  home  after  a  fifteen-months  trip  abroad. 
He  was  accompanied  by  his  family,  and  visited 
many  places  of  interest  in  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa. 
The  journey  was  made  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
health  of  Mr.  Chapin,  and  in  1876  he  went  to 
Denver,  Colo.,  hoping  thereby  to  benefit  his 
health.  He  returned  to  Chicago  in  1878,  where 
he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  December 


17,  1887.  He  was  married  forty  years  previous, 
in  1847,  to  Carra  B.  Sawin,  a  native  of  Ashland, 
Mass.  They  became  parents  of  six  children,  four 
of  whom  died  in  childhood.  William  Newton 
Chapin,  the  eldest,  now  has  charge  of  the  produc- 
tion of  the  Ticonderoga  Paper  Campany,  of  Ticon- 
deroga,  N.  Y.  He  married  EllaT.  Hull,  daugh- 
ter of  R.  E.  Hull,  of  Detroit,  Mich. ,  and  they  have 
had  five  children,  of  whom  one  died  in  infancy, 
while  Edna,  Mary,  Helen  and  Newton  are  still 
living.  Charles  O. ,  the  other  son  of  the  family,  is 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  stationery  special- 
ties in  Chicago.  He  resides  in  Lombard  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church  of  that 
place.  He  takes  a  very  active  part  in  the  work  of 
the  church,  and  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society, 
and  is  always  ready  to  aid  in  promoting  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  In 
Denver,  Colo. ,  he  wedded  Fannie  E. ,  daughter  of 
J.  G.  A.  and  S.  E.  Finn.  They  have  adopted 
three  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  and 
Ruth  Sawin  Chapin,  the  third,  died  June  20,  1893, 
at  the  age  of  four  years  and  three  months.  Mrs. 
Carra  Chapin,  wife  of  our  subject,  was  called  to 
her  final  rest  November  24,  1885,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-nine. 

Mr.  Chapin  became  one  of  the  Deacons  of  Ply- 
mouth Congregational  Church  of  Chicago  as  early 
as  1857,  and  was  ever  prominent  in  its  work  and 
upbuilding.  He  contributed  liberally  to  the  erec- 
tion of  the  house  of  worship,  and  on  removing  to 
Lombard  became  the  prime  mover  in  the  building 
of  the  Congregational  Church  at  that  place.  He 
was  always  active  in  church  work,  and  at  his  death 
was  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday-school  of  the  Union 
Tabernacle  Congregational  Church.  He  was  a 
man  of  fixed  principles  and  strict  integrity,  whose 
whole  life  was  governed  by  conscientious  motives. 
Always  interested  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
community,  he  left  to  his  family  an  untarnished 
name,  well  worthy  of  perpetuation  in  the  history 
of  his  adopted  county. 


C.   H.   HARRISON. 


3°7 


HON.  CARTER  H.  HARRISON. 


HON.  CARTER  H.  HARRISON,  deceased, 
late  Mayor  of  Chicago,  was  one  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens  of  the  western  metropolis 
for  the  long  period  of  thirty-six  years,  and  was 
its  most  popular  citizen.  The  record  of  his  life  is 
interwoven  with  the  history  of  the  community, 
with  its  social,  business  and  political  career.  A 
native  of  Fayette  County,  Ky.,  became  of  an  old 
Virginian  family,  which  was  connected  with  the 
struggle  for  independence,  and  which  had  among 
its  members  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  His  father  was  a  gentleman 
planter,  and  from  his  birth,  February  15,  1825, 
until  his  sixteenth  year,  he  remained  in  the  old 
southern  home.  After  completing  his  common- 
school  and  academic  education,  he  studied  under 
Dr.  Marshall,  of  Lexington,  brother  of  Chief 
Justice  Marshall,  thus  preparing  himself  for  his 
university  course.  He  entered  the  sophomore 
class  at  Yale  in  1842,  and  was  graduated  in  law 
and  letters  in  1845.  At  college  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Scroll  and  Key  Society,  whose  roster  em- 
braces the  names  of  the  most  prominent  men  who 
claim  Yale  as  their  Alma  Mater.  After  his  re- 
turn to  Kentucky,  Mr.  Harrison  attended  a  post- 
graduate course  of  law  lectures  for  a  year.  He 
then  went  back  to  his  boyhood  home,  and  was 
the  manager  of  the  large  plantation  from  1847 
to  1851 

In  the  latter  year,  Mr.  Harrison  went  abroad, 
spending  some  months  in  visiting  Paris,  London, 
Edinburgh  and  the  cities  of  Germany  and  Austria. 
The  ostensible  purpose  of  this  trip  was  the  pur- 
chase of  some  blooded  cattle,  and  this  business 
brought  him  in  contact  with  the  Earl  of  Ducie,  at 
whose  country  seat  he  made  a  long  visit.  It  was 
during  this  trip  that  he  studied  the  French  and 
German  languages,  his  knowledge  of  which 
proved  of  immense  benefit  to  him  in  later  years, 
and  made  him  one  of  the  best  representatives  of 


the  nation  in  receiving  the  foreign  visitors  at  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition,  so  lately  closed. 
Leaving  Europe,  Mr.  Harrison  then  spent  many 
months  in  travel  through  Syria,  Palestine  and 
Asia  Minor,  in  company  with  Bayard  Taylor, 
who  was  then  gathering  material  for  his  book, 
"The  Land  of  the  Saracen,"  in  the  preface  of 
which  the  author  refers  to  "my  traveling  com- 
panion, Mr.  Carter  Henry  Harrison,  of  Clifton, 
Ky." 

Returning  to  his  native  land  and  State  in  1852, 
Mr.  Harrison  completed  his  law  studies  and  was 
soon  afterwards  admitted  to  the  Bar.  In  1855, 
he  married  Miss  Sophie  Preston,  of  Henderson, 
Ky. ,  and  unto  them  were  born  four  children  who 
are  yet  living:  Lina,  wife  of  Heaton  Owsley,  of 
Chicago;  Carter  H.,  Jr.;  William  Preston  and 
Sophie  G.  There  were  six  other  children,  all  of 
whom  died  in  early  youth. 

Chicago  was  first  visited  by  Mr.  Harrison  the 
year  of  his  marriage,  and  so  well  pleased  was 
he  with  the  young  city  that  he  sold  his  Ken- 
tucky home,  and  in  1857  made  a  permanent  loca- 
tion here.  The  $30,000  which  he  secured  from 
his  Kentucky  property  he  at  once  invested  in 
real  estate.  One  of  his  earliest  purchases  was  the 
block  at  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Harrison  Streets, 
which  he  still  owned  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and 
which  in  the  years  that  have  passed  has  be- 
come very  valuable.  He  also  bought  unim- 
proved land  on  the  West  Side,  which  was  later 
made  the  Carter  Harrison  Subdivision.  His  first 
home  was  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Hermitage 
Avenue  and  Congress  Street,  where  he  erected  a 
residence  in  1860.  Six  years  later  he  purchased 
the  Honore  home  at  No.  231  Ashland  Avenue, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death. 

On  coming  to  Chicago,  he  engaged  to  a  limi- 
ted extent  in  law  practice,  but  he  who  was  to  be- 
come so  well  known  as  an  orator  and  extempor- 


308 


C.  H.   HARRISON. 


aneous  speaker  was  then  so  timid  about  public 
speaking  that  he  abandoned  the  law.  In  1871, 
he  entered  upon  his  official  career,  being  elected 
County  Commissioner.  In  1872,  he  was  pre- 
vailed upon  to  make  the  race  for  Congress 
against  Jasper  D.  Ward,  but  was  defeated  by  seven 
hundred  votes.  In  1874,  he  again  accepted  the 
nomination.  He  and  his  opponent,  Mr.  Ward, 
who  had  defeated  him  two  years  previously, 
both  claimed  the  election,  and  on  a  recount 
of  votes  Mr.  Harrison  was  declared  the  winner 
by  a  majority  of  eight.  It  was  while  he  was  in 
Congress  that,  in  September,  1876,  his  wife  died. 
She  passed  away  in  Gera,  Germany,  where  the 
elder  children  were  attending  school,  and  was 
there  interred.  While  Mr.  Harrison  was  crossing 
the  ocean  to  bring  his  motherless  children  home, 
his  Democratic  constituents  nominated  him  for 
Congress,  and  a  few  days  after  his  return  he  was 
re-elected,  defeating  Col.  George  R.  Davis  by  six 
hundred  votes.  Later  the  remains  of  his  wife  were 
brought  back  to  Chicago  and  interred  at  Grace- 
land.  He  refused  the  re-nomination  for  Congress 
in  1878. 

In  1879,  by  the  vote  of  the  people,  Mr.  Har- 
rison was  placed  in  the  Mayor's  chair,  which  he 
filled  for  eight  years,  being  three  times  re-elected. 
During  his  second  term,  he  was  again  married, 
the  lady  being  Miss  Margaret  Stearns,  daughter 
ot  Marcus  C.  Stearns,  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  of 
Chicago.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in  July, 
1882.  In  1887,  Mr.  Harrison  was  offered  a  fifth 
nomination,  but  declined.  Even  after  this  his 
name  was  put  before  the  convention  as  a  dele- 
gate, and  he  was  nominated  by  acclamation.  Mr. 
Harrison,  who  had  hitherto  been  absent,  then  ap- 
peared before  the  convention,  and  his  coming  was 
the  signal  for  an  ovation.  Cheer  after  cheer  rent 
the  air.  When  quiet  had  been  restored,  he  said 
that  he  would  only  accept  on  one  condition, 
namely,  that  every  man  in  the  convention  should 
by  raising  his  right  hand  pledge  himself  to  loyally 
support  his  candidacy.  Every  hand  went  up, 
and  again  a  mighty  cheer  shook  the  building. 
The  local  press  antagonized  his  nomination  bit- 
terly, and  friends  of  President  Cleveland  gave  it 
out  that  the  administration  at  Washington  de- 


sired Mr.  Harrison's  defeat.  Worried  by  this 
opposition  in  his  party  and  the  illness  of  his  wife, 
who  died  a  few  weeks  later,  he  sent  a  letter  of  res- 
ignation to  the  Democratic  Committee. 

Two  months  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr. 
Harrison  started  on  his  journey  around  the 
world,  and  during  his  travels  the  public  was 
made  familiar  with  his  wanderings  through  his 
letters  to  the  Chicago  Mail.  On  his  return  he 
was  urged  to  put  these  into  book  form,  which 
he  later  did,  under  the  happily  selected  title,  "A 
Race  with  the  Sun."  His  was  certainly  one  of 
the  most  comprehensive  journeys  ever  made  in 
one  circuit  of  the  globe.  He  visited  the  north- 
western part  of  our  own  country,  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  sailed  from  Vancover  to  Yokohama. 
He  spent  many  pleasant  hours  in  Japan;  studied 
the  habits  and  quaint  customs  of  the  Chinese;  be- 
came intimate  with  the  King  of  Siam;  visited  the 
various  points  of  interest  in  India  and  Ceylon; 
sailed  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
Suez  Canal;  took  a  trip  up  the  Nile,  and  after- 
wards studied  Greece  in  the  light  of  its  past  and 
of  its  present,  and  drew  his  conclusions  as  to  its 
future.  In  conclusion  he  wrote:  "Again  I  look 
out  of  our  window;  clouds  are  gathering  over  the 
sky;  the  curtain  of  the  far  West  is  dyed  in  purple 
and  salmon.  Through  a  cloud-rift  the  round, 
low-down  sun  is  bloody  red.  Nearly  five  hun- 
dred times  has  he  run  his  course  since  we  started 
in  our  race  with  him  around  the  world.  He  has 
reached  our  home  and  passed  it,  and  we  are  not 
yet  quite  there.  He  dips  his  rim  and  is  gone. 
He  has  won  the  race.  To  him  and  to  you  good- 
bye." 

Mr.  Harrison  reached  home  on  the  8th  of  No- 
vember, 1889,  and  the  following  year  was  again 
urged  to  become  the  candidate  for  Mayor,  but  he 
refused  the  honor,  and  during  the  two  succeed- 
ing years  lived  a  quiet,  retired  life.  At  the  ex- 
piration of  that  period,  however,  he  was  again  a 
nominee  for  Mayor  on  an  independent  ticket. 
Nothing  else  could  have  so  indicated  his  personal 
popularity.  There  were  four  candidates  in  the 
field,  and  Mr.  Harrison  polled  a  very  large  vote, 
the  three  leaders  being  separated  by  but  three 
thousand  ballots.  Members  of  the  Democracy 


GEORGE  FRASER. 


3°9 


greatly  opposed  his  course,  but  the  majority  of 
the  party  believed  in  him,  and  he  became  their 
candidate  for  the  campaign  of  1893.  He  was 
elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority  to  a  position 
all  the  more  important  from  the  fact  that  his  city, 
where  the  World's  Fair  was  to  be  held,  would 
receive  distinguished  visitors  from  all  lands,  and 
he  would  virtually  be  the  country's  representa- 
tive in  welcoming  them  to  the  United  States.  All 
summer  long  as  a  courteous  host  he  presided, 
and  each  day  added  to  the  number  of  his  friends. 
Again  and  again  he  had  presided  on  different  pub- 


lic occasions,  and  on  the  28th  of  October,  two  days 
before  the  official  closing  of  the  Fair,  Mayors'  Day 
was  celebrated,  a  day  set  apart  for  the  Mayors  of 
all  the  cities  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Harrison,  in  his 
capacity  of  host,  presided,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
ceremonies  returned  to  his  home.  A  few  hours 
later  a  shot  was  fired  which  terminated  his  life, 
and  the  city,  which  was  making  such  extensive 
preparations  to  close  the  Fair  with  brilliant  cere- 
monies, went  instead  into  mourning  for  its  Chief 
Executive. 


GEORGE  FRASER. 


lEORGE  FRASER  is  an  influential  Scotch- 
American  citizen,  who  has  made  his  home 
in  Chicago  for  nearly  thirty  years.  Allen 
Grange,  near  the  village  of  Munlochy,  in  Ross- 
shire,  Scotland,  where  he  was  born,  has  been  the 
home  of  his  ancestors  for  more  than  a  century, 
and  three  generations  of  the  name  are  now  living 
there. 

His  father,  Donald  Fraser,  was  a  blacksmith 
by  trade,  succeeding  his  father,  John  Fraser,  in 
that  occupation.  Donald  Fraser  died  at  Allen 
Grange  in  1875,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Isabella  Young, 
still  lives  there,  having  attained  the  venerable 
age  of  more  than  ninety-one  years.  She  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  same  place,  her  father  having  been  a 
farmer  in  that  locality. 

George  Fraser  was  born  on  the  26.  of  June, 
1840.  He  attended  the  parish  school  at  Mun- 
lochy, and  when  he  was  old  enough  went  to  learn 
the  trade  of  a  baker  at  Dingwall.  He  served  a 
four-years  apprenticeship  without  wages,  and 
subsequently  spent  two  years  in  working  at  his 
trade  in  Edinburgh,  and  one  year  in  London, 
England.  In  1866  he  resolved  to  come  to  Amer- 


ica. Upon  reaching  Brooklyn,  New  York,  he 
tarried  a  few  months  in  that  city,  but  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring  continued  his  journey  to  Chicago. 
Here  he  immediately  found  work  at  his  trade,  and 
in  1868  he  opened  an  establishment  of  his  own  on 
Division  Street,  near  his  present  location.  In 
common  with  most  of  his  neighbors  in  that  vicin- 
ity, three  years  later  he  lost  everything  he  pos- 
sessed by  the  Great  Fire,  and  for  a  few  months 
thereafter  moved  to  the  West  Side.  For  twenty- 
three  years  past  he  has  been  in  his  present  loca- 
tion, and  the  constant  arrival  and  departure  of 
customers  attests  the  popularity  which  his  busi- 
ness has  attained. 

About  sixteen  years  ago  Mr.  Fraser  united 
with  St.  Andrew's  Society,  an  organization  in 
which  nearly  all  of  the  best  of  his  countrymen 
in  Chicago  are  interested.  His  active  interest  in 
this  association  has  caused  him  to  become  one  of 
its  most  popular  members,  and  for  six  years  past 
he  has  officiated  as  one  of  its  Board  of  Mana- 
gers. He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Caledonian 
Club  for  ten  years,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  has 
voted  the  Republican  ticket  since  becoming  a  cit- 
izen of  the  United  States. 


3io 


J.  J.  RUSSELL. 


In  1867  Mr.  Fraser  was  married  to  Catharine 
Ross,  a  native  of  Invergordon,  Ross-shire,  Scot- 
land. She  is  the  daughter  of  David  Ross,  a  rep- 
resentative of  one  of  the  oldest  Scottish  families, 
in  honor  of  which  their  native  shire  was  named. 
Mrs.  Fraser  is  a  valuable  helpmate  to  and  ad- 
viser of  her  husband,  and  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren, named,  respectively,  Anna,  Isabel,  Donald 
George,  Kate  and  Margaret. 


Born  and  reared  amid  the  historic  and  pic- 
turesque scenes  of  the  Highlands,  Mr.  Fraser  is  a 
typical  representative  of  the  Gaelic  race,  a  people 
noted  for  their  sturdy  character  and  industrious 
and  frugal  habits.  Their  adherence  to  principle 
has  led  them  to  endure  much  in  past  centuries, 
and  they  have  exerted  no  small  influence  upon 
the  progress  and  civilization  of  America. 


JOHN  J.  RUSSELL. 


(JOHN  J.  RUSSELL,  an  esteemed  pioneer  of 
I  Cook  County,  now  deceased,  was  born  in 
C/  Sharon  Springs,  New  York,  on  the  i4th  of 
August,  1810,  and  made  farming  his  life  work. 
Emigrating  westward,  he  reached  Chicago  on  the 
I4th  of  February,  1836,  and  purchased  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  of  timber-land,  including  the 
site  on  which  Rush  Medical  College  now  stands. 
About  a  year  and  a-half  later  he  sold  and  removed 
to  Niles  Township,  where  he  lived  six  months. 
He  then  became  a  resident  of  Northfield  Town- 
ship, purchasing  land  on  section  14,  to  which  he 
afterwards  added  until  he  had  on  sections  14,  15 
and  22  three  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  rich 
land,  all  in  one  body,  which  yielded  to  him  a 
good  income.  Here  he  devoted  the  greater  part 
of  his  time  and  attention  to  agricultural  pursuits, 
winning  success  in  his  undertakings.  He  mar- 
ried Ann  Eliza  Legg,  daughter  of  Isaac  Legg,  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  The  lady  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky on  the  gth  of  October,  1813,  and  with 
her  parents  came  to  Chicago  in  1833.  Her 
death  occurred  at  Wilmette,  August  20,  1886. 
She  was  a  lady  of  many  admirable  qualities, 
and  she  and  her  husband  had  been  for  many  years 


identified  with  the  Methodist  Church.  They  con- 
tributed liberally  to  its  support,  and  were  always 
considered  among  the  leading  members. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Russell  were  born  six  chil- 
dren, three  sons  and  three  daughters:  Isaac  H., 
who  is  now  proprietor  of  a  paper  and  paint  store 
in  Chicago;  John  J.,  deceased;  Edward,  whose 
sketch  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work; 
Lizzie,  wife  of  B.  F.  Kay,  who  for  twenty- 
four  years  has  been  connected  with  the  postof- 
fice  of  Chicago;  Ella,  wife  of  Heny  McDaniel,  a 
policeman  of  Wilmette;  and  Lena,  who  completes 
the  family.  After  many  years  spent  in  farming, 
John  J.  Russell  removed  to  Wilmette,  where  his 
death  occurred  April  30,  1889.  He  always  advo- 
cated the  principles  of  the  Republican  party,  and 
kept  well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day.  He 
took  quite  an  interest  in  military  affairs  and  be- 
longed to  the  State  militia,  in  which  he  held  a 
Lieutenant's  commission  from  Gov.  Ford. 
He  was  for  ten  years  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  and  for  several  years  County  Com- 
missioner, a  faithful  officer  in  both  positions.  He 
was  ever  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  community  found  in  him  a  friend. 


'       'RY 
THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF   ILII 


W.  H   JONES. 


WILLIAM  HUGH  JONES. 


fi>G|lLLIAM  HUGH  JONES,  the  President  of 
\  A  I  the  Piano  Manufacturing  Company,  one  of 
V  Y  the  substantial  industries  of  Chicago,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Wales.  He  was  born  in  1845,  and  is  one 
of  eight  children  whose  parents  were  Hugh  and 
Jennett  Jones.  The  father  was  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation and  was  comfortably  situated.  In  1812, 
when  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  crossed  the  At- 
lantic to  America,  locating  near  Utica,  N.  Y., 
where  the  death  of  his  first  wife  occurred.  He 
afterward  returned  to  Wales,  where  he  was  again 
married,  the  second  wife  being  the  mother  of  our 
subject.  They  were  both  members  of  the  Welsh 
Calvinistic  Church,  in  which  the  father  served 
as  Deacon.  In  1857  he  again  came  with  his 
family  to  this  country,  and  located  in  Wiscon- 
sin, from  where  he  removed  to  Iowa  in  1873. 
His  death  occurred  in  Howard  County,  Iowa,  in 
1876,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two  years.  His  wife 
survived  him  for  about  four  years.  Her  father, 
Richard  Jones,  was  an  extensive  farmer  in  Wales, 
and  reached  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years. 
The  family  to  which  our  subject  belongs  num- 
bered six  sons  and  two  daughters,  but  only  four 
are  now  living:  William  H.,  Hugh  H.,  John  H. 
and  Owen  W.  The  last-named  is  Secretary  of  the 
Piano  Manufacturing  Company. 

We  now  take  up  the  personal  history  of  W.  H. 
Jones,  who  is  truly  a  self-made  man,  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  term,  for  he  started  out  in  life  empty- 
handed  and  has  worked  his  way  upward  by  un- 
tiring labor,  making  the  most  of  his  opportuni- 
ties and  overcoming  the  difficulties  and  obstacles 
in  his  path  by  a  determined  effort  to  succeed.  He 
continued  in  his  native  land  until  twelve  years  of 
age,  and  then  accompanied  his  parents  to  this 
country,  and  with  them  went  to  Wisconsin.  He 
was  early  inured  to  hard  labor,  but  thereby  he 
developed  a  self-reliance  and  force  of  character 


which  have  proven  of  incalculable  benefit  to  him 
in  his  later  years.  His  youth  was  spent  in  work 
upon  the  home  farm,  and  to  his  father  he  gave 
the  benefit  of  his  services  until  the  spring  of  1866, 
when  he  had  attained  his  majority.  He  now  turned 
his  attention  to  other  pursuits,  and  became  agent 
for  the  Dodge  Reapers  and  Champion  Mowers  in 
Berlin,  Wis.,  selling  those  machines  until  1868, 
when  he  became  traveling  salesman  for  the  firm 
of  L.  J.  Bush  &  Co.,  of  Milwaukee.  Two  years 
covered  his  continuance  with  that  company,  and 
in  1870  he  formed  a  connection  with  E.  H.  Gam- 
mon for  the  sale  of  the  Marsh  Harvester,  which 
at  that  time  was  the  only  machine  of  the  class  on 
the  market.  Subsequently,  the  firm  became'  Ganr- 
mon  &  Deering,  and  Mr.  Jones  continued  in  their 
employ  as  general  traveling  salesman  and  super- 
visor of  agencies  until  the  partnership  was  dis- 
solved in  the  fall  of  1879,  on  the  retirement  of  Mr. 
Gammon.  Mr.  Jones,  however,  continued  to 
serve  in  the  interests  of  Mr.  Deering  until  1881, 
when  he,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Gammon,  Lewis 
Steward,  and  others  who  had  been  previously  in- 
terested in  the  Harvester  Works  in  Piano,  111. , 
organized  the  Piano  Manufacturing  Company. 
He  became  its  President  and  has  since  contin- 
ued at  its  head,  and  owing  to  the  good  man- 
agement, keen  foresight  and  excellent  business 
and  executive  ability  of  the  President,  the  Pia- 
no Manufacturing  Company  now  is  one  of  the 
prominent  industries  of  this  city.  During  his 
business  career,  Mr.  Jones  has  kept  informed 
concerning  all  inventions  along  this  line,  and  no 
agricultural  implement  is  put  on  the  market 
without  his  knowledge.  His  early  life  as  a  farm- 
er made  known  to  him  what  was  needed  in  farm 
work.  His  later  experience  made  him  familiar 
with  all  kinds  of  farm  machinery;  hence  in  plac- 
ing upon  the  market  such  machinery  he  would 


312 


SHEPHERD  JOHNSTON. 


combine  in  its  construction  his  knowledge  of  the 
mechanical  necessities  with  that  which  was  re- 
quired for  the  actual  work.  Many  inventors  who 
know  nothing  about  farm  work  in  itself  fail  to  do 
this.  The  wisdom  of  his  method  is  shown  in  the 
result,  for  the  Piano  machines  have  met  with  un- 
qualified success  and  fill  a  long-felt  want  in  farm 
implements.  Through  the  dark  hours  of  the 
greatest  panic  known  to  commerce  (in  1893),  the 
company  built  and  now  occupies  a  new  factory, 
which  for  completeness  and  detailed  perfection  is 
without  an  equal,  covering  twenty-five  acres.  It 
is  located  on  I2oth  Street,  West  Pullman.  In 
the  old  factory,  although  it  afforded  extensive 
facilities,  it  was  unable  for  several  years  to  satisfy 
the  popular  demand.  With  improved  machinery 
and  perfect  arrangement  for  manufacturing,  it  is 
now  prepared  to  meet  the  full  demand  not  only 
of  its  American  but  rapidly  increasing  foreign 
trade. 

In  1867,  Mr.  Jones  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Elizabeth  Owens,  and  unto  them  have  been 
born  three  sons,  Hugh  W. ,  William  O.  and  Gar- 


field  R.  The  parents  are  faithful  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  contribute  liberally 
to  its  support,  and  take  an  active  interest  in  its 
work.  Mr.  Jones  is  now  serving  as  one  of  its 
Trustees.  In  politics,  he  advocates  Republican 
principles,  but  in  voting  does  not  feel  himself 
bound  by  party  ties.  He  has  never  sought  official 
honors,  desiring  rather  to  give  his  entire  time  and 
attention  to  his  business  interests  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  home  and  the  companionship  of  his 
family.  In  April,  1872,  he  came  to  Evanston, 
where  he  has  resided  almost  continuously  since, 
and  among  the  people  of  this  beautiful  suburb 
he  is  held  in  the  highest  regard,  for  he  is  a  man 
of  upright  character  and  his  example  is  worthy 
of  emulation.  In  the  fall  of  1878  he  opened  a 
wholesale  implement  house  in  Minneapolis,  which 
has  since  done  a  large  business,  and  with  which  he 
was  connected  until  1889.  The  farm  has  fur- 
nished to  this  country  many  of  its  most  prominent 
and  successful  business  men,  and  among  these  is 
W.  H.  Jones. 


SHEPHERD  JOHNSTON. 


(SHEPHERD  JOHNSTON,  late  Secretary  and 
Nk  Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Chicago, 
Q)  was  descended  from  Scotch  ancestry ,  his  pater- 
nal grandfather,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
the  American  Revolution,  being  an  emigrant  from 
Scotland  to  New  York  City  some  time  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Mary,  the 
wife  of  this  ancestor,  was  born  in  1761,  and  died 
Junei2,  1838,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  Thepa- 
ternal  grandmother  was  "Knickerbocker1 '  Dutch. 
Shepherd  Johnston,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  New  York  City  Sep- 
tember 28,  1797,  and  was  for  many  years  a  well- 
known  educator  in  his  native  place.  His  wife 
was  Jane  Sherwood,  also  a  native  of  New  York, 


born  September  28,  1807.  Her  parents  were  na- 
tives of  Connecticut,  and  were  the  descendants  of 
generations  of  New  England  ancestors,  one  of 
whom  was  a  minute-man  in  the  Revolution.  Her 
death  occurred  on  the  271)1  of  December,  1846, 
at  Big  Rock,  Illinois.  Shepherd  and  Jane  John- 
ston had  a  family  of  nine  children,  and  eight  of 
these  grew  to  mature  age.  The  subject  of  this 
biography,  who  was  born  on  the  i8th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1823,  laid  the  foundation  of  his  education  in 
the  private  school  taught  by  his  father.  His  pre- 
cocity and  the  thoroughness  of  his  education  are 
vividly  shown  by  the  fact  of  his  entering  college 
at  the  almost  unparalleled  age  of  thirteen  years. 
After  spending  two  years  at  Columbia  College, 


SHEPHERD  JOHNSTON. 


313 


New  York,  circumstances  necessitated  the  aban- 
donment of  the  further  prosecution  of  his  studies 
— except  as  a  private  and  independent  student — 
but  in  this  latter  capacity  it  can  be  no  more  truly 
said  of  any  other  man  in  the  city  of  Chicago, 
that  he  was  throughout  his  life  a  devoted,  ear- 
nest and  successful  student,  consecrating  himself 
to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  for  the  purpose 
of  making  it  most  useful  to  those  for  whose  inter- 
ests he  spent  a  lifetime  of  toil. 

In  1839  the  elder  Johnston,  tiring  of  the  con- 
straint of  New  York,  came  West  by  way  of  the 
Lakes  to  Detroit,  and  thence,  in  company  with  his 
eldest  son,  Shepherd,  crossed  Michigan  on  po- 
nies to  Chicago,  which  they  found  to  be  a  muddy 
city  of  about  four  thousand  inhabitants.  Not 
liking  Chicago,  they  pursued  their  way  westward 
to  Kane  County,  and  there  the  father  bought  a 
thousand  or  more  acres  of  land  near  Big  Rock, 
to  which  he  removed  his  family  soon  after. 
There  he  spent  seven  years,  but,  not  being  adapt- 
ed either  by  education  or  taste  to  farm  lite,  at 
the  end  of  that  period  he  returned  to  New  York, 
where  he  died  in  1853. 

After  a  residence  of  five  or  six  years  on  the 
farm,  young  Johnston  tired  of  the  monotony  of 
rural  life  and  settled  in  New  York  City,  when 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  obtained  a  position 
as  teacher  in  the  Institute  for  the  Blind.  He  filled 
this  position  with  that  fidelity  and  ability  which 
characterized  his  life  work  in  any  capacity  in 
which  he  was  called  upon  to  act.  On  the  27th  of 
July,  1849,  at  Whitlockville,  Westchester  Coun- 
ty, New  York,  he  married  Mary  Ann  Wild,  a 
native  of  Sheffield,  England,  a  daughter  of  James 
and  Mary  Ann  Outram  (Hobson)  Wild.  Imme- 
diately after  his  marriage  he  came  to  Illinois,  and 
tried  farm  life  for  a  few  months,  but  again  re- 
turned to  New  York  City  in  1850.  There  for  a 
year  he  was  employed  in  the  ticket  office  of  the 
Hudson  River  Railroad.  In  1851  he  engaged  in 
the  retail  grocery  business  in  New  York,  in  which 
he  continued  for  seven  years.  In  the  fall  of  1859 
he  again  removed  to  Illinois,  locating  at  Aurora, 
and  in  the  following  year  settled  in  Chicago, 
where  he  resided  until  the  time  of  his  death.  In 


February  of  the  same  year  he  began  work  as 
clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and 
remained  there  continuously  until  his  life  work 
was  finished.  He  saw  the  public-school  system 
grow  from  comparatively  insignificant  propor- 
.  tions  to  the  wonderful  educational  power  which  it 
is  at  the  present  time.  When  he  began  work 
in  the  office  of  the  Board  the  population  of  the 
city  was  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand,  and  the 
number  of  teachers  was  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three.  Now  the  total  enrollment  of  pupils  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  and  the  number  of 
teachers  in  the  public  schools  is  three  thousand 
two  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  and  the  amount 
required  to  pay  this  vast  army  is  two  and  one- 
half  millions  of  dollars. 

Mr.  Johnston  died  at  his  home  on  the  3rd  of 
October,  1894,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  daugh- 
ter, the  latter,  Laura  Ann,  being  now  the  wife 
of  John  M.  Stanley,  of  Chicago.  His  only  son, 
Charles  Sherwood  Johnston,  died  in  1889,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-nine. 

Not  only  as  a  worker  in  the  field  of  education, 
but  also  as  a  zealous  laborer  in  the  cause  of  relig- 
ion, was  Mr.  Johnston  known.  For  nearly  a 
score  of  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  in  which  he  held  the  office  of  vestryman. 
He  also  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Sunday-school,  of  which  he  was  Superintendent. 
He  was  a  devoted  student  of  the  Bible,  to  the 
study  of  which  he  gave  many  hours  of  his  crowd- 
ed life.  As  might  be  expected  of  a  man  of  his 
intelligence,  taking  the  interest  he  did  in  public 
affairs,  a  knowledge  of  and  an  interest  in  politics 
were  not  overlooked.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Republican  party,  whose  great  underlying  princi- 
ples he  fully  understood,  endorsed  and  supported. 
But  he  was  far  above  the  petty  broils  of  partisan 
strife,  and  contented  himself  with  working  for 
those  higher  principles  and  ends  which  interest 
the  thinker  and  philosopher. 

A  fitting  summary  of  the  life  and  works  of  Mr. 
Johnston  can  be  no  more  aptly  expressed  than  is 
done  in  the  following  eloquent  tribute  paid  to  his 
memory  by  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, taken  from  the  records  of  said  body: 


314 


J.  S.  RUMSEY. 


"At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion of  Chicago,  held  October  5,  1894,  the  follow- 
ing memorial  was  unanimously  adopted: 

"  'The  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago learns  with  the  most  profound  sorrow  of  the 
death  of  their  scholarly,  faithful  and  most  tireless 
Secretary,  Shepherd  Johnston,  after  a  continuous 
service  of  thirty-four  years  of  unparalleled  devo- 
tion to  the  educational  interests  of  this  great  me- 
tropolis. 

"  'He  had  reached  the  limit  of  years  allotted  to 
man.  He  closed  his  books  at  the  office,  went  to 
his  quiet  home,  retired  to  sleep,  and  awoke  no 
more  to  consciousness  here.  The  book  of  his  life 
was  gently  closed,  and  he  was  transferred  to  the 
unknown  realm  which  is  beyond  our  mortal  sight. 

"  'Mr.  Johnston  possessed  those  habits  of  mind 
and  character  which  made  him  eminently  fitted 
for  the  responsible  duties  of  the  office  which  he 
held  so  long  and  filled  so  efficiently.  His  early 
training  and  experience  as  a  teacher  made  him 
acquainted  with  the  details  of  educational  work, 


and  gave  him  a  familiarity  with  the  school  sys- 
tem of  the  country,  as  shown  in  the  financial  and 
statistical  reports  which  were  published  annually. 
As  his  labors  multiplied,  his  ability  to  cope  with 
them  multiplied  in  like  ratio.  There  was  no  detail 
of  his  office  with  which  he  was  not  familiar.  He 
was  a  well  of  information,  imparting  courteously 
to  all  who  desired  to  know  aught  of  the  historical 
progress  of  the  city  for  nearly  two  score  of  years. 
In  the  varied  and  perplexing  duties  of  his  office, 
he  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  members 
of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Superintendents, 
his  associates  in  the  office,  the  teachers  and  citizens 
of  Chicago.  The  members  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation take  this  method  of  expressing  their  appre- 
ciation of  his  valuable  services  and  their  high 
regard  for  his  life  and  character. 

"  'THEREFORE,  Be  it  resolved,  that  this  memo- 
rial be  entered  upon  the  records  of  this  Board,  and 
that  a  copy  be  suitably  engrossed  and  presented  to 
the  family.'" 


JULIAN  S.  RUMSEY. 


(TULIAN  S.  RUMSEY,  a  very  early  resident 
I  of  Chicago  and  one  of  the  founders  of  its 
G)  Board  of  Trade,  was  born  in  Batavia,  Gene- 
see  County,  New  York,  on  the  3d  day  of  April, 
1823.  His  parents  were  Levi  Rumsey,  of  Fair- 
field,  Connecticut,  and  Julia  F.  Dole,  of  Troy, 
New  York.  The  line  of  descent  is  traced  from 
Robert  Runisie,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  of 
Welsh  ancestry,  and  who  settled  at  Fairfield, 
Connecticut,  before  1660.  His  name  appears  in 
the  town  records  under  date  of  January  23,  1664, 
the  earliest  entry  in  said  records  bearing  date  of 
January  12,  1649,  which  must  have  been  about 
the  time  of  the  first  settlement  there.  The  will 
of  Robert  Rumsey  appears  in  the  same  record, 


under  date  of  November  28,  1710,  in  which  he 
bequeaths  to  his  widow  and  children  a  large 
amount  of  land  and  personal  property,  his  inter- 
est in  commonage  and  his  negro  man,  Jack.  The 
early  residents  of  New  England  had  to  contend 
with  conditions  differing  widely  from  those  sur- 
rounding pioneers  of  the  present  day,  and  few  can 
realize  the  energy  and  perseverance  required  to 
make  a  home  in  the  wilderness.  Only  those  of 
strong  body  and  mind  could  survive  the  rigorous 
climate  and  overcome  the  obstacles  to  human 
progress.  Among  the  present  generation,  only 
those  who  have  made  a  study  of  the  subject  can 
realize,  in  a  faint  degree  even,  what  were  their 
surroundings,  ideas  and  character. 


J.  S.  RUMSEY. 


Levi  Rumsey  was  one  of  the  first  graduates  of 
Williams  College,  at  Williamstown,  Massachu- 
setts (in  1800),  and  settled  at  Batavia  in  1822, 
becoming  one  of  the  foremost  attorneys  of  western 
New  York  and  serving  as  District  Attorney  of 
Genesee  County.  He  died  there  in  1834.  At 
the  solicitation  of  her  brother,  George  W.  Dole, 
already  a  resident  of  Chicago,  the  widow  decided 
to  move  to  the  new  and  growing  city  with  her 
younger  son  (the  subject  of  this  biography)  and 
two  daughters,  in  the  spring  of  1835,  Dut  death 
interposed  and  removed  the  mother  before  this 
purpose  could  be  consummated.  With  an  aunt, 
Mrs.  Coffin,  and  her  husband  and  MissTownsend 
(who  afterward  became  Mrs.  Dole),  Julian  Sid- 
ney Rumsey  and  his  two  younger  sisters  came  to 
Chicago,  arriving  on  the  steamer  "Michigan" 
July  28,  1835.  This  vessel  was  owned  by  Mr. 
Dole's  partner,  Oliver  Newberry,  of  Detroit,  and 
was  by  far  the  finest  vessel  then  on  the  Lakes. 
The  trip  was  made  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago,  with 
a  stop  at  Green  Bay,  in  a  little  over  eight  days. 
Among  the  passengers  were  George  Smith,  who 
afterward  became  a  wealthy  banker  of  the  city; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie  and  a  young  infant, 
and  Miss  Williams,  who  became  the  wife  of  Mark 
Skinner,  one  of  the  judges  of  Chicago  in  later  life. 

Young  Rumsey  had  attended  a  private  school 
in  Batavia  taught  by  Rev.  John  F.  Earnst,  a 
widely-known  educator  of  that  place  and  Buffalo, 
and  after  his  arrival  here  he  had  the  benefit  of 
such  schools  as  the  new  town  afforded  for  a  few 
months.  He  soon  took  employment  in  the  ship- 
ping house  of  Newberry  &  Dole,  where  his  elder 
brother,  George  F.  Rumsey,  was  already  estab- 
lished. This  association  made  him  acquainted 
with  all  the  boats  coming  to  Chicago  and  their 
officers.  These  included  the  bark  "Detroit"  and 
brig  "Queen  Charlotte,"  former'British  vessels, 
which  had  been  sunk  in  the  bay  at  Erie,  Penn- 
sylvania, by  Commodore  Perry  in  1813,  and  sub- 
sequently raised  and  fitted  for  commerce. 

In  September,  1839,  the  Rumsey  brothers,  while 
still  in  the  employ  of  Newberry  &  Dole,  shipped 
the  first  cargo  of  grain  ever  sent  out  of  Chicago, 
consisting  of  about  2,900  bushels  of  wheat,  put  on 
board  the  brig  "Osceola"  for  Buffalo.  This  had 


been  taken  from  farmers'  wagons  and  stored, 
awaiting  an  eastbound  boat.  In  1841  Capt.  E.  B. 
Ward  brought  eighty  tons  of  bituminous  coal  to 
Chicago,  which  was  probably  the  first  here,  and 
this  was  sold  out  by  the  Rumsey  brothers  in  two 
years'  time,  thus  indicating  that  the  consumption 
was  small  in  those  days.  The  firm  of  Rumsey, 
Brother  &  Company  ultimately  succeeded  New- 
berry  &  Dole,  and  became  one  of  the  heaviest 
grain  shippers  and  dealers  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Rumsey  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  early  in  1848,  and  continued  his 
membership  with  his  life.  During  the  early  years 
of  its  existence,  it  was  his  custom,  with  others  of 
the  younger  members,  to  visit  business  men  in 
their  offices  and  urge  them  to  go  "on  "Change," 
in  order  that  it  might  be  truthfully  recorded  that 
such  a  meeting  had  been  held.  He  was  elected 
President  of  the  Board  in  1858  and  again  in  1859, 
and  in  the  latter  year  he  drew  and  secured  the 
passage  of  its  charter  and  code  of  rules.  He  also 
secured,  in  the  face  of  much  opposition,  the  pres- 
ent system  of  grain  inspection — Chicago  being  the 
first  city  to  adopt  the  plan.  During  his  adminis- 
tration, the  current  plan  of  obtaining  and  publish- 
ing statistics  of  trade  was  inaugurated,  and  the 
first  annual  report  of  the  Board  issued,  and  in  the 
same  period  the  membership  doubled  and  the 
permanency  of  its  existence  was  established. 

Mr.  Rumsey  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Volunteer  Fire  Department  in  1844,  and  at  one 
time  was  Foreman  of  Engine  Company  Number 
Three,  and  did  much  to  improve  the  old  and  or- 
ganize new  companies.  In  those  days,  many  of 
what  are  now  the  most  prominent  and  wealthy 
citizens  regularly  "ran  with  the  boys."  The 
venerable  Stephen  F.  Gale  was  Chief  Engineer 
and  Mr.  Rumsey  Foreman  in  1847,  when  the  pa- 
rade was  made  in  honor  of  the  famous  River  and 
Harbor  Congress  of  that  year.  In  his  report  to 
the  New  York  Tribune,  Horace  Greeley  said:  "I 
never  witnessed  anything  so  superb  as  the  appear- 
ance of  some  of  the  fire  companies,  with  their  en- 
gines drawn  by  led-horses,  tastefully  caparisoned. 
Our  New  York  firemen  must  try  again.  They 
certainly  have  been  outdone."  Thurlow  Weed 
wrote  to  his  paper:  "I<et  me  here  say  that  the 


J.  S.  RUMSEY. 


firemen's  display  in  this  infant  city  to-day  excited 
universal  admiration.  I  never  saw  anything  got 
up  in  better  taste.  The  companies  were  in  neat 
uniforms.  The  machines  were  very  tastefully 
decorated.  There  was  also  a  miniature  ship, 
manned  and  full-rigged,  drawn  by  twelve  horses, 
in  the  procession.  While  moving,  the  crew  on 
board  'The  Convention'  made,  shortened  and  took 
in  sail  repeatedly." 

In  early  life  Mr.  Rumsey  associated  himself,  as 
a  political  factor,  with  the  Whig  party,  and  joined 
its  successor — the  Republican — at  its  inception. 
He  was  often  a  delegate  in  the  county  and  State 
conventions,  and  was  a  member  of  the  State  Cen- 
tral Committee  of  his  party  when  Abraham  Lin- 
coln was  first  elected  to  the  Presidency.  He  had 
the  honor  of  entertaining  Mr.  Lincoln  at  his  home 
in  Chicago,  was  present  at  his  inauguration,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  which  devolved 
the  sad  duty  of  receiving  his  remains  when  brought 
back  to  Chicago,  preparatory  to  final  interment 
at  Springfield.  In  1871  Mr.  Rumsey  was  elected 
County  Treasurer  and  Collector  on  the  "Fire- 
proof" ticket,  the  result  of  a  political  compromise, 
and  served  two  years  in  that  responsible  capacity. 

Before  the  actual  commencement  of  hostilities, 
in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  early  in  1861,  a  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  was  organized  in  Chicago,  and 
Mr.  Rumsey  was  made  a  member  of  the  sub-com- 
mittee to  carry  out  its  objects.  This  involved  the 
judicious  expenditure  of  nearly  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  and  required  the  labor  of  its  members  for 
nearly  two  years,  much  of  it  of  a  secret  character, 
and  all  of  vast  importance  to  the  State  and  Nation. 
One  of  the  first  undertakings  was  the  fitting  out  of 
an  expedition  to  take  possession  of  Cairo,  and  thus 
save  Illinois  to  the  Union.  After  four  days  and 
nights  of  arduous  effort,  a  force  of  five  hundred 
men  was  dispatched  by  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, and  the  plan  successfully  carried  out.  Mr. 
Rumsey  never  asked  for  office,  but  was  elected 
Mayor  of  the  city  in  the  troublous  days  of  1861, 
and  maintained  the  high  financial  standing  of  the 
municipality.  During  his  term  of  service,  the 
Government  sent  twelve  thousand  rebel  prisoners 
here  from  Fort  Donelson,  without  any  warning 
or  previous  provision  for  their  care.  They  were 


quartered  in  the  sheds  of  an  old  race  track,  after- 
wards known  as  Camp  Douglas,  until  suitable 
barracks  could  be  erected  for  their  care  and  reten- 
tion. Among  them  were  about  two  hundred  offi- 
cers, most  of  whom  possessed  knives  or  pistols, 
and  with  the  small  police  force  and  absence  of 
firearms  (caused  by  the  drain  in  supplying  Union 
troops) ,  the  city  seemed  entirely  at  the  mercy  of 
its  unwilling  guests.  Through  the  vigilance  of 
Mayor  Rumsey,  and  his  appeals  to  the  Govern- 
ment, the  danger  was  averted — the  officers  being 
removed  elsewhere,  and  the  privates  speedily  pro- 
vided with  suitable  lodgings,  and  safeguards  cre- 
ated for  the  city. 

July  31,  1848,  at  Chicago,  occurred  the  wedding 
of  J.  S.  Rumsey  and  Miss  Martha  A.  Turner. 
Mrs.  Rumsey,  who  still  survives  her  husband,  is 
a  daughter  of  John  B.  Turner,  one  of  the  most 
honored  and  worthy  of  Chicago's  early  citizens, 
whose  biography  will  be  found  on  another  page 
of  this  work.  This  union  resulted  in  eleven  chil- 
dren, eight  of  whom  were  daughters.  One  of  the 
latter  died  in  infancy,  and  one  after  a  short  mar- 
ried life.  Two  daughters  are  married  and  reside 
in  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  respectively, 
and  the  eldest  son  and  two  daughters,  also  mar- 
ried, reside  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Rumsey  passed  away  in  Chicago  April  20, 
1886,  aged  sixty-three  years.  He  was  ever  inter- 
ested in  the  city  and  its  welfare,  and  did  much  to 
place  it  in  its  present  proud  commercial  position. 
He  did  not  shirk  any  duty  as  a  citizen,  and  left  to 
his  children  an  honored  name.  His  recollections 
of  early  Chicago  are  very  interesting,  and  extracts 
from  his  pen  picture  are  here  given: 

"When  the  'Michigan'  arrived  off  Chicago  in 
July  of  1835,  a  dense  fog  covered  the  surface  of 
the  lake,  and  the  town  could  not  be  easily  located. 
After  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Calumet  River, 
the  captain  was  set  right  by  the  direction  of  an 
Indian,  and  returned  to  the  city.  In  the  mean 
time  the  fog  had  lifted  and  when  the  boat  came  to 
anchor  the  fort  and  Government  pier  and  light- 
house seemed  the  most  prominent  features.  No 
entrance  to  the  river  existed  for  lake  craft,  and 
even  the  yawlboat  which  brought  the  passengers 
ashore  grounded  on  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the 


ANDREW  ORTMAYER. 


317 


river,  and  a  passage  had  to  be  carefully  sounded 
before  it  could  be  brought  in.  The  river  was  then 
but  little  more  than  half  as  wide  as  at  present, 
and  portions  of  its  shores  were  occupied  by  wild 
rice,  and  near  the  mouth  the  abode  of  the  musk- 
rat  was  prominent.  Fish  and  wild  fowl  were 
abundant.  There  was  one  'gallows-frame'  hoist 
bridge  at  Dearborn  Street,  crossing  the  river,  one 
pontoon  over  the  South  Branch,  between  l,ake 
and  Randolph  Streets,  and  another  across  the 
North  Branch,  just  south  of  Kinzie  Street.  The 
Tremont  House  was  then  a  yellow  wooden  build- 
ing at  the  southeast  corner  of  I^ake  and  Dearborn 
Streets,  kept  by  Star  Foot. 

"The  population  was  about  twenty-three  hun- 
dred, divided  in  something  like  this  proportion: 
Eight  hundred  on  the  North  Side,  twelve  hundred 
on  the  South  Side,  and  three  hundred  on  the 
West  Side.  The  Postoffice  was  located  in  the 
angle  at  the  intersection  of  Lake  and  South  Water 
Streets.  There  were  no  sidewalks  or  improved 
streets,  and  cattle,  pigs  and  wolfish  dogs  occupied 


the  thoroughfares  at  will,  and  sometimes  at  night 
wolves  came  into  the  settlement  Street  lights 
were  unknown,  as  were  sewers,  cellars  or  water 
service,  and  there  were  very  few  brick  buildings. 
The  people  came  from  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
included  many  half-breeds,  and  all  were  exceed- 
ingly democratic  in  habit.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  for  ladies  to  employ  a  dump-cart,  uphol- 
stered with  hay  or  buffalo  robes,  as  a  means  of 
transportation  when  making  social  excursions. 
There  was  still  a  garrison  at  the  fort,  and  on  two 
subsequent  occasions  Indians  to  the  number  of 
thirty-five  hundred  and  five  thousand,  from  the 
Pottawatamie,  Winnebago  and  Sacs  and  Foxes 
tribes  came  here  to  receive  pay  for  their  lands  from 
the  Government.  During  the  summer  of  1835, 
the  'Michigan'  made  four  trips  between  Chicago 
and  Buffalo,  and  one  or  two  other  vessels  visited 
the  port.  While  anchored  in  the  bay  off  Milwau- 
kee, on  her  first  trip,  only  one  house  was  dis- 
cerned at  that  point,  though  the  weather  was 
clear." 


ANDREW  ORTMAYER. 


Gl  NDREW  ORTMAYER,  who  was  for  nearly 
LJ  half-a  century  a  resident  of  Chicago,  was 
|  |  numbered  among  the  most  substantial  and 
well-known  citizens  of  German  birth.  He  was 
born  in  Bartenstein,  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  on 
the  first  day  of  May,  1826.  His  father,  Joseph 
Ortmayer,  was  a  native  of  Neuoetting,  Bavaria, 
and  his  mother,  Margaret  Uhlman,  was  born  in 
the  same  village  as  her  son,  where  her  ancestors 
had  for  several  generations  carried  on  the  saddlery 
business.  Joseph  Ortmayer  was  also  a  saddler, 
and  when  the  son  had  completed  the  prescribed 
German  term  of  school,  ending  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  he  entered  the  shop  and  was  able 
— through  being  the  son  of  a  master — to  become 


a  journeyman  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  He  first 
sought  employment  in  his  father's  native  city, 
where  he  remained  one  year,  and  was  afterwards 
employed  in  Saalzburg  and  other  Austrian  cities. 
By  the  time  he  had  attained  his  majority,  he 
determined  to  follow  the  sun  towards  that  land  of 
promise,  the  United  States,  as  he  saw  little  op- 
portunity for  a  mechanic  to  better  his  condition 
in  Europe.  His  was  the  same  spirit  which  not 
only  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  Western  continent, 
but  to  the  development  of  its  resources,  east  and 
west.  Being  in  I^ondon,  England,  in  the  spring 
of  1849,  he  took  passage  in  March  of  that  year 
on  board  the  sailing-vessel  "Apeona"  for  New 
York,  where  he  arrived  on  the  fourth  day  of 


ANDREW  ORTMAYER. 


July,  the  voyage  consuming  nearly  four  months. 
He  proceeded  directly  to  Buffalo,  New  York, 
where  he  was  able  to  maintain  himself  at  his 
trade  until  the  following  spring. 

Again  moved  by  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  he 
took  the  first  steamer  which  left  the  port  of  Buf- 
falo for  the  upper  lakes  in  the  spring  of  1 850, 
and  landed  in  Detroit  on  the  3Oth  of  March,  after 
a  two  days'  voyage.  Thence,  he  proceeded  di- 
rectly by  rail  to  Chicago,  arriving  on  the  last 
day  of  the  month. 

His  first  employment  in  this  city  was  with  J. 
O.  Humphrey,  the  first  carriage  manufacturer  in 
Chicago,  by  whom  he  was  engaged  as  a  carriage 
trimmer.  This  continued  until  Mr.  Humphrey 
went  out  of  business  two  and  one-half  years  later, 
when  Mr.  Ortmayer  rented  a  room  in  the  now 
idle  factory  and  engaged  in  trimming  carriages 
on  his  own  account.  He  had  by  this  time  formed 
business  acquaintances  and  established  a  reputa- 
tion for  honest  and  faithful  work,  and  did  a  fairly 
prosperous  business.  At  the  end  of  six  months, 
he  established  a  shop  on  Franklin  Street,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1854  he  opened  a  harness  shop  on 
Randolph  Street,  between  Canal  and  Clinton 
Streets.  Though  his  work  as  a  carriage  trim- 
mer had  proved  satisfactory  to  his  patrons,  it  did 
not  satisfy  himself,  on  account  of  the  unsteadiness 
of  the  demand,  and  he  found  business  much  more 
remunerative  in  the  harness  and  saddlery  line. 

In  1863,  he  began  the  wholesale  trade  at  No.  42 
Lake  Street,  in  partnership  with  William  V.  Kay 
and  William  H.  Turner,  under  the  style  of  A. 
Ortmayer  &  Company.  For  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, beginning  with  1866,  the  business  was 
located  at  Nos.  16  to  22  State  Street.  Messrs. 
Turner  and  Kay  successively  retired  from  the 
firm,  and  after  the  great  fire  of  1871,  it  was 
known  as  Ortmayer,  Lewis  &  Company,  until 
it  became  A.  Otrmayer  &  Son  in  1882.  In  1891, 
the  firm  purchased  of  the  Farwell  estate  the 
building  now  occupied,  on  Illinois  Street,  be- 
tween La  Salle  Avenue  and  Wells  Street,  to 
which  two  stories  were  added,  and  the  building 
was  fitted  for  the  extensive  manufacture  of  har- 
ness and  saddlery  ware  now  carried  on  there. 

Mr.  Ortmayer  was  married  at   Buffalo,  New 


York,  in  the  spring  of  1850,  to  Miss  Marie  Cher- 
bon,  who  was  born  in  the  same  place  as  himself, 
and  is  descended  from  French  ancestors,  her 
grandfather  having  moved  from  France  to  Ger- 
many. In  1876,  he  built  a  pleasant  mansion  at 
No.  496  Dearborn  Avenue,  where  dwells  a  united 
and  happy  family.  Mr.  Ortmayer  was  also  pos- 
sessed of  other  improved  real  estate,  which  was 
secured  through  his  own  industry  and  prudent 
management.  Having  made  his  way  from  hum- 
ble beginnings,  he  was  in  sympathy  with  all  hon- 
est efforts  for  success,  and  held  out  encourage- 
ment not  only  by  word  but  by  his  own  example, 
which  any  American  youth  may  well  emulate. 
The  same  steadfast  and  persistent  effort  which 
characterized  his  career  in  life  is  sure  to  bring 
prosperity  to  any  one.  He  never  spent  time  or 
money  in  the  follies  which  are  all  too  prevalent 
among  young  men  of  the  present  day,  but  re- 
solved on  a  course  of  industry  and  thrift,  and  ad- 
hered to  his  plans  through  "good"  and  "bad 
times." 

Of  the  seven  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ortmayer,  three  died  in  early  childhood.  The 
eldest  of  the  others,  Annie,  died  while  the  wife 
of  Albert  Kuhlmay.  Carl  G.  is  manager  of  the 
business  of  A.  Ortmayer  &  Son.  Carrie  is  now 
the  wife  of  Albert  Kuhlmay,  and  Emma  is  Mrs. 
Theophile  Pfister,  all  of  Chicago. 

Though  always  a  busy  man,  until  failing 
health  compelled  him  to  abandon  his  activities 
three  years  ago,  Mr.  Ortmayer  found  time  to  cul- 
tivate pleasant  social  relations,  and  was  always 
deservedly  popular  among  his  fellow-citizens. 
He  was  for  many  years  an  active  member  of  the 
Germania  Club,  and  held  membership  in  Accor- 
dia  Lodge,  No.  277,  of  the  Masonic  order.  He 
cherished  liberal  religious  views,  and  always  ad- 
hered to  Republican  principles  in  politics.  He 
was  never  ambitious  to  hold  public  office,  but 
always  strove  to  fulfill  the  duties  of  a  good 
American  citizen,  and  with  eminent  success. 
He  died  on  Sunday,  February  3,  1895,  having 
succumbed  to  an  acute  attack  of  bronchitis,  which, 
combined  with  other  difficulties,  burst  the  bonds 
of  life. 


PHILIP  PETRIE. 


PHILIP  PETRIE. 


PETRIE.  One  of  the  most  interest- 
yr  ing  German  historical  mementos  now  in  our 
\S  city  is  hanging  upon  the  wall  of  a  modest  cot- 
tage on  North  State  Street.  It  represents,  in  the 
oil  colors  of  a  foreign  artist,  a  superb  specimen  of 
manhood,  with  gorgeous  helmet  and  breastplate, 
mounted  upon  a  fiery  charger,  bedecked  with  all 
the  brilliant  trappings  becoming  those  who  were 
to  escort  royalty  itself,  whenever  it  rode  abroad 
in  imperial  Berlin.  Beneath  is  the  inscription, 
"Philip  Petrie,  Garde  Cuirassier  bei  der  2er  Es- 
cadron  des  Konig's  Preusch  Regiment." 

Philip  Petrie,  the  hero  of  this  sketch,  was  born 
on  the  seventh  day  of  October,  1814,  at  Neun- 
kirchen,  near  Trier,  Prussia.  His  father  was  J  o- 
seph,  a  veterinary  surgeon,  who  was  the  son  of 
Louis  Petrie,  a  farmer. 

Philip  was  given  a  fair  education,  and  then  set 
to  learn  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith.  At  twenty 
years  of  age  he  was  called,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom ot  his  native  country,  to  do  his  turn  at  mili- 
tary duty.  Being  of  remarkable  physique,  stand- 
ing fully  six  feet  two  inches  in  height,  and  being 
well  proportioned,  he  was  selected  for  the  Cuiras- 
sier Guards,  the  King's  favorite  regiment,  which 
was  a  picked  body,  carefully  selected  from  the 
most  desirable  men  in  the  whole  army.  And, 
indeed,  strength  was  necessary  for  the  bearing  of 
their  armament,  which  included  a  breastplate 
weighing  thirty-four  pounds  and  a  helmet  of  four- 
teen pounds'  weight,  enough  in  itself  to  unfit  an 
ordinary  man  for  action.  After  a  year  and  a-half 
of  sen-ice,  he  was  made  one  of  the  mounted  at- 
tendants of  the  then  crown  prince,  the  lately  de- 
ceased Kaiser  Wilhem;  and  in  the  years  1834 
and  1835  was  frequently  detailed  in  charge  of  a 
detachment  of  guards,  as  an  escort  to  the  imperial 
chariot  when  it  was  driven  abroad  through  the 


gay  capital.  It  is  easy  to  see  in  one's  mind  what 
a  dashing  picture  he  must  have  made;  and,  no 
doubt,  many  a  Gretchen  went  to  her  dreams 
thinking  that  the  cuirassier  was  her  ideal  of  a 
husband;  and  such,  indeed,  he  turned  out  to  be  to 
the  fortunate  one  whom  Heaven  had  decreed 
should  be  his  life-long  devoted  companion. 

After  three  years  of  military  life,  he  returned 
to  his  native  town  to  resume  his  calling  of  a 
blacksmith.  Soon  after  he  met  and  won  his  wife, 
whom  he  wedded  February  7,  1838.  Her  maiden 
name  was  Katherine  Laux,  and  she  was  born  in 
Grosslosheim,  Germany,  November  18,  1818,  her 
father  being  Peter  Laux,  a  blacksmith,  who  mar- 
ried a  Miss  Barbara  Rohrmann.  Peter  Laux 
was  a  son  of  Peter  Laux,  Senior,  a  lumberman. 
Miss  Rohrmann' s  parents  were  Matthias  and 
Bretter  Rohrmann.  Deciding  in  1840  to  come  to 
America,  Mr.  Petrie  took  passage,  with  his  wife 
and  her  parents,  at  Havre,  on  a  sailing-vessel 
called  the  "Kontoullanter."  After  a  stormy  pas- 
sage of  forty-three  days,  they  arrived  at  Castle 
Garden,  New  York  City,  whence  they  proceeded 
by  canal-boat  to  Buffalo,  thence  via  steamer  '  'Wis- 
consin" to  Chicago,  which  they  reached  on  the 
eventful  day  for  the  little  party  and  their  numer- 
ous descendants,  August  24,  1840. 

Mr.  Petrie' s  first  work  was  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment Pier,  then  being  built;  and  afterward 
he  was  in  the  service  of  the  late  Ashel  Pierce,  the 
first  agricultural  implement  manufacturer  in  our 
city.  Then  he  began  a  long  and  honorable  ca- 
reer in  connection  with  the  municipal  govern- 
ment of  the  day.  A  member  of  the  police  force 
under  "Long  John"  Wentworth,  he  was  raised 
to  Sergeant  under  John  C.  Haines,  and  Lieuten- 
ant under  Levi  P.  Boone  and  Thomas  Dyer.  In 
1850  he  was  appointed  Jailer  in  the  "Old  Log 


320 


PHILIP  PETRIE. 


Jail,"  then  situated  at  the  corner  of  La  Salle  and 
Randolph  Streets,  in  which  he  continued  for  a 
period  of  fourteen  years,  during  the  administra- 
tions of  Sheriffs  William  C.  Church,  C.  P.  Brad- 
ley, Charles  M.  Geary  and  Tim  B.  Bradley.  For 
a  number  of  years  preceding  his  death,  Mr. 
Petrie,  having  become  well  off,  lived  a  life  of  quiet 
retirement,  honored  and  esteemed  by  an  unusu- 
ally large  circle  of  acquaintances. 

His  speculative  mind  naturally  turned  to  real 
estate.  One  bargain ,  which  he  regretted  later  that 
he  did  not  cling  to  with  greater  pertinacity,  was 
the  purchase  for  $150  of  the  entire  block  bound- 
ed by  the  present  streets  of  La  Salle,  Randolph, 
Lake  and  Fifth  Avenue,  paying  $10  to  bind  the 
bargain.  Tht  land  being  then  only  a  "swamp 
hole,"  his  mother  made  such  an  outcry  at  what 
she  thought  would  turn  out  to  be  a  bad  invest- 
ment, that  he  forfeited  his  first  payment  and  never 
went  on  with  the  deal.  It  is  historically  inter- 
esting to  compare  that  amount  of  money  with 
what  the  present  owners  of  the  block  (one  of  the 
choicest  in  our  city)  would  be  likely  to  ask  for  it, 
if  approached  at  this  date. 

He  built  the  first  (a  log)  house  on  North  State 
(then  called  North  Wolcott)  Street,  using  it  for 
a  residence  as  early  as  1842.  Soon  after  coming 
to  Chicago,  Mr.  Petrie  invested  in  a  piece  of  land 
on  Dearborn  Street,  which  resulted  in  making 
him  quite  wealthy,  his  rent-roll  at  one  time  be- 
ing, for  the  day,  quite  considerable.  But  his 
property  in  houses  was  swept  away  by  the  great 
fire  of  1871,  leaving  but  little  insurance;  and  had 
it  been  insured  in  the  local  companies,  it  would 
not  have  been  of  much  benefit,  as  most  of  them 
were  compelled  by  the  wholesale  losses  to  go  into 
bankruptcy.  But  he  set  about  with  such  deter- 
mination that  he  soon  made  it  all,  or  more,  up 
again. 

Some  time  after  the  Big  Fire,  he  acquired  a 
valuable  piece  of  property  on  North  State  Street, 
where,  at  No.  273,  he  built  a  modest  home,  which 
he  called  his  homestead,  and  where  he  lived  for 
the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life.  Here  he  cele- 
brated his  golden  wedding,  February  7,  1888; 
and  here,  after  a  lingering  illness,  he  passed 
away  to  his  final  rest,  November  30,  1890,  at  the 


good  old  age  of  seventy-seven,  fifty-one  years  of 
which  had  been  honorably  spent  in  the  city  of 
Chicago. 

The  deceased  was  one  of  the  founders  and 
stanchest  members  of  the  St.  Joseph  Catholic 
Church,  under  whose  auspices  the  obsequies  were 
held,  which  were  attended  by  a  number  of  the 
leading  members  of  that  sect  in  the  city,  and 
then  interment  was  made  in  St.  Boniface  Ceme- 
tery. He  had  worked  well,  he  had  established  a 
good  family  to  bear  on  his  name  in  this  new  coun- 
try, and  the  recent  death  of  a  dear  son  had  even 
further  resigned  him  to  the  mortal  passing  of  the 
spirit. 

For  many  years  he  was  a  prized  member  of  the 
German  Old  Settlers'  Society,  at  one  of  whose 
annual  picnics  Mr.  Petrie  and  his  wife,  as  the 
oldest  couple  present,  in  length  of  life  in  Amer- 
ica, were  awarded  a  gold  medal.  Mrs.  Petrie,  at 
the  Turngeminde  picnic  of  1883,  was  also  given 
a  gold  medal  for  being  the  oldest  lady  settler 
present.  This  is  now  much  treasured  by  a  grand- 
daughter. 

Mrs.  Petrie  survives  her  husband,  filled  with 
charitable  thoughts,  whose  expressions  have  been 
so  many  and  valuable  that  she  is  known  for  them 
all  through  the  city.  Although  rather  infirm  in 
health,  it  is  hoped  by  her  many  friends  that  she 
may  long  be  spared  for  their  delight  and  counsel. 
Eleven  children  have  blessed  their  union,  of 
whom  three  were  taken  in  childhood.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  brief  account  of  them: 

Charles  S.  was  born  September  25,  1840,  and 
is  Assistant  Marshal  and  Secretary  of  the  Chicago 
Fire  Department,  having  charge  of  all  machinery, 
engines  and  repair  shops  belonging  thereto.  He 
has  been  with  the  department  ever  since  1861, 
before  that  time  having  been  employed  as  an  en- 
gineer upon  Mississippi  River  steamboats.  He 
married  Miss  Martha  Morton,  of  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, by  whom  he  has  nine  living  children: 
Philip,  Nicholas,  James,  George,  Charles,  Jr., 
Louis,  Mary,  Mattie,  Florence  and  Rosa. 

Matthias  P.  was  born  September  15,  1842.  His 
first  business  experience  was  with  Berger,  Ruh- 
ling  &  Company,  wholesale  toys,  later  traveling 
for  a  time  for  White  &  Company,  wooden  and  wil- 


B.  F.  HEAD. 


321 


low  ware.  He  then  started  a  grocery  at  the 
corner  of  North  Clark  and  Division  Streets.  After 
the  fire  of  1871,  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  from  which  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  malting  business  with  great  success. 
He  now  has  a  large  malt  house  at  Burlington, 
Racine  County,  Wisconsin,  where  he  resides. 
He  married,  November  15,  1864,  Miss  Katherine 
Weidinger,  of  this  city,  by  whom  he  is  at  present 
the  father  of  three  children:  Edward,  unmarried, 
and  an  engineer  in  the  Chicago  Fire  Department; 
Otto  and  Emma.  Barbara,  the  next  of  the  pa- 
rental family,  was  born  September  18,  1844,  and 
died  January  15,  1868. 

Nicholas,  who  was  born  on  the  7th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1846,  was  married,  on  the  24th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1878,  Miss  Julia  Schoen,  of  Chica- 
go, by  whom  he  has  two  promising  children, 
Cora  and  Katherine.  He  was  with  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirty-second  Illinois  Regiment  in  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  in  1864  and  1865,  and 
acted  some  time  as  Orderly  for  Generals  Paine 
and  Pickett.  He  was  in  the  Chicago  Postoffice  for 
a  term  of  twenty-one  years,  having  been  the  Super- 


intendent of  Foreign  Mails  when  he  resigned.  He 
is  now  a  wholesale  and  retail  liquor  dealer. 

Michael,  born  October  14,  1848,  is  unmarried, 
and  in  the  real-estate  business,  in  which  calling 
he  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  city,  having  formerly 
been  in  partnership  with  Mattocks  &  Mason. 
Joseph  B.,  born  October  24,  1855,  was  in  the 
Chicago  Postomceas  Superintendent  of  the  North 
Division  Postal  Station,  but  of  recent  date  with 
Kirk  Brothers,  as  collector.  He  married  Miss 
Laura  Schlegel,  of  Fond  du  Lac,  Wisconsin,  by 
whom  he  is  the  father  of  two  children,  Walter 
and  Gertrude.  Katherine,  born  February  26, 
1857,  married  George  Hack,  a  large  wagon  man- 
ufacturer of  Crown  Point,  Ind. ;  she  died  Novem- 
ber 18,  1890,  without  issue.  George  Philip,  born 
November  2,  1 859,  was  a  bookkeeper  for  his  broth- 
er Michael;  he  died,  single,  September  17,  1891. 

The  full  account  of  the  life  of  the  first  Ameri- 
can progenitor  and  his  descendants  to  this  date 
will  surely  be  welcomed  by  members  of  the  fam- 
ily, both  born  and  unborn;  and  his  face  is  herein 
preserved  for  the  pride  of  friends  and  relatives 
for  all  time  to  come. 


BENJAMIN  F.  HEAD. 


gENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  HEAD,  an  early 
resident  of  Illinois,  was  born  in  Hillsbor- 
ough,  Ohio,  September  30,  1842.  His  par- 
ents, William  W.  and  Sarah  (Bidamon)  Head, 
were  natives  of  the  same  town.  The  Head  family 
is  of  English  ancestry.  Their  first  American 
progenitors  settled  on  the  east  shore  of  Maryland 
previous  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  William 
Head,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  notice, 
who  was  probably  born  in  Maryland,  became  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Highland  County,  Ohio,  where 
his  wife's  father  was  killed  by  Indians  during  the 
border  struggles  in  which  the  early  history  of 
Ohio  abounds. 


In  1856  William  W.  Head  moved,  with  his  fam- 
ily, to  Macomb,  Illinois,  where  the  balance  of  his 
life  was  spent  upon  a  farm.  His  death  occurred  in 
1891,  at  the  age  of  eighty -six  years.  His  wife 
died  at  Macomb,  December  14,  1892,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-four  years  and  five  months.  She  was 
born  in  Winchester,  Virginia,  and  went  to  Ohio 
with  her  parents  during  her  childhood. 

Benjamin  F.  Head  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Hillsborough  and  Macomb.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  years,  he  left  home  and  came  to  Chicago, 
securing  employment  as  brakeman  on  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad.  Being  a  youth  of  regular  hab- 
its and  punctual  character,  he  gained  promotion 


322 


K.  D.  REDINGTON. 


successively  to  freight  and  passenger  conductor. 
He  served  in  the  last-mentioned  capacity  for  seven 
years,  being  employed  in  the  suburban  service. 
He  had  charge  of  the  first  Hyde  Park  suburban 
train,  and  made  occasional  trips  on  through  trains. 
His  efficiency  and  faithfulness  won  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  the  officials  of  the  corporation,  and 
he  was  in  a  fair  way  to  further  promotion  when 
he  resigned  his  position  in  1880.  He  then  began 
dealing  in  real  estate  in  Chicago,  and  has  been 
successful  in  that  line.  His  operations  include 
all  kinds  of  city  and  suburban  property,  and  he  is 
well  known  among  holders  and  investors. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Old 
Reliable  Railroad  Conductors'  Association,  of 
Columbus,  Ohio,  but  abandoned  that  organiza- 
tion in  1879,  when  he  became  identified  with  the 
Conductors'  Mutual  Aid  and  Benefit  Association 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  of  which  organ- 
ization he  is  now  one  of  the  Directors.  He  was 
one  of  the  early  members  of  Chicago  Council  No. 
58,  National  Union,  and  has  served  as  Treasurer 


and  Vice-President  thereof,  and  is  one  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Oakland  Methodist  Church.  In 
the  building  of  the  property  of  the  latter  organiza- 
tion, he  was  an  active  worker  and  contributor  of 
his  means. 

He  was  married  in  1868  to  Mary  E.  Work, 
daughterof  John  C.  Work,  of  Hillsborough,  Ohio. 
Two  sons  complete  the  family  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Head,  named  Harry  and  Paul  F. ,  the  former  being 
employed  in  the  office  of  the  Rookery  Building. 

Since  1873  the  family  residence  has  been  on 
Drexel  and  Oakwood  Boulevards.  Mr.  Head  has 
been  a  life-long  advocate  of  Republican  principles, 
and  has  frequently  served  as  clerk  and  judge  of 
elections.  In  1889,  during  President  Harrison's 
administration,  he  was  appointed  the  first  Super- 
intendent of  the  Hyde  Park  Postal  Station,  but 
resigned  that  position  at  the  end  of  fourteen 
months,  owing  to  private  business  cares  requiring 
his  attention.  He  is  an  energetic  and  public- 
spirited  citizen,  and  enjoys  the  esteem  and  friend- 
ship of  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances. 


EDWARD  D.  REDINGTON. 


ITDWARD  DANA  REDINGTON,  a  weii- 

rp  known  resident  of  Evanston  and  business 
I  man  of  Chicago,  son  of  Edward  C.  and  Caro- 
line D.  (Stearns)  Redington,  was  born  November 
12,  1839,  at  Chelsea,  Vermont.  He  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  Chelsea  and  at  the  St. 
Johnsbury  Academy,  whence  he  went  to  Dart- 
mouth College,  graduating  from  that  famous  in- 
stitution with  the  Class  of  1861.  After  graduat- 
ing he  was  a  teacher  in  St.  Johnsbury  Academy 
for  one  year,  and  in  the  winter  of  1863-64,  he 
served  as  Assistant  Cashier  of  the  Passumpsic 
Bank. 

From  1862  to  the  close  of  1865  Mr.  Redington 
was  actively  engaged  in  the  defense  of  the  Union. 


He  enlisted  in  the  Twelfth  Vermont  Volunteers 
August  23,  1862,  and  was  Sergeant-Major  to  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1863,  and  afterward  Second  Lieutenant 
of  Company  I  until  mustered  out  July  14,  1863. 
On  the  24th  of  February,  1864,  President  Lin- 
coln appointed  him  additional  Paymaster,  United 
States  Volunteers,  with  the  rank  of  Major,  and  he 
remained  on  duty  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
until  June  24,  1865,  when  he  was  ordered  to 
Springfield,  Illinois,  to  pay  mustered-out  troops. 
He  served  there  until  November  30,  1865,  at 
which  date  he  was  discharged  from  service. 

From  1866  to  1871  he  was  employed  by  the 
Kansas  Pacific  Railroad  Company  as  cashier  and 
paymaster,  residing  successively  at  Wyandotte, 


,„ 


(From  Photo  by  W.  J.  ROOT). 


JAMES  B.  KELLOGG. 


J.  B.  KELLOGG. 


323 


Leavenworth  and  Lawrence,  Kansas.  In  1871 
he  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade  at  Lawrence,  con- 
tinuing that  busines  there  until  1875,  when  he 
removed  to  Chicago.  For  the  next  twelve  years 
he  followed  the  same  business  in  this  city.  Since 
1888  he  has  been  connected  with  the  Provident 
Life  and  Trust  Company,  of  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  its  Chicago  agency.  These  several 
positions,  and  his  continuance  therein,  indicate 
his  superior  executive  faculty,  as  well  as  persist- 
ence and  integrity. 

Mr.  Redington  has  been  twice  married,  the 
first  union  being  with  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of 
Ephraim  and  Mary  Ann  Chamberlin,  of  St. 
Johnsbury,  their  wedding  taking  place  there  No- 
vember 15,  1864.  Mrs.  Redington  died  in  April, 
1880,  leaving  three  children,  who  still  survive, 
namely:  Lizzie  Stearns;  John  Chase  and  Paul 
Goodwin,  twins.  The  second  marriage  occurred 
on  the  1 8th  of  May,  1882,  the  bride  being  Mary 
Julia,  daughter  of  Ezra  and  Julia  R.  Towne,  of 
Topsfield,  Massachusetts,  by  whom  he  has  one 
child,  Theodore  Towne  Redington.  The  family 
affiliates  with  the  First  Congregational  Church 
of  Evanston,  where  they  have  resided  since  1884. 


Mr.  Redington  has  been  prominent  in  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  serving  as  Aide  on 
Commander  Veazey's  staff  in  1891.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  Commaudery  of  the  Loyal 
Legion,  of  the  Western  Society  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  and  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution. He  has  been  President  of  the  Chicago 
Alumni  Association  of  Dartmouth  College,  was 
President  of  the  Chicago  Association  Sons  of 
Vermont  for  1894,  an<i  on  the  22d  of  January,  of 
that  year,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Chi- 
cago Congregational  Club  for  the  ensuing  year. 
During  the  last-named  year,  he  was  also  one  of 
the  Vice- Presidents  of  the  Chicago  Association 
of  Life  Underwriters.  He  is  a  Republican  in 
politics,  though  while  living  at  Lawrence,  Kan- 
sas, in  1873,  he  was  the  Prohibition  candidate  for 
Mayor  of  that  city,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
School  Board  from  1872  to  1875.  The  foregoing 
is  sufficient  comment  upon  the  superior  social  as 
well  as  business  qualifications  of  Mr.  Redington, 
and  illustrates  the  confidence  and  esteem  which 
he  enjoys  among  his  fellows.  He  is  cordial  in 
manner,  and  his  easy  bearing  betokens  good 
breeding  and  a  sound  heart  and  brain. 


JAMES  B.  KELLOGG. 


(TAMES  BRADFORD  KELLOGG,  a  marine 
I  underwriter  and  adjuster  of  long  experience 
Q)  and  acknowledged  capability,  was  born  in 
Whitesboro,  New  York,  September  9,  1825.  He 
is  the  eldest  son  of  EH  C.  Kellogg  and  Lu- 
cretia  Barnard.  The  former  was  born  in  Shef- 
field, Massachusetts,  his  family  being  of  Scotch 
lineage.  While  a  young  man,  he  went  to  New 
York,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness. In  1835  he  removed  to  Monroe,  Michigan, 
and  continued  in  the  same  occupation  for  ten 


years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  became  a 
resident  of  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  and  after  con- 
ducting a  mercantile  business  for  a  time,  he  en- 
gaged in  milling.  His  death  occurred  in  that 
city  in  1855,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four  years.  Mrs. 
Lucretia  Kellogg,  who  was  a  native  of  the  Em- 
pire State,  died  at  Whitesboro,  while  on  a  visit 
to  that  place,  in  1838.  Of  their  six  children, 
James  is  the  only  resident  of  Illinois.  Edgar, 
the  youngest  son,  now  a  resident  of  Denver,  Colo- 
rado, is  the  only  other  survivor. 


324 


J.  B.  KELLOGG. 


James  attended  a  private  school  at  Monroe, 
Michigan,  with  the  expectation  of  adopting  a 
professional  career,  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of 
his  parents,  and  in  1841  he  entered  the  Michigan 
State  University  at  Ann  Arbor,  becoming  a  mem- 
ber of  the  first  freshman  class  of  that  famous  in- 
stitution. Owing  to  his  father's  financial  embar- 
rassment, following  a  crisis  which  had  overspread 
the  country  a  few  years  previous,  he  was  obliged 
to  abandon  his  college  course  at  the  end  of  one 
year.  He  then  became  clerk  and  bookkeeper  in 
his  father's  establishment,  and  for  the  next  few 
years  devoted  his  energy  and  talents  to  the  recup- 
eration of  the  family  fortunes.  He  accompanied 
his  father  to  Milwaukee  in  the  same  capacity, 
and  in  1852  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his 
father  in  the  milling  business.  This  enterprise, 
however,  was  not  successful,  but  his  operations 
in  that  city  had  been  marked  by  such  clerical 
ability  and  integrity  as  to  secure  the  confidence 
of  many  of  the  business  men  of  the  city,  and  in 
1853  he  was  tendered  the  position  of  Secretary  of 
the  Commercial  Insurance  Company  of  Milwau- 
kee. This  corporation  was  then  in  its  infancy, 
and  he  established  its  affairs  upon  a  substantial 
basis,  and  continued  to  have  charge  of  its  office 
affairs,  with  the  exception  of  one  and  one-half 
years,  until  1864,  when  the  company  suspended 
business,  though  in  a  sound  financial  condition. 
During  the  interval  above  alluded  to,  he  offici- 
ated as  Cashier  of  the  Exchange  Bank  of  William 
J.  Bell  &  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  organized 
under  the  State  L,aw  of  Wisconsin. 

For  several  years  prior  to  1865  Mr.  Kellogg 
was  Secretary  of  the  Milwaukee  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  and  was  presented  by  his  associates 
on  his  retirement  with  a  very  handsome  silver  to- 
bacco box,  filled  with  a  new  brand  of  the  weed 
known  as  "Lincoln  Greenbacks,"  as  stated  by 
Judge  Levi  Hubbell,  who  made  the  presentation 
speech,  as  a  token  of  the  regard  and  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  them.  At  the  date  last 
mentioned  he  went  to  New  York  City,  and  en- 
tered into  a  contract  with  the  Underwriters' 
Agency  of  that  city  to  manage  its  lake  marine 
department  for  three  years.  His  previous  expe- 
rience in  underwriting  had  been  largely  in  the 


line  of  marine  risks,  and  his  readiness  and  busi- 
ness tact  proved  of  great  advantage  to  his  em- 
ployers. At  the  expiration  of  this  contract  he 
came  to  Chicago  and  took  charge  of  the  marine 
department  of  the  Home  Insurance  Company  of 
this  city.  A  few  months  later  this  company  dis- 
continued its  marine  business,  a  departure  which 
greatly  disappointed  Mr.  Kellogg,  who  antici- 
pated a  large  and  lucrative  line  of  risks  at  this 
port. 

Returning  to  Milwaukee,  he  re-engaged  in  ma- 
rine insurance,  and  in  the  summer  of  1869  or- 
ganized the  Northwestern  National  Insurance 
Company  of  Milwaukee,  intended  especially  for 
marine  and  fire  underwriting.  Among  the  prin- 
cipal stockholders  and  directors  of  this  company 
were  many  of  the  chief  capitalists  of  that  city, 
some  of  whom  have  since  gained  a  national  repu- 
tation as  financiers.  It  is  still  doing  a  flourishing 
business,  and  numbers  Mr.  P.  D.  Armour  among 
its  directors.  Mr.  Kellogg  was  the  Secretary 
and  Manager,  and  under  his  skillful  conduct  it 
rapidly  grew  to  prominence  among  underwriters. 

In  February,  1872,  he  severed  his  connection 
with  this  company,  and  the  following  year  be- 
came once  more  a  resident  of  Chicago,  where  he 
has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  marine  underwrit- 
ing and  in  adjusting  marine  losses.  Since  1892 
the  firm  of  Kellogg  &  Robinson,  of  which  he  is  the 
head,  has  been  the  only  one  in  Chicago  giving 
exclusive  attention  to  marine  adjusting.  He  is 
thoroughly  familiar  with  marine  law,  and  is  con- 
sidered an  authority  upon  all  questions  pertain- 
ing to  marine  insurance.  His  advice  is  often 
sought  by  underwriters,  and  he  is  frequently 
called  upon  to  arbitrate  between  the  companies 
and  their  policy-holders.  His  sound  judgment 
and  spirit  of  fairness,  combined  with  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  values,  conspire  to  make  his  de- 
cisions just  and  acceptable.  For  twenty-two 
years  past  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  which  connection  has  proved  advantage- 
ous to  his  other  interests. 

While  avoiding  club  life,  Mr.  Kellogg  has  never 
shirked  any  proper  social  duties,  and  is  a  patron 
of  those  refining  institutions  which  tend  to  de- 
velop the  best  elements  of  the  people  in  a  large 


FRANKLIN    CHAVETT. 


325 


city.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Art  Institute  and 
the  Field  Columbian  Museum,  and  adheres  to  the 
faith  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  he  was 
reared.  For  some  years  he  was  prominent  in  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  in  1852 
was  Grand  Representative  from  Wisconsin  to  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States,  after  serving 
several  years  as  Secretary  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
the  State.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  for  many  years  was  act- 
ive in  its  councils  and  labors.  While  a  resident 
of  Wisconsin,  he  was  for  some  years  Grand  Sec- 
retary of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  that  State.  In 
early  life  he  was  identified  with  the  Whig  party, 
and  cast  his  first  Presidential  vote  for  Zachary 
Taylor;  but  since  the  disintegration  of  that  party 
he  has  been  an  advocate  of  Democratic  princi- 
ples, though  never  an  aspirant  for  public  posi- 
tion. One  of  the  earliest  political  events  in  his 


recollection  is  a  gathering  at  Fort  Meigs  during 
the  famous  "Tippecanoe"  campaign  of  1840,  at 
which  William  Henry  Harrison  was  the  chief 
orator.  Following  the  custom  of  those  days, 
people  from  several  neighboring  counties  assem- 
bled, and  the  proceedings,  which  lasted  for  sev- 
eral days,  created  a  deep  impression  on  the  youth- 
ful mind  of  Mr.  Kellogg. 

Mr.  Kellogg  has  been  twice  married,  first  at 
Fort  Plain,  New  York,  October  14,  1852,  to  H. 
Jane  Diefendorf,  daughter  of  Dr.  James  and 
Nancy  Diefendorf,  of  that  place.  The  only  sur- 
viving child  of  this  union  is  Helen,  wife  of 
Charles  P.  Woodruff,  of  Rochester,  New  York. 
Mr.  Kellogg  was  again  married,  March  10,  1884, 
at  Manchester,  Iowa,  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Durey. 
This  lady  is  the  youngest  daughter  of  William 
and  Rebecca  Durey  and  a  native  of  Bethesden, 
Kent,  England. 


DR.  FRANKLIN  CHAVETT. 


BR.  FRANKLIN  CHAVETT,  for  forty  years 
a  practitioner  of  medicine  in  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago, was  born  in  New  York  City  June  14, 
1 8 1 1 .  In  the  following  year,  owing  to  threatened 
financial  troubles  occasioned  by  the  declaration  of 
war  against  England  by  this  country,  he  was 
taken  by  his  parents  home  to  France,  where  two 
years  later  his  father  died. 

The  estate  left  was  amply  sufficient  to  allow  of 
a  most  excellent  education  being  given  the  son, 
his  medical  schooling  being  obtained  at  the  Royal 
College  of  Besancon.  Years  later,  he  was  also 
granted  a  diploma  by  the  Bennett  Medical  Col- 
lege of  Chicago 

At  the  ape  of  twenty-one,  he  returned  to  Amer- 


ica, settling  in  New  York  City,  the  scene  of  his 
nativity,  where  he  was  a  successful  practitioner 
of  medicine  for  over  a  score  of  years.  But  in 
1853,  filled  with  dreams  of  renewed  health  and 
accumulated  fortunes  in  the  new  Eldorado,  he  re- 
moved to  Chicago,  locating  on  State  Street,  be- 
tween Madison  and  Monroe,  where  for  another 
score  of  years  he  kept  a  home  and  office,  and 
built  up  one  of  the  finest  practices  in  medicine 
enjoyed  by  any  physician  of  those  days. 

In  1873,  for  private  reasons,  he  sold  his  down- 
town property  to  remove  to  Englewood  in  the 
suburbs,  at  that  time  but  a  small  village,  but  now 
grown  to  one  of  the  finest  residence  neighbor- 
hoods en  mile.  He  here  built  a  fine  residence 


326 


FRANKLIN  CHAVETT. 


on  Yale  Avenue,  and  quickly  came  to  be  recog- 
nized, as  what  he  was  esteemed  to  the  very  lastby 
his  friends  and  associates,  a  most  charming  com- 
panion, trustworthy  friend  and  superior  doctor. 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  being  in  af- 
fluent circumstances,  and  having  built  up  a  de- 
mand for  his  remedies  on  the  part  of  patients  liv- 
ing long  distances  from  his  home,  he  wished,  and 
was  fortunately  able,  to  cease  active  practice  for 
the  most;  save  in  complying  with  very  numerous 
demands  from  abroad  for  his  diagnosis  and  treat- 
ment, which  were  mainly  carried  on  by  mail.  In 
this  inexacting  manner,  he  was  enabled  to  in- 
crease his  fortunes  in  a  comfortably  easy  way ;  for 
his  final  years  were  weighed  down  by  a  complica- 
tion of  maladies  attendant  upon  old  age  and  the 
wear  and  tear  of  a  very  busily  occupied  life. 

He  died  at  his  home  on  the  loth  day  of  No- 
vember, 1 894,  at  the  hale  old  age  of  eighty-three, 
universally  loved  and  respected.  His  remains 
were  taken  to  Mount  Olivet. 

Doctor  Chavett  was  twice  married — first  in 
New  York  City,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  to  Miss 
Catherine  Purcell,  who,  after  bearing  him  six 
children,  died  in  1848.  Of  these  children,  all 
but  one,  Miss  Gabrielle  Chavett,  died  before  their 
father.  Miss  Chavett,  whose  health  is  far  from 
strong,  passed  the  final  months  of  her  father's 
life  in  administering  to  his  wants,  as  only  a  dear 
devoted  daughter  can.  Some  years  after  his  ar- 
rival in  Chicago,  the  doctor  again  married,  this 
time  Miss  Elizabeth  Bannon,  who  died  in  July, 
1 894,  leaving  no  children.  Aside  from  the  daugh- 
ter afore-mentioned,  there  are  but  two  grandchil- 
dren, living  in  the  East,  who  remain  of  the 
doctor's  line. 

Doctor  Chavett  was  in  good  standing  in  his 
profession  and  thoroughly  ethical  in  all  his 
transactions.  He  was  an  honored  member  of  the 
National,  State  and  local  Medical  Societies,  and 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Union  Medical  So- 
ciety of  Englewood,  of  which  he  was  for  many 
years  Treasurer.  Some  of  the  foregoing  societies 
have  passed  touching  resolutions  on  their  loss, 
since  his  death. 

Doctor  Chavett  comes  of  a  distinguished  French 
family.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  a  soldier 


in  the  French  army;  and  on  the  occasion  of  the 
visit  of  Benjamin  Franklin  to  solicit  aid  from  that 
country  for  the  American  Colonies  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  was  acting  as  sentry  at  the 
door  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  This  fact  gave 
him  an  opportunity  of  hearing  Franklin' s  stirring 
appeal  to  his  countrymen;  being  thoroughly 
stirred  thereby,  and  his  term  of  service  under  the 
tricolor  having  soon  expired,  he  enlisted  his 
fortunes  with  the  great  and  magnanimous  LaFay- 
ette,  with  whom  he  came  to  America,  and  under 
whose  banner  he  fought  in  many  notable  battles, 
being  present  at  the  final  surrender  at  Yorktown. 
After  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  he  re- 
turned to  his  native  country,  where  he  continued 
to  reside  until  his  death.  But  so  deep  was  his 
regard  for  this  New  World,  that  he  persuaded  his 
daughter  (who  had  married  the  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch)  to  come  to  New  York  City, 
where  Doctor  Chavett  was  born,  as  hereinbefore 
narrated.  There  is  a  strain  of  noble  blood  in  the 
family,  readily  discernable  in  the  observation  by 
the  doctor  of  the  Noblesse  oblige. 

There  is  melancholy  thought  inspired  by  the 
dying  out  of  a  once  proud  and  honorable  line. 
For  here  ends  the  male  line  of  which  the  doctor 
was  descended,  and  of  which  he  was  so  worthy  a 
flower.  It  is  therefore  with  unusual,  though  sad, 
pleasure  (inasmuch  as  the  last  of  the  lifework 
of  this  family  is  done)  that  this  opportunity  is  ac- 
cepted to  present  with  fairly  impartial  words  the 
name  and  fame  of  the  deceased.  The  likeness 
seen  upon  an  adjoining  page  is  a  lifelike  picture 
of  the  most  kindly,  intellectual  face  of  him  who  has 
spoken  words  of  encouragement  to  thousands  of 
sufferers,  and  whose  deeds  have  verily  raised 
from  the  grasp  of  death  many  a  poor  fellow- 
creature  seemingly  doomed  to  an  untimely  grave. 

His  friends,  who  knew  the  goodness  of  his 
heart,  will  never  forget  him  in  their  lives;  but 
since  all  are  destined  soon  to  pass  away,  it  will 
be  with  growing  satisfaction  that  future  genera- 
tions will  look  upon  the  lineaments  of  our  friend, 
and  pause  from  active  life  to  contemplate  the 
long  and  useful  career  of  one  of  God's  noblemen, 
who  first  came  to  the  new  West  to  bestow  hap- 
piness and  health  upon  the  wretched. 


L.  D.  CASTLE. 


327 


LESTER  D.  CASTLE. 


I  ESTER  D.  CASTLE,  who  is  now  living  a 
It  retired  life  in  Harrington,  is  numbered  among 
[_2?  the  honored  early  settlers  of  Cook  County  of 
1843.  His  residence,  therefore,  within  its  borders 
covers  a  period  of  half  a  century.  The  record  of 
his  life  is  as  follows:  He  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Florence,  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  March  4, 
1827,  and  is  a  son  of  Edward  Castle,  who  was 
born  in  Waterbury,  Conn.,  December  19,  1800. 
He  was  reared,  however,  in  the  Empire  State, 
whither  he  was  taken  when  two  years  old  by  his 
father,  Phineas  Castle,  who  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Florence.  His  great-grandfather,  Phin- 
eas Castle,  Sr. ,  was  a  Captain  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War.  The  mother  of  our  subject  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Jerusha  W.  Bellows.  She  was 
born  in  New  York,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Abner 
Bellows,  an  early  settler  of  Florence,  Oneida 
County. 

In  1843  Edward  Castle  emigrated  to  the  West 
with  his  family  and  located  in  Palatine  Township, 
Cook  County,  where  he  made  a  claim  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres,  purchasing  the  land  from 
the  Government.  It  was  a  wild  tract,  upon  which 
not  a  furrow  had  been  turned  or  an  improvement 
made,  but  he  transformed  it  into  a  good  farm  and 
continued  its  cultivation  for  a  number  of  years. 
His  last  years  were  spent  in  Barrington,  and  he 
was  buried  in  the  Barrington  Cemetery  in  1871. 
His  wife  still  survives  him  and  lives  with  her  son 
Lester,  a  well-preserved  old  lady  of  eighty-six 
years.  Our  subject  is  the  eldest  of  four  children, 
the  others  being  Emily,  deceased,  wife  of  William 
Lytle;  Rhoda  J.,  wife  of  ex-Gov.  Ira  J.  Chase,  of 
Irvington,  Ind. ;  and  Charlotte,  deceased,  wife  of 
Alfred  S.  Henderson. 

Mr.  Castle  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  spent 
the  first  sixteen  years  of  his  life  in  his  native 
State,  and  in  its  common  schools  began  his  educa- 
tion, which  was  completed  by  study  in  Waukegan 


Academy.  He  then  successfully  followed  teach- 
ing during  ten  winter  terms.  Having  purchased 
a  half  of  the  old  homestead,  he  carried  on  farm- 
ing during  the  summer  months.  On  his  father's 
death  he  became  sole  owner  of  the  old  home  farm, 
to  which  he  added  a  forty-acre  tract  adjoining, 
making  in  all  a  fine  farm  of  two  hundred  acres  of 
valuable  land.  Upon  it  are  good  buildings,  and 
the  place  is  well  improved.  Its  owner  is  always 
regarded  as  an  enterprising  and  progressive  agri- 
culturist, and  by  his  well-directed  efforts  he  has 
acquired  a  handsome  competency.  In  1877  he 
rented  his  farm  to  his  son,  and  removed  to  Bar- 
rington, but  after  two  years  returned  to  the  old 
home,  and  again  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits 
until  1887,  when  he  purchased  a  residence,  and 
has  since  lived  retired  in  this  place.  He  owns 
one  of  the  nicest  homes  in  Barrington. 

Mr.  Castle  was  married  in  Lake  County,  June 
9,  1852,  to  Miss  Lucy  A.  Taylor,  daughter  of 
Samuel  Taylor,  of  Warren  Township,  that  county. 
She  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  but  was  reared 
and  educated  in  Ohio  and  Illinois.  They  have 
seven  children:  Arthur  L.,  who  is  married  and 
resides  in  Elgin,  where  he  is  employed  in  the 
postoffice;  P.  V.,  a  prominent  attorney  of  Chi- 
cago, a  member  of  the  firm  of  Cutting  &  Castle; 
Charles,  who  is  Postmaster  of  Austin;  Pearley 
D.,  who  is  cashier  of  the  Austin  State  Bank; 
Ben  B.,  a  salesman  in  the  employ  of  Farwell 
&  Co.,  of  Chicago;  Eva,  a  successful  teacher, 
now  employed  in  Irving  Park;  and  Lottie,  wife  of 
C.  W.  Coltrin,  a  dentist  of  Austin. 

Mr.  Castle  was  first  a  Democrat.  In  1848  he 
cast  his  first  vote  for  Martin  Van  Buren,  and  in 
1852  supported  John  P.  Hale.  In  1856  he  voted 
for  John  C.  Fremont,  and  has  since  been  a  stal- 
wart advocate  of  the  men  and  measures  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  has  himself  been  elected 
to  a  number  of  local  offices,  having  served  as 


328 


0.  T.  MAXSON. 


Township  Clerk,  Town  Supervisor,  and  as  County 
Supervisor  for  two  terms.  He  was  also  Town- 
ship Treasurer  for  about  fifteen  years,  and  is  now 
serving  his  second  term  as  Police  Magistrate. 
He  has  been  a  delegate  to  numerous  county  con- 
ventions. The  cause  of  education  has  ever  found 
in  him  a  warm  friend,  and  he  has  done  effective 
service  in  its  interest  during  the  many  years  he 


has  been  a  member  of  the  School  Board.  His 
mother  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Mr.  Castle  is  a  valued  and  progressive 
citizen,  who  is  ever  found  on  the  side  of  right  and 
order,  and  who  has  always  taken  a  commendable 
interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of 
the  community  in  which  he  has  so  long  made  his 
home. 


DR.  O.  T.  MAXSON. 


0R.  O.  T.  MAXSON,  who  is  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  the  medical  profession  in  South 
Evanston,  has  built  up  a  good  business,  for 
he  is  well  versed  in  everything  connected  with 
the  science  and  has  spared  neither  labor  nor  ex- 
pense in  perfecting  himself  for  his  chosen  calling. 
His  skill  and  ability  are  now  recognized,  and  he 
has  not  only  won  a  liberal  patronage,  but  has  also 
gained  a  high  reputation  among  his  professional 
brethren. 

The  Doctor  was  born  in  Centreville,  Allegany 
County,  N.  Y.,  March  29,  1824,  and  is  one  of 
seven  children,  four  sons  and  three  daughters, 
who  were  born  unto  Joseph  and  Amelia  (Ward) 
Maxson.  Only  two  of  the  family  are  now  living, 
the  Doctor,  and  Caroline,  who  is  the  widow  of 
Dr.  J.  W.  Beardsley,  of  Minneapolis,  Minn.  The 
parents  were  both  natives  of  Rhode  Island.  The 
father  was  a  trader,  farmer  and  merchant.  In 
1846,  he  removed  to  Bradford,  Wis.,  where  he 
lived  for  twenty-four  years,  his  death  occurring 
in  1864,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  His  wife 
passed  away  in  1846,  at  the  age  of  forty-six  years. 
Both  were  members  of  the  Universalist  Church. 
They  built  the  house  of  worship  in  Centreville, 
N.  Y.,  and  for  two  years  paid  the  salary  of  the 
minister.  The  paternal  grandfather,  Joseph  Max- 
son,  was  a  very  wealthy  man.  His  father  also 
bore  the  name  of  Joseph.  The  grandfather 
Ward  was  a  farmer  and  had  a  family  of  fifteen 


children,   all  of  whom  lived  to  be  married,  and 
nine  of  whom  died  in  1846. 

Orrin  T.  Maxson  was  reared  in  Centreville, 
N.  Y.,  and  there  acquired  his  early  education. 
He  afterwards  attended  Rush  Medical  College,  in 
Chicago,  for  he  had  determined  to  make  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  his  life  work,  and  was  graduated 
from  that  institution  in  the  Class  of  '49.  He 
then  established  a  hospital  in  Nevada,  Colo.,  in 
connection  with  Dr.  Clark,  and  was  at  that  place 
one  year,  after  which  he  went  to  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Croix  River,  and  bought  out  the  old  fur 
company  of  that  place.  He  there  platted  what 
afterwards  became  the  city  of  Prescott,  Wis.  He 
there  remained  for  fifteen  years,  and  during  most 
of  the  time  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  his  pro- 
fession. 

In  1 86 1,  the  Doctor  entered  the  service  of  his 
country,  joining  the  boys  in  blue  of  Company  A, 
Twelfth  Wisconsin  Infantry.  He  served  until 
after  the  siege  of  Atlanta,  when  he  was  honorably 
discharged,  his  three-year  term  having  expired. 
He  held  the  rank  of  captain,  yet  most  of  the  time 
was  detailed  as  a  surgeon.  After  the  war  he  en- 
gaged in  practice  in  Waukegan  and  Chicago  for 
a  long  period,  seventeen  years  of  that  time  being 
spent  in  the  former  city.  Leaving  Waukegan  in 
1883,  he  removed  to  Evanston,  where  he  has 
since  made  his  home.  He  has  built  up  a  large 
practice,  and  his  success  is  well  merited. 


'       'KY 
THE 
UNIVERSI     '  OF  ILII 


JOHN  ROBERTSON. 


JOHN  ROBERTSON. 


329 


In  December,  1846,  Dr.  Maxson  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Eunice  McCray,  daughter  of 
William  and  Candace  (McKinney)  McCray,  na- 
tives of  Tollaud,  Conn.  Five  children  have  been 
born  unto  them,  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  but 
Herrick,  Orrin  and  Almira  are  now  deceased. 
Orrin  Prescott,  who  was  the  third  in  order  of 
birth,  is  now  a  practicing  physician  of  Wauke- 
gan.  He  married  Miss  Kittie  Sherman,  and  they 
have  four  children,  a  son  and  three  daughters: 
Eunora,  Evelyn,  Leta  and  Harold.  Amelia,  who 
was  the  youngest  of  the  Doctor's  family,  is  the 
widow  of  L.  L-  Knox,  and  now  lives  with  her  fa- 
ther in  Evanston.  She  has  two  children,  Orrin 
and  Helen. 

While  residing  in  Wisconsin,  Dr.  Maxson 
served  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  for  several 
years,  and  was  chairman  of  the  railroad  commit- 
tee which  disposed  of  the  land  grant.  He  was 
for  six  years  State  Regent  of  the  Normal  Schools 


of  Wisconsin,  which  included  all  the  colleges  and 
schools  that  had  Normal  classes  in  the  State.  Gov. 
Randall  was  a  particular  friend  of  the  Doctor's, 
and,  unsolicited,  appointed  him  County  Judge  of 
Pierce  County,  Wis.  In  politics,  he  was  in  early 
life  a  Democrat,  but  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  he  joined  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party 
and  has  since  been  one  of  its  stanch  advocates. 
In  his  official  duties  he  has  ever  been  found  faith- 
ful and  true,  endeavoring  to  serve  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  people.  Both  himself  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Congregational  Church,  their 
connection  covering  a  period  of  forty  years  The 
Doctor  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  also  be- 
longs to  the  Odd  Fellows'  Society.  While  in 
Waukegan,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Lake  Coun- 
ty Medical  Society.  The  Doctor  owns  landed  in- 
terests in  various  parts  of  this  county,  and  a  home 
property  and  other  real  estate  in  Evanston. 


JOHN    ROBERTSON. 


(TOHN  ROBERTSON,  a  highly  respected  citi- 
I  zen  of  Barrington,  now  practically  living  retir- 
O  ed,  is  numbered  among  the  native  sons  of  Illi- 
nois, his  birth  having  occurred  in  Lake  County, 
December  29,  1844.  His  father,  John  Robertson, 
was  born  in  New  Hampshire,  October  20,  1810, 
and  in  1837  emigrated  westward  to  this  State, 
settling  near  Deer  Grove,  Lake  County.  He  was 
one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of  that  locality.  He 
married  Charlotte  Sutherland,  who  was  born  in 
Vermont,  but  in  her  girlhood  came  to  this  State 
with  her  father,  an  honored  pioneer  of  Cook 
County.  Mr.  Robertson  started  out  in  life  for 
himself  with  no  capital  save  a  young  man's  bright 
hope  of  the  future  and  a  determination  to  suc- 
ceed, but  by  industry  and  good  management 
he  worked  his  way  upward  and  became  a  sub- 
stantial citizen.  He  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  Lake  County.  He  took  an  active 


part  in  local  politics  and  held  numerous  official 
positions  of  honor  and  trust,  discharging  his  duties 
with  credit  to  himself  and  satisfaction  to  his  con- 
stituents. He  passed  away  September  8,  1877, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  and  his  wife  died  two 
years  previous,  in  1875.  They  lie  buried  in  Fair- 
field  Cemetery,  where  a  monument  has  been 
erected  to  their  memory. 

John  Robertson  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth 
in  their  family  of  four  sons  and  five  daughters. 
Lydia,  the  eldest,  is  the  wife  of  William  Hicks, 
of  Palatine;  Silas  is  living  retired  in  Barrington; 
Cordelia  is  the  wife  of  Edward  Clark,  of  Barring- 
ton;  Persis  is  the  wife  of  James  Diamond,  of  Nor- 
mal Park;  Joseph  died  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
years;  Mary  is  the  wife  of  Charles  Patten,  of 
Palatine;  Elmer  resides  in  Palatine;  and  Lida 
died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

In  his  parents'  home,  John  Robertson  spent  the 


33« 


G.  W.  WATERMAN. 


days  of  his  boyhood  and  youth,  and  the  schools 
of  Lake  County  afforded  him  his  educational  priv- 
ileges. After  arriving  at  mature  years  he  turned 
his  attention  to  farming,  which  he  followed  in 
Lake  County  for  twenty  years.  He  owned  and 
operated  four  hundred  acres  of  valuable  land  and 
was  a  successful  agriculturist.  In  1887  he  rented 
his  farm,  purchased  a  residence  in  Barrington, 
and  has  since  made  his  home  in  this  place.  He 
owns  a  large  and  valuable  farm  at  Lake  Zurich, 
where  he  has  a  nice  summer  residence,  and  each 
year  he  and  his  family  there  spend  about  four 
months.  He  is  also  one  of  the  stockholders  arid 
directors  in  the  Barrington  Bank,  and  is  President 
of  that  institution,  which  is  one  of  the  solid  finan- 
cial concerns  of  the  county.  He  is  a  man  of  good 
business  and  executive  ability,  who  by  careful  at- 
tention to  the  details  of  his  business  and  well-di- 
rected efforts  has  won  a  success  which  is  the 
just  reward  of  his  labors. 

On  the  3d  of  October,  1866,  in  Lake  County, 
Mr.    Robertson   married  Julia   E.,    daughter   of 


David  Parker,  who  removed  from  Vermont  to 
Lake  County  in  an  early  day,  and  there  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  His  daughter  was  born  in 
Erie  County,  N.  Y.,  but  was  reared  in  this  State. 
Our  subject  and  his  wife  have  five  children:  Cora, 
wife  of  A.  J.  Leonard,  of  Rockefeller,  111. ;  Albert 
L-,  who  is  Cashier  of  the  Barrington  Bank;  Emma, 
at  home;  Frank,  a  successful  teacher  of  Cook 
County;  and  Lydia,  who  is  attending  school  in 
Mayfair. 

Since  casting  his  first  Presidential  vote  for  Gen. 
Grant  in  1868,  Mr.  Robertson  has  been  a  stalwart 
advocate  of  the  Republican  party  and  its  princi- 
ples, and  has  frequently  served  as  a  delegate  to 
its  conventions.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Barring- 
ton  Lodge  of  Modern  Woodmen,  and  is  a  chari- 
table and  benevolent  man,  who  contributes  liber- 
ally to  churches  and  worthy  enterprises,  and  does 
all  in  his  power  to  advance  the  best  interests  of 
the  community.  His  sterling  worth  and  many 
excellencies  of  character  have  made  him  a  highly 
respected  citizen. 


GEORGE  W.  WATERMAN. 


gEORGE  W.  WATERMAN,  a  retired  farmer 
residing  in  Barrington,  is  one  of  the  worthy  cit- 
izens that  Massachusetts  has  furnished  toCook 
County.  He  was  born  in  the  town  of  North  Ad- 
ams, Berkshire  County,  on  November  17,  1826, 
and  is  descended  from  good  old  Revolutionary 
stock,  his  grandfather,  Thomas  Waterman,  hav- 
ing been  a  soldier  in  the  War  for  Independence. 
His  father,  Capt.  George  T.  Waterman,  was  a 
native  of  Berkshire  County,  and  in  North  Adams 
married  Eunice  Hoskins,  who  was  born  in  the 
Bay  State.  He  followed  farming,  and  also  en- 
gaged in  teaming.  He  served  in  the  War  of  1 8 1 2 , 
with  the  rank  of  Captain,  and  afterwards  received 
a  pension  in  recognition  of  his  services.  He  held 
a  number  of  local  offices  of  honor  and  trust,  and 
was  ever  a  valued  citizen.  In  1842,  he  emigrated 
westward,  and  cast  in  his  lot  among  the  early  set- 


tlers of  Barrington  Township,  Cook  County, 
where  he  purchased  eighty  acres  of  raw  land,  but 
in  a  short  time  the  unbroken  prairie  was  fenced 
and  transformed  into  rich  and  fertile  fields.  He 
there  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  throughout 
his  remaining  days.  His  death  occurred  in  1875, 
and  he  was  laid  by  the  side  of  his  wife  in  Barring- 
ton  Cemetery,  where  a  substantial  monument  has 
been  erected  to  their  memory.  Mrs.  Waterman 
had  passed  away  a  few  years  previous. 

In  the  family  were  three  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters: Waitay,  wife  of  S.  W.  Kingsley,  of  Bar- 
rington; Nancy,  deceased;  Ann,  wife  of  Charles 
Hawley,  of  Barrington;  Susan,  deceased,  wife  of 
Henry  Hawley,  of  Barrington;  G.  W.,  of  this 
sketch;  J.  M.,  a  carpenter  of  Elgin,  111.;  and 
Charles  H.,  who  resides  in  Petersburg,  111. 

Mr.  Waterman  of  this  sketch  acquired  a  good 


H.  B.  KURD. 


common -school  education  in  his  native  State,  and 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  came  to  Illinois.  He 
aided  in  clearing  and  developing  a  farm  in  Bar- 
rington  Township,  and  afterwards  assumed  its 
management.  He  also  bought  more  land,  and 
thus  extended  its  boundaries.  As  a  companion 
and  helpmate  on  life's  journey,  he  chose  MissAl- 
vira,  daughter  of  Gilbert  Applebee,  who  resides 
in  Barrington,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-four 
years.  Their  union  was  celebrated  in  Barrington 
June  2,  1853,  and  six  months  later  they  removed 
to  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  ad- 
joining the  old  homestead.  Subsequently  Mr. 
Waterman  made  other  purchases,  until  his  farm 
comprised  two  hundred  acres  of  good  land.  He 
built  upon  it  a  substantial  residence  and  large 
barns,  together  with  good  outbuildings,  and  made 
it  one  of  the  model  farms  of  the  community.  He 
also  owns  another  good  farm  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres.  He  commenced  life  empty-handed, 
with  no  capital,  but  has  steadily  worked  his  way 
upward,  and  by  his  enterprise  and  industry  has 
become  the  owner  of  two  valuable  farms  and  a 
fine  residence  property  in  Barrington. 

In  1885,  Mr.  Waterman  was  called  upon  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  his  wife.  They  had  three  chil- 
dren: Susan,  wife  of  A.  D.  Church,  of  Barring- 


ton;  J.  W.,  a  substantial  farmer  of  Barrington 
Township;  and  F.  L.,  who  resides  in  the  vil- 
lage. All  arc  married  and  have  families.  Mr. 
Waterman  was  married  in  Barrington,  in  the 
spring  of  1888,  to  Mrs.  Rhoda  Ann  Richardson, 
a  widow  and  a  sister  of  his  former  wife.  She 
had  two  children  by  her  first  husband:  Laura, 
wife  of  C.  P.  Hawley,  of  Barrington;  and  Dr.  H. 
D.  H.  Richardson,  of  this  place. 

Mr.  Waterman  has  been  identified  with  the  Re- 
publican party  since  becoming  a  voter,  and  is  a 
warm  advocate  of  its  principles.  His  fellow-towns- 
men, appreciating  his  worth  and  ability,  have  fre- 
quently called  upon  him  to  serve  in  positions  of 
public  trust.  He  has  been  Supervisor,  and  is  now 
President,  of  the  Barrington  Mutual  Fire  and 
Tornado  Insurance  Company.  He  has  also  been 
School  Trustee  for  a  number  of  years,  and  he 
gives  his  hearty  support  and  co-operation  to  all 
enterprises  which  he  believes  calculated  to  prove 
of  public  benefit.  He  and  his  wife  are  faithful 
members  and  active  workers  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Waterman  is  a  man  of 
upright  character  and  sterling  worth,  and  his 
honorable  career  has  won  for  him  a  large  circle  of 
warm  friends. 


HARVEY  B.  HURD. 


HARVEY  B.  HURD  has  been  prominently 
identified  with  the  advancement  of  Chicago 
and  its  interests  for  many  years.  For  nearly 
half  a  century  he  has  resided  in  the  city,  or  in  its 
beautiful  suburb  of  Evanston,  and  during  this  long 
period  he  has  been  a  powerful  factor  in  molding 
not  only  the  destiny  of  this  metropolis,  but  of  the 
entire  West  as  well.  He  was  born  in  Hunting- 
ton,  Fairfield  County,  Conn.,  February  14,  1828, 
and  is  a  son  of  Alanson  Kurd,  who  was  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  His  mother  was  of  both  Dutch  and 
Irish  lineage.  If  ever  it  could  be  said  of  any  one 


that  he  made  his  own  way  in  life  from  poverty  to 
a  high  and  honorable  station,  it  is  true  of  Harvey 
B.  Hurd.  It  is  said  that  when  he  left  home  to  seek 
a  fortune  for  himself,  he  carried  all  his  possessions 
in  a  handkerchief,  and  when  he  arrived  in  Chi- 
cago, some  years  later,  his  capital  was  only  half 
a  dollar;  yet  this  poor  youth  was  in  subsequent 
years  to  play  a  part  which  has  influenced  the  ca- 
reer of  the  State,  and  aided  in  molding  the  pre- 
liminary studies  of  a  generation  of  young  Ameri- 
can lawyers.  Until  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age 
he  spent  the  summer  months  in  work  upon  his 


332 


H.  B.   KURD. 


father's  farm,  while  in  the  winter  season  he  at- 
tended school. 

On  the  ist  of  May,  1842,  Mr.  Kurd  bade  adieu 
to  his  parents  and  journeyed  on  foot  to  Bridge- 
port, where  he  became  an  apprentice  in  the  office 
of  the  Bridgeport  Standard,  a  Whig  newspaper. 
With  a  company  of  ten  young  men,  in  the  autumn 
of  1844,  ne  emigrated  to  Illinois,  and  became  a 
student  in  Jubilee  College,  of  Peoria  County,  then 
presided  over  by  Rev.  Samuel  Chase.  A  dis- 
agreement arose  between  him  and  the  Principal 
after  he  had  been  in  college  for  about  a  year,  and 
Mr.  Kurd  then  went  to  Peoria,  where  he  sought 
employment,  but  unsuccessfully.  He  therefore 
took  passage  on  a  baggage  stage  for  Chicago, 
where,  in  the  office  of  the  Evening  Journal,  he 
soon  secured  work.  This  paper  was  then  pub- 
lished by  Wilson  &  Geer.  He  afterwards  worked 
on  the  Prairie  Farmer,  and  in  the  fall  of  1847 
began  studying  law  in  the  office  of  Calvin  De- 
Wolf.  In  1848  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and 
formed  a  partnership  with  Carlos  Haven,  who 
was  afterwards  State's  Attorney.  His  next  part- 
ner was  Henry  Snapp,  who  later  represented  the 
Joliet  District  in  Congress,  and  from  1850  until 
1 854  he  was  a  partner  of  Andrew  J.  Brown.  This 
latter  firm  had  large  transactions  in  real  estate,  and 
owned  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land,  which 
was  platted  as  a  part  of  the  village  of  Evanston. 
Mr.  Hurd  was  one  of  the  first  to  build  in  this 
place.  He  began  the  erection  of  the  home  which 
is  still  his  place  of  residence  in  the  summer  of 
1854,  and  moved  into  it  in  the  following  summer. 
It  is  one  of  the  finest  homes  in  this  beautiful  sub- 
urb, and  at  the  time  of  its  erection  it  stood  alone 
on  a  block  of  ground.  Its  owner  enjoys  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  the  first  President  of  the 
Village  Board. 

In  May,  1853,  Mr.  Hurd  married  Miss  Cor- 
nelia A.,  daughter  of  the  late  Capt.  James  Hilli- 
ard,  of  Middletown,  Conn.  Three  daughters 
were  born  unto  them:  Eda,  wife  of  George  S. 
Lord;  Hettie,  who  died  in  1884;  and  Nellie,  wife 
of  John  A.  Comstock.  On  the  ist  of  November, 
1860,  Mr.  Hurd  wedded  Mrs.  Sarah  Collins, 
widow  of  the  late  George  Collins.  She  died  in 
1890,  and  in  July,  1892,  he  married  Miss  Susanna 


Van   Wyck,  a   lady    highly   esteemed   in   social 
circles  in  Chicago  and  Evanston. 

Mr.  Hurd  was  an  ardent  Abolitionist,  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  stirring  events  which  occur- 
red in  Chicago  before  and  after  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.     The  result  of  this  meas- 
ure of  Congress  was  to  make  Kansas  a  prize  for 
which  both  the  free  and  slave  States  contended. 
The  slave-holders  of  western  Missouri  crossed  the 
border,  driving  out  many  of  the  free  State  set- 
tlers and  killing  others,  pre-empted  lands,  and 
opposed  the  passage  of  emigrants  from  the  North- 
ern States  through  Missouri,  compelling  the  latter 
to  take  a  more  circuitous  route  through  Iowa  and 
Nebraska.     Kansas  was  the  scene  of  continued 
conflict  between  these  parties  during  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1855,  the  border  ruffians  of  Mis- 
souri seeking  to  drive  out  the  free  State  settlers 
by  murder  and  arson,  and  the  free  State  settlers 
retaliating.    The  cry  of '  'bleeding  Kansas' '  echoed 
through  the  North,  and  emigration  societies  were 
formed  in  the  free  States  to  aid,  arm  and  protect 
the  Northern  settlers  in  Kansas.     A  convention 
was  held  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  at  which  a  national 
Kansas  committee  was  formed    and  Mr.  Hurd, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  convention,  became 
secretary  of  its  executive  committee,  with  head- 
quarters in  Chicago.     His  assistant  secretary  was 
Horace  White,  afterwards  editor  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  and  now  of  New  York  City.     In  1856, 
Kansas  crops  proved  a  failure,  owing  to  the  dep- 
redations of  the  contending  factions.     In  antici- 
pation of  a  lack  of  seeds  for  the  planting  in  the 
coming  spring,  the  committee  in  New  York  in 
February,   1857,  passed  a  resolution  instructing 
the  executive  committee  in  Chicago  to  purchase 
and  forward  the  necessary  seeds,  and  at  the  same 
time  appropriated  $5,000  to  aid  John  Brown  in 
the  organization  and  equipment  of  the  free-soil 
settlers  into  companies  for  self-protection.     Mr. 
Hurd  found,  on  returning  to  Chicago,  that  the 
funds  in  the  hands  of  the  treasurer  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  meet  both  requirements.     He  therefore 
decided  to  buy  and  send  on  the  seeds.     One  hun- 
dred tons,  including  spring  wheat,  barley,  corn, 
potatoes  and  other  seeds,  were  purchased  and  for- 
warded.    When   Brown  applied  for  the  money 


H.  B.  KURD. 


333 


appropriated  to  him,  lie  found  the  treasury  of  the 
committee  empty.  At  first  Gerritt  Smith  and 
other  friends  of  Brown  were  inclined  to  find  fault 
with  the  action  of  Mr.  Hurd,  but  in  the  mean 
time  the  free  settlers  had  been  waiting  anxiously 
at  Lawrence,  Kan.,  for  the  seeds.  They  had 
been  forwarded  by  a  small  steamer,  which  was  to 
ascend  the  Kansas  River  to  Lawrence,  where  the 
settlers  assembled  to  receive  them.  The  steamer 
was  delayed  two  weeks  by  low  water,  and  when 
at  last  it  did  arrive,  the  settlers  were  overjoyed, 
and  the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Kurd's  course  was  amply 
vindicated.  The  settlers  would  have  been  obliged 
to  leave  Kansas  had  not  this  timely  provision  for 
a  crop  been  made.  As  it  was,  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion from  the  free  States  kept  on  increasing,  and 
the  pro-slavery  men,  finding  that  they  could  not 
win  in  the  contest,  soon  abandoned  it. 

In  1862,  Mr.  Hurd  formed  a  partnership  with 
Hon.  Henry  Booth,  and  at  the  same  time  accepted 
the  position  of  lecturer  in  the  law  department  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  which  Mr.  Booth  had 
aided  in  organizing  three  years  previous,  and  of 
which  he  was  Principal.  In  1868  the  partner- 
ship was  dissolved,  Mr.  Hurd  retiring  from  active 
practice.  In  April,  1869,  he  was  appointed  by 
Gov.  Palmer  one  of  three  commissioners  to  re- 
vise and  re-write  the  General  Statutes  of  the 
State  of  Illinois.  His  colleagues  were  William 
E.  Nelson,  of  Decatur,  and  Michael  Shaeffer, 
of  Salem,  both  of  whom  withdrew  in  a  short  time, 
leaving  the  burden  of  the  work  upon  Mr.  Hurd. 
He  completed  his  task  with  the  adjournment  of 
the  Twenty-eighth  General  Assembly  in  April, 
1874,  and  was  appointed  by  that  body  to  edit  and 
supervise  the  publication,  which  he  accomplished 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  general  public. 
The  labor  which  he  performed  in  this  revision  is 
such  as  only  lawyers  can  fully  appreciate.  He 
had  not  only  to  compile  into  one  homogeneous 
whole  the  various  laws  which  from  time  to  time 
had  been  enacted  at  the  biennial  meetings  of  the 
Legislature,  but  to  adapt  them  to  the  new  State 
Constitution  of  1870,  discarding  old  provisions 
which  were  in  conflict  with  it,  and  constructing 
new  ones  in  conformity  with  it.  The  success  of  his 
work  was  immediate,  and  "  Kurd's  Revised  Stat- 


utes' '  is  an  indispensable  work  in  every  law  office 
throughout  the  State,  and  in  many  public  offices. 
The  State  edition  of  1874  of  fifteen  thousand 
copies  was  soon  exhausted,  and  Mr.  Hurd  has 
been  called  upon  to  edit  eight  editions  since,  all 
of  which  have  received  the  unqualified  commen- 
dation of  the  Bar. 

In  the  summer  of  1876,  Mr.  Hurd  was  again 
elected  to  a  chair  in  the  law  school,  which  had 
become  the  Union  College  of  Law  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  and  the  Northwestern  University, 
and  he  is  now  Professor  of  Pleading,  Practice  and 
Statutory  Law  in  that  institution,  it  now  being 
the  law  department  of  the  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity. He  has  here  an  occupation  which  is  thor- 
oughly congenial  to  him.  He  has  always  been  a 
careful  student,  and  his  arguments  of  cases  before 
the  higher  courts  were  always  models  of  clear  and 
accurate  statement  of  legal  propositions  and  logi- 
cal reasoning.  In  his  academic  work  he  displays 
the  same  invaluable  qualities,  imparting  to  his 
class  a  thorough  understanding  of  principles,  and 
training  them  to  systematic  and  methodical  hab- 
its. At  the  special  election  for  a  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Illinois,  December  n,  1875,  Mr. 
Hurd  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans,  but 
was  opposed  by  T.  L-  Dickey,  who  was  then  Cor- 
poration Counsel  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Mr. 
Dickey  was  a  Democrat,  and  had  the  entire  sup- 
port of  that  party;  he  had,  moreover,  the  whole 
influence  of  the  city  administration,  and,  to  crown 
all,  he  had  the  backing  of  the  railroad  cor- 
porations, who  were  disposed  to  revenge  them- 
selves upon  him  for  the  stringent  measures  of 
railroad  legislation  which  the  General  Assembly 
had  enacted,  which  were  contained  in  "Kurd's 
Revised  Statutes,"  and  with  the  framing  of  which 
he  had  much  to  do.  By  the  aid  of  this  powerful 
combination  he  was  defeated.  Just  before  the 
election  a  defamatory  pamphlet  was  published 
against  him  by  a  member  of  the  same  church  to 
which  he  belongs,  and,  though  it  was  of  too 
slight  importance  to  influence  the  result,  it  was 
not  a  matter  to  be  overlooked  by  Mr.  Hurd,  who 
had  always  borne  an  irreproachable  character. 
The  author  was  tried  and  convicted  of  slander 
and  unchristian  conduct  by  a  church  court,  and 


334 


H.  B.  KURD. 


received  its  formal  censure,  while  Mr.  Kurd  made 
many  friends  by  his  forbearing  and  Christian 
conduct  toward  his  defamer.  Since  that  time  he 
has  not  appeared  before  the  public  as  a  candidate 
for  any  office,  but  seems  to  prefer  the  honorable 
retirement  which  he  has  so  well  earned,  finding 
sufficient  occupation  in  his  academic  duties,  and 
employing  his  leisure  in  the  pursuits  of  a  scholar. 
Mr.  Hurd  was  one  of  six  gentlemen  selected  to 
fill  the  vacancy  on  the  Board  of  County  Commis- 
sioners of  Cook  County  created  by  the  conviction 
of  members  of  that  board  for  defrauding  the 
county.  He  has  the  credit  of  being  the  father  of 
the  new  drainage  system  of  Chicago,  by  which 
the  sewerage  of  the  city,  instead  of  being,  as  now, 
discharged  into  Lake  Michigan,  the  source  of  the 
water  supply,  is  to  be  carried  into  the  Illinois 
River,  by  means  of  a  channel  across  what  is 
known  as  the  Chicago  Divide.  While  he  does 
not  claim  the  credit  of  having  first  suggested  such 
a  channel  (indeed  it  has  been  long  talked  of),  he 
is,  without  doubt,  the  author  of  the  plan  of 
creating  a  municipal  district  of  the  city  of  Chicago 
— the  Chicago  Sanitary  District — and  getting  it 
adopted.  Until  he  suggested  this  plan  it  was 
generally  conceded  that  there  was  no  way  of 
raising  the  necessary  money  to  construct  the 
channel  without  an  amendment  to  the  constitu- 
tion, the  city  of  Chicago  having  reached  the  limit 
of  its  borrowing  and  taxing  power.  It  was 
through  Mr.  Kurd's  suggesting  of  this  plan  to 
Mayor  Harrison  that  the  drainage  and  water 
supply  commission  known  as  the  Herring  Com- 
mission was  raised.  He  was  the  friend  and  ad- 
viser of  that  commission,  and  was  the  author  of 
the  first  bill  on  the  subject  introduced  into  the 
Legislature  in  1886,  known  as  the  Hurd  Bill, 
which  resulted  in  a  legislative  commission  to  fur- 
ther investigate  the  subject  and  present  a  bill. 
The  bill  reported  by  that  commission,  passed  in 
1887,  although  it  differed  in  some  respects  from 
the  original  Hurd  Bill,  was  in  the  main  the 
same,  and  was  supported  before  the  Legislature 
by  him  and  his  friends.  He  conducted  the  pro- 
ceedings for  its  adoption  by  the  people  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  it  was  adopted  at  the  November  election 
in  1887  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote.  His  resi- 


dence outside  of  the  district,  in  Evanston,  although 
not  a  legal  disqualification,  has  in  the  minds  of 
politicians  ruled  him  out  as  a  candidate  for  Trustee; 
still  he  has  not  ceased  to  devote  his  energies  to 
its  success.  The  plan  as  outlined  is  now  in  a  fair 
way  of  being  accomplished,  as  the  channel  is  ac- 
tually being  constructed  upon  that  plan,  and 
when  it  is  done  it  will  no  doubt  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  grandest  accomplishments  of  the  age. 
It  will  at  once  give  to  Chicago  an  excellent  system 
of  drainage,  pure  water  and  a  magnificent  water- 
way, connecting  the  Great  Lakes  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  tributaries  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Hurd  has  been  at  the  head 
of  the  Committee  of  Law  Reform  of  the  Illinois 
State  Bar  Association,  and  is  the  author  of  the  able 
reports  of  that  committee  in  favor  of  extending  the 
American  policy  of  breaking  up  large  estates 
through  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  descent  and 
wills,  by  so  amending  the  laws  as  to  limit  the 
amount  one  may  take  by  descent  or  will  from  the 
same  person;  and  in  favor  of  a  system  of  registra- 
tion of  titles  which  will  make  transfers  of  real  es- 
tate as  simple,  inexpensive  and  secure  as  the  trans- 
fers of  personal  property.  The  latter  of  these  re- 
ports has  already  borne  substantial  fruit  in  the 
shape  of  a  commission  to  consider  the  matter  of 
transfers  of  title,  which  was  created  by  the  action 
of  the  last  General  Assembly.  Of  that  commission 
Mr.  Hurd  was  chairman,  and  in  the  report  of  De- 
cember 10,  1892,  it  recommended  a  system  of  regis- 
tering titles  substantially  embodying  the  essential 
principles  of  the  Australian  or  Torrens  system. 
The  bill  recommended  to  the  convention  passed 
the  Senate,  but  was  defeated  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  lack- 
ing only  seven  votes,  however,  of  a  majority  and 
becoming  a  law.  Since  the  report  of  the  commis- 
sion, commissions  of  a  like  character  have  been 
raised  in  a  number  of  States,  and  the  bill  which 
was  written  by  Mr.  Hurd  bids  fair  to  become  the 
basis  of  bills  for  the  adoption  of  the  system  in  the 
United  States. 

Among  the  charities  which  receive  Mr.  Kurd's 
attention  and  aid  are  the  Children's  Aid  Society 
of  Chicago,  whose  work  it  is  to  find  homeless 
children  and  place  them  in  families, 


/ 


ay 


T.  F.  WITHROW. 


335 


THOMAS  F.  WITHROW. 


'HOMAS  FOSTER  WITHROW  was  bom 

in  Kanawha  County,  Virginia  (now  West 
Virginia),  March  6,  1832.  His  father,  who 
was  a  physician,  was  bound  his  son  should  be  a 
medical  practitioner,  but  the  son  had  an  early 
bent  for  the  law,  which  brooked  no  opposition; 
on  this  account,  as  his  father  would  not  furnish 
necessary  funds,  his  early  years  were  mainly 
self-educated.  When  sufficiently  advanced,  he 
taught  district  schools,  thereby  earning  the  means 
wherewith  to  attend  the  Western  Reserve  College, 
situated  at  Delaware,  Ohio.  By  reason  of  his 
father's  death  during  his  youth,  he  was  obliged  to 
drop  his  books,  leave  college,  and  forthwith  pro- 
ceed to  business  life  in  order  to  support  his  wid- 
owed mother  and  his  sister. 

Adopting  for  a  season  the  journalistic  field, 
that  he  might  lay  up  money  to  prosecute  ultimate 
legal  aims,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  ap- 
pointed local  editor  upon  the  Republican,  pub- 
lished at  Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio,  removing  in  1855  to 
Zanesville,  in  the  same  State,  to  assume  editor- 
ship in  chief  of  the  Free  Press.  Although  excep- 
tionally brilliant  in  this  sphere  of  occupation  (a 
fact  amply  vouched  for  by  his  rapid  rise  therein), 
he  felt  that  his  powers  were  not  called  upon  to 
their  fullest  extent,  and  that  he  would  be  alto- 
gether unable  in  any  field,  save  the  law,  to  find  a 
theme  whose  ringing  echoes  should  sound  the 
melody  of  his  life. 

Upon  the  death  of  his  dearly  beloved  mother 
in  the  fall  of  1856,  he  commenced  the  study  of 
law  in  the  offices  of  Miller  &  Beck,  of  Fort  Madi- 
son, Iowa.  The  following  year  witnessed  his 
admission  to  the  practice  of  the  local  bar  of  his 
newly  acquired  home  in  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  where 
he  first  opened  his  office.  Directly  his  unusual 
abilities  became  voiced,  he  was  sought  for  private 
secretary  by  Governor  Ralph  P.  I<owe  (the  first 


Republican  to  assume  the  gubernatorial  functions 
in  that  State),  as  also  by  his  successor  in  office, 
Governor  Samuel  J.  Kirkwood.  Fancy  can  read- 
ily picture  what  flames  were  added  to  his  aspira- 
tions by  such  distinguished  environment  at  the 
inception  of  his  young  career.  Prosperity,  how- 
ever, far  from  spoiling  him,  amplified  both  his 
talents  and  his  tact;  wherefore,  recognizing  his 
fitness  for  so  exacting  a  function,  the  proper  au- 
thorities selected  our  modestly-laureled  subject  to 
act  as  Official  Reporter  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  of  Iowa;  the  well-digested  results  of  his 
long  incumbency  of  such  office  being  embodied 
in  some  fourteen  volumes  of  Iowa  State  Reports, 
containing  decisions  upon  all  branches  of  law  as 
issues  were  made  on  appeals,  and  which,  as  the 
decrees  of  the  court  of  dernier  resort,  are  prece- 
dents in  that  State  for  future  adjudication. 

In  1863  the  deserts  of  his  exceedingly  enthusi- 
astic political  services  were  formally  acknowledged 
in  his  elevation  to  the  highly  responsible  position 
of  Chairman  of  the  Iowa  State  Republican  Com- 
mittee. During  this  period  his  alert  faculties 
were  so  impressed  by  the  necessities  calling  for 
better  means  for  effectual  campaign  work,  that  he 
originated  a  new  code  of  methods,  thereupon 
proven  to  be  so  superior  in  conception  that  they 
have  been  very  largely  followed  and  patterned 
after  ever  since.  The  unusual  needs  of  these  '  'war 
times' '  so  enthused  his  impressionable  mind  that 
he  foresaw  and  spoke  as  a  party  prophet  or  law- 
giver. None  has  left  a  brighter,  more  wholesome 
memory  in  the  political  annals  of  that  State,  so 
long  his  honored  and  honoring  home. 

In  1866  he  was  made  local  Division  Attorney 
for  the  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railway,  his  ser- 
vices manifesting  such  activity  and  success  that 
in  1873  he  was  rewarded  by  an  advancement  to 
the  chief  post  of  his  department,  under  the  title 


33<5 


T.  F.  WITHROW. 


of  General  Solicitor,  whereupon  removal  of  resi- 
dence was  made  to  the  situs  of  the  general  offices 
of  that  road  at  Chicago.  Litigation  increased  in 
bulk  to  such  a  degree,  that  in  after  years  they 
found  it  would  be  expedient  to  select  two  such 
solicitors,  at  which  juncture  Mr.  Withrow  was 
installed  in  the  newly  created  office  of  General 
Counsel  for  the  entire  system,  having  a  general 
supervision  over  a  corps  of  able  legal  subordi- 
nates, in  person  only  going  into  the  highest 
courts  upon  questions  of  weightier  import.  These 
duties  he  continued  with  conscientious  energy  to 
administer  until  the  time  of  his  decease,  Febru- 
ary 3,  1893,  since  which  time  the  Rock  Island 
Railway  has  withheld  from  elevating  any  suc- 
cessor to  his  so  peculiarly  honored  seat. 

On  the  occasion  set  apart  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Iowa  for  the  delivering  of  eulogies  upon 
the  life-work  and  character  of  Mr.  Withrow, 
among  numerous  eloquent  tributes  paid  to  his 
superlative  worth  on  the  part  of  professional  old 
friends  and  associates,  we  find  in  the  address  par 
excellence,  spoken  by  Judge  Wright,  the  follow- 
ing passage:  "As  a  lawyer,  he  was  industrious, 
conscientious,  aggressive,  and  of  the  quickest 
perceptions.  He  had  a  genius  for  hard  and  ef- 
fective work,  all  of  which  was  done  thoroughly, 
slighting  nothing.  *  *  He  was  the  very 
soul  of  fidelity  to  his  client.  *  *  His 
greatest  power  was  fertility  of  resource.  *  * 
Generous  and  considerate,  alas,  that  he  must  pass 
away  in  the  prime  of  life!" 

It  was  this  "genius  for  hard  and  effective 
work"  which  led  to  his  untimely,  sudden  death, 
through  heart  failure.  The  fall  previous,  in  the 
retirement  of  his  summer  home  at  Lake  Geneva, 
he  had  spent  several  very  laborious  weeks  in  pre- 
paring for  hearing  an  extremely  important  case 
for  his  corporation,  from  which  particular  over- 
work, though  he  respited,  he  never  fully  recov- 
ered. Sturdy  as  an  oak,  which  under  careful 
cherishing  outstands  the  violence  of  myriad  sea- 
sons, his  ardent  temperament  recked  not  of  the 
prudences  of  life;  with  him  it  was  always — "This 
is  the  battle!  This  must  end  in  victory!"  And 
so  into  the  seething  flames  of  a  too  consumingly 
brilliant  professional  life,  he  had  cheerfully  thrown 


that  score  of  years  of  reserved  force  which,  along 
more  conservative  lines,  would  undoubtedly  have 
sufficed  him  to  meet  with  heroic  fortitude  the 
slowly  gathering  shadows  of  a  quite  advanced 
age.  But  who  will  take  upon  him  to  assert  that 
he  was  not  well  contented  on  the  whole  that  it 
befell  as  indeed  it  did?  For  had  not  the  solicita- 
tions of  friends  often  cautioned  him  against  his  so 
lavish  expenditure  of  exceptional  energies?  Let 
us  take  example  of  this  '  'faithfulness  unto  death, ' ' 
his  most  fitting  eulogy,  and  rarest,  pure  balm  oi 
solace  to  the  bereaved. 

By  religious  faith  he  was  a  Unitarian;  always 
in  attendance  upon  the  inspiring  services  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Collyer  while  he  so  long  and 
efficiently  filled  the  pulpit  of  Unity  Church  of  this 
city.  Of  later  years  a  warm  friendship  had  grown 
up  between  him  and  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  David 
Swing,  who  officiated  so  feelingly  at  the  obsequies, 
unspeakably  regretful  over  the  loss  of  his  lawyer- 
naturalist  comrade;  for  they  were  boon  mates 
together  in  the  woods  and  fields,  mutually  wor- 
shiping the  omnipresent  God  as  they  walked. 

Like  his  father,  Mr.  Withrow  was  an  exceed- 
ingly devoted  abolitionist,  at  a  period  when  Vir- 
ginia was  not  at  all  prolific  of  such  citizenship. 
Many  a  colored  man  was  able  through  their 
agency  to  breathe  the  free  air  of  the  North.  In- 
deed, so  bitter  grew  the  local  sentiment  engen- 
dered by  the  temerity  of  so  exceptional  an 
attitude,  altogether  hostile  to  southern  tenets, 
that  it  became  expedient,  and  was  the  chiet 
cause  of,  the  family  removal  to  Ohio.  No  less 
zealous  in  this  new  field,  and  grown  to  great 
prominence  in  the  dominant  party,  what  pleasure 
our  friend  must  have  experienced  over  that  im- 
mortal proclamation  of  President  Lincoln,  with 
its  ensuing  complete  practical  ratification!  We 
sincerely  believe  that  no  happier  moments  than 
these  crowned  his  life,  unless,  possibly,  the  con- 
templation of  these  signal,  national  transactions 
in  later  years,  while  seated  upon  his  own  mag- 
nificent premises  overlooking  Chicago  Lincoln 
Park,  of  which  he  was  a  Commissioner,  being 
thus  in  full  view  of  the  superb  bronze  statue  of 
the  President  himself,  of  the  fund  for  erecting 
which  he  had  been  a  trustee. 


J.  M.  WARREN. 


337 


Vivacious  and  sociable,  a  semi-public  life  had 
found  him  a  member  of  many  choice  clubs  and 
societies;  but  with  growing  domesticity  necessi- 
tated by  maturer  years,  added  to  the  drains  made 
by  constant  prefessional  duties  upon  his  vitality, 
he  withdrew  more  and  more  into  the  quiet  enjoy- 
ments afforded  by  home  life,  especially  delighting 
in  belles  lettres,  in  whose  rich  domain  he  was 
during  the  thirty-five  most  busily  occupied  years 
of  professional  activity,  never  less  than  an  ambi- 
tious student  and  philosophic  meditator.  Here 
the  richest  verbal  expressions  of  genius  became 
again  his  living  legacy,  always  ready  at  a  neces- 
sitous crisis  to  do  his  eloquent  bidding.  At  the 
time  of  his  demise  he  was  still  enrolled  with  the 
Chicago  Literary  Club,  as  for  the  many  years 
past,  as  well  as  with  the  famous  Grolier  Club  of 
New  York  City. 

Mr.  Withrow  was  married  October  27,  1859, 
at  Hamilton,  Madison  County,  New  York,  to 
Miss  Jane  Frances  Goodwin,  who  survives  him, 
together  with  three  children  born  unto  them,  as 
follows:  Henry  Goodwin  Withrow,  born  April 
29,  1861,  whose  advanced  education  was  com- 
pleted in  the  University  of  Michigan,  now  being 
engaged  in  railroading;  Charles  LeBaron  With- 
row, born  in  June  1866,  matriculated  at  the  Cam- 
bridge (Massachusetts)  Law  School,  but  now  in 
journalistic  labors  with  the  Associated  Press  in 
New  York  City;  Bonnie  Withrow,  born  in  Au- 
gust, 1867,  educated  at  Ogontz,  near  Philadel- 
phia, now  largely  devoted  to  philanthropic  work, 


especially  the  welfare  of  young  women  whom  fate 
has  thrown  upon  their  own  resources. 

Mrs.  Withrow  is  a  daughter  of  the  sea  captain, 
LeBaron  Goodwin,  of  Old  Plymouth,  Massachu- 
setts, and  Mary,  his  wife  (nee  Leggett),  of  Sarato- 
ga Springs,  New  York.  Her  father  removed  in 
mature  years  to  De  Ruyter,  Madison  County, 
New  York,  where  he  led  a  retired  and  studious 
life.  The  said  Mary  Leggett  was  a  daughter  of 
Samuel  and  Susannah  Leggett  (nee  Smith) ;  Sam- 
uel being  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca  Leggett  (nee 
Starbuck),  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Hepsibah 
Starbuck  (nee  Bunker).  The  said  LeBaron  Good- 
win was  a  son  of  William  and  Lydia  C.  Goodwin, 
(nee  Sampson),  the  former  a  son  of  Nathaniel 
and  Lydia  Goodwin  (nee  LeBaron) ,  a  son  of  John 
and  Mary  Goodwin  (nee  Roby),  a  son  of  Nathan- 
iel (who  died  in  1754)  and  Elizabeth  Goodwin. 

Mrs.  Withrow  is  related  to  eminent  families, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  through  her  pa- 
ternal grandmother,  Lydia  C.  Sampson,  she  traces 
back  to  Nathaniel  Gushing,  born  in  1588  (a  son 
of  Peter  Cushing,  of  Norfolk,  England),  an  early 
American  colonist;  also  to  Henry  Pitcher,  born 
in  1586,  who  came  early  to  Hingham,  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  ship  "Delight;"  also  to  Capt.  Miles 
Standish,  famous  of  the  "Mayflower"  crew;  also 
to  Henry  Sampson,  compeer  of  Standish,  whose 
grandson  Isaac  married  Lydia,  a  granddaughter 
of  Captain  Standish,  and  who  became  in  due  time 
grandparents  of  the  said  Lydia  C.  Sampson,  the 
grandmother  of  Mrs.  Withrow. 


JULIUS  M.  WARREN. 


3ULIUS  M.    WARREN,  only  son  of  Daniel 
Warren,  a  pioneer  settler  of  Du  Page  Coun- 
ty (see  biography  elsewhere  in  this  volume), 
was  born  in  Fredonia,  New  York,  June  13,  1811, 
being  the  first  white  child  born  in  Chautauqua 


County.  He  became  a  member  of  the  New  York 
militia,  in  which  he  attained  the  rank  of  colonel. 
With  the  family,  he  came  to  Du  Page  County  in 
the  autumn  of  1833,  and  spent  the  balance  of  his 
life  there.  He  was  a  very  genial  and  happy-dis- 


338 


J.  M.  WARREN. 


positioned  gentleman,  and  early  became  a  favorite 
in  society.  A  recent  writer  in  the  Chicago  Her- 
ald  speaks  thus  of  the  society  of  that  day:  '  'The  so- 
ciety of  all  this  region,  including  town  and  coun- 
try, forty-five  years  ago,  had  its  attractive  seat 
and  held  its  principal  revelries  in  the  valley  of 
Fox  river.  'The  best  people'  that  came  out 
from  the  eastern  states  to  settle  in  this  region  did 
not  stop  in  Chicago,  but  made  for  the  magnifi- 
cent farming  lands  in  this  vicinity.  Some  came 
from  central  and  western  New  York,  where  they 
had  seen  families  of  the  aristocracy  plant  them- 
selves and  nourish  on  the  fat  lands  of  the  Mohawk 
and  Genesee  valleys.  To  clear  off  timber  and  re- 
duce those  great  farms  to  productivity,  had  taken 
half  a  century  of  time  and  had  exhausted  the  lives 
of  three  generations.  This  was  known  to  the  new 
emigrants,  and  as  they  heard  of  or  saw  these 
Illinois  lands,  bare  of  obstinate  trees,  but  clothed 
with  succulent  grasses,  of  nature's  sowing;  in  a 
climate  that  possessed  no  torridity,  nor  yet  any 
destructive  rigors;  all  this  being  known  before- 
hand, many  refined  and  cultivated  families  came 
out  with  all  their  effects,  and  bought  or  entered 
land  and  proceeded  to  make  themselves  homes, 
which,  they  had  no  doubt,  would  be  homes  to 
them  for  their  natural  lives." 

Mr.  Warren  had  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and 
was  always  amiable  and  cheerful,  which  made 
him  a  favorite  in  all  circles.  Instead  ofdisaprov- 
ing  the  amusements  of  the  young  people,  he  al- 
ways had  a  strong  sympathy  and  interest  in  their 
pleasures.  He  was  the  constant  attendant  of  his 
sisters,  and  often  laughingly  mentioned  them  as 
seven  reasons  why  he  should  not  marry.  He  was 
also  devotedly  attached  to  his  mother  who  was 
justly  proud  of  her  only  son.  Together  they  kept 
house  until  her  death,  when  he  induced  his  nephew 
to  bring  his  family  to  live  on  the  old  homestead 
at  Warrenville,  where  he  continued  to  reside. 
He  passed  away  on  the  first  of  May,  1893,  his 
last  words  being,  '  'Take  me  home  to  my  mother. ' ' 

In  speaking  of  Colonel  Warren  and  the  village 
of  Warrenville,  we  again  quote  from  the  Herald: 
"He  called  in  a  storekeeper,  a  blacksmith,  a  coop- 
er and  a  carpenter,  and  a  tavernkeeper  came  in 
good  time.  Naperville  was  a  smaller  village,  hav- 


ing but  two  log  houses.  Aurora  scarcely  had  a 
being,  and  St.  Charles  was  not.  But  all  along 
on  the  banks  of  the  Fox  river  were  settlers  of  a 
high  class,  who  had  knowledge  of  and  corres- 
pondence with  the  eastern  portions  of  the  United 
States.  Foremost  among  these  was  Judge  Whip- 
pie,  who,  acting  with  the  Warrens,  father  and 
son,  organized  and  gave  direction  to  local  affairs. 
They  were  without  postal  facilities  of  any  kind, 
and  every  family  had  to  send  a  member  into 
Chicago  for  letters  and  papers.  A  letter  from 
Buffalo  to  any  place  on  the  Fox  river  was  from 
four  to  six  weeks  in  coming,  and  to  Chicago  cost 
fifty  cents  postage.  Colonel  Warren  making  use 
of  eastern  friends,  got  a  postoffice  (the  first  in  the 
valley)  established  at  Warrenville  in  1833,  and 
himself  appointed  postmaster.  He  was  his  own 
mail-carrier,  making  weekly  trips,  on  foot  some 
times,  to  Chicago  and  out  again,  with  letters  and 
papers  for  distribution  through  his  office  to  people 
in  all  that  section.  Colonel  Warren  held  this  of- 
fice for  fifty  years,  and  only  lost  it  when  President 
Cleveland  came  in  the  first  time." 

Although  chiefly  self-educated,  Colonel  Warren 
was  a  thoroughly  well-read  man,  and  was  admir- 
ably fitted  for  a  leader  in  politics,  as  well  as  in  so- 
ciety. He  represented  his  district  for  three  suc- 
cessive terms  in  the  State  Legislature,  from  1840 
to  1843,  but  refused  to  longer  remain  in  public 
life,  preferring  the  quiet  joys  of  his  home  and 
neighborhood  to  anything  the  capital  or  metropo- 
lis might  offer.  He  continued  to  manage  the 
large  homestead  farm  until  his  death.  He  was  a 
loyal  adherent  of  the  Republican  party,  having 
espoused  its  leading  principles  before  its  organi- 
zation. 

The  following  incident  will  indicate  the  kindly 
nature  of  Colonel  Warren  and  his  noble  mother, 
as  well:  A  young  lawyer  of  Chicago,  now  known 
throughout  Illinois  as  the  venerable  ex- Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  State,  John  Dean  Caton,  fell  sick  of 
fever  while  staying  at  the  log  tavern  in  Naper- 
ville, one  of  the  two  buildings  of  that  village. 
Hearing  of  the  case,  Colonel  Warren  went  at 
once  to  see  what  he  could  do  to  render  the  suf- 
ferer comfortable,  and  soon  decided  to  remove  him 
to  his  own  home,  where  he  could  receive  better 


F.  W.  PECK. 


339 


nursing  than  at  the  little  frontier  tavern.  This 
probably  saved  the  life  of  the  patient,  who  attrib- 
utes his  recovery  to  the  careful  nursing  of  Mrs. 
Warren  and  her  daughters,  with  such  aid  as 
Colonel  Warren  could  apply.  The  last-named 
saw  the  completion  of  his  eighty-second  year, 


full  of  humor  and  harmless  badinage  to  the  last, 
and  died  as  the  result  of  an  attack  of  pneumonia, 
after  an  illness  of  only  two  days,  leaving  as  an 
inspiration  to  those  who  come  after  the  record  of 
a  well-spent  life. 


FERDINAND  W.  PECK. 


("~  ERDINAND  W.  PECK.  Among  Chicago's 
rft  native  sons,  of  whom  she  is  justly  proud, 
is  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  is  the 
youngest  son  of  P.  F.  W.  Peck,  the  pioneer 
settler  and  merchant  of  the  city  (for  biography 
see  another  page),  and  was  born  in  the  family 
residence,  which  stood  on  ground  now  covered  by 
the  Grand  Pacific  hotel,  July  isth,  1848. 

It  is  not  often  that  one  not  stimulated  by 
necessity  or  forced  to  cultivate  self-reliance 
achieves  anything  worthy  of  note  among  the 
active  men  of  to-day.  Without  this  stimulus, 
Mr.  Peck  applied  himself  first  to  the  acquirement 
of  an  education,  passing  through  the  grades  of 
the  city  schools,  graduating  at  the  High  School, 
the  Chicago  University  and  the  Union  College  of 
I,aw.  Next  he  took  up  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession,  and  met  with  the  full  measure 
of  success  vouchsafed  to  the  young  lawyer  in  a 
field  already  occupied  by  a  multitude  of  able  and 
experienced  jurists  and  attorneys.  After  several 
years  of  practice,  with  growing  business  that  is 
bound  to  come  to  one  of  his  energy  and  ability, 
he  was  forced  to  abandon  the  law  to  engage  in 
caring  for  the  estate  which  his  father  had  left  to 
the  charge  of  his  sons,  at  his  demise.  This 
property  consisted  principally  of  real  estate, 
much  of  which  had  been  stripped  of  its  im- 
provements by  the  great  fire  of  1871,  and  which 
now  required  constant  and  careful  attention. 
Under  the  conservative  management  of  the  senior 


Peck's  sons,  the  estate  has  prospered,  at  the  same 
time  it  has  conferred  upon  the  city  some  of  its 
most  valuable  and  permanent  features. 

Mr.  F.  W.  Peck  is  a  devotee  of  music  and  a 
lover  of  art,  and  has  been  the  means  of  bringing 
to  Chicago  much  of  its  culture  in  these  elevating 
and  ennobling  studies.  For  some  years  he  cher- 
ished the  idea  of  providing  the  city  with  facilities 
sufficiently  ample  and  substantial  to  bring  hither 
all  that  was  best  in  the  line  of  intellectual  and 
refining  entertainments.  The  Opera  Festival  of 
1885,  of  which  Mr.  Peck  was  President,  brought 
to  the  city  the  finest  musical  and  dramatic  enter- 
tainments ever  offered  to  an  American  audience, 
and  made  apparent  to  the  citizens  the  need  of 
better  facilities  for  such  entertainments.  Mr. 
Peck  seized  upon  this  sentiment  and  organized 
the  Auditorium  Association,  of  which  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  President.  The  stock  was 
distributed  among  three  hundred  subscribers, 
including  the  most  prominent  and  wealthy 
citizens,  and  the  result  is  known  to  every  denizen 
of  the  city,  in  one  of  its  most  conspicuous  land- 
marks— the  Auditorium. 

A  recent  writer  says :  ' '  The  genius  of  the 
world  has  exhausted  itself  in  devising  and 
erecting  architectural  edifices.  The  Parthenon 
in  the  age  of  Pericles,  glorious  in  all  the  adorn- 
ments of  art  wrought  by  the  chisel  of  Phidias  and 
brush  of  Praxiteles,  was  a  temple  of  heathen 
worship;  the  mighty  walls  of  the  Coliseum  were 


340 


F.  W.  PECK. 


raised  to  furnish  an  arena  for  gladiatorial  brutal- 
ity. Mediaeval  architects  reared  the  clustered 
columns  and  vaulted  arches  of  Gothic  cathedrals 
to  woo  men  to  pious  aspirations;  the  chaste  lines 
and  sculptured  walls  of  the  ' '  Nouvelle  Opera ' ' 
were  raised  as  a  temple  of  music  and  dramatic 
art;  each  had  or  has  its  beauties  and  special  use; 
but  it  remained  for  the  genius  of  Chicago  to  con- 
ceive and  its  enterprise  to  provide,  by  private 
munificence,  a  structure  as  perfect  as  any  in  sub- 
stantial utility,  both  as  a  gathering  place  of  the 
multitude  and  a  temple  of  all  the  arts;  the  per- 
fection of  architectural  genius.  It  is  more  capa- 
cious than  the  Albert  Hall  of  South  Kensington, 
more  substantial  than  the  new  opera  of  Paris; 
chaste,  solid  and  sublime. ' ' 

Mr.  Peck  has  shown  the  same  zeal,  energy 
and  ability  in  the  conduct  of  public  business 
which  has  been  placed  in  his  charge  that  mark 
all  his  own  undertakings.  As  chairman  of  the 
finance  committee  of  the  World's  Columbian  Ex- 
position he  assumed  a  heavy  responsibility,  and 
aided  in  bringing  that  stupendous  enterprise 
through  successfully  and  paying  every  pecuniary 
obligation.  This  involved  the  expenditure  of 
over  $30,000,000,  and  was  calculated  to  test  the 
capacity  of  the  greatest  financiers.  Mr.  Peck  is 
also  associated  in  official  capacity  with  many  of 
the  permanent  institutions  of  the  city,  including 
most  of  those  calculated  to  promote  an  aesthetic 
sentiment  among  the  people.  Some  of  these 
official  positions  are  the  presidency  of  the  Chicago 
Athenaeum,  the  Auditorium  Association  and  the 
Union  League  Club;  he  has  been  Vice-president 
of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  city  of  Chicago, 
and  was  Vice-president  of  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition,  with  a  seat  in  its  board  of  reference 
and  control,  on  its  executive  committee,  commit- 
tee on  legislation  and  special  committee  on  cere- 
monies, in  addition  to  the  finance  committee,  as 
above  noted. 

Mr.  Peck's  habits  and  manners  are  wholly  un- 
ostentatious, and  he  is  ever  affable  and  kind  to 
all  who  may  come  in  contact  with  him.  In  the 
midst  of  a  busy  life,  full  of  cares  and  responsibil- 
ities, he  gives  much  attention  to  the  amenities  of 
life  and  has  been  an  extensive  traveler.  In  sum- 


mer he  spends  much  time  out  of  doors,  and  main- 
tains a  summer  home  at  Oconomowoc,  Wisconsin, 
and  enjoys  the  honor  of  being  Commodore  of  the 
Wisconsin  Yacht  Club.  His  favorite  yacht  is 
named  the  "Tarpon,"  in  honor  of  his  good  for- 
tune in  capturing  an  enormous  tarpon  while  fish- 
ing off  the  coast  of  Florida  at  one  time.  In  his 
handsome  home  on  Michigan  Avenue,  in  the 
city,  are  found  a  happy  and  congenial  wife,  four 
sons  and  two  daughters.  Mrs.  Peck  is  the 
daughter  of  the  late  William  A.  Spalding,  a 
sketch  of  whom  appears  on  another  page. 

In  speaking  of  Mr.  Peck,  the  History  of  Chi- 
cago says:  "One  only  slightly  familiar  with  the 
telltale  disclosures  of  physiognomy,  looking  upon 
his  mild,  refined  and  thoughtful  features,  cannot 
fail  to  be  impressed  that  behind  them  is  character 
of  more  than  ordinary  delicacy  of  sentiment  and 
maturity  of  mind,  that  belongs  rather  to  the  aes- 
thetic than  to  the  gross  and  material  lines  of 
thought  and  action.  While  not  an  artist,  he  is 
a  lover  of  art;  his  mind  has  a  constructive  qual- 
ity, which,  with  sympathy  with  human  needs 
and  enthusiasm  for  the  uplifting  of  the  standard 
of  life  among  the  masses  of  the  people,  calls  him 
to  undertake  enterprises  of  pith  and  magnitude, 
for  the  education  of  the  people,  for  inspiring  them 
with  higher  ideals  of  life,  and  leading  them  from 
the  indulgence  of  degrading  passions,  through 
the  ministries  of  the  '  diviner  arts, '  to  higher 
planes  of  living  and  enjoyment.  This  type  of 
mind  is  not  often  found  amid  the  rush  and  com- 
petition of  life  in  our  great  cities.  To  its  pos- 
session and  well-developed  proportions  by  so 
many  of  the  well-to-do  young  men  of  Chicago, 
whose  names  will  readily  occur  to  the  observant 
student  of  her  inner  life,  is  due  in  great  part  the 
aesthetic  character  which  Chicago  has  taken  on, 
despite  her  unwonted  devotion  to  the  more  sordid 
pursuits  of  her  gigantic  enterprises.  With  her 
university  and  schools  of  every  sort,  with  her  art 
studios  and  collections,  with  her  social  clubs,  mu- 
sical festivals  and  dramatic  entertainments,  and 
especially  since  her  magnificent  triumph  in  con- 
structing and  maintaining  the  grandest  exhi- 
bition of  art  and  industry  which  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  Chicago  easily  leads  all  other  Ameri- 


J.  F.  STAFFORD. 


34i 


can  cities  in  aesthetic  development,  and  stands 
not  far  behind  such  old-world  centers  of  art  and 
artists  as  Paris,  Brussels  and  Florence." 

The  stockholders  of  the  Auditorium  Associa- 
tion have  caused  to  be  placed  in  the  foyer  of  the 
Auditorium  a  bronze  bust  of  Mr.  Peck,  upon  the 


granite  pedestal  of  which  has  been  inscribed:  "A 
tribute  to  the  founder  of  this  structure,  from  the 
stockholders  of  the  Auditorium  Association,  in 
recognition  of  his  services  as  their  President,  in 
behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago.  i{ 


CAPT.  JOHN  F.  STAFFORD. 


EAPT.  JOHN  FRANCIS  STAFFORD,  who 
was  for  many  years  connected  with  the  mer- 
cantile and  maritime  interests  of  Chicago, 
was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  August  12,  1820. 
His  father,  John  Stafford,  was  a  provision  mer- 
chant, and  an  intimate  friend  of  Daniel  O'Connell, 
the  famous  Irish  patriot.  His  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Sarah  Mallon. 

In  the  year  1828  the  family  removed  to  Port 
Hope,  Canada  West  (now  Ontario),  where  John 
Stafford  bought  and  operated  a  grist,  saw  and 
fulling  mill.  In  the  following  winter  he  was 
frozen  to  death  while  on  the  road  between  Port 
Hope  and  Toronto.  The  next  spring  his  widow 
moved  to  Rochester,  New  York,  where,  a  few 
years  later,  her  son  John  began  the  study  of 
medicine  in  the  office  of  Elwood  8r  Toby,  the 
former  then  one  of  the  eminent  surgeons  of  the 
State,  and  the  latter  a  prominent  physician.  Two 
years  later,  in  1832,  Mrs.  Stafford  died  of  cholera, 
and  the  son  abandoned  his  medical  studies;  but 
he  never  forgot  his  mother's  counsel  and  made 
it  the  rule  of  his  life,  which  has  always  been  up- 
right and  stainless. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  began  life  on  the 
great  lakes  in  the  capacity  of  cabin  boy  on  the 
ship  '  'Julia  Palmer, ' '  of  Buffalo,  New  York.  In 
those  days  the  old  custom  of  serving  grog  (in  this 
case  it  was  Santa  Cruz  rum)  prevailed,  and  at 
eleven  o'clock  each  day  the  crew  had  its  daily 


rations.  Being  anxious  to  succeed,  young  Staf- 
ford spent  several  years  as  a  sailor,  and  gradually 
worked  up  to  a  position  as  master,  which  he  ac- 
quired in  1849,  at  which  date  he  became  part 
owner  and  captain  of  the  brig  "Boston,"  of  Buf- 
falo. In  this  capacity  he  spent  three  years  on 
the  lakes. 

In  1851  he  settled  in  Chicago,  and  engaged  in 
the  business  of  ship  chandler  and  grocer  on 
South  Water  Street,  in  which  occupation  he  re- 
mained nine  years.  During  that  time  he  bought 
vessels,  and  in  1860  he  owned  a  fleet  of  ten.  One 
of  these,  the  brig  "Banner,"  made  the  voyage 
from  Chicago  to  Buffalo  in  four  days  and  two 
hours.  In  the  year  1859  he  purchased  a  half 
interest  in  Sans*  Ale  Brewing  Company.  This 
firm  manufactured  a  very  fine  quality  of  ale  and 
supplied  the  United  States  Government,  under 
contract,  with  one  hundred  barrels  of  ale  daily, 
for  use  in  the  hospitals  of  the  sick  and  wounded, 
during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 

Mr.  Stafford  was  a  member  and  principal  cap- 
italist in  the  firm  of  Bennett,  Peters  &  Co.,  then 
the  largest  wholesale  liquor  house  west  of  New 
York.  He  sold  his  interest  in  the  two  last-men- 
tioned firms  in  1869,  and  disposed  of  his  fleet  of 
ships  the  following  year,  since  which  time  he  has 
not  been  actively  engaged  in  business.  During 
all  these  years  he  had  been  active  in  politics,  and 
through  this  activity  became  well  acquainted  with 


342 


J.  F.  STAFFORD. 


all  the  public  men  of  his  political  (Republican) 
faith  in  the  State  of  Illinois  since  Richard  Yates 
was  elected  Governor  of  this  commonwealth. 
Although  often  solicited  to  become  a  candidate 
for  office,  he  would  never  consent,  and  has  held 
but  one  political  position.  During  Mr.  Yates' 
term  as  Governor  of  Illinois  Mr.  Stafford  was 
prevailed  upon  to  accept  the  appointment  of  Coal 
Oil  Inspector,  in  order  to  give  the  city  the  bene- 
fit of  his  experience  and  ability  in  straightening 
out  the  irregularities  previously  prevailing  in  the 
administration  of  that  office.  This  he  did  in 
eight  months,  and  promptly  resigned.  After  the 
great  fire  of  1871  he  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Aid  and  Relief  Committee,  and  contributed 
liberally  to  assist  the  sufferers  by  that  disaster. 

It  was  in  a  work  of  vast  importance  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Chicago  that  Captain  Stafford  most  dis- 
tinguished himself,  not  only  by  his  steadfastness 
of  purpose,  but  also  by  the  results  of  his  efforts  in 
a  matter  which  involved  the  title  to  millions  of 
dollars'  worth  of  property.  In  the  year  1869  the 
legislature  of  the  State  of  Illinois  granted  to  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  the  use  of  the 
lake  shore  a  long  distance  south  of  the  Chicago 
River.  The  company  afterward,  in  the  exercise 
of  its  riparian  rights,  usurped  the  rights  of  own- 
ership over  the  adjacent  portions  of  the  lake  and 
filled  up  a  portion  of  the  harbor,  subjecting  so 
much  of  the  lake  as  it  chose  to  its  own  purposes. 
At  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  statute  providing 
for  the  conveyance  of  an  easement  to  the  com- 
pany, it  was  held  to  be  illegal  by  some  of  the 
best  lawyers,  and  a  meeting  of  merchants,  cap- 
italists and  others  was  called  to  take  measures  to 
resist  the  encroacuments  of  the  railroad  company. 
As  a  result  of  this  meeting,  J.  Young  Scammon, 
Thomas  Hoyne  and  John  F.  Stafford  were  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  take  proper  steps  to  re- 
strain the  company  from  exercising  riparian 
rights  on  the  lake  front.  In  pursuance  thereof, 
an  injunction  was  obtained  from  the  lower  court, 
which  was  sustained,  but  the  railroad  company 
carried  the  case  up  until  it  finally  reached  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  there, 
twenty-four  years  after  its  institution,  the  case 


was  decided  adversely  to  the  company.  One 
hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  property,  it 
was  estimated,  was  thus  saved  to  the  citizens  of 
Chicago.  While  the  suit  was  in  the  courts,  Cap- 
tain Stafford's  colleagues  had  died,  and  he  alone 
had  been  left  to  see  the  end  of  this  famous  suit. 
During  all  the  years  of  this  litigation  Captain 
Stafford  had  given  the  case  unremitting  attention, 
and  expended  his  money  liberally  in  forwarding 
the  interests  of  the  people,  and  did  it  all  gratu- 
itously. 

In  March,  1854,  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  Cap- 
tain Stafford  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  C. 
Cadwallader,  daughter  of  Michael  Cadwallader, 
City  Comptroller  of  that  city,  and  for  many  years 
editor  of  the  Buffalo  Journal.  It  is  a  noteworthy 
fact  that  Gen.  Thomas  Proctor,  the  maternal 
grandfather  of  Mr.  Cadwallader,  inducted  Gen- 
eral Washington  into  the  mysteries  of  Free  Ma- 
sonry. Mrs.  Stafford  died  in  1861,  leaving 
two  daughters,  Juniata  and  Minnie,  who  reside 
with  their  father. 

Although  Mr.  Stafford  finds  no  more  pleasant 
place  than  his  comfortable  home  on  the  North 
Side,  he  has  spent  much  time  during  recent  years 
in  travel,  always  accompanied  by  one  of  his 
daughters.  The  summer  season  of  the  year  was 
spent  in  northern  resorts  and  the  winter  in  the 
South,  sometimes  as  far  away  as  Cuba  or  Mex- 
ico. During  the  year  1888  Captain  Stafford  and 
Miss  Minnie  spent  six  months  in  Europe,  visiting 
the  home  of  his  childhood  (after  an  absence  of 
sixty-two  years),  the  four  quarters  of  Britain  and 
the  principal  countries  of  Southern  Europe. 

In  politics  Captain  Stafford  has  been  an  earnest 
and  unflinching  Republican  since  the  organization 
of  the  party.  He  has  never  been  a  candidate  for 
office,  but  has  chosen,  rather,  to  help  deserving 
friends  to  good  positions.  In  religious  faith  he  is 
an  Episcopalian,  and  for  seventeen  years  has  been 
vestryman  of  Trinity  Church.  There  is  no  man 
in  Chicago  deserving  a  larger  circle  of  warm 
friends,  or  more  highly  esteemed  for  public  ser- 
vices than  genial,  warm-hearted  Captain  Stafford, 
whose  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of 
Chicago  will  be  long  remembered. 


L    .,ARV 


C.  M.  HAWLEY. 


343 


HON.  CYRUS  M.  HAWLEY. 


EYRUS  MADISON  HAWLEY  was  born  in 
Cortland  County,  New  York,  in  January, 
1815.  His  liberal  education,  for  the  times, 
was  received  at  the  Albany  (New  York)  Normal 
School,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  eminent  scholar, 
Professor  Woolworth.  His  law  studies  were 
begun  under  the  guidance  of  the  distinguished 
advocate,  Joshua  A.  Spencer,  of  Utica,  New 
York.  On  coming  to  Chicago,  in  1847,  he  con- 
tinued his  application  until  admission  to  the  local 
bar  in  1849,  and  in  1862,  on  motion,  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  Says  a  noted  contemporary,  "By  force 
of  native  genius  and  industry,  he  directly  took  a 
front  position  in  the  ranks  of  his  profession." 
Remarkable  indeed  was  the  degree  of  success 
which  attended  his  twenty-five  continuous  years 
of  legal  practice  here,  being  annually  retained  by 
such  opulent  clients  as  John  V.  Farwell  &  Com- 
pany and  Field,  Leiter  &  Company ;  and  his  profes- 
sional affiliations  being  for  many  years  with  such 
legal  giants  as  Senator  Lyman  Trumbull  and  his 
brother,  George  Trumbull. 

In  1869  he  was  nominated  by  President  U.  S. 
Grant  to  act  as  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  for  the  Territory  of  Utah,  which  appoint- 
ment was,  on  the  isth  of  April  of  that  year, 
unanimously  confirmed  by  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate. To  this  new  sphere  of  usefulness  he  was 
warmly  welcomed,  delivering  the  Fourth  of  July 
oration  at  Salt  Lake  City  the  year  of  his  arrival, 
which  was  very  highly  complimented  and  at  once 
established  his  ability  as  a  public  speaker,  in 
addition  to  his  known  superior  legal  acquirements 
and  the  laurel  crown  of  jurist  about  to  be  won. 

Of  the  succeeding  four  years,  through  which  he 
sat  upon  the  Supreme  bench  of  that  polygamy- 
practicing  territory,  it  would  be  quite  difficult  to 
speak  in  full  justice,  but,  in  the  language  of  two 


of  his  conservative  biographers,  we  may  chron- 
icle, "Among  the  distinguished  persons  who 
have  figured  in  the  affairs  of  Utah,  there  is  none 
deserving  a  more  respectful  notice  than  Judge 
Hawley . ' '  '  'Every  subject  demanding  his  official 
attention  has  been  grasped  firmly  and  fearlessly, 
and  his  written  decisions  and  opinions  upon  the 
various  legal  issues  which  have  been  submitted  to 
his  consideration  are  noted  for  their  soundness, 
ability  and  perspicuity. ' ' 

Taking  a  firm  stand  against  the  Mormon  sys- 
tem, as  might  have  been  expected,  he  encoun- 
tered the  solid  antagonism  of  its  united  press 
and  public  efforts,  in  which  he  was  made  the  sub- 
ject of  undeserved  censure  and  even  vituperative 
abuse.  But  the  golden  purity  of  his  judgment 
and  decisions  continued  unsullied  by  malign  tra- 
ducers,  living  now  in  the  immortal  canons  of  law 
of  that  region,  wherein  his  own  bravely  sown 
seeds  were  among  the  first  and  noblest  to  bear 
governmental  fruit.  On  all  questions  involving 
polygamy  or  other  associated  evils,  which  were  a 
growing  menace  to  these  United  States,  he  took 
the  most  determined  and  unwavering  stand  against 
further  usurpation  by,  or  continuance  in  the  prac- 
tice of  such  customs.  No  more  doughty  champion 
of  the  right  has  ever  thrown  down  the  glove  of 
challenge  against  Mormon-entrenched  hierarchy; 
for  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  as  much  as  to  any 
single  person,  is  due  credit  for  the  improved  pres- 
ent tone  and  condition  of  that  territory,  now  ad- 
mitted to  our  sisterhood  of  States. 

From  among  many  of  his  prominent  decisions, 
afterward  published  in  pamphlet  form,  we  make 
mention  of  the  following:  "Opinion  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  as  to  the  Jurisdiction  of  Probate 
Courts  in  the  Territory  of  Utah,"  1870;  "An 
Important  United  States  Supreme  Court  Decision 
for  Utah,"  1871;  "Arrest  of  Militia  Officers  in 


344 


C.  M.  HAWLEY. 


Utah  Territory,"  after  1870;  "Militia  Officers  in 
Utah  Territory,  Habeas  Corpus  Decision,"  after 
1870;  "Habeas  Corpus  Decision  of  January  28, 
1873;"  "The  Mormons  and  the  Treaty  with 
Mexico;"  "A  Review  of  a  Decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,"  after  1870; 
"Opinion  on  the  Original  Jurisdiction  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,"  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  October  term,  1873,  on  appeal. 

One  of  the  most  memorable  acts  of  Judge  Haw- 
ley  in  connection  with  this  epoch  of  his  career 
was  his  causing  the  arrest  of  Bishop  Lee,  leader 
of  the  Mountain  Meadow  Massacre,  who  was  sub- 
sequently indicted,  tried  and  convicted,  the  death 
penalty  being  executed  upon  the  very  spot  of  the 
bloody  massacre.  Because  of  such  heroic  and 
judicial  acts  as  the  foregoing,  upon  the  eve  of  his 
departure  from  Utah— for  he  had  been  too  stu- 
dious in  performance  of  duties  to  seek  subtle 
means  of  continuance  or  preferment  in  office — his 
recent  friends  and  associates,  made  in  these  few 
but  eventful  years,  tendered  him  a  dignified  but 
cordial  banquet  in  this  formal  manner: 

"SAW  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH,  April  8,  1873. 
"Hon.  C.  M.  Hawley, 

"Dear  Sir: — Understanding  that  it  is  your 
intention  to  return  to  your  former  home  in  Chi- 
cago, we  desire  to  evince  before  your  departure  in 
some  suitable  manner  our  appreciation  of  your 
character  as  a  citizen,  gentleman,  and  an  able, 
fearless  and  incorruptible  judge. 

"We,  therefore,  respectfully  tender  to  you  the 
compliment  of  a  dinner  on  the  evening  of  the  nth 
instant,  when  we  may  have  another  opportunity 
of  expressing  the  esteem,  confidence  and  friend- 
ship we  now  entertain  and  have  ever  entertained 
for  you  in  your  personal  and  official  capacity." 

The  foregoing  was  signed  by  leaders  at  the 
bar,  and,  upon  acceptance,  was  the  occasion  of  a 
remarkable  gathering,  including  many  distin- 
guished legal  lights,  federal  functionaries  and 
army  officers,  which  called  forth  many  a  brilliant 
and  touching  expression  of  sentiment. 

From  that  post  of  honor,  after  some  journey- 
ings,  he  settled  for  a  time  at  Washington,  D.  C., 
as  a  copartner  of  the  Hon.  A.  G.  Riddle,  where 
his,  by  this  time,  widely  voiced  reputation  brought 
distinguished  and  lucrative  retention.  But  the 
old  home  by  the  lakes  always  held  a  warm  spot 


in  his  heart,  and  returning  to  Chicago,  he  here 
passed  the  final  years  of  a  worthy  life.  The  vital 
spark  too  soon  burned  out  at  his  substantial  resi- 
dence, No.  5326  Washington  Avenue,  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  August  29, 
1894. 

Aside  from  pursuits  of  law,  he  was  profuse  in 
discursive  literary  outpourings  on  social  as  well 
as  legal  problems.  Among  numerous  lectures 
delivered  we  find  gratifying  reviews  of  those  upon 
these  subjects:  "What  is  Life,"  "Corinne," 
"The  Mutations  of  Time."  He  was,  at  the  time 
of  his  decease,  President  of  the  Hyde  Park  Phil- 
osophical Society.  He  was  very  proud  of  hav- 
ing been  one  of  the  founders,  as  likewise  a  most 
active  and  able  supporter,  of  the  Chicago  "Old 
Tippecanoe  Club, ' '  before  whom  he  repeatedly  ap- 
peared in  edifying  contributions,  notable  among 
which  was  a  paper  in  1891  (afterward  published 
as  a  pamphlet)  upon  the  Italian  Mafia  trouble  at 
New  Orleans.  Therein  was  furnished  a  learned 
review  of  the  international  laws  covering  the  dis- 
pute, together  with  the  treaty  in  force  between 
the  two  countries,  which  was  made  the  occasion 
for  suitable  resolutions.  Most  feelingly  of  their 
recent  loss  the  Tippecanoe  Club  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  at  a  regular  monthly  meeting, 
held  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel,  September  29, 
1894: 

"RESOLVED,  That  the  President  appoint  a 
committee  of  three  to  present  a  paper  expressive 
of  the  profound  sorrow  of  the  Club  for  the  death 
of  Judge  Cyrus  Madison  Hawley." 

The  President  therefore  appointed  the  following 
committee:  Dr.  J.  W.  Harmon,  Henry  Sayrs 
and  Rev.  W.  S.  Post. 

That  committee  presented  the  following  report: 

'  'Since  our  last  meeting  this  Club  has  met  with 
an  irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  Judge  Cyrus 
Madison  Hawley. 

"He  was  one  of  our  most  talented  and  influen- 
tial members.  No  member  of  this  Club  could 
speak  upon  questions  which  were  discussed  at 
our  meetings  with  more  force  and  eloquence.  He 
attended  our  meetings  quite  regularly,  and  always 
contributed  to  their  interest. 

"He  was  a  patriot.  Descended  from  a  long 
line  of  revolutionary  and  patriotic  ancestors,  he 
was  a  worthy  son  of  such  noble  sires. 

"He  was  an  able  expounder  and  defender  of 


C.  M.  HAWLEY. 


345 


the  foundation  principles  of  this  Club  and  of  the 
Republican  party.  In  him  were  embodied  the 
essential  and  enduring  principles  which  are  the 
foundation  of  the  prosperity  of  our  government. 

"Judge  Hawley  was  a  man  of  great  ability. 
He  was  a  logical  and  consecutive  reasoner.  His 
keen  intellect  enabled  him  to  see  the  pith  and 
very  essence  of  questions  which  he  discussed,  and 
he  always  supported  his  propositions  with  con- 
summate skill,  force  and  ability. 

"He  was  the  author  of  many  papers  which 
have  been  published. 

'  'He  also  left  a  large  number  of  manuscripts, 
which  the  writer  of  this  has  read,  and  they  all 
give  evidence  of  profound  study  and  research 
and  great  ability. 

"The  death  of  Judge  Hawley  is  a  great  loss  to 
this  Club.  We  all  mourn  the  sad  event.  There- 
fore, be  it 

'  'Resolved,  That  by  the  death  of  Judge  Hawley, 
the  old  Tippecanoe  Club  of  Chicago  loses  one  of 
its  most  esteemed  and  valuable  members,  and 
that  we  all  deeply  deplore  the  sad  event. 

' l  Resolved,  That  this  report  be  entered  upon  the 
records  of  this  Club,  and  that  a  copy  of  it  be  sent 
to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  in  political  views  a  Republican,  in 
whose  ranks  few  were  more  modestly  conspicu- 
ous. An  Abolitionist,  he  lived  to  see  the  greatest 
stain  upon  national  and  domestic  annals  wiped 
away;  an  early  advocate  (in  1861)  of  the  right 
and  duty  of  government  to  issue  treasury  notes  as 
a  circulating  medium,  as  a  means  with  which  to 
meet  immediate  fiscal  governmental  demands,  he 
saw  that  opinion  become  an  established  adminis- 
trational  dogma. 

What  affords  a  more  impressive  spectacle  than 
to  see  one  pass  away  in  the  fullness  of  years  and 
fame?  Prominent,  as  lawyer;  consummately 
able,  as  a  jurist;  stanch,  as  a  friend;  devoted,  as 
husband  and  father;  independent  in  means  ac- 
quired through  channels  of  laborious  honor; 
surely  we  may  safely  leave  his  memory  and  his 
fame  to  the  goddess  of  impartial  hand,  who  con- 
siders the  consciences,  and  records  for  all  eternity 
the  deeds  of  each. 

Judge  Hawley 's  charities  were  dispensed  with 
quiet  unostentation,  but  were  none  the  less  very 
substantial  both  in  amount  and  judicious  selection 
of  the  donees.  Witness,  during  his  lifetime  he 


was  a  periodical  giver  to  the  Chicago  Presbyte- 
rian Hospital,  the  Newsboys'  and  Bootblacks' 
Association,  and  the  Protestant  Orphan  Asylum, 
his  contributions  to  each  of  these  often  amounting 
to  as  much  as  $500  yearly.  In  his  will  he  pro- 
vided for  the  annual  payment  to  all  of  said  insti- 
tutions of  $500  during  the  lifetime  of  two  of  his 
immediate  relatives,  and  upon  their  deaths  the 
whole  of  his  ample  estate  is  devised  in  fee  to  be 
divided  among  the  said  institutions.  Who  can 
foresee  the  amount  of  good  thus  accomplished, 
the  suffering  relieved  and  the  buds  of  many  noble 
manhoods  forever  quickened?  Thus  he  reared  a 
monument  in  the  hearts  of  unborn  thousands  who 
are  yet  to  arise  and  bless  his  life  and  memory. 

Judge  Hawley  was  a  lifelong  Presbyterian  in 
religious  faith,  having  been  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  of  Chicago,  for  upward  of 
thirty  years.  Its  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Barrows, 
preached  his  funeral  sermon  in  sincerely  glowing 
terms.  He  was  buried  at  Penfield,  New  York, 
beside  his  deceased  wife. 

In  1862  he  married  Sophia  Fellows,  of  Penfield, 
New  York;  her  father  being  a  lawyer  of  good 
abilities,  and  her  grandfather  the  General  Fellows 
who  performed  heroic  service  for  the  colonies  in 
the  Revolutionary  War. 

Upon  her  decease,  Mr.  Hawley,  January  19, 
1893,  married  Mrs.  Annie  Fulton  I<oomis  (a 
widow),  of  Chicago,  who  survives  him.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Fulton,  the  family  being  of 
Scotch-Presbyterian  descent,  one  branch  of  which 
produced  the  immortal  Robert  Fulton,  inventor 
of  the  first  steamboat,  successfully  launched  on 
the  Hudson  River  in  1814.  Her  mother  was 
Elizabeth  Moore,  a  daughter  of  Major  Thomas 
Moore,  famed  in  connection  with  the  War  of  1812. 

He  had  two  children:  C.  Myron  Hawley,  who 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  served  his  father  as 
Clerk  of  the  Court  in  Utah,  where  he  untimely 
died  of  pneumonia;  and  a  daughter,  now  Mrs. 
Charles  Bumford,  of  New  York  City. 

Cyrus  Madison  Hawley  was  a  son  of  I/ewis  and 
Sarah  Hawley,  nee  Tanner,  a  daughter  of  James 
and  Hannah  Tanner,  nee  Hazard,  of  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  they  having  been  formerly  of 
Huntington,  Connecticut,  but  removing  to  Solon, 


346 


I.  N.  CAMP. 


New  York,  where  they  were  prominent  residents 
for  upward  of  half  a  century. 

Ascending  the  lineage  in  America,  we  record 
the  following:  His  grandparents  were  Joseph 
and  Anna  Hawley,  nee  Lewis,  a  daughter  of  Na- 
thaniel and  Ruth  Lewis,  nee  Beardsley,  of  Hunt- 
ington,  Connecticut.  Joseph  was  a  son  of  Cap- 
tain Francis  and  Rachel  Hawley,  nee  Davis,  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Davis,  nee  Chatfield, 
of  "Great  Hill"  Derby,  Connecticut,  residents  of 
Huntington.  Francis  was  a  son  of  Samuel,  Jr., 
and  Bethia  Hawley,  nee  Booth,  a  daughter  of 
Ephraim  and  Mary  Booth,  nee  Clark,  of  Strat- 
ford, Connecticut,  who  lived  at  Stratford,  and 
later  at  Derby,  Connecticut.  Samuel,  Jr.,  was  a 
son  of  Samuel,  Sr.,  and  Mary  Hawley,  nee 
Thompson,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Ann 
Thompson  (nee  Welles,  of  Farmington,  Connect- 
icut) ,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut.  Samuel  was  a 
son  of  Joseph  Hawley,  '  'Yeoman  and  Town  Re- 
corder," and  Katherine  Birdsey,  of  Stratford, 
Connecticut. 

The  last  said  Joseph  Hawley  came  to  America 
about  1629  or  1630,  from  "Parwidge"  (now  Par- 
wick),  Derbyshire,  England,  which  is  a  place 
located  about  nine  miles  northwest  of  Old  Derby; 
he  settled  upon  "Home  Lot  No.  37,"  as  set  off 
by  the  '  'first  inhabitants  of  Stratford,  Connecti- 
cut." Here  he  died  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-seven,  his  burial  spot  being  still  identified 
by  a  well-worn  slate  tablet  (an  exceptional  mark 
among  early  New  England  settlers) ,  on  which  is 
yet  legible  its  inscription,  "J.  H.  May  20,  1690." 


From  a  work  embodying  the  results  of  great 
labor  and  research,  into  which  we  have  been 
privileged  to  examine  in  connection  herewith  (the 
volume  being  entitled  the  "Hawley  Record,  1066 
to  1890,"  a  heavy  quarto  tome),  we  ascertain 
that  this  family  is  both  very  ancient  and  honor- 
able. The  line  is  of  Norman  origin;  the  first 
Hawley,  as  appears  from  the  "Roll  of  Battel 
Abbey' '  (that  consummate  aggregate  genealogical 
tree  builded  by  "The  Conqueror,"  back  to  whom 
is  traced  so  much  of  the  good  and  bad  of  the  past 
nine  hundred  years  of  English  history),  came 
into  England  in  1066  from  France  with  the  con- 
quering King  William  I.  The  arms  of  the  Derby 
(England)  Hawleys  are,  "  vert  a  saltier  engrailed 
argent.  Crest,  a  dexter  arm  in  armor  ppr. ,  gar- 
nished or  holding  in  the  hand  a  spear  in  bend 
sinister,  point  downward  ppr.  Motto,  '  'suivez 
moi."  The  etymology  of  this  patronymic  sug- 
gests itself  as  a  compound  of  the  root  words, 
"haw"  and  "ley,"  which  might  be  intelligently 
interpreted  as  '  'A  meadow  field  enclosed  by  haw- 
thorns. 

Stratford,  Connecticut,  the  ancestral  American 
seat,  is  situated  very  advantageously  upon  Long 
Island  Sound,  in  Fairfield  County,  which  is  not 
only  the  southwesternmost  in  that  State,  but  all 
New  England;  here  the  Hawley  family  has  been 
prominent  for  many  generations.  As  one  au- 
thority states,  '  'The  name  of  Hawley  has  stood 
pre-eminent  in  the  ranks  of  jurists  and  statesmen 
of  New  England." 


ISAAC  NEWTON  CAMP. 


*YSAAC  N.  CAMP,  one  of  the  prominent  busi- 
ness men  of  Chicago,  who  has  been  success- 
Jl  fully  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  in  this 
city  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  is  a 


native  of  Elmore,  Lamoille  County,  Vermont, 
having  been  born  there  on  the  igth  of  December, 
1831.  His  ancestors  were  colonial  settlers  in  the 
Green  Mountain  State.  His  parents,  Abel  and 


I.  N.  CAMP. 


347 


Charlotte  (Taplin)  Camp,  were  both  natives  of 
Vermont.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  whose  sound 
sense  and  good  judgment  gave  him  the  position 
of  leading  citizen  among  the  people  of  the  town 
in  which  he  lived.  For  several  years  he  held  the 
office  of  Postmaster  and  Town  Clerk.  He  died 
on  the  22d  of  December,  1890,  aged  ninety  years. 
In  respect  to  his  longevity,  he  was  like  his  father, 
grandfather  and  great-grandfather,  each  of  whom 
lived  to  a  very  advanced  age.  Among  other 
things  that  came  to  Mr.  Camp,  on  account  of  his 
integrity  and  financial  ability,  was  the  charge  of 
a  large  tract  of  land  which  was  left  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont  by  Guy  Catlin.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  management  of  this  land  was  a 
scholarship  in  the  university  held  by  Mr.  Catlin, 
and  placed  at  Mr.  Camp's  disposal. 

Isaac  Newton  Camp,  after  the  usual  course  in 
the  common  schools,  attended  the  academy  at 
Bakersfield,  Vermont,  where  he  paid  his  board  by 
teaching  music.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  entered 
the  University  of  Vermont,  where  he  made  use 
of  the  scholarship  above  mentioned,  and  in  his 
spare  time  earned  enough  money  to  pay  his  cur- 
rent expenses.  After  four  years  of  hard  study, 
interspersed  with  a  liberal  amount  of  hard  work, 
he  was  graduated  and  received  his  diploma  from 
his  Alma  Mater  in  1856.  Soon  afterward  he  be- 
came assistant  principal  in  Barre  Academy,  which 
had  been  transferred  from  Bakersfield  during  the 
time  he  was  in  college.  There  he  taught  math- 
ematics and  music  for  four  years,  after  which  he 
became  principal  of  the  High  school,  at  Burling- 
ton, Vermont,  filling  that  position  until  he  came 
to  Chicago,  April  20,  1868. 

In  this  city  Mr.  Camp  became  associated  with 
H.  L.  Story,  and  entered  the  business  in  which 
he  spent  a  large  portion  of  his  life.  The  firm 
took  the  name  of  Story  &  Camp,  and  continued 
in  business  until  the  spring  of  1884,  when  the 
Estey  Organ  Company  bought  Mr.  Story's  inter- 
est, and  the  firm  assumed  the  style  of  Estey  & 
Camp,  which  has  been  continued  to  the  present 
date,  1895. 

Mr.  Camp's  life  is  an  exemplification  of  what  a 
man  may  do  if  he  has  ability  and  business  meth- 
ods. He  began  life  on  a  small  capital  which  he 


had  saved  out  of  his  salary  as  a  teacher.  With 
that  as  a  base,  and  an  abundance  of  energy,  per- 
severance, enterprise  and  integrity  of  the  highest 
character,  he  was  prepared  to  enter  the  contest 
for  success  in  commercial  circles  with  a  good 
prospect  of  winning,  and  he  succeeded.  The 
house  of  which  he  is  a  member  is  one  of  the  most 
reputable  and  substantial  in  Chicago,  and  its 
status  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  efforts  of  the  gen- 
tlemen who  have  managed  its  affairs.  It  grew 
up  on  fair  dealing  and  honest  and  successful 
competition  with  its  rivals.  At  the  time  of  Mr. 
Story's  withdrawal  from  the  firm,  the  capital 
exceeded  $500,000,  and  he  received  $250,000  for 
his  interest  in  the  business.  The  capital  to-day 
exceeds  $i  ,000,000. 

Mr.  Camp  has  been  prominently  connected 
with  public  enterprises.  He  is  a  director  in  the 
Chicago  Theological  Seminary  and  the  Royal 
Trust  Company.  In  April,  1891,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  director  of  the  World's  Columbian  Ex- 
position, and  served  as  a  member  of  the  commit- 
tees on  Agriculture  and  Liberal  Arts.  In  politics 
Mr.  Camp  is  a  Republican,  but  he  does  not  serve 
his  party  with  a  blind  devotion,  rather  taking  a 
liberal  view  of  political  matters,  and  in  local 
affairs  votes  for  the  man  whom  he  thinks  best 
qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  Union 
Park  Congregational  Church,  and  is  president  of 
its  board  of  trustees.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  and  Union  League  Clubs. 

On  the  ist  of  January,  1862,  Mr.  Camp  mar- 
ried Miss  Flora  Carpenter,  daughter  of  Hon. 
Carlos  Carpenter,  of  Barre,  Vermont.  Of  the 
four  children  born  of  this  marriage,  three  are  now 
living.  The  daughter,  Charlotte,  is  the  wife  of 
M.  A.  Farr,  of  Chicago;  Edward  N.,  the  elder 
son,  is  in  business  with  his  father;  and  William 
Carpenter,  the  younger  son,  is  also  in  the  business. 

Mr.  Camp  has  found  time  in  his  busy  commer- 
cial life  to  see  his  native  land  quite  thoroughly, 
and  has  also  traveled  extensively  abroad  with  his 
family.  As  a  result  of  his  journeyings,  he  is  a 
better  citizen  and  more  loyal  American  than  he 
would  otherwise  have  been.  He  is  a  generous 
giver  to  the  church  and  for  charitable  purposes. 


348 


E.  A.  JEWETT. 


In  consequence  of  his  industrious,  well-spent  life, 
and  his  energy,  integrity  and  force  of  character, 
Mr.  Camp  has  raised  himself  from  the  bottom 
round  of  the  financial  ladder  to  a  position  of  in- 


dependence, and  at  this  advanced  period  of  his 
life  enjoys  the  luxuries  of  wealth,  the  society  of 
numerous  friends,  and  the  pleasures  of  an  environ- 
ment of  refinements. 


EDWARD  A.  JEWETT. 


[TOWARD  ADAMS  JEWETT,  one  of  the 
1^  successful  sons  of  Vermont,  now  identified 
L»  with  the  greatest  enterprise  of  Chicago,  was 
born  at  St.  Johnsbury,  July  18,  1838.  His 
grandfather,  Dr.  Luther  Jewett,  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  that  town,  where  he  officiated  first  as 
a  clergyman  and  later  as  a  physician.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  Congress  from  Vermont,  elected 
in  1815  and  re-elected  in  1817.  He  was  born  in 
Canterbury,  Connecticut,  and  reached  the  age  of 
eighty-seven  years.  Ephraim  Jewett,  the  father 
of  the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  in  turn  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  St.  Johnsbury,  where  he  carried 
on  a  mercantile  business.  He  married  Miss  Jane 
Fairbanks,  a  daughter  of  ex-Governor  Erastus 
Fairbanks  and  sister  of  ex-Governor  Horace 
Fairbanks — a  name  which  is  a  household  word 
in  the  Green  Mountain  State,  and  familiar  in  this 
and  other  countries  in  connection  with  Fairbanks' 
scales  and  philanthropic  deeds.  Mrs .  Jane  Jewett' s 
grandfather  was  remotely  of  English  descent,  his 
ancestors  being  among  the  first  settlers  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Both  he  and  his  wife  lived  to  extreme 
old  age,  departing  this  life  during  the  boyhood  of 
Edward  A.  Jewett — Mrs.  Fairbanks  at  the  age  of 
ninety-nine  years.  Erastus  Fairbanks  was  born  in 
Brimfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1792,  and  was  known 
as  Vermont's  "War  Governor,"  his  second  elec- 
tion to  that  office  having  occurred  in  the  fall  of 
1860.  The  first  election  was  in  1852. 

The  ancestry  of  Edward  A.  Jewett  on  both 
sides  was  of  prime  New  England  stock — a  lineage 


distinguished  for  sturdy  character,  industrious 
habits  and  intellectual  force — and  this  scion  per' 
petuates  those  characteristics  to  a  marked  degree. 
He  attended  the  schools  in  St.  Johnsbury,  and 
later  became  a  student  at  Phillips  Academy,  at 
Andover,  Massachusetts,  graduating  from  that 
famous  educational  institution  in  1857.  He  then 
entered  Harvard  University,  but  his  health  hav- 
ing become  impaired,  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
his  studies  there  at  the  end  of  the  second  year. 

He  soon  after  entered  upon  the  business  career 
in  which  he  has  since  been  almost  continuously 
occupied.  His  first  employment  was  with  a  large 
wholesale  boot  and  shoe  house  in  Boston,  where 
he  remained  until  1861.  He  was  then  sent  to 
Burlington,  Vermont,  to  settle  up  the  affairs  of  a 
boot  and  shoe  store  which  had  become  largely 
indebted  to  his  employers.  Having  adjusted  this 
business  in  a  manner  creditable  to  himself  and 
satisfactory  to  the  creditors,  he  purchased  the 
business  of  the  bankrupt  concern  and  carried  on 
the  same  for  four  years.  At  the  end  of  that 
period  he  became  interested  in  the  construction  of 
a  railway  from  Swanton,  Vermont,  to  St.  John's, 
Quebec,  which  subsequently  became  a  part  of  the 
Vermont  Central  system.  From  1866  to  1870  he 
was  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment as  deputy  collector  of  internal  revenue  at 
Burlington,  Vermont,  after  which  he  engaged  in 
the  book  and  stationery  business  at  that  place  for 
three  years. 

In  1873  Mr.  Jewett  became  a  resident  of  Chi- 


GOTTLIEB  MERZ. 


349 


cago,  and  in  July  of  that  year  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Superintendent  of  the  Chicago  division 
of  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company.  On  the  ist 
of  June,  1874,  he  was  promoted  to  the  office  of 
Division  Superintendent,  and  held  that  position 
until  April  i,  1888,  when  he  was  appointed  As- 
sistant General  Superintendent  of  the  company, 
a  position  which  he  still  capably  fills.  This  high 
and  responsible  position  was  given  to  him  in 
recognition  of  his  merits  and  qualifications. 
This  important  trust  involves  in  its  operations 
millions  of  dollars,  under  a  method  so  thoroughly 
systematized  that  the  checks  and  balances  must 
tally  to  a  cent.  The  vast  system  managed  by 
the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company  extends 
throughout  the  United  States,  Canada  and  Mex- 
ico, its  domain  being  so  broad  as  to  be  almost 
incomprehensible — all  under  the  sagacious  super- 
intendency  of  this  quiet  and  unpretentious  gen- 
tleman, whose  hand  is  felt  and  recognized  as 
being  constantly  at  the  helm.  He  has  been  the 
recipient  of  many  evidences  of  the  high  regard  in 
which  he  is  held  by  the  heads  of  this  great  cor- 
poration. 

In  1870  he  married  Miss  Jennie  M.  Hubbell, 
of  Charlotte,  Chittenden  County,  Vermont,  a 
member  of  an  old  and  highly-respected  family, 


the  daughter  of  S.  W.  and  Polly  Hubbell.  The 
home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jewett  in  Chicago  is  the 
seat  of  pleasant  hospitality,  where  their  friends 
are  always  sure  of  cordial  welcome. 

In  his  social  and  fraternal  relations  Mr.  Jewett 
occupies  an  enviable  position.  He  is  an  honored 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  being  affiliated 
with  Washington  L,odge,  Burlington  Chapter  and 
Council,  of  Burlington,  Vermont;  of  Chevalier 
Bayard  Commandery,  Chicago;  and  Boston  (Mas- 
sachusetts) Consistory.  He  served  one  year  as 
Deputy  Grand  Master  of  the  State  of  Vermont, 
Grand  High  Priest  of  the  Grand  Chapter  for  two 
years,  and  Grand  Generalissimo  of  the  Grand 
Commandery  for  one  year.  He  was  an  early 
member  of  the  Sons  of  Vermont  in  Chicago,  and 
one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  that  society  in  1894. 
He  is  a  stanch  supporter  of  Republican  principles 
of  government,  and  in  1872  and  1873  he  served 
as  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  Gov.  Julius  Con- 
verse, of  Vermont.  His  bearing  is  uniformly 
courteous  and  dignified,  and  inspires  the  confi- 
dence and  regard  of  all  who  come  in  contact  with 
him.  He  can  have  the  proud  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  it  has  been  to  his  own  capacity, 
diligence  and  careful  observance  of  the  highest 
rules  of  business  that  his  uniform  success  is  due. 


GOTTLIEB  MERZ. 


MERZ.     Among  the  self-made 

band  patriotic  citizens  of  Chicago  of  foreign 
birth,  is  the  subject  of  this  biography.  His 
ancestors  were  among  the  prominent  people  of 
Menziken,  in  the  canton  of  Aargau,  Switzerland, 
and  he  does  honor  to  his  lineage.  His  grandfather 
moved  from  that  city  to  Erlach,  Canton  Berne, 
where  his  parents,  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  Merz, 
were  born.  Jacob  Merz  was  a  carpenter,  and 


passed  his  whole  life  in  the  pursuit  of  his  occu- 
pation at  Erlach. 

Gottlieb  Merz  was  born  at  the  last-mentioned 
place  on  the  I4th  of  October,  1838,  and  attended 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  place  until  he  was 
fourteen  years  old.  He  was  then  apprenticed  to 
a  cabinetmaker  and  became  a  journeyman  two 
years  later,  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  After  this  he 
worked  at  his  trade  in  several  of  the  Swiss  cities 


350 


GOTTLIEB  MERZ. 


bordering  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  such  as  Neuf- 
chatel,  Locel,  Lucerne,  Vevey  and  Merges.  He 
was  also  employed  for  some  time  in  the  principal 
city  of  Geneva. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four,  possessed  by  that 
spirit  of  enterprise  which  has  made  the  American 
Nation  pre-eminent  in  the  world's  progress,  he 
determined  to  settle  in  the  western  world,  and 
came  direct  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  After 
working  six  months  in  a  cabinet  shop  there,  he 
went  into  a  factory  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  picture  frames,  mirrors  and  show  cases,  and 
after  being  there  two  months,  was  made  foreman 
and  had  charge  of  a  large  business. 

Mr.  Merz  became  a  resident  of  Chicago  in  1865, 
and  was  employed  for  two  years  by  Stotz  &  Wolz, 
makers  of  cabinet  ware.  In  1867  he  established 
his  present  business — the  manufacture  of  cigar 
boxes — which  has  grown  under  his  energetic  and 
judicious  care  to  enormous  magnitude.  His  first 
shop  was  in  the  old  Turner  Hall  on  Kinzie  Street, 
where,  in  1871,  he  lost  everything  in  the  great 
fire.  The  North  Side  residents  did  not  suppose 
the  devouring  element  would  cross  the  river  from 
the  South  Side,  until  it  seemed  to  leap  over  all 
along  the  river  front,  and  Mr.  Merz  was  sur- 
rounded, like  many  others,  before  he  could  make 
arrangements  to  save  anything,  and  was  glad  to 
escape  with  his  family  to  a  place  of  safety.  After 
this  disaster  he  set  cheerfully  to  work  to  repair 
his  losses,  as  far  as  possible,  without  wasting  any 
time  in  repining.  He  began  on  Twenty-second 
Street,  whence  he  removed  in  June,  1872,  to 
North  Franklin  Street.  His  business  continuing 
to  grow  until  he  was  again  compelled  to  move, 
he  built  the  brick  buildings  now  occupied  by  him 
at  209  to  215  Superior  Street,  in  1879.  Here  he 
turns  out  daily  five  thousand  cigar  boxes,  beside 
from  one  to  two  thousand  other  light  packing 
boxes.  The  establishment  is  equipped  with  the 
latest  improved  machinery,  much  of  which  is  the 
result  of  Mr.  Merz'  inventive  genius. 

Mr.  Merz  is  the  founder  and  builder  of  his  own 
fortune,  and  his  example  is  commended  to  the 
youth  of  the  land.  His  success  is  the  result  of 
no  sudden  turn  of  fortune,  but  to  the  persistent 


pushing  of  his  enterprise,  which  is  the  only  real 
"luck"  in  the  world.  Sometimes  a  fortune  is 
rapidly  accumulated,  but  an  examination  of  the 
case  will  show  that,  with  rare  exceptions,  the 
foundation  of  such  success  was  laid  by  long  years 
of  patient  preparation  which  fitted  the  individual 
for  seizing  the  opportunity  when  it  came.  Mr. 
Merz  labored  patiently  many  years  at  his  trade 
to  secure  a  start  in  the  way  of  a  small  capital  and 
a  business  experience  and  knowledge  of  the  En- 
glish language,  which  fitted  him  for  the  promi- 
nent position  he  now  holds  in  the  business  world 
of  Chicago,  that  typical  city  of  American  enter- 
prise. 

While  he  has  been  energetic  in  business,  Mr. 
Merz  has  also  fulfilled  his  duty  to  society.  He 
has  long  been  an  active  member  of  the  Grutli 
Society,  an  organization  of  Swiss-born  citizens, 
of  which  he  was  treasurer  for  ten  years.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Schweitzer  Maennerchor,  the 
North  Side  Turners'  Society,  and  was  for  many 
years  identified  with  the  Sons  of  Herman.  He  holds 
membership  in  Miethra  Lodge,  No.  410,  in  the 
Masonic  Order,  beside  that  of  the  Consistory  and 
Shrine  of  the  same  order.  In  religious  faith  he 
adheres  to  the  German  Lutheran  Church,  and 
has  usually  affiliated  with  the  Republican  party 
in  matters  of  public  policy. 

Mr.  Merz  was  married,  in  1864,  to  Miss  Jo- 
sephine Boppart,  who  is  a  native  of  St.  Gallen, 
Switzerland.  Two  sons  and  a  daughter  of  this 
family  died  in  childhood.  The  living  are,  Emilie, 
widow  of  Henry  Kallemberg;  Louise,  Mrs. 
Charles  Stierlin;  Edward  G.,  who  is  associated 
with  his  father  in  business  (the  firm  now  being 
G.  Merz  &  Son) ;  and  Lily,  still  in  the  home  of 
her  parents.  Ah1  reside  in  Chicago. 

By  his  uniform  courtesy  and  fair  dealing,  Mr. 
Merz  has  won  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  all 
with  whom  he  comes  in  contact,  and  he  is  unan- 
imously voted  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the 
North  Side  citizens.  He  has  never  aspired  to 
public  station,  but  has  been  content  to  fill  his 
place  as  a  gentleman  among  his  fellows  and  at  his 
own  fireside,  where  he  is  the  center  of  conjugal 
and  filial  regard. 


I     .  ARV 

'  THE 
I'NIVERSi..    OF  ILLI    v 


S.  H.  MELCHER. 


SAMUEL  H.   MELCHER,  M.  D. 


QAMUEL  HENRY  MELCHER,  M.  D.  Few, 

j\  if  any  other  Chicagoans,  bear  the  triple  dis- 
\!~)  tinction  that  attaches  to  the  well-known 
name  of  this  soldier,  citizen  and  pioneer  of  the 
medical  profession.  As  a  veteran  of  the  Civil 
War,  his  record  for  nearly  four  years'  hard 
campaigning  under  the  flag  of  the  North  would 
redound  to  the  credit  of  the  most  gallant  son  of 
Mars;  as  a  resident  of  Chicago  he  has  held  place 
among  the  ablest  professional  men  of  the  Western 
metropolis;  as  an  original  exponent  and  practi- 
tioner of  the  new  school  of  surgery  without 
amputation,  he  has  achieved  fame  both  in  mili- 
tary and  civil  life. 

Son  of  Woodbury  Melcher — a  soldier  in  the 
militia  of  New  Hampshire  in  1812,  and  whose 
ancestors,  of  English  and  German  descent,  came 
to  America  in  the  "Mayflower"  on  one  of  the 
first  trips  of  that  famous  ship — Samuel  Henry 
Melcher  was  born  in  the  town  of  Gilmanton, 
New  Hampshire,  October  30,  1828.  His  father, 
the  son  of  Nathaniel  Melcher,  a  shipbuilder  at 
Portsmouth,  where  the  family  first  settled  in 
America,  was  a  well-known  merchant  and  manu- 
facturer of  cotton  goods  at  Laconia,  whither  he 
moved  with  his  family,  and  where  he  died  in 
1870.  Colonel  Melcher's  mother,  Rebecca  French, 
was  a  daughter  of  Capt.  Samuel  B.  French,  of 
Amesbury,  Massachusetts,  who  served  in  the 
state  militia  during  and  after  the  war  of  1812. 
He  was  a  hotel  proprietor  and  upon  removing  to 
Gilmanton,  his  subsequent  home,  became  promi- 
nent in  business  there.  Thus  the  lineage  of  the 
family  can  be  traced  back  a  long  way  on  both 
sides. 


Colonel  Melcher  was  educated  at  Laconia  and 
Gilmanton  academies  and  studied  medicine  at 
Dartmouth  College,  graduating  from  the  medical 
department  of  that  institution  in  1850,  with  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  He  practiced  first 
in  Grafton  County,  New  Hampshire,  and  later 
went  to  Boston,  Massachusetts,  where  he  built 
up  a  thriving  practice.  In  1859  he  traveled 
South,  going  through  Texas,  and  settled  in  Mis- 
souri, making  his  home  in  the  town  of  Potosi, 
Washington  County. 

The  history  of  his  long  and  faithful  service  in 
the  Federal  cause  during  the  Civil  War  is  best 
presented  in  the  following  extract  from  a  biog- 
raphy compiled  by  Capt.  William  Badger, 
United  States  Army,  and  which  appeared  in  the 
Gilmanton  Messenger  of  November  15,  1881, 
under  the  head  of  "Famous  Sons  of  Gilmanton:" 

"On  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  Dr.  Melcher 
offered  his  services  at  once  to  General  Lyon  at  the 
St.  Louis  Arsenal  and  was  mustered  as  assistant 
surgeon  of  the  Fifth  Regiment,  Missouri  Volun- 
teers, for  three  months,  May  7,  1861.  He  was 
with  his  regiment  at  the  battles  of  Carthage,  Dug 
Spring  and  Wilson's  Creek,  where  he  was  the 
last  officer  on  the  field  after  the  forces  fell  back, 
and  brought  off  the  body  of  General  Lyon  and 
delivered  it  to  General  Schofield  the  same  night. 
By  order  of  General  Schofield  he  remained  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  to  take  care 
of  our  wounded,  and  was  subjected  to  great 
indignities.  He  was  saved  from  being  murdered 
only  by  the  more  moderate  rebel  officers.  *He 


*Under  these  conditions  the  indomitable  will  and  magnificent 
courage  of  the  man  challenged  the  admiration  of  friend  and  foe. 


352 


S.  H.  MELCHER. 


was  in  Springfield,  Missouri,  when  the  "Fremont 
Body  Guard"  made  their  terrific  charge,  and 
attended  the  wounded  on  both  sides;  was  fur- 
nished with  wagons  by  General  Sigel,  and  moved 
the  wounded  in  all  that  region  to  Rolla,  thence 
by  rail  to  St.  Louis,  arriving  November  24,  1861, 
thus  ending  his  first  campaign. 

"He  was  commissioned  brigade  surgeon,  De- 
cember 4,  1861,  reporting  to  General  Schofield, 
and  during  the  spring  and  summer  of  1862  was  in 
charge  of  the  Hickory  Street  Hospital  and  Gratiot 
Street  Hospital  for  rebel  prisoners,  f  and  United 
States  Marine  General  Hospital  at  the  same  time. 
By  request  of  Governor  Gamble  he  received  tem- 
porary leave  of  absence  to  organize  the  Thirty- 
second  Regiment  Enrolled  Missouri  Militia;  was 
commissioned  colonel,  and  commanded  the  regi- 
ment six  weeks,  during  which  time  he  dispersed 
the  guerrilla  bands  in  Washington  and  adjoining 
counties,  captured  several  rebel  mails  and  large 
quantities  of  arms,  horses  and  medical  stores. 
October,  1862,  he  returned  to  his  proper  duty  as 
.  medical  director  of  the  army  of  the  frontier.  Jan- 
uary 8,  1863,  he  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of 
Springfield,  Missouri,  against  the  forces  of  Mar- 
maduke,  turning  out  four  hundred  hospital  con- 
valescents, thereby  saving  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  property,  the  winter  supplies  for  Gen- 
eral Schofield' s  army.  About  this  time  he  per- 


Always  genial,  and  with  seemingly  no  effort,  he  met  and  con- 
quered every  difficulty.  After  weeks  had  passed  by,  and  the  larder 
was  low,  the  treasury  empty,  Dr.  Melcher  borrowed,  on  his  per- 
sonal note,  thousands  of  dollars  with  which  he  bought  food  for  the 
wounded  in  his  care.  He  was  the  personal  friend  of  each  patient, 
and  with  the  heart  of  a  Nemian  lion  he  was  gentle  as  a  woman. 
Bending  over  the  wasted  form  he  gave  words  of  comfort,  and 
treasured  up  messages  for  the  loved  ones  at  home,  as  he  caught  the 
last  sigh  of  the  passing  soul.  The  hundreds  he  restored  to  health 
and  home,  carried  him  with  them  in  loving  memory  and  lifelong 
gratitude. 

(Extract  from  a  letter  of  Mrs.  Lulu  Kennedy,  who,  with  her 
mother  and  sister  and  several  other  ladies  of  Springfield,  were  un- 
ceasing in  their  devotions  to  the  wounded  Wilson  Creek  soldiers.) 

t  The  records  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission  show  that  the 
Hickory  Street  Hospital  was  most  favorably  reported;  that  a  testi- 
monial was  awarded  the  United  States  Marine  Hospital  and  the 
hospital  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  as  the  two  best  hospitals,  all  things 
considered,  that  were  in  the  Department  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
Marine  Hospital,  in  charge  of  Surgeon  S.  H.  Melcher,  and  Jef- 
ferson Barracks  Hospital,  the  committee  could  not  decide  between, 
and  so  gave  certificates  to  both.  The  awards  made  were  fully 
approved  and  concurred  in  by  the  medical  director  of  the  Depart- 
ment and  Assistant  Surgeon  General  Wood. — Extract  from  report 
of  Hon.  James  E.  Yeatman,  president  Western  Sanitary  Commission. 


formed  a  celebrated  operation  on  the  shoulder 
joint  of  Gen.  E.  B.  Brown,  saving  his  life  and 
giving  him  a  good  arm,  by  removing  five  inches 
of  the  shaft  of  the  humerus  by  excision.  (See 
Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion;  part  2,  volume  2,  Surgical  History, 
page  522.)  Another  successful  case  was  that  of 
Corp.  Mason  Carter,  Second  United  States  In- 
fantry, whose  leg  was  badly  shattered  at  the  battle 
of  Wilson's  Creek,  Missouri,  August  10,  1861, 
and  was  saved  from  amputation  by  Surgeon 
Melcher's  conservative  surgery,  enabling  the 
soldier  to  remain  in  active  service  for  thirty-eight 
years.  At  present  writing  he  is  Brevet-Major, 
Fifth  United  States  Infantry,  retired. 

"April,  1863,  the  army  being  re-organized,  Col- 
onel Melcher  was  assigned  to  duty  in  charge  of 
the  hospital  at  Ironton,  Missouri.  May  24,  1863, 
he  was  commissioned  Lieutenant  Colonel  Sixth 
Cavalry  Missouri  State  Militia,  and  assigned  to 
duty  as  Assistant  Inspector  General  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Missouri.  He  served  in  this 
capacity  until  Price's  raid,  in  1864,  when  he  was 
ordered  to  the  field  as  aide-de-camp  to  General 
Pleasonton,  commanding  the  cavalry;  and,  in  his 
report  of  the  destruction  of  Price's  army  General 
Pleasonton  mentions  Colonel  Melcher  for  gal- 
lantry and  fidelity. 

"Colonel  Melcher's  last  service  in  the  army 
was  in  command  of  the  post  of  Jefferson  City, 
Missouri,  where  he  was  active  in  forwarding 
troops  to  General  Thomas  at  Nashville,  Tennes- 
see. Much  debilitated  from  hard  service,  he  re- 
signed December  24,  1864. 

'  'After  the  war  he  resided  four  and  one-half 
years  in  Tennessee,  and  was  in  the  Freedman's 
Bureau.  May,  1870,  he  was  appointed  surgeon 
United  States  Marine  Hospital,  at  St.  Louis, 
Missouri.  February,  1871,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  governor  of  Missouri  a  manager  of  the  state 
lunatic  asylum." 

In  1873  he  came  to  Chicago.  He  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession,  and  by  his 
method  of  surgery,  without  amputation,  whereby 
his  skill  has  saved  the  limbs  of  numberless  per- 
sons who  might  otherwise  have  suffered  the  need- 
less loss  of  legs  and  arms,  he  soon  won  his  way 


MICHAEL   CARROLL. 


353 


to  well-merited  fame — a  distinction  that  was  more 
than  local.  He  never  performed  a  primary  am- 
putation during  the  war.  Colonel  Melcher  re- 
mained in  Chicago  practicing  medicine  until 
1883,  when  he  removed  to  Crow  Lake,  Jerauld 
Count y,  South  Dakota,  where  he  again  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  medicine,  and,  purchasing  several 
large  land  holdings — which  he  still  has — carried 
on  farming  as  well.  He  was  one  of  the  first  county 
commissioners  appointed  in  Jerauld  County. 

It  was  1897  before  he  again  returned  to  Chi- 
cago, and  he  has  lived  here  continuously  since> 
residing  at  No.  2 1 7  La  Salle  Avenue.  He  has  but 
two  children.  The  elder  of  these  is  Charles  W. 
Melcher,  who  was  born  in  Boston  March  4,  1857. 
He  is  a  graduate  of  polytechnics  of  Washington 
University  and  is  manager  of  the  Chicago  branch 
of  the  Ingersol-Sargent  Drill  Company  of  New 
York.  Colonel  Melcher's  other  child  is  Miss 
Anina  Rebecca.  She  was  born  at  Crow  Lake, 
South  Dakota,  and  lives  with  her  father  at  their 
home  on  La  Salle  Avenue.  For  the  last  ten  years 
Miss  Melcher  has  been  literally  the  sight  and 
soul  of  her  father — for  he  is  totally  blind,  having 
lost  the  use  of  his  left  eye  in  the  battle  of  Spring- 
field by  the  concussion  of  a  bursting  shell,  and 


the  right  became  sightless  through  a  sympathetic 
affection.  The  complete  blindness  came  upon 
him  in  1890,  and  since  then  his  daughter  has 
been  his  constant  and  devoted  companion, 
amanuensis,  entertainer  and  leader  in  his  daily 
walks. 

Colonel  Melcher  is  a  member  of  the  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  was  initiated  in 
Cardigan  Lodge  at  Alexandria,  New  Hampshire, 
in  1 852  and  the  same  year  was  elected  noble  grand 
of  Promise  Lodge.  In  the  year  1871  he  joined 
St.  Louis  Lodge  No.  5,  at  St.  Louis,  and  still 
holds  membership  in  that  society.  He  also  holds 
membership  in  Penacook  Encampment  of  the 
same  order  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  which 
he  joined  in  1854,  and  by  virtue  of  his  three 
score  and  ten  years,  bears  the  distinctive  title  of 
being  the  oldest  living  member  of  that  organiza- 
tion. He  wears  the  veteran  badge  of  the  order, 
having  been  a  member  in  good  standing  forty- 
seven  years.  He  is  also  a  member  of  U.  S.  Grant 
Post  No.  28,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  hav- 
ing been  mustered  into  that  body  in  1880.  In 
politics  Colonel  Melcher  has  always  been  an 
ardent  and  constant  Republican  and  an  active 
worker  for  his  party. 


MICHAEL  CARROLL. 


|  ICHAEL  CARROLL  was  born  in  County 
Tipperary,  Ireland,  in  October,  1838.  He 
is  one  of  a  family  of  six  children,  all  of 
whom  emigrated  to  this  country.  John  crossed 
the  ocean  in  1850,  and  at  present  resides  in 
Englewood.  Johanna  is  the  wife  of  John  Har- 
man.  Alice  married  Bryan  Donnell.  Thomas 
lives  on  Bickerdike  Street.  Catherine,  now  Mrs. 
Patterson,  has  her  home  in  New  Jersey.  The 


father  of  the  family  died  in  Ireland  in  1867,  but 
his  widow  came  to  Chicago  the  following  year, 
and  died  here  in  1891. 

Martin  Carroll  received  his  early  education  in 
Ireland,  and  was  raised  upon  a  farm.  In  1859, 
having  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  deter- 
mined to  seek  a  home  in  a  land  where  the  yoke 
of  British  misrule  did  not  grind  his  countrymen 
to  the  dust,  and  to  woo  fortune  where  so  many 


354 


FREDERICK  WEHRHAN. 


of  his  countrymen  had  won  her  smiles,  in  the 
free  republic  of  the  New  World.  He  sailed 
from  Liverpool,  and  after  a  voyage  of  twenty- 
eight  days  landed  in  New  York.  He  remained  in 
that  city  for  a  year,  working  as  a  day  laborer. 
At  the  expiration  of  that  period  he  came  to  Chi- 
cago, where  for  several  years  he  followed  the 
same  occupation.  He  was  industrious,  energetic 
and  economical,  and,  about  1867,  he  found  him- 
self able  to  start  in  business  for  himself  as  a  wool 
fuller.  He  bought  a  property  on  Braddon  Street, 
where  he  built  a  shop.  This  he  afterward  sold 
to  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  and  purchased  the 
premises  at  No.  376  Noble  Street.  He  remained 
at  his  first  location,  however,  until  1891,  when, 
having  through  hard  work,  strict  attention  to 
business  and  unwavering  integrity,  accumulated 
a  competence,  he  retired. 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  too  highly  of  the  perse- 
verance and  pluck,  the  resolute  purpose  and  un- 
flinching courage  which  have  marked  Mr.  Car- 


roll's career  since  early  manhood.  Starting  in 
life  in  the  humble  capacity  of  a  laborer,  without 
money  or  influence  to  aid  him,  his  motto  has 
ever  been  ' '  Onward  and  Upward. ' '  And  to-day, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years,  he  is  resting  from 
his  labors,  looking  back  upon  the  past  without 
shame,  and  his  soul  is  illumined  by  Christian 
faith,  gazing  into  the  future  without  misgiving 
or  fear. 

Politically  he  is  a  Democrat,  although  never 
taking  any  active  part  in  politics.  In  local  issues 
he  votes  according  to  his  own  best  judgment, 
without  regard  to  party  lines. 

In  1863  Mr.  Carroll  married  his  country- 
woman, Miss  Mary  Kennedy.  Their  union  has 
been  blessed  with  seven  children — Catherine; 
Mary  Ann,  wife  of  William  O'Brien;  Alice,  now 
Mrs.  James  Clancy;  Margaret;  Elizabeth;  Ann, 
a  school  teacher;  and  John.  The  family  is  de- 
voutly Catholic,  active  in  membership,  and  lib- 
eral in  the  support  of  the  church. 


FREDERICK    WEHRHAN. 


I""  REDBRICK  WEHRHAN,  a  wealthy  re- 
rfl  tired  German- American  business  man,  and 
|  *  a  prominent  citizen  in  the  northwestern  sec- 
tion of  the  city,  was  born  February  28,  1828,  in 
Hameln,  near  the  city  of  Hanover,  Germany. 
He  is  the  son  of  William  and  Sophia  Wehrhan, 
and  was  educated  in  the  parochial  schools  of  his 
native  country,  where,  also,  he  learned  the  trades 
of  wagonmaker  and  wheelwright.  He  followed 
the  latter  in  the  old  country  until  1858,  when  he 
emigrated  from  Germany,  on  the  advice  of  his 
sister  Frederica,  who  had  come  to  America  four 
years  before.  The  voyage  from  Bremen  to  New 
York  consumed  ten  weeks,  the  vessel  encounter- 
ing head  winds  during  the  entire  passage. 

Immediately    upon    landing     Mr.     Wehrhan 


turned  his  face  toward  Chicago.  After  working 
at  his  trade  here  for  a  few  years  he  went  to  Tol- 
leston  City,  Indiana,  where  he  remained  six 
months.  While  there  he  invested  in  two  lots. 
From  Tolleston  he  went  to  Gibson  City,  where 
he  bought  ten  acres  of  land  and  a  two-story 
house.  After  a  residence  of  two  years  he  re- 
turned to  Chicago,  but  did  not  remain  here  long, 
going  to  Champaign,  Illinois,  near  which  city  he 
went  to  work  upon  the  very  large  farm  of  M.  L. 
Sullivan,  with  whom  he  remained  five  years.  It 
was  his  duty  to  keep  the  farm  machinery  in 
order.  He  had  not,  however,  settled  down  to  the 
peaceful  pursuits  of  a  farmer's  life,  without 
making  an  attempt  to  witness  more  stirring 
scenes.  He  had  attested  his  patriotism  by  enlist- 


GEORGE  L.  TAYLOR. 


355 


ing,  in  1862,  in  the  Union  Army.  For  six  months 
he  was  stationed  at  Camp  Douglas,  when  he  was 
honorably  discharged  because  of  ill  health. 

Once  more  coming  back  to  Chicago,  he  built  a 
house  on  leased  land,  on  Lake  Street,  near  Lin- 
coln. This  was  the  pioneer  structure  on  the 
block,  and  is  still  standing.  Four  years  later  he 
sold  this  property  and  bought  more  at  the  inter- 
section of  Robe}'  Street  and  Milwaukee  and  North 
Avenues.  Here  he  built  a  house  on  what  was 
then  virtually  unbroken  prairie,  there  being  but 
one  house  standing  in  the  district  now  known  as 
Wicker  Park.  His  was  a  small  lot,  but  it  was 
on  a  corner,  and  here  he  opened  a  saloon  in  his 
dwelling  house.  A  few  years  later  he  rented  the 
saloon,  and  devoted  his  attention  wholly  to  real 
estate  speculation  and  investment,  buying  and 
leasing  land,  and  erecting  houses  which  he 
rented  or  sold.  The  fine  block  on  Milwaukee 
Avenue  in  which  he  resides  at  present  was  erected 
in  the  summer  of  1898.  Mr.  Wehrhan  has  done 
much  toward  building  up  the  section  of  the  city 


in  which  he  lives,  and  has  at  all  times  shown 
himself  a  useful,  public  spirited  citizen. 

He  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was 
Anna  Bisbing,  to  whom  he  was  united  May  12, 
1867,  and  who  bore  him  three  children — Bertha, 
Henry  and  August.  Bertha  married  John 
Young,  and  is  now  deceased.  The  two  sons  are 
plumbers  in  Chicago.  In  1874  Mr.  Wehrhan 
visited  Germany,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and 
family,  and  remained  one  year.  Mrs.  Wehrhan 
died  January  28,  1878,  and  October  7,  1879,  Mr. 
Wehrhan  married  Louise  Preuss,  a  daughter  of 
August  and  Amalie  (Umlauff)  Preuss,  who  was 
born  February  n,  1837,  at  Koenigsberg,  Prus- 
sia. The  issue  of  the  second  marriage  has  been 
one  daughter,  Emma. 

The  family  attends  the  services  of  the  German 
Lutheran  Church,  and  contributes  largely  to  its 
support.  In  politics  Mr.  Wehrhan  has  always 
been  a  Republican  since  becoming  a  citizen, 
although  never,  in  any  sense  of  the  word,  a  pol- 
itician. 


GEORGE  L,   TAYLOR. 


@  EORGE  L.  TAYLOR.     Like  many  of  Chi- 

b  cage's  veteran  firemen,  George  L-  Taylor, 
Captain  of  Engine  Company  No.  70,  belongs 
to  a  family  of  the  city's  pioneers. 

His  father,  Ezra  Taylor,  was  a  business  man,  a 
citizen  universally  and  deservedly  held  in  the 
highest  esteem,  and  a  soldier  whose  record  for  effi- 
ciency, gallantry  and  daring  was  unsurpassed.  He 
was  born  at  Avon,  Jefferson  County,  New  York, 
but  removed  to  Chicago  in  1834,  and  soon  after 
his  arrival  became  partner  of  Gordon  S.  Hubbard, 
in  the  provision  trade.  In  1840  he  married  Miss 
Sabina  Langan,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  accom- 
panied her  parents  to  America  as  a  child  of  seven 
years  and  came  to  Chicago  in  1836..  On  the 


breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  Governor  Richard 
Yates  requested  Ezra  Taylor  to  accept  the  post 
of  recruiting  officer  for  the  artillery  quorum 
of  the  service.  Mr.  Taylor  accepted,  and  so 
much  energy  and  so  high  an  order  of  executive 
ability  did  he  bring  to  his  responsible  task  that 
within  two  days  after  the  capitulation  of  Fort 
Sumter  he  had  dispatched  Company  A,  of  the 
Chicago  Light  Artillery,  on  its  way  to  the  front. 
This  was  Saturday,  and  on  the  following  day  he 
enlisted  Company  B,  and  a  few  weeks  later  left 
Chicago  with  them.  He  was  not  without  some 
knowledge  of  military  tactics,  having  been 
Colonel  of  a  militia  regiment  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion.  His  promotion  was  rapid, 


356 


J.  P.  ANDERSEN. 


until  he  attained  the  rank  of  Brigadier- General 
Volunteers.  He  was  General  Sherman's  chief 
of  artiller}',  and  participated  in  all  the  hard 
fought,  successful  campaigns  of  that  brilliant  and 
intrepid  commander.  In  the  battle  of  Dallas,  on 
the  day  before  the  lamented  McPherson  fell, 
General  Taylor  was  severely  wounded,  the  same 
ball  that  passed  through  him  striking  General 
John  A.  Logan.  His  injury  incapacitated  him 
for  further  service,  and  he  could  win  no  further 
military  honors.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
appointed  Government  Inspector  of  provisions, 
at  Chicago,  and  at  the  same  time  chosen  to  fill  a 
similar  position  for  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade, 
enjoying  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  to  hold 
the  last  named  office.  He  filled  both  posts,  until 
his  death,  with  rare  ability  and  unquestioned  in- 
tegrity. He  passed  away  from  earth  on  the  i8th 
of  October,  1885,  the  wife  of  his  youth  and 
mother  of  his  children  having  preceded  him  in 
July,  1883. 

George  L.  Taylor  was  born  at  Chicago,  De- 


cember 28,  1846,  and  is  the  only  survivor  of  a 
family  of  nine  children.  He  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools,  and  at  Bryant  &  Stratton's 
Business  College.  He  inherited  the  dashing, 
daring  spirit  of  his  father,  the  General,  and 
February  i,  1864,  before  reaching  the  age  of 
eighteen  years,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Fire 
Department,  jn  which  he  has  ever  since  served, 
with  courage  and  distinction.  He  was  promoted 
to  a  lieutenancy  in  1872,  and  to  a  captaincy  in 
1880.  He  was  originally  a  member  of  Company 
No.  3,  but  now  commands  No.  70. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Firemen's  Benevolent 
Association,  of  the  Mutual  Aid  Association,  and 
of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

May  3,  1868,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah 
Donovan.  Two  sons  and  three  daughters  have 
been  born  to  them.  The  oldest  son,  William,  is 
deceased.  The  names  of  those  living,  are  May, 
Margaret,  George  and  Ezra.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Taylor,  with  their  children,  are  communicants 
in  the  Catholic  Church. 


JAMES  P.  ANDERSEN. 


(I  AMES  PETER  ANDERSEN  was  born  near 
I  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  March  4,  1857.  For 
O  several  generations  his  ancestors  have  lived 
upon  the  same  farm,  where  he  first  saw  the  light, 
his  father  being  Anders  Larsen,  and  his  paternal 
grandfather,  Lars  Christensen.  His  mother's 
name  before  marriage  was  Maria  Willadsen.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  living  in  the  same 
locality,  and  was  born  in  the  same  house  as  her 
father.  In  a  comparatively  new  country,  where 
kaleidoscopic  shifting  of  scene  and  place  is  the 
rule  rather  than  the  exception,  these  tangible 
demonstrations  of  stability  and  conservatism 
should  be  especially  valued.  Mr.  Andersen's 


father  is  still  living  (1899),  but  his  mother  en- 
tered into  rest  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of 
forty-five  years.  He  is  one  of  a  family  of  nine 
children,  of  whom  seven  are  living,  and  five  are 
residents  of  Chicago.  Peter  is  a  coachman  em- 
ployed at  the  corner  of  Michigan  Boulevard  and 
Thirty-third  Street;  Mariane  is  the  wife  of  Niels 
Hansen,  of  No.  4747  Kimbark  Avenue;  Tina 
married  Peter  Thompson,  a  milk  dealer  of  No. 
3827  Armour  Avenue;  Mary  is  unmarried. 

James  P.  Andersen  is  the  third  in  order  of 
birth.  He  grew  up  on  his  father's  farm,  attend- 
ing school  until  he  reached  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  and  afterward  spent  four  years  as  a  car- 


J.  E.  HANSEN. 


357 


penter's  apprentice.  Until  1892  he  worked  in 
Copenhagen  as  a  journeyman,  and  in  that  year 
he  came  to  America.  For  a  time  he  secured  em- 
ployment at  his  trade  at  the  World's  Fair 
grounds,  and  later,  for  four  years,  was  in  the 
employ  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Company, 
during  the  greater  portion  of  that  time  being 
employed  as  a  carpenter.  Faithful  attention  to 
duty,  joined  to  regularity  of  habits  and  frugality 
in  expenditure,  enabled  him  to' embark  in  business 
as  a  jobber  for  himself.  His  present  place  of 
business  is  at  No.  346  Fifty-first  Street,  where 
he  has  a  remunerative  trade.  Among  the  Danish- 


Americans  of  Chicago  he  has  a  wide  acquain- 
tance, as  well  as  among  the  citizens  of  his  neigh- 
borhood generally.  He  is  respected  alike  for  his 
capability  and  his  character,  and  is  esteemed 
most  highly  by  those  who  know  him  best.  He  is 
the  secretary  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood,  the  diffi- 
cult and  responsible  duties  of  which  post  he  has 
discharged  with  rare  tact  and  unswerving  fidelity. 
He  was  married  in  1882,  at  Copenhagen,  to 
Caroline  Balslew.  One  son  has  been  born  to 
this  union,  Peter,  who  came  into  the  world  in 
that  city,  and  is  at  present  living  at  home  with 
his  parents. 


JACOB  E.  HANSEN. 


(JACOB  ERNST  HANSEN  is  too  well  and 
I  too  favorably  known,  both  commercially  and 
G/  socially,  to  a  large  circle  of  citizens  on  the 
south  side  of  the  city  to  need  any  detailed  sketch 
of  his  career  in  order  to  perpetuate  his  memory. 
The  record  of  success,  however,  is  always  more 
pleasant  to  read  than  the  story  of  failure,  just  as 
the  hope  of  reward  is  to  every  true  man  a  more 
potent  incentive  than  the  dread  of  punishment. 

Jacob  Ernst  Hansen  was  born  September  29, 
1854,  in  Dobbol,  Schleswig-Holstein,  then  an 
undisputed  part  of  the  Danish  kingdom.  His 
father,  whose  initials  were  also  J.  E.,  owned  and 
operated  a  mill,  for  years  grinding  the  grain  of 
his  farmer  neighbors,  exacting  no  illegal  or  even 
inequitable  toll,  and  dying  in  1854,  respected 
and  mourned  by  all  the  country  round  about, 
only  three  weeks  before  Jacob  Ernst  was  born. 
His  mother  was  Anna  Margaretta  Muller,  who 
was  born  on  Christmas  Eve,  1820,  and  still  sur- 
vives, enjoying — at  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years — a  benign  old  age.  Mr.  Hansen  had  no 


brother,  but  two  sisters,  neither  of  whom  are  now 
living. 

He  himself  attended  school  until  he  reached  his 
sixteenth  year.  After  that,  until  he  came  to 
America  in  1874,  he  divided  his  energies  between 
working  on  a  farm  and  in  a  brickyard.  It  was 
not  long  after  landing  on  our  soil  before  he  came 
west,  reaching  Chicago  in  1875.  His  first  "job" 
(and  not  especially  an  enviable  one)  was  found 
with  Mr.  Lasher  on  South  Water  Street.  Later, 
at  the  corner  of  South  Clark  and  Twenty-first 
Streets,  he  learned  the  cooperage  trade,  which 
he  followed  five  years.  During  another  five 
years  he  was  in  the  employ  of  Underwood  & 
Company,  acting  as  time-keeper,  in  addition  to 
discharging  other  duties,  and  having  charge  of 
the  establishment  at  night.  For  a  year  he  worked 
for  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Company,  and  in 
1888  he  opened  a  livery  and  boarding  stable  at 
the  same  location  where  he  now  is.  His  begin- 
ning was  small,  but  his  business  has  prospered 
and  increased  from  the  first,  so  that  to-day  he 


358 


JACOB    CHRISTENSEN. 


owns  and  conducts  one  of  the  largest  and  best 
equipped  establishments  of  its  class  in  the  city, 
extending  from  No.  3508  to  No.  3516  on  Indiana 
Avenue. 

He  was  married  in  1879  to  Miss  Elsie  Christen 
Diedricksen,  who  was  born  in  Denmark  but 
came  to  Chicago  in  1874.  Of  their  eight  children 
five  are  yet  living,  Ernst,  Anna,  Louise,  Dora 
and  Sophia.  All  reside  with  their  parents.  Mr. 
Hansen  and  family  are  identified  with  the  Sixth 


Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago.  He  is  inde- 
pendent in  spirit,  and  has  not  allied  himself  with 
any  political  party  since  becoming  an  American 
citizen. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Hansen,  who  is  a  fine  type 
of  the  man  who  carves  out  his  own  path  to  for- 
tune by  industry,  perseverance  and  integrity, 
affords  a  striking  illustration  of  the  grand  results 
which  a  union  of  these  characteristics  may  accom- 
plish. 


JACOB  CHRISTENSEN. 


(I  ACOB  CHRISTENSEN  first  opened  his  eyes 
I  March  20,  1853,  in  the  duchy  of  Schleswig- 
QD  Holstein,  then  tributary  to  the  Danish 
crown,  but  since  1864  an  integral  part  of  the 
German  Empire.  His  father,  Christen  Christen- 
sen,  was  a  native  of  Jutland,  Denmark,  and  was 
a  farmer,  although  in  his  youth  he  had  served  be- 
fore the  mast.  He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-two 
years.  Mr.  Christensen's  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Anne  Iversen,  who,  like  her  husband,  was  a 
native  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  where  she  died  at 
the  advanced  age  of  eighty-two  years.  Jacob 
was  the  youngest  of  their  seven  children,  six  of 
whom  lived  to  maturity.  Of  these  only  two  have 
crossed  the  ocean — Mr.  Christensen  and  his 
brother  Andrew,  who  resides  at  Lawrence,  Kan- 
sas. 

In  was  in  1869  that  the  boy  of  sixteen  years 
landed  in  a  strange  country,  whose  language  and 
customs  he  was  totally  ignorant  of.  Less  than  a 
year  had  elapsed  since  he  had  left  school  and  the 
intervening  time  he  had  devoted  to  work  in  a 
blacksmith's  shop,  his  original  intention  being 
to  learn  that  trade.  His  primary  objective  point 
after  reaching  this  country  was  Chicago.  Here 
for  eighteen  months  he  worked  as  a  laborer,  and 


then  for  ten  months  as  a  railroad  section  hand 
and  a  helper  in  the  cotton  fields  in  Arkansas. 
Returning  to  Chicago  he  obtained  employment  as 
a  coachman  from  A.  S.  Downer,  at  the  corner  of 
Vincennes  Avenue  and  Forty-seventh  Street.  Af- 
ter several  years  spent  as  a  driver  of  carriages 
and  wagons  he  started  a  small  stable  of  his  own, 
near  the  corner  of  Calumet  Avenue  and  Thirty- 
ninth  Street.  This  he  conducted  for  some  three 
years  with  fairly  good  success.  In  1887,  during 
the  mayoralty  of  John  A.  Roche,  he  accepted  an 
appointment  on  the  city  police  force  and  has 
since  remained  in  the  service,  being  at  present 
(1899)  attached  to  the  Fifth  Precinct. 

He  was  married  June  25,  1775,  to  Miss  Ellen 
M.  Larsen.  Mrs.  Christensen  was  born  in  Schles- 
wig-Holstein, June  16,  1855,  being  the  daughter 
of  Christen  and  Marie  Larsen,  both  natives  of 
the  peninsula  of  Jutland .  Her  father  died  in  Den- 
mark at  the  age  of  forty-nine  years;  her  mother 
passed  away  at  Mr.  Christensen's  home  in  Chi- 
cago, December  24,  1898.  Like  her  husband, 
Mrs.  Christensen  is  the  youngest  child  of  her 
parents,  who  raised  a  family  of  five  children. 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Christensen  has 
been  blessed  with  five  children,  two  of  whom 


PATRICK  BRENNAN. 


359 


died  in  infancy.  Those  still  living  are:  Anna  C. ; 
Dora  M.;  and  Ella  M.,  all  of  whom  reside  at 
home. 

Officer  Christensen  is  one  of  the  most  esteemed 
and  popular  men  onthecity's  police  force.  While 
fearless  and  upright,  he  is  both  sagacious  and  dis- 


creet. His  official  record  is  as  free  of  stain  as  has 
been  his  life  as  a  private  citizen  of  Chicago,  which 
has  been  his  home  for  thirty  years. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Danish  society  Walhalla, 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters  and  of  the 
Policemen's  Benevolent  Association. 


PATRICK  BRENNAN. 


BRENNAN,  a  gentleman  now 
living  in  retirement  at  No.  502  Ashland 
fS  Boulevard,  was  born  in  County  Carlow, 
Ireland,  June  29,  1825,  and  is  the  son  of  Edward 
and  Mary  (Byrne)  Brennan.  Their  family  con-' 
sisted  often  children,  one  of  whom  died  in  child- 
hood, and  nine  grew  to  maturity,  namely:  John, 
Ann,  Michael,  Charles,  Patrick,  Martin,  Bridget, 
Matthew  J.  and  Thomas  T. 

In  1848  Charles  came  to  America,  and  settled 
in  Chicago,  where  he  now  resides.  The  parents, 
with  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  came  to  the 
United  States  and  settled  in  Chicago  in  1849,  and 
Patrick  and  Martin  followed  them  in  1851,  land- 
ing in  New  York  May  i ,  and  coming  directly  to 
Chicago.  The  father  of  the  family  died  of  chol- 
era, August  3,  1850,  and  the  mother  died  in 
Chicago  in  May,  1886.  At  the  present  time  only 
four  of  the  family  are  living,  accounted  for  as 
follows:  Charles,  of  Bridgeport,  corner  of  Main 
and  Lyman  Streets;  Bridget,  widow  of  Peter 
Clowry,  Fourteenth  Street;  Matthew  J.,  who 
resides  at  No.  4018  Vincennes  Avenue;  and  Pat- 
rick, of  this  article. 

In  the  parish  and  national  schools  Patrick 
Brennan  received  what  was  considered,  at  that 
time,  a  good  education.  After  the  conclusion  of 
his  school  life  he  was  employed  for  a  short  time 
as  a  clerk  in  a  store,  subsequent  to  which  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  grocery  and  dry  goods  merchant 
at  Leighlin  Bridge,  and  made  himself  so  service- 


able that  he  received  for  his  services  ten  pounds 
sterling,  instead  of  paying  a  fee  for  instruction,  as 
was  the  custom  of  the  times.  Subsequently  he 
spent  four  years  as  a  clerk  in  the  same  line  of 
business  at  Carlow  and  received  a  very  high 
recommendation  from  his  employer,  Mr.  Robert 
Lawlor,  as  well  as  from  a  parish  priest,  the 
Bishop  of  the  diocese,  which  are  still  among  his 
cherished  treasures. 

On  coming  to  Chicago  he  soon  found  employ- 
ment as  clerk  for  Mr.  Countess.  Later  he  en- 
gaged in  other  pursuits  for  a  few  years  until  he 
accumulated  a  sufficient  amount  of  money  to 
start  a  business  of  his  own.  In  1854  he  engaged 
in  the  grocery  and  provision  trade  for  himself,  in 
which  he  continued  thirty-four  years  without  in- 
terruption. By  frugality  and  strict  business 
methods,  and  occasional  speculation  in  real 
estate,  he  acquired  a  competence.  He  retired 
from  business  in  1888,  and  has  since  attended  to 
his  property  interests. 

His  interest  in  public  affairs  has  been  lively 
and  continuous.  In  April,  1868,  he  waselected, 
on  the  Democratic  ticket,  to  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors and  was  a  member  of  that  body  when  the 
Normal  school  was  established  in  Englewood,  and 
the  insane  asylum  at  Dunning. 

Mr.  Brennan  has  been  three  times  married. 
April  28,  1855,  he  became  the  husband  of  Brid- 
get Nolan,  who  bore  him  seven'  children,  only 
three  of  whom  arrived  at  maturity:  John  J.,  of 


360 


L.  R.  TOLL. 


Grand  Rapids,  Michigan;  Anna  Maria,  who  died 
in  a  convent  in  St.  Louis;  and  Mary  E.,  who  died 
in  a  convent  in  Dubuque,  Iowa.  Bridget  Bren- 
nan  died  March  10,  1866. 

September  16,  1866,  Mr.  Brennan  married 
Elizabeth  Nolan,  by  whom  he  had  five  children, 
namely:  William  F.,  Elizabeth  C.,  James  E., 
Lucy  and  Paul,  the  last  named  dying  in  infancy. 
The  mother  of  these  children  died  July  17,  1877. 
September  20,  of  the  following  year,  Patrick 
Brennan  was  united  to  Theresa  Delanty.  Of 
this  union  one  daughter — Ellen  A.- — was  born. 
Mrs.  Brennan  passed  away  on  the  I7th  of  March, 
1887. 

Mr.  Brennan  and  his  family  are  staunch  and 
influential  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic 


Church,  to  the  support  of  which  they  contribute 
liberally.  They  feel  a  natural  pride  in  their  re- 
ligion, which  has  been  that  of  their  ancestors  for 
generations,  and  which  has  more  to  do  with  the 
maintenance  of  the  manners,  customs  and  habits 
of  his  nation  than  any  other  factor  in  their  life. 
The  members  of  this  family  have  ever  been  ar- 
dently devoted  to  the  principles  of  liberty  as  well 
as  their  religious  faith.  Edward,  father  of  Pat- 
rick Brennan,  was  a  son  of  John  Brennan,  who, 
with  his  brother-in-law,  Paul  Cullen,  and  Thomas 
Hughs,  was  captured  at  the  close  of  the  Rebellion 
of  1798  and,  without  trial,  was  shot  and  killed 
by  mercenary  yeomen.  Cullen  was  the  uncle  of 
Cardinal  Cullen,  and  grand-uncle  of  Cardinal 
Moran,  of  Australia. 


LOUIS  R.  TOLL. 


I  GUIS  ROBERT  TOLL,  well  and  favorably 
It  known  to  the  building  trade  of  Chicago,  is 
1_2J  of  German  birth  and  parentage.  In  per- 
sistent energy  and  rugged  honesty  he  may  be 
said  to  be  representative  of  the  best  type  of  that 
great  Teutonic  race  which  has  made  its  power 
and  influence  felt  in  every  quarter  of  the  habit- 
able globe.  He  was  born  in  Niederspier,  Schwartz- 
burgs,  Undershausen,  Germany,  October  18, 
1843.  His  father  was  named  Charles  and  his 
mother  Wilhelmina.  Ten  children  were  born  to 
them,  only  one  of  whom  is  deceased.  Mr.  Toll 
probably  inherits,  to  some  degree,  his  genius  for 
building  from  his  father,  who  attained  not  a  little 
reputation  as  a  carpenter  and  millwright,  as  well 
as  a  careful  and  conscientious  contractor.  The 
elder  Toll  died  in  Germany  in  1852;  his  widow 
survived  him  twenty-seven  years,  passing  away 
at  Chicago  in  1879.  The  surviving  members  of 
the  family,  other  than  Louis  R.,  are:  Augusta, 
the  widow  of  Charles  Meister;  Amelia,  whose  hus- 


band is  also  Charles  Meister,  and  who  resides  in 
Longwood;  Oscar,  of  Crete,  Illinois;  Thilo,  who 
holds  a  government  position  in  Germany;  Hilde- 
gardt,  retired  from  business  ,and  living  at  No. 
247  Cornelia  Street;  Otto,  whose  home  is  in 
Sawyer,  Michigan;  Theodore,  residing  on  Cly- 
bourn  Avenue;  and  Charles,  living  at  No.  62 
Pleasant  Place. 

Like  most  boys  of  his  nationality,  creed  and 
condition  in  life,  Louis  R.  Toll  attended  the 
parochial  school  of  his  native  village  until  he  had 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  On  leaving 
school,  he  was  apprenticed  for  a  three-years' 
term  to  the  stone  mason's  trade,  after  which  he 
served  for  several  months  in  the  German  Army. 
In  1865  he  came  to  America  in  company  with  his 
mother  and  those  members  of  the  family  who  had 
not  already  emigrated,  with  the  exception  of  his 
brother  Thilo,  who  still  remains  in  the  Father- 
land. His  first  employer  in  Chicago  was  his 
brother-in-law,  the  late  Charles  Meister,  with 


JOHN  COLBY. 


whom  he  remained  several  years,  during  which 
time  he  learned  the  trade  of  plasterer.  By  1869 
he  had  accumulated  enough  capital  and  formed  a 
sufficiently  wide  circle  of  acquaintances  to  fully 
justify  his  bidding  on  contracts  in  his  own  name. 
His  success  equalled  his  hope,  and  for  several 
years  he  was  extensively  engaged  in  building 
operations,  besides  being  for  sixteen  years  inter- 
ested in  the  manufacture  of  brick.  He  still  takes 
contracts,  although  putting  forth  no  especial 
effort  to  receive  them. 

Mr.  Toll  was  for  twenty-one  years  a  member 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  and  was 
at  one  time  an  active  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  was  also  connected 


with  the  Harugari  Turner  and  Singing  Societies. 
While  not  a  member  of  any  church,  he  is  a 
Christian  in  his  life,  regulating  his  conduct  by 
the  principle  inculcated  in  that  wisest  and  most 
far-reaching  of  all  maxims,  the  Golden  Rule — 
' '  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  that  others  should 
do  unto  you."  In  both  business  and  social  rela- 
tions he  is  just,  generous,  affable  and  true;  loved 
by  his  family  and  friends,  and  commanding  the 
respect  even  of  those  who  do  not  call  themselves 
his  friends. 

October  24,  1868,  he  married  Augusta  Schultze, 
a  German  maiden,  and  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Joachim 
Schultze.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Toll  have  one  daughter, 
Agnes,  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 


JOHN  COLBY. 


(JOHN  COLBY,  one  of  Chicago's  enterprising 
I  and  successful  business  men,  is  a  member  of 
G)  the  firm  of  Colby  Brothers,  proprietors  of  a 
grocery  and  meat  market  at  No.  1 200  Fifty-ninth 
street,  with  a  branch  establishment  at  No.  6757 
South  Halsted  Street.  His  partner  is  his  brother, 
Martin  Colby.  Both  are  young,  energetic  and 
prosperous;  both  were  born  at  Aalborg,  Den- 
mark; and  both  have  climbed  the  ladder  of  suc- 
cess by  unwearied  effort  and  patient  toil.  A 
biographical  sketch  of  Martin  Colby  may  be 
found  on  another  page  of  this  volume.  John 
Colby  first  opened  his  eyes  on  March  23,  in  the 
year  1865. 

His  father,  Christian  Kjolbe,  was  a  farmer  and 
a  patriot,  having  served  as  a  sergeant  in  the  strug- 
gle between  his  country  and  Germany  in  1848-50. 
He  dj^d,  deeply  mourned,  in  his  native  land, 
after  reaching  the  age  of  about  seventy-two 
years.  He  was  a  man  who  enjoyed  the  heartfelt 
respect  of  his  fellow-citizens,  which  they  mani- 
fested by  electing  him  to  the  important  office  of 


alderman,  a  post  which,  in  Denmark,  is  free 
from  the  scandals  which  too  frequently  attach  to 
it  in  American  cities.  His  wife  was  Maren  Jen- 
sen, whose  father  was  also  active  in  public  affairs. 
She  was  born  in  1831,  and  is  still  living.  Four 
children  were  born  to  them:  John;  Martin;  Paul, 
a  clerk  for  his  brothers;  and  Maria,  who  married 
Jens  Hansen,  of  Aalborg,  where  she  and  her 
husband  are  yet  living. 

John  Colby  left  Denmark  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  years  and,  on  reaching  this  country,  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  Chicago.  He  had  attended  the 
public  schools  until  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  had 
worked  as  a  farm  hand  four  years,  and  had  done 
four  years'  service  in  the  King's  Life  Guard,  in 
which  body  he  rose  from  the  ranks  to  hold  the 
position  of  sergeant. 

It  was  in  1889  that  he  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
and  his  first  work  was  upon  a  farm  in  Boone 
County,  Illinois.  After  ten  months  of  this  em- 
ployment he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  for  four 
years  was  a  coachman,  being  successively  em- 


362 


L.  D.  HANN. 


ployed  by  Albert  B.  Strong,  J.  A.  Till  and 
Milton  R.  Wood.  In  1894  he  opened  a  grocery 
and  meat  market  at  No.  1201  Fifty-ninth  Street, 
and  two  years  later  removed  to  his  present  loca- 
tion, across  the  street.  His  brother,  Martin,  as 
has  been  already  said,  is  his  partner.  Their 
trade  grew  steadily,  and  in  1897  they  opened 
their  Halsted  Street  branch  store. 

In  1893,  while  the  World's  Fair  was  monopo- 


lizing the  thoughts  of  thousands,  John  Colby 
quietly  returned  to  Denmark  to  marry  the  maiden 
to  whom  his  troth  had  been  pledged,  Anna  An- 
dersen. Two  children  have  been  born  to  them, 
Arthur  and  Eaton.  Mr.  Colby  is  a  member  of 
the  Danish  Brotherhood,  No.  35,  and  is  well 
known  among  the  Danish-Americans  of  Chicago, 
by  whom  he  is  held  in  high  esteem  for  his  ster- 
ling qualities  of  mind  and  heart. 


LUDWIG  D.  HANN. 


I  UDWIG  DIEDRICH  HANN,  one  of  the 
1C  widest  known  and  most  successful  farmers  of 
l_2f  Cook  County,  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Landensburg,  in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, April  23,  1823.  His  parents  were  Fred- 
erick and  Dorothea  (Koenemann)  Hann.  The 
former  was  a  son  of  Frederick,  who  served  in  the 
German  army  and  afterward  bought  a  farm  of 
forty  acres  which  passed  to  the  son.  His  wife 
was  Dorothea  Sieling  and  their  children  were 
named  in  order  of  birth:  Henrietta,  Frederick, 
Henry  Ernst  and  Louisa.  All  but  the  eldest  son 
remained  in  the  Fatherland. 

Frederick  Hann,  Junior,  also  served  three 
years  in  the  German  army  and  then  took  posses- 
sion of  the  home  farm.  His  wife,  Dorothea,  was 
a  daughter  of  Ernst  and  Susannah  (Hillman) 
Koenemann,  who  were  neighboring  farmers,  and 
had  the  following  children:  Sophie,  Diedrich, 
Henry,  Dorothea,  Elizabeth,  Frederick  and  Min- 
nie. Frederick  and  Dorothea  Hann  had  two 
children,  the  subject  of  this  notice  and  a  daugh- 
ter, Minnie,  born  in  1824,  who  died  in  1842. 

The  family  immigrated  to  America  in  1844,  the 
son  having  spent  some  time  there  previously. 
The  latter  had  looked  over  various  sections  in 
the  hope  of  finding  suitable  agricultural  land. 
Frederick  Hann  was  favorably  impressed  with 


the  land  in  Leyden  Township,  and  there  settled 
on  section  31,  remaining  there  until  his  death,  in 
1872,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three  years.  His 
wife  followed  in  1873,  aged  eighty-three  years. 
He  was  a  very  active,  vigorous  man,  though  he 
weighed  but  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds. 
He  was  a  very  active  member  of  the  German 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 

Ludwig  D.  Hann,  whose  name  heads  this 
notice,  possessed  the  energetic  temperament  com- 
mon to  the  family,  and  when  but  eighteen  years 
of  age,  started  out  alone  to  see  the  wonders  of 
the  New  World.  He  left  Germany  in  the  ship 
"Paulina,"  Captain  Schilling  in  command,  and 
arrived  in  New  York  August  17,  1841,  having 
been  forty-six  days  on  the  water.  On  the  same 
ship  was  Henry  Boesenberg,  mentioned  elsewhere 
in  this  volume.  Mr.  Hann  proceeded  to  Chicago 
and  for  a  time  worked  for  a  distilling  company. 
In  1843  he  went  to  Germany  and  returned  the 
following  year  with  his  parents.  He  was  best 
suited  with  the  land  in  the  Town  of  Leyden  and 
purchased  at  once  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in 
section  31,  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents 
per  acre.  Later  he  secured  an  adjoining  quarter 
in  section  32.  He  subsequently  sold  part  of  his 
holdings  and  now  owns  two  hundred  acres.  The 
original  farm  required  a  vast  amount  of  work  to 


WILLIAM   VOELKER. 


363 


bring  it  to  a  high  state  of  productiveness,  but  it 
was  eventually  improved  and  the  remaining  tract 
is  a  most  valuable  piece  of  property.  At  first 
there  was  no  dwelling  and  a  small  farm  house  was 
the  first  necessity.  In  1873  Mr.  Hann  erected  a 
fine  residence  at  an  expense  of  seven  thousand  dol- 
lars, but  it  was  destroyed  by  fire  four  years  later 
and  he  rebuilt  it  at  once.  Besides  carrying  on 
general  farming  he  conducted  a  large  milk  route 
in  Chicago  for  several  years.  As  a  farmer  he  was 
very  successful  and  secured  excellent  financial 
results.  His  honesty  and  integrity  are  well 
known  and  he  is  held  in  great  respect  by  all  his 
fellow-men.  His  trust  in  the  honesty  of  his 
business  associates  led  to  his  oniy  unfortunate 
business  venture.  He  entered  a  brewery  business 
with  one  Louis  Rhodemeier  and  was  swindled 
out  of  forty  thousand  dollars.  In  the  year  1 893 
he  retired  from  active  farming  and  resides  in  the 
village  of  Harlem,  where  he  owns  houses  at  Nos. 
29,  31  and  33  Ferdinand  Avenue.  He  has  also 
five  lots  and  a  house  at  the  corner  of  Lake  Street 
and  Twentieth  Avenue,  Melrose  Park,  and 
twenty  acres  of  woodland  adjoining  Division 
Street,  in  River  Forest. 

August  24,  1845,  Mr.  Hann  was  married  to 
Wilhelmina  Dorothea  Kothe,  daughter  of  Died- 
rich  and  Elizabeth  (Dierks)  Kothe,  who  was 
born  April  22,  1830,  in  Seppenhausen,  kingdom 
of  Hanover,  Germany.  She  came  to  America 
the  year  of  her  marriage.  Their  children  were 


as  follows:  Sophia  Wilhelmina  Louisa,  born  Au- 
gust i,  1848,  died  September  26,  1893.  She  was 
the  wife  of  Herman  Knauer,  the  piano  manu- 
facturer of  Chicago,  who  died  November  24,  1897. 

August  Henry  Diedrich  Frederick,  born  De- 
cember 24,  1849,  is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this 
volume.  Matilda,  born  March  8,  1852,  married 
Charles  H.  Boesenberg,  of  whom  there  is  a  biog- 
raphy in  this  volume.  Emily  Minnie  Dorothea 
Jane  Marie,  born  December  9,  1853,  and  died 
March  4,  1864.  Ernst  Ludwig  Christian,  bap- 
tized May  13,  1855,  died  April  3,  1864.  Theodore 
Edward  Adam  Werner,  born  August  15,  1860, 
died  April  6,  1862.  Rosa  Johannah  Wilhelmina, 
born  January  8,  1857,  married  John  Gadeh,  of 
whom  a  sketch  will  be  found  on  another  page. 
Ludwig  was  born  October  27,  1858.  Johann 
Henry  William,  born  July  7,  1862,  died  at  the 
age  of  one  year.  Lena  Elizabeth  Wilhelmina 
Louisa,  born  August  25,  1864,  died  April  6,  1865. 
Frederick  Henry  John  Philip  is  mentioned  else- 
where in  this  book.  Clara  Dorothea  Carolina, 
born  November  15,  1867,  was  baptized  April  13, 
1868.  She  married  Preston  Lewis  and  died  May 
2,  1895.  Edmund  Henry  Charles  is  the  subject 
of  a  notice  in  this  volume,  as  is  also  the  youngest 
son,  Herman  Henry  Diedrich. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hann  are  spending  their  declin- 
ing years  in  comfort  well  earned  by  a  long  period 
of  activity.  They  are  a  genial,  hospitable  couple 
and  have  a  host  of  loving  friends. 


WILLIAM  VOELKER. 


p  GJlLLIAM  VOELKER  is  one  of  the  oldest 
\Al  uph°lsterers  in  Chicago,  of  which  city  he 
V  V  has  been  a  resident  forty-six  years.  In- 
deed it  is  doubtful  whether  any  workman  in  the 
trade  has  worked  thereat  for  so  many  years,  con- 
secutively, as  he.  He  was  born  March  10,  1840, 


in  Rockwitz,  Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  Germany, 
his  parents  being  Ernst  and  Hannah  Voelker, 
who  emigrated  from  Germany  to  America  with 
four  children  in  1853.  Nine  weeks  were  con- 
sumed in  the  passage  from  Hamburg  to  New 
York,  from  which  point  the  father,  mother, 


364 


SMITH  PETBRSEN. 


daughter  and  three  sons  at  once  set  forth  for 
Chicago,  where  they  arrived  in  the  month  of 
November. 

The*  elder  Voelker  was  a  laborer  and  died  of 
cholera  during  the  epidemic  of  1854.  Some 
years  later  his  widow  also  died,  and  their  daugh- 
ter, Carrie,  has  also  passed  away.  The  three 
sons,  Ernst,  William  and  Christoph,  are  the  sole 
survivors  of  the  little  family .  Ernst  resides  at 
No.  4107  South  Artesian  Avenue,  and  a  brief 
biographical  sketch  of  Christoph  may  be  found 
on  another  page.  All  are  substantial,  upright, 
public-spirited  citizens  and  men  held  in  high 
repute. 

Mr.  Voelker  received  his  education  at  the  par- 
ish school  of  his  native  village,  and  attended  pub- 
lic school  at  Chicago  during  one  winter.  These 
were  but  meager  advantages,  yet  through  mak- 
ing the  best  possible  use  of  the  opportunities  af- 
forded him,  he  was  able  to  lay  a  good  foundation 
which  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  after  life. 
When  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
he  began  his  apprenticeship  of  three  years  at  the 


upholstery  trade  with  C.  Morgan,  and  since  the 
end  of  that  period  of  service  has  worked  at  his 
trade  constantly  as  a  journeyman.  During  these 
four  decades  he  has  lived  in  the  West  Division, 
with  the  exception  of  five  years,  and  through  his 
industrious,  temperate,  economical  habits  he  has 
become  an  owner  of  valuable  real  estate  in  that 
section  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Voelker  is  a  Republican,  although  he  has 
never  been  an  aspirant  for  any  office.  He  was 
for  sometime  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor, 
and  has  been  for  many  years  a  member  of  the 
Order  of  Druids.  He  is  now  associated  with  the 
United  States  Legion.  He  -was  reared  in  the 
Lutheran  faith,  and  although  not  himself  a  mem- 
ber of  any  church,  his  family  attends  Saint 
Peter's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 

February  18,  1860,  he  married  Ernestine 
Schelke,  who  like  himself  had  emigrated  from 
Germany.  They  have  eight  children:  William 
E. ;  Rose,  wife  of  Oscar  Goebel;  Henry;  Louis; 
Edwin;  Emma,  Mrs.  John  Schiffman;  Frank  and 
Lillie. 


SMITH   PETERSEN. 


Q  MITH  PETERSEN.  Born  in  Jutland,  Aug- 
?\  ust  29,  1861,  Mr.  Petersen  became  a  resi- 
Qy  dent  of  Chicago  in  1882,  and  during  the 
past  seventeen  years  has  been  a  respected  citizen 
of  the  western  metropolis.  Carl  Petersen,  his 
father,  was  a  carpenter.  He  died  in  1864,  at  the 
age  of  forty-two,  while  still  engaged  in  the  active 
following  of  his  trade.  Mrs.  Petersen,  Senior, 
was  Margaret  Andersen.  She  died  in  Denmark 
at  the  same  age  as  her  husband.  They  were  the 
parents  of  ten  children,  but  of  these  only  four  are 
yet  living,  Smith  having  been  the  fourth  in  order 
of  birth. 


The  common  schools  of  his  native  village  af- 
forded him  all  the  education  which  he  received 
until  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age.  After  quit- 
ting school  he  served  an  apprenticeship  of  four 
years  at  the  tinner's  trade,  and  on  becoming  a 
journeyman  he  started  out  to  see  more  of  the 
world  than  was  bounded  by  the  horizon  of  Den- 
mark. For  two  and  one-half  years  he  traveled, 
working  at  his  trade  at  Cassel,  Leipsic  and 
Brunswick. 

In  1882,  partly  through  love  of  adventure  and 
partly  in  hope  of  bettering  his  fortunes,  he  set 
sail  for  the  United  States.  The  first  six  months 


JOHN  WEST. 


365 


of  his  residence  in  this  country  were  spent  in  La 
Salle,  Illinois,  and  then  he  came  to  Chicago.  He 
readily  found  employment  here  at  his  trade,  as  a 
journeyman,  and  for  a  period  of  five  years  he 
was  content  to  labor  for  a  daily  stipend,  saving 
little  by  little,  with  his  eye  steadily  fixed  upon 
the  future. 

Certainly  in  this  case  there  resulted  no  loss 
from  waiting,  since  at  the  end  of  this  period  he 
was  able  to  open  a  place  of  his  own  at  No.  3958 
Dearborn  Street,  where  he  has  conducted  business 
ever  since. 

Through  industry,  integrity  and  sound  judg- 
ment, his  business -has  steadily  grown,  until  he 


has  become  one  of  the  most  successful  business 
men  in  this  section  of  the  city.  To  his  business 
as  a  tinner  he  has  added  the  sale  of  stoves, 
ranges  and  hardware,  and  his  establishment  has 
become  a  recognized  feature  among  his  neighbors 
within  a  mile's  radius. 

In  1885  he  married  Miss  Kate  Hebner,  a  native 
of  Germany.  They  have  no  children.  Mr. 
Petersen  has  been  prominently  identified  with 
the  Walhalla  Society  for  more  than  eight  years. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  Waldeck  Lodge  No.  674, 
Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  of  Gar- 
den City  Lodge  No.  389,  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows. 


JOHN  WEST. 


(JOHN  WEST  is  a  successful  merchant  at 
No.  241  Thirty-first  Street,  at  which  location 
he  conducts  an  establishment  for  the  sale  of 
feed.  He  was  born  near  Wester  Marie,  on  the 
island  of  Bornholm,  in  the  kingdom  of  Denmark, 
November  19,  1850.  His  baptismal  name  was 
Hans,  but  since  his  becoming  a  resident  of  Amer- 
ica this  has  been  transformed  into  John.  His 
parents  were  Johan  and  Anna  (Nielsen)  West. 
His  father  was  a  prominent  and  highly  esteemed 
citizen  in  the  locality  in  which  he  lived;  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  a  lieutenant  in  that  corps  in 
the  standing  army  stationed  in  the  island  of 
Bornholm.  He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight 
years,  at  the  home  of  his  ancestors,  being  able 
to  trace  his  lineage,  in  an  unbroken  line,  to  the 
year  1400.  Mr.  West's  mother,  a  native  of  the 
same  place,  is  still  (1899)  living,  at  the  ripe  old 
age  of  eighty-four  years. 

To  this  couple  were  born  eleven  children, 
seven  of  whom  reached  maturity.  Hans,  or 
John,  is  the  ninth  in  order  of  birth.  In  his  boy- 
hood he  attended  the  public  schools,  becoming 


well  grounded  in  those  branches  which  lie  at  the 
basis  of  a  practical  education.  For  a  period  of 
four  years  after  leaving  school  he  worked  on  a 
farm,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years  entered 
upon  an  apprenticeship  to  the  carpenter's  trade, 
but  two  years  later  resolved  to  seek  his  fortune  in 
the  New  World. 

In  1872  he  emigrated  to  America,  coming  at 
once  to  Chicago.  On  reaching  this  city  he  found 
that  his  mechanical  skill  stood  him  in  good  stead, 
and  for  two  and  one-half  years  he  found  employ- 
ment as  a  carpenter.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
he  secured  a  position  as  coachman,  which  he  re- 
tained until  1889.  By  that  time  he  had,  through 
industry,  sobriety  and  thrift,  accumulated 
enough  means  to  enable  him  to  embark  in  a 
business  venture  on  his  own  account.  He 
formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  M.  H.  Madsen, 
and  the  firm  opened  a  feed  store  on  the  same 
premises  which  he  now  occupies.  In  the  year 
1899  Mr.  West  purchased  his  partner's  inter- 
est, and  has  since  then  conducted  the  business 
alone. 


366 


H.  C.  PAULSEN. 


In  1888,  at  Chicago,  he  married  Carrie  Eber- 
hard,  who  was  born  in  Cleveland,  and  is  of  Ger- 
man descent.  The  issue  of  this  union  has  been 
three  children — John,  Carl  W.  and  Grace  Mar- 
garet, the  latter  born  in  1896.  All  were  born  at 
Chicago.  Mr.  West  is  a  member  of  Logan 


Lodge,  No.  113,  Independent  Order  of  Foresters. 
He  has  been  a  successful  business  man,  and  his 
success  is  attributable  solely  to  those  qualities  of 
mind,  no  less  than  that  energy  of  will  and  per- 
severance in  purpose,  which  have  ever  been  his 
chief  characteristics. 


HANS  C    PAULSEN. 


HANS  CHRISTIAN  PAULSEN  is  now  in 
his  seventy-third  year,  and  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  a  resident 
of  Chicago,  having  taken  up  his  residence  here 
the  year  following  the  great  fire.  His  career 
since  coming  here  affords  a  striking  illustration 
of  what  may  be  accomplished  by  industry  and 
thrift,  when  joined  to  perseverance  and  integrity. 
The  story  of  his  life  is  full  of  interest. 

He  was  born  March  24,  1827,  in  Karllum, 
Schleswig-Holstein,  then  a  part  of  Denmark,  the 
eldest  of  the  three  sons  born  to  Sender  Paulsen, 
a  laborer.  After  leaving  school  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen years  he  went  to  work  as  a  farm  laborer, 
and  remained  in  the  country  of  his  birth  until  he 
was  a  man  of  forty-five  years,  When  he  grew  dis- 
satisfied with  his  conditions  and  prospects  and 
determined  to  brave  all  the  uncertainties  attend- 
ing a  life  in  an  untried  land. 

Before  leaving  Denmark,  however,  he  was 
twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Marie  Knud- 
sen,  who  bore  him  three  sons  and  two  daughters 
— Johanna,  Hans,  Anna,  Hans  and  Cenke.  The 
first  Hans  died  when  two  years  old.  After  the 
death  of  the  mother  he  married  Celia  Kalmar. 
His  second  union  was  blessed  with  seven  children 
— Anna,  Katie,  Jennie,  Christian  and  Charles 
(twins),  Minnie  and  Alice. 

As  has  been  already  said,  Mr.  Paulsen  came  to 
Chicago  in  1872.  He  began  his  American  life  in 
the  humble  walk  of  a  hod  carrier.  He  also 


worked  as  a  common  laborer  in  factories  and  at 
the  Stock  Yards.  Yet  he  was  hard-working  and 
prudent  and  little  by  little  saved  money.  He  de- 
termined to  engage  in  business  for  himself,  and 
his  first  venture  was  in  keeping  a  saloon  at  the 
corner  of  State  and  Thirty-seventh  Streets.  He 
did  not  find  this  occupation  congenial,  and  in 
four  months  sold  out  his  place  and  opened  a  meat 
market.  This  he  conducted  three  years,  when 
he  disposed  of  it  and  began  business  afresh  as  a 
dealer  in  milk  at  No.  4036  Armour  Avenue.  He 
continued  in  this  line  of  trade  for  a  number  of 
years,  when  advancing  age,  considered  in  con- 
nection with  the  fact  that  he  had  already  secured 
a  competence,  induced  him  to  retire.  He  still 
lives  at  his  "old  stand"  in  Armour  Avenue,  es- 
teemed by  his  neighbors  and  best  liked  by  those 
who  knew  him  best. 

While  not  wealthy,  he  has  through  his  own  ef- 
forts achieved  a  handsome  independence.  In  ad- 
dition to  some  unimproved  property  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Ashland  Avenue  and  Sixty-fourth  Street, 
he  also  owns  three  desirably  situated,  two-story 
frame  buildings,  which  afford  an  income. 

In  religious  faith  Mr.  Paulsen  and  family  ad- 
here to  the  teachings  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
In  politics  he  supports  the  Democratic  party. 

All  his  surviving  children  have  their  residence 
in  Chicago  and  in  his  declining  years  he  is  solaced 
alike  by  their  affection  and  by  the  memories  of  a 
well-spent  life. 


A.  H.  DARROW. 


367 


ALEXANDER  H.  DARROW. 


LEXANDER    HAMILTON   DARROW  is 

Hone  of  those  gallant  men,  now  residing  in 
Chicago,  who  cheerfully  gave  their  time  and 
services  in  defense  of  the  Union  when  treason 
threatened  its  destruction.  Though  he  spent 
about  three  years  with  the  Federal  army,  and 
was  exposed  to  constant  dangers,  he  has  never 
applied  for  a  pension  nor  received  aught  for  his 
services  except  the  regular  pay  of  all  volunteers. 
His  progenitors  for  more  than  a  century  past 
had  been  conspicuous  for  their  patriotism  and 
disinterested  public  spirit.  The  Darrow  family 
is  of  English  origin,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest 
to  locate  in  Rochester,  New  York.  John  Dar- 
row, grandfather  of  Alexander,  who  was  a  black- 
smith by  trade,  while  a  young  man  helped  to  forge 
an  immense  chain  which  was  stretched  across  the 
Hudson  River  to  impede  the  passage  up  that 
stream  of  British  war  vessels.  James,  the  son  of 
John  Darrow,  settled  on  a  farm  in  Orleans  Coun- 
ty, New  York,  which  he  cleared  of  the  primitive 
forest.  About  1856  he  removed  thence  to  Clar- 
endon, Calhoun  County,  Michigan,  where  his 
death  occurred  in  1884,  when  nearly  eighty-four 
years  of  age.  His  wife,  Mary  Milliken,  died 
there  in  1880,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years. 
She  was  born  in  Peterborough,  New  Hampshire, 
and  represented  one  of  the  earliest  families  of  that 
commonwealth.  Her  grandfather  participated  in 
the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Mary  Milliken,  who  is  well  remembered  by  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety- 
seven  years,  her  death  occurring  in  Clarendon, 
New  York.  Alexander  Milliken,  a  son  of  this 
couple  and  the  father  of  Mrs.  Darrow,  became  an 


influential  farmer  in  western  New  York.  His 
wife,  Sally  Nay,  was  a  daughter  of  a  Continental 
soldier  who  also  fought  at  Bunker  Hill.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  James  Darrow  were  devout  Presbyterians, 
and  were  distinguished  for  their  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple. Their  children  were:  Elizabeth,  Mrs.  A. 
C.  Hopkins,  of  Homer,  Michigan;  Charles  E., 
now  a  business  man  of  Chicago;  Russell;  Alvira, 
Mrs.  I.  L.  Winn,  also  of  Chicago;  Alexander 
H.;  Sally  Ann,  Mrs.  L-  A.  Harris,  of  Marshall, 
Michigan;  James  Henry;  and  John  H.  The 
last  two  are  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at 
Homer,  Michigan.  All  the  members  of  this  fam- 
ily are  still  living  except  Russell  T. ,  who  enlisted 
in  1861  in  Company  M,  Second  Michigan  Caval- 
ry, and  for  his  gallantry  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  First  Lieutenant.  The  three  years'  term 
for  which  he  enlisted  had  expired,  and  he  was 
offered  a  Major's  commission  as  an  inducement 
to  re-enlist.  This  he  declined,  but  volunteered  to 
remain  with  his  company  for  a  few  days,  and  dur- 
ing this  time  he  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Frank- 
lin, Tennessee.  James  Darrow  had  been  a  con- 
servative Whig,  as  opposed  to  the  Abolition  wing 
of  his  party,  but  upon  the  outbreak  of  hostilities 
between  the  South  and  the  North  became  a 
stanch  supporter  of  the  Government,  and  three 
of  his  sons,  Russell  T.,  Alexander  H.  and  James 
H.,  became  soldiers  in  its  defense. 

Alexander  H.  Darrow  was  born  at  Clarendon, 
Orlearns  County,  New  York,  November  20,  1841, 
and  was  educated  at  an  academy  at  Holley, 
New  York,  and  another  at  Homer,  Michigan. 
In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  and  was  assigned  to 
Company  M,  of  General  Sheridan's  old  regiment, 


368 


A.  H.  DARROW. 


the  Second  Michigan  cavalry.  This  regiment 
was  employed  on  the  skirmish  line  at  Rienzi, 
Mississippi,  when  he  joined  it  as  a  recruit,  and 
for  the  next  year  and  a-half  he  was  almost  con- 
stantly engaged  in  that  line  of  duty.  At  the  end 
of  that  period  he  was  detailed  as  military  book- 
keeper under  Gen.  Sooy  Smith,  Chief  of  Cavalry 
on  General  Grant's  staff,  with  headquarters  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee.  When  General  Sherman 
succeeded  to  the  command  of  this  army,  he  con- 
tinued in  the  same  capacity,  but,  having  been 
granted  a  furlough  at  the  time  of  the  memorable 
march  to  the  sea,  he  did  not  accompany  that  ex- 
pedition. Upon  his  return  from  furlough  he  was 
stationed  at  Louisville  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
During  the  first  part  of  his  service,  Mr.  Darrow 
helped  to  form  a  detail  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
cavalrymen  which  escorted  a  wagon  train  loaded 
with  supplies  for  the  army  from  Gallatin,  Ten- 
nessee, to  Cave  City,  Kentucky.  Upon  arriving 
at  Glasgow,  toward  evening,  he  and  his  comrades 
who  composed  the  advance  guard  were  surprised 
to  find  the  town  occupied  by  General  Morgan 
with  about  six  thousand  Confederate  cavalry. 
After  a  hurried  consultation,  the  little  band  of 
Federals  determined  to  charge  the  enemy,  and 
attempt  to  run  their  wagons  through  the  town,  a 
design  which  was  quickly  and  successfully  car- 
ried out.  They  had  no  more  than  passed  the  out- 
skirts of  the  city,  however,  before  the  enemy 
recovered  from  their  surprise  and  confusion,  and, 
discovering  the  weakness  of  the  wagon  escort, 
fiercely  pursued  the  train  along  the  road  to  Cave 
City,  to  which  point  it  escaped  under  cover  of  a  re- 
lief party  sent  to  its  rescue,  though  about  fifty 
Federals  were  captured.  Mr.  Darrow  had  his 
clothes  riddled  with  bullets  during  the  first  charge, 
but  escaped  without  wounds.  He  became  sepa- 
rated from  his  command,  and  his  horse,  which 
was  lame,  stumbled  and  fell,  throwing  him  heav- 
ily to  the  ground.  This  accident  caused  a  tem- 
porary lameness,  which  prevented  his  escaping  on 
foot,  and  he  was  captured  and  marched  back  to 
Glasgow.  During  the  excitement  and  confusion 
of  the  evening,  he  managed  to  elude  his  guards 
and,  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  he  made  his 
way  out  of  town  and  reached  a  farmhouse,  where 


he  was  kindly  sheltered  for  a  few  days  until  he 
was  able  to  travel.  His  host  had  a  brother-in- 
law  who  was  a  Captain  in  Morgan's  force.  Mr. 
Darrow  finally  reached  the  Union  lines  at  Mum- 
fordville,  where  he  was  warmly  welcomed  by  his 
brother  and  other  comrades,  who  had  given  him 
up  for  dead,  as  the  other  prisoners  had  been  pa- 
roled and  returned  to  camp  several  days  pre- 
viously. 

In  1868  became  to  Chicago,  and  soon  after  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  Republic  Insurance  Com- 
pany. Beginning  as  a  clerk,  he  was  promoted  to 
the  position  of  cashier  of  the  company,  which 
was  the  only  Chicago  insurance  company  which 
paid  in  full  the  losses  sustained  by  the  great  fire. 
Its  policy-holders  received  three  and  a-half  mill- 
ions of  dollars.  In  1872  he  became  the  state 
agent  of  the  Agricultural  Insurance  Company  of 
Watertown,  New  York,  with  which  corporation 
he  has  ever  since  been  identified.  Since  that 
time  the  premiums  received  in  this  state  have 
nearly  doubled,  and  for  twenty -two  years  past  he 
has  been  the  General  Agent  for  the  Western  De- 
partment, which  now  includes  ten  states.  The 
offices  of  this  branch  have  been  for  two  years 
past  in  the  Security  Building,  and  under  his  able 
management  the  business  has  always  been  pro- 
gressive, profitable  and  satisfactory. 

In  November,  1867,  Mr.  Darrow  was  married 
to  Miss  Susan  C.  Johnston,  daughter  of  William 
Johnston,  of  Marshall,  Michigan,  an  early  settler 
of  that  place.  Mrs.  Darrow  is  also  a  sister  of 
Col.  Thomas  W.  Johnston,  of  the  Second  Mich- 
igan Cavalry,  who  was  for  some  years  subsequent 
to  the  war  a  resident  of  Chicago.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Darrow  are  the  parents  of  five  children,  the  two 
eldest  sons  being  employed  in  connection  with 
their  father's  business.  Their  names  are:  Will- 
iam H.,  Robert  Lee,  Zoe,  Chrystal  and  Alexan- 
der H.,  junior. 

Mr.  Darrow  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Club, 
the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Columbia  Post,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  He  supports  the  Repub- 
lican party,  though  never  an  active  politician. 
His  life  has  been  one  of  quiet,  unostentatious 
industry  and  sobriety,  and  all  who  enjoy  his  ac- 
quaintance accord  him  the  highest  respect. 


F.  M.  BUCK. 


369 


FRANCIS  M.  BUCK. 


f"  FRANCIS  MARION  BUCK.  Among  the 
rft  self-made  men  of  Chicago — that  city  em- 
|  ^  bodying  the  most  wondrous  aggregation  of 
human  energy,  perseverance  and  enterprise  and 
their  results — is  found  the  subject  of  this  notice. 
He  was  born  on  the  3oth  of  July,  1855,  in  Ger- 
mantown,  Tennessee,  and  is  the  second  child  of 
Edwin  Gorum  and  Sophronia  Melvina  (Harrall) 
Buck.  The  family  is  an  old  one  in  America,  of 
undoubted  English  origin,  but  little  is  now  posi- 
tively known  of  the  time  of  its  planting  here. 
Frederick  Buck,  father  of  Edwin  G.,  was  born  in 
Pitt  County,  North  Carolina,  in  1793,  and  died 
in  Henderson  County,  Illinois,  in  1871.  Edwin 
G.  Buck  was  born  January  31,  1823,  in  North 
Carolina,  and  his  wife,  October  12,  1830,  in  Ten- 
nessee. They  were  married  in  the  latter  State 
November  7,  1850.  Only  two  of  their  nine  chil- 
dren are  now  living,  most  of  them  having  died 
from  the  effects  of  la  grippe,  and  all  having 
passed  away  within  recent  years.  Following  is 
the  record  of  their  birth:  Cornelius,  October 
12,  1851,  and  Mary  Ellen  (now  living,  married), 
May  12,  1858,  in  Tennessee;  Sarah  M.,  Septem- 
ber 21,  1860,  in  Southern  Illinois;  Louisa  D., 
May  15,  1864,  and  Etta  S.,  October  18,  1866,  in 
Henderson  County,  Illinois;  Eddie,  March  n, 
1869,  in  Tecumseh,  Kansas;  Irvin,  January  23, 
1872,  and  Alice,  March  25,  1874,  near  Topeka, 
Kansas.  From  Tennessee  the  father  of  this  fam- 
ily removed  to  Illinois,  living  for  a  short  time 
near  Golconda,  whence  he  removed  to  Henderson 
County,  in  the  same  State.  In  October,  1868,  he 
moved  to  Kansas  by  team,  and  after  living  a 
short  time  in  Tecumseh  he  took  a  homestead  in 
Dover,  near  Topeka,  where  he  now  resides,  at 


the  age  of  seventy-two  years.  His  faithful  help- 
meet and  companion  passed  away  in  June,  1894, 
in  her  sixty-fourth  year. 

Francis  M.  Buck  was  in  his  ninth  year  when 
his  parents  came  to  reside  near  Oquawka,  Illinois, 
and  his  education,  as  far  as  school  attendance 
goes,  was  completed  in  the  grammar  school  of 
that  place  before  the  removal  of  the  family  to 
Kansas.  When  he  was  about  fourteen  years  old 
he  left  home  and  has  since  maintained  himself. 
From  a  humble  sphere  of  life  he  has  risen  to  a 
position  of  great  responsibility  in  the  management 
of  one  of  Chicago's  largest  enterprises.  His 
father  prophesied,  on  his  leaving  home,  that,  on 
account  of  his  positive  and  determined  character, 
he  would  either  make  a  great  success  or  a  com- 
plete failure.  His  first  employment  was  in  a  liv- 
ery stable  in  Topeka,  where  he  was  engaged  by 
Silas  Rain.  His  first  care  was  to  make  himself 
useful,  and  with  such  energy  and  tact  did  he  pro- 
ceed that  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  barn  at 
the  end  of  two  months,  and  remained  in  that  po- 
sition over  two  years.  Returning  then  to  Hen- 
derson County  he  was  employed  by  the  month  as 
a  farm  hand  by  Lewis  Duke,  of  Rozetta,  with 
whom  he  remained  during  the  summer  most  ol 
the  time,  until  his  removal  to  Chicago  in  Janu- 
ary, 1879.  In  the  mean  time  he  found  employ- 
ment in  winter  in  the  village  of  Oquawka. 

On  his  arrival  in  Chicago  Mr.  Buck  began  to 
look  for  employment,  with  varying  success.  In 
March,  1880,  he  engaged  in  the  manufacturing 
department  of  the  Western  Toy  Company,  at 
$4.50  per  week.  Within  three  months  his  salary 
was  raised  to  $7,  and  later  to  $10.  In  the  mean 
time  he  purchased  a  membership  in  the  night 


370 


F.  M.  BUCK. 


school  of  the  Bryant  &  Stratton  Business  College, 
and  on  resigning  his  position  with  the  Toy  Com- 
pany at  the  end  of  a  year,  he  attended  the  day 
sessions  of  the  business  college  for  several  months. 
His  next  engagement  was  with  Sprague,  Warner 
&  Co.,  wholesale  grocers,  being  placed  in  charge 
of  their  branch  warehouse  at  39  River  Street, 
where  he  continued  nearly  a  year.  He  now  re- 
signed to  engage  in  business  on  his  own  account. 
In  partnership  with  H.  Jaeschke,  a  practical 
butcher,  he  purchased  a  meat  market  at  Division 
and  Moore  Streets,  and  immediately  took  charge 
of  the  business  management,  and  in  a  short  time 
built  up  from  a  small  patronage  a  flourishing 
trade  among  the  best  people  of  the  North  Side. 
When  his  partner  undertook  to  supply  their  cus- 
tomers with  inferior  meats,  a  dispute  arose,  and 
Mr.  Buck  withdrew  from  the  firm,  disposing  of 
his  interest  at  a  handsome  profit  on  his  original 
investment. 

When  he  took  employment  with  the  Chicago 
Telephone  Company,  Mr.  Buck  became  associated 
with  employers  who  soon  recognized  his  ability 
and  appreciated  his  conscientious  efforts  to  suc- 
ceed. He  was  first  placed  in  charge  of  its  Amer- 
ican District  Telegraph  office  at  515  Wabash 
Avenue,  with  four  messengers,  In  nine  months 
he  had  so  extended  the  business  that  it  required 
eleven  messengers,  and  he  was  then  transferred 
to  the  main  office  of  the  district  business,  at  118 
La  Salle  Street,  with  the  position  of  assistant 
manager.  His  effort  to  improve  the  service  here 
resulted  in  a  strike  of  the  messengers.  This  he 
speedily  overcame,  with  the  result  that  the  serv- 
ice was  improved  and  the  business  became  at  once 
more  profitable  to  his  employers.  Soon  after 
this  he  was  appointed  assistant  superintendent  of 
the  American  District  Telegraph  in  Chicago,  and 
after  a  few  months  general  agent,  in  charge  of 
all  its  contract  work  in  the  messenger,  burglar- 
alarm  and  watch  service.  After  discharging  the 
duties  of  this  position  for  a  year,  he  was  made 
contract  agent  of  the  Chicago  Telephone  Com- 
pany for  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  six  months 
afterward  his  territory  was  extended  to  include 
its  entire  field  of  operations,  reaching  out  about 
seventy-five  miles  in  every  direction  from  the  city. 


His  responsibility  was  again  extended,  at  the  end 
of  one  and  one-half  years,  when  he  was  given  en- 
tire charge  of  rates  as  well  as  contracts.  Some 
idea  of  the  growth  of  the  business  of  this  concern 
may  be  gained  from  the  statement  that  when  Mr. 
Buck  became  contract  agent  there  were  twenty- 
five  hundred  subscribers,  while  there  are  now 
more  than  ten  thousand  in  the  city  alone.  His 
practical  experience  in  various  subordinate  posi- 
tions made  him  familiar  with  the  remotest  detail 
of  the  business,  and  he  is  now  able  to  perform 
more  work,  and  in  a  much  more  satisfactory  man- 
ner at  the  same  time,  than  one  not  having  had 
the  benefit  of  a  similar  training.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  may  be  mentioned  that  he  was  never  dis- 
charged from  any  position  which  he  undertook 
to  fill,  but  has  always  made  himself  a  useful  and 
profitable  assistant  to  his  employers.  He  is  an 
affable,  genial  gentleman,  and  always  finds  time 
to  be  courteous  in  the  midst  of  a  busy  and  re- 
sponsible life.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club  and  the  Art  Institute,  and  a  Deacon 
of  the  Englewood  Baptist  Church — one  of  the 
largest  congregations  in  the  city.  In  political 
strife  he  has  usually  acted  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

In  August,  1880,  Mr.  Buck  married  Miss 
Nettie  A.  Russell,  who  was  born  in  Dundee,  Illi- 
nois, January  5,  1862.  One  child  is  the  result  of 
this  union,  born  in  April,  1881,  and  named  Bessie 
Rue  Rose  Buck.  Mrs.  Buck's  parents,  Ruell  D. 
Russell  and  Sarah  A.  Wilbur,  were  born,  respect- 
ively, January  22,  1821,  and  May  u,  1837,  and 
were  married  November  i,  1855.  Mrs.  Nettie 
A.  Buck  died  April  15,  1886. 

Mr.  Buck  was  again  married,  this  time,  June 
30,  1887,  to  Miss  Mollie  K.  Duke,  who  was  born 
at  Rozetta,  Henderson  County,  Illinois,  June  4, 
1864.  Mrs.  Buck's  father,  Lewis  Duke,  was 
born  in  England  on  the  3oth  of  December,  1832, 
and  her  mother,  Fannie  King  (Coghill)  Duke, 
in  Henderson  County,  Illinois,  December  23, 
1842. 

The  history  of  the  Coghill  family  in  England 
and  America  is  an  interesting  and  well-authen- 
ticated one.  The  founder,  so  far  as  the  records 
show,  was  John  Cockhill,  who  lived  in  the  castle 


JOHN  NAPER. 


371 


of  Knaresborough,  in  the  County  of  York,  during 
the  reigns  of  Richard  III.  and  Henry  IV. ,  between 
1377  and  1413.  Either  he  or  his  only  heir 
changed  the  name  to  its  present  form,  and  it  thus 
appears  in  all  the  records  of  marriages,  baptisms 
and  burials  in  Knaresborough  Church.  The 
records  show  a  will,  dated  October  9,  1585,  made 
by  Thomas  Coghill,  of  Tentergate,  in  the  town- 
ship of  Scriven,  and  parish  of  Knaresborough, 
who  was  the  eldest  son  of  Marmaduke  Coghill. 
The  family  was  prominent  in  military  and  naval 
affairs.  Three  fell  in  battle — one  in  Africa,  one 
in  Europe,  and  the  third  in  America.  One  served 
with  distinction  in  Asia,  and  another  was  vice- 
admiral  on  the  high  seas. 


Benjamin  C.  Coghill,  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Buck, 
was  born  in  Carolina  County,  Virginia,  in  1826, 
and  died  in  1880.  The  records  of  the  family,  in 
his  handwriting,  show  that  a  son  of  Thomas  Cog- 
hill,  ST.,  left  England  in  1664  and  settled  in 
Essex  County,  Virginia,  where  he  died  in  1685. 
In  1764  a  portion  of  Essex  County  became  merged 
in  Carolina  County,  Virginia,  in  which  precinct 
the  father  and  grandfather  of  Benjamin  C.  Cog- 
hill,  William  and  Thomas  Coghill,  Sr.,  respect- 
ively, were  prominent  citizens.  The  children  of 
Benjamin  C.  Coghill  were  Benjamin  C.,  Millicent 
E.,  Fannie  K.  and  J.  W-  Coghill.  Mrs.  Buck 
is  a  worthy  descendant  of  her  noble  ancestors,  and 
the  congenial  wife  of  a  worthy  husband. 


JOHN  NAPER. 


(JOHN  NAPER.  If  New  Germany,  like  New 
I  England,  is  a  part  of  America,  surely  its 
Q)  capital  is  not  far  from  our  chief  metropolis, 
Chicago,  in  the  fair  state  of  Illinois.  Like  the 
early  settlers  Down  East,  most  of  our  Teutonic 
citizens  first  come  among  us  with  limited  means, 
but  with  a  determined  will  to  do  and  become 
something  respectable,  and  often  honorable.  As 
a  race  very  industrious,  sober,  healthy  and  in- 
telligent, they  soon  prove  their  right  to  enjoy  in 
the  highest  sense  the  full  responsibilities  of  Amer- 
ican freemen;  we  therefore  frequently  find  those 
of  the  second  and  third  generations  have  become 
some  of  our  best  educated,  richest  and  most  influ- 
tial  leaders  in  both  private  and  public  life. 

One  of  these  early  Germans  was  born  at  Han- 
over in  the  year  1814,  his  name  being  John  Na- 
per,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who,  as  one  of 
Chicago's  early  settlers,  and  the  father  of  children 
who  already  have  proven  their  abilities  as  repre- 
sentative citizens  of  the  United  States,  is  entitled 


to  have  the  worthiest  facts  of  his  useful  life  pre- 
served herein  for  the  benefit  of  future  genera- 
tions. 

Mr.  Naper's  father  was  a  Catholic,  while  his 
mother  was  a  Lutheran.  He  himself,  as  often 
happens,  finding  his  chief  strength  in  the  faith  of 
his  maternal  ancestor,  became  a  conscientious 
Lutheran,  and  was  for  long  years  preceding  his 
death  a  member  of  St.  Paul's  Church  of  that 
denomination  in  this  city. 

Coming  to  America  in  1842,  he  directly  made 
his  way  to  Chicago,  and  the  following  year  con- 
summated a  real-estate  transaction  which  will 
suffice  to  keep  his  offspring  in  comfortable  cir- 
cumstances for  many  years  to  come.  It  is  hard 
for  one,  looking  at  Chicago  as  it  is  to-day,  to  fully 
realize  the  village  (nothing  more)  which  greeted 
the  eyes  of  those  earlier  comers;  and  thereby 
hangs  the  circumstance  which  enabled  those  of 
foresight,  within  the  span  of  a  single  lifetime,  to 
become  wealthy,  by  the  simple  method  of  holding 


372 


JOHN  NAPER. 


to  a  moderate  piece  of  land.  In  the  spring  of 
1843  Mr.  Naper  bought,  for  the  very  small  price 
of  $200,  two-thirds  of  the  block  of  real  estate 
now  in  the  center  of  activity  upon  the  North 
Side,  and  within  three  squares  of  the  great  New- 
berry  Library.  It  is  situated  between  Rush  and 
State  Streets,  and  Walton  and  Delaware  Places, 
but  at  that  time  was  without  highways,  even 
without  survey,  being  a  portion  of  the  old  Canal 
Lands.  This  right  he  acquired  from  a  Norwegian 
named  Johnson,  who  had  it  direct  from  the  Gov- 
ernment. Mr.  Naper  held  it  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  when  it  was  peaceably  subdivided  among 
his  large  family.  A  small  part  of  it,  at  the  south- 
west corner  of  Rush  Street  and  Walton  Place,  is 
now  occupied  by  that  magnificent  family  hotel, 
The  Majestic. 

On  this  block,  on  the  Rush  Street  side,  in  the 
'403  there  was  a  district  school,  which  at  the  end 
of  that  decade  was  done  away  with,  and  aside 
from  a  few  still  remaining  building  sites  of  choice 
property,  the  ground  is  now  entirely  built  over 
with  substantial  residences. 

Here  Mr.  Naper  set  up  his  humble  home  soon 
after  his  arrival  in  America,  and  he  clung  to  it 
with  all  the  tenacity  of  those  home-loving  people. 
His  first  home  was  on  Rush  Street;  thence  he  re- 
moved to  the  Walton  Place  side,  where  he  was 
burnt  out  by  the  big  fire  of  1871,  after  which  he 
constructed  at  what  is  now  No.  43  Delaware 
Place  a  neat  frame  residence,  where  his  widow  and 
some  of  his  younger  children  at  present  reside. 

In  the  earlier  days  there  was  less  of  class  dis- 
tinction, more  of  common -sense,  in  men's  rela- 
tions one  with  another;  and  so,  although  but  a 
market-gardener,  being  an  honest  man,  he  was 
greeted  with  respect  by  many  of  our  most  famous 
men,  such  as  Judge  Skinner,  Cyrus  H.  McCor- 
mick,  J.  Y.  Scammon,  John  Kinzie,  and  others, 
who  have,  like  Mr.  Naper,  now  passed  to  their 
long  home.  Upon  this  block,  Mr.  Naper  main- 
tained a  well-regulated,  valuable  market-garden, 
and  those  whose  tables  were  supplied  from  the 
produce  of  his  lands  knew  they  were  getting  the 
best  and  purest  that  careful  husbandry  could 
raise.  He  was  a  quiet,  peaceable,  honest,  indus- 
trious citizen,  of  the  sort  of  stuff  that  best  befits 


men  who  start  in  to  build  up  a  new  country.  A 
stanch  Republican  in  politics,  he  never  sought 
public  life,  though  he  left  a  son  whose  services 
have  been  conspicuous  in  the  city's  annals. 

For  about  two  years  prior  to  his  death,  he  was 
a  quiet  but  excessive  sufferer  from  that  bodily 
scourge,  gastritis.  Resigned  to  the  will  of  his 
Maker,  he  passed  away  on  the  1 5th  of  October, 
1882,  and  was  interred  in  the  family  lot  at  Grace- 
land,  overlooking  the  lake  whose  sounds  were 
such  music  to  him  in  life's  struggles. 

Mr.  Naper  was  twice  married;  first,  in  1843, 
to  Anna  Stuven,  who  came  from  Schauley,  Ger- 
many (near  the  boundary  of  Holland)  in  that 
year,  with  her  parents.  They  had  three  children, 
two  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  but  Henry  G.  Na- 
per, born  September  30,  1848,  lived  to  grow  to 
an  honorable  manhood,  connected  in  various  ca- 
pacities with  the  city  government  since  he  became 
seventeen  years  of  age,  having  been  Chief  Permit 
Clerk  in  the  Water  Department  at  the  time  he 
was  retired  by  Mayor  Hopkins  in  1894,  after 
which  he  took  a  trip  to  California.  He  married, 
in  1876,  Louise  Deverman,  of  this  city,  by  whom 
he  has  four  children:  Herbert  J.  (now  in  the 
senior  class  of  the  Chicago  Manual  Training 
School),  George  H.,  May  A.  A.  and  Erwin  G. 

Mr.  Naper,  Sr.,  married  for  his  second  wife 
Miss  Augusta  Catherine  Dorothea  Hufmeyer,  a 
daughter  of  John  Adam  and  Gertrude  (Gang) 
Hufmeyer.  She  was  born  near  Osnabruck,  Han- 
over, and  came  to  America  with  her  parents  when 
a  little  girl  of  only  three  years  of  age,  first  to  Syr- 
acuse, but  shortly  to  their  future  home,  Chicago, 
where  she  was  educated,  and  married  to  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  on  the  6th  of  March,  1850. 
Nine  children  blessed  their  happy  wedded  life,  all 
but  one  of  whom  lived  to  be  a  comfort  to  their 
parents.  John  Adam  was  born  June  7,  1851, 
became  a  bookbinder  by  trade,  and  has  consider- 
able real-estate  interests;  he  married  Frederica 
Abel,  July  4,  1889,  by  whom  he  has  a  pretty 
daughter,  Mabel.  Herman,  born  October  i,  1853, 
is  yet  a  single  man,  and  for  long  years  has  worked 
for  '  'Uncle  Sam' '  as  letter  carrier.  Helen  M. ,  born 
April  i,  1856,  married,  October  19,  1886,  Frank 
L-  Smith,  of  this  city,  where  he  is  employed  as  a 


G.  W.  SPOFFORD. 


373 


soliciting  agent,  having  been  for  a  time  Govern- 
ment Storekeeper  in  early  days.  Mary  L.  was 
the  next:  Lizzie  J.,  born  July  17,  1861,  married, 
March  29,  1887,  Charles  E.  Barmm,  Ph.  D., 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Toxicology  and 
Urinalysis  of  the  American  Medical  College,  of  In- 
dinapolis,  Indiana.  Louise  W.  died  single,  after 
she  had  grown  to  the  flower  of  womanhood.  Ed- 
ward J.,  born  June  17,  1867,  married,  April  14, 
1892,  Anna  M.  Horn,  of  this  city;  he  is  a  book- 


keeper by  occupation.     Amelia  B.  is  the  youngest 
child. 

On  an  opposite  page  will  be  seen  the  honest, 
kindly  face  of  Mr.  Naper,  which  will  be  viewed 
with  a  proud  satisfaction  by  his  descendants  for 
many  generations  to  come,  as  they  turn  to  this 
dignified  source  of  information  to  learn  how  their 
first  parents  in  America  made  the  beginning  of 
future  prosperity  to  unborn  hundreds. 


GEORGE  W.  SPOFFORD. 


IEORGE  WASHINGTON  SPOFFORD,  a 

well-known  citizen  of  Chicago,  was  born  in 
Peterborough,  New  Hampshire,  August  9, 
1831.  He  is  a  son  of  Ira  and  Miriam  (Atwood) 
Spofford.  The  first  authentic  record  of  the  Spof- 
ford  family  is  found  in  the  "Domesday  Book," 
showing  the  allotment  of  lands  in  England  to  the 
followers  of  William  the  Conqueror  in  1066.  By 
that  division  this  family  was  dispossessed  of  its 
lands,  which  were  given  to  the  Earl  of  Percy. 
Eleven  generations  of  the  family  are  traced  in 
England,  and  among  its  members  were  very  many 
prominent  ecclesiastics,  one  of  whom  was  Thomas 
Spofford,  Lord  Archbishop  of  York.  The  family 
coat-of-arms  is  still  preserved,  bearing  the  motto, 
"Rather  deathe  than  false  of  fay  the."  Spofford 
Castle,  in  Yorkshire,  is  said  to  be  the  best  pre- 
served ruin  in  England.  The  earlier  generations 
were  devout  Catholics,  but  in  1554  Rev.  Bryan 
Spofford,  a  contemporary  of  the  Earl  of  Canter- 
bury, having  married,  refused  to  put  away  his 
wife  and  children  in  accordance  with  the  edict  of 
the  church,  and  became  a  Protestant. 

The  first  American  ancestor  was  Rev.  John 
Spofford,  son  of  an  Episcopalian  minister,  who 
came  from  Spofford,  Yorkshire,  and  settled  at 
Georgetown,  Massachusetts,  in  1634.  The  subject 
of  this  notice  represents  the  eighth  generation  in 
America.  His  grandfather,  Amos  Spofford,  served 
three  years  in  the  Continental  army,  entering 
the  service  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  as  a  sub- 


stitute for  his  father,  who  was  drafted.  When  the 
family  received  notice  of  this  conscription,  a  sheep 
was  hastily  shorn,  and  from  the  fleece  his  mother 
spun  and  wove  cloth  to  equip  him  for  this  duty. 

Ira  Spofford,  who  was  a  stone-cutter  and  con- 
tractor, lived  and  died  at  Peterborough.  While 
but  a  lad,  he  also  entered  the  military  service  of 
his  country,  which  was  then  engaged  in  the  War 
of  1812.  He  was  a  relative  of  General  McNeal, 
a  prominent  officer  of  that  conflict,  who  afterward 
became  Governor  of  Arkansas.  Ira  Spofford  was 
a  man  of  resolute  character  and  stern  convictions. 
In  common  with  many  of  his  relatives  who  re- 
sided in  the  South,  he  gave  unswerving  allegi- 
ance to  the  Democratic  party,  and  could  tolerate 
no  deviation  from  its  doctrines  in  his  family. 
The  names  of  Ira  Spofford's  children  were  Will- 
iam, Nancy  (who  was  successively  married  to 
John  Challis,  Thomas  Upton  and  Joseph  Knowl- 
ton),  Ira  A.,  Nathan  H.,  Miriam  A.  (Mrs.  F. 
Farwell),  George  W.,  John  L-,  Elizabeth  (Mrs. 
Joseph  Alexander),  and  twin  brothers,  Albert 
and  Alvah.  Of  this  family  but  three  now  survive. 

Mrs.  Miriam  Spofford's  father,  Jeremiah  At- 
wood, served  for  seven  years  in  the  Continental 
army,  enlisting  from  Chester,  Vermont.  During 
this  time  he  had  no  furloughs,  and  was  constantly 
in  the  field.  After  the  battle  of  Yorktown  he  was 
honorably  discharged  from  the  service,  and  started 
for  his  home  on  foot.  There  being  no  means  of 
public  conveyance,  most  of  the  veterans  were 


374 


G.  W.  SPOFFORD. 


obliged  to  travel  in  this  way,  and  were  heartily 
welcomed  by  the  citizens  whom  they  met  along 
the  way,  and  who  were  pleased  to  extend  to  them 
their  best  hospitality  and  hear  the  news  from  the 
seat  of  war.  Among  that  number  was  Mr.  At- 
wood'swife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Bacon.  All 
the  returning  soldiers  who  passed  her  door  were 
kindly  entertained,  and  when  Mr.  Atwood  ar- 
rived, footsore  and  weary  from  his  journey  of 
several  weeks,  she  failed  to  recognize  him,  but 
gave  him  the  same  kind  and  hearty  welcome,  at 
once  providing  him  with  a  bountiful  dinner,  but 
was  considerably  surprised  to  find  that  he  did 
not  resume  his  journey  after  the  repast.  Her 
joy  on  discovering  his  identity  can  easily  be 
imagined. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  George  W.  Spof- 
ford  left  home  and  went  to  Boston  in  search  of 
employment.  He  subsequently  spent  four  years 
at  Phillips  Academy,  Exeter,  New  Hampshire, 
with  a  view  to  entering  Harvard  University,  and  - 
completed  the  freshman  year  at  Exeter.  He 
abandoned  this  purpose  on  account  of  failing  eye- 
sight, and  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Hon.  Edward  S.  Cutler,  of  Peterborough,  New 
Hampshire.  This  pursuit  also  proved  too  trying 
for  his  eyes,  and,  coming  to  Chicago  in  1856,  he 
accepted  the  position  of  Principal  of  the  Foster 
School. 

He  acceptably  carried  this  trying  responsibility 
for  fourteen  years,  retiring  in  1871.  Since  that 
date  he  has  devoted  his  attention  chiefly  to  the 
management  of  his  extensive  real-estate  interests. 
He  had  just  completed  a  fine  building  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  Clark  and  Madison  Streets 
when  the  fearful  holocaust  of  1871  swept  over 
the  city,  annihilating  the  structure  and  causing  a 
loss  which  at  that  time  was  a  serious  one.  He 
recovered  no  insurance,  but  immediately  built 
with  borrowed  capital  the  structure  which  now 
adorns  that  site.  He  has  since  erected  a  number 
of  business  blocks  in  the  city,  and  is  the  present 
owner  of  considerable  choice  city  and  suburban 
property.  Among  these  parcels  is  a  fine  farm 
near  Wheaton,  Illinois,  dotted  with  several  nat- 
ural groves  and  pretty  little  lakes. 

For  four  years  Mr.  Spofford  served  as  County 


Commissioner,  during  which  time  he  was  Chair- 
man of  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  county  in- 
stitutions at  Dunning.  For  some  years  past  he 
has  spent  his  winters  in  the  South,  where  he  has 
a  number  of  relatives  who  are  prominent  public 
citizens,  and  has  acquired  an  extensive  acquaint- 
ance throughout  that  section  of  the  Union.  In 
the  interests  of  the  management  of  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago,  he  visited 
several  Southern  cities  and  secured  their  endorse- 
ment of  this  undertaking. 

In*  1859  Mr.  Spofford  was  married  to  Miss 
Hannah  M.  Morrison,  daughter  of  Orsemus  Mor- 
rison, a  well-known  pioneer  of  Chicago,  whose 
biography  will  be  found  on  another  page  of  this 
volume.  Mrs.  Spofford  was  born  at  the  corner 
of  Clark  and  Madison  Streets,  and  has  become 
the  mother  of  five  children,  three  of  whem  passed 
away  in  childhood.  The  others  are  Percy  and 
Florence  M.,  the  latter  a  graduate  of  Ogontz 
Seminary,  near  Philadelphia.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Spofford  are  leading  members  of  the  Seventh 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago,  and  move  in  the 
best  social  circles.  Mr.  Spofford  is  identified 
with  the  Menoken  and  Ashland  Clubs,  and  is 
prominent  in  the  Masonic  fraternity,  being  a 
member  of  National  Lodge,  York  Chapter,  St. 
Bernard  Commandery  and  the  Mystic  Shrine. 
Having  been  reared  in  the  atmosphere  of  Dem- 
ocracy, he  cast  his  first  Presidential  vote  for 
James  Buchanan,  but,  upon  the  opening  of  the 
Civil  War,  he  became  a  stanch  Republican,  al- 
though he  incurred  the  displeasure — amounting 
almost  to  enmity — of  his  father  and  most  of  his 
family  by  so  doing. 

When  Mr.  Spofford  first  came  to  Chicago  the 
ground  now  composing  Garfield  Park,  opposite 
his  present  residence,  was  worth  but  $9  per  acre, 
and  the  present  value  of  many  other  portions  of 
the  city  real  estate  was  proportionally  unforeseen. 
He  has  seen  Chicago  successively  become  the  ri- 
val of  Milwaukee,  Detroit,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis 
and  New  York.  He  is  one  of  its  most  loyal 
citizens,  considering  it  one  of  the  most  auspicious 
fields  of  investment  in  the  Union,  with  nearly 
every  part  of  which  he  is  familiar. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLIN' 


ELLIOTT  ANTHONY. 


375 


ELLIOTT  ANTHONY,  LL.  D. 


ANTHONY,  LL.  D.  In  the  ca- 
1^  reer  of  Judge  Anthony,  who  for  twelve  years 
I  honored  the  Bench  of  Chicago,  the  ambitious 
attorney  may  read  the  way  to  honor  and  success. 
He  was  born  in  Spafford,  Onondaga  County, 
N.  Y.,  June  10,  1827,  and  is  descended  from 
Quaker  ancestors,  who  early  located  in  New  Eng- 
land. Many  of  the  members  of  the  family  ac- 
quitted themselves  with  credit  as  soldiers  and 
officers  of  the  Continental  army.  It  was  early  in 
the  seventeenth  century  that  Judge  Anthony's 
progenitor  located  in  Rhode  Island,  whence  his 
grandfather  moved  soon  after  the  Revolution  to 
Washington  County,  N.  Y.  Almost  at  the  same 
time,  his  maternal  grandfather  went  from  Ver- 
mont to  the  same  locality.  Isaac  Anthony,  father 
of  the  subject  of  this  biography,  was  born  on 
Rhode  Island,  eight  miles  from  the  island  of  New- 
port, and  early  imbibed  the  hatred  of  British  ag- 
gression which  had  been  handed  down  by  his 
father,  on  account  of  the  abuses  heaped  upon  him 
and  others  at  the  time  the  English  and  Hessian 
forces  occupied  Rhode  Island  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. While  residing  in  Cambridge,  Washington 
County,  N.  Y.,  he  met  Miss  Parmelia  Phelps,  a 
scion  of  an  old  New  England  family,  and  their 
acquaintance  led  to  mutual  affection  and  marriage. 
Isaac  Anthony's  mother  was  a  member  of  the 
noted  Chase  family,  which  has  given  to  the 
United  States  a  famous  Chief  Justice.  Shortly 
before  the  birth  of  Elliott,  he  moved  to  the  south- 
western part  of  Onondaga  County,  where  he  en- 
tered upon  the  work  of  clearing  a  farm.  With 
such  energy  did  he  carry  out  this  undertaking 
that  he  came  to  be  the  foremost  and  most  success- 
ful farmer  of  all  that  region. 
Elliott  is  the  youngest  of  four  sons  in  a  family 


including  the  same  number  of  daughters,  and  all 
in  turn  were  sent  to  the  Cortlandt  Academy,  at 
Homer,  the  leading  educational  institution  of 
western  New  York,  to  finish  their  education. 
Here  the  future  judge  prepared  for  college  under 
Prof.  Samuel  B.  Woolworth,  a  famous  educator 
of  his  time.  At  the  end  of  two  years'  study  here, 
in  the  fall  of  1847,  he  entered-  the  Sophomore 
class  of  Hamilton  College,  at  Clinton,  N.  Y., 
from  which  he  was  graduated  with  high  honors  in 
1850.  He  then  became  a  resident  graduate,  and 
took  a  special  course  in  law  and  political  economy 
with  Prof.  Theodore  W.  Dwight,  who  afterward 
became  so  highly  distinguished  as  Dean  of  the 
Columbia  College  Law  School  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  With  his  accustomed  vigor  and  earnest- 
ness, young  Anthony  followed  his  studies  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  at  Oswego  on  the  7th  of 
May,  1851.  While  pursuing  his  law  course  in 
company  with  a  classmate,  Joseph  D.  Hubbard, 
he  took  charge  of  the  well-known  Kirkland  Acad- 
emy at  Clinton,  and  had  for  one  of  his  pupils 
Grover  Cleveland,  now  President  of  the  United 
States. 

Being  possessed  of  the  same  pioneer  spirit  which 
led  his  grandfather  and  father  to  settle  new  re- 
gions, he  resolved  to  begin  practice  in  the  new 
West,  and  proceeded  to  Sterling,  Whiteside  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  soon  after  his  admission  to  the  Bar.  Re- 
turning East  in  June,  1852,  he  was  married  to 
Mary  Dwight,  the  sister  of  his  preceptor,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1852  he  became  a  resident  of  Chicago, 
which  city  has  been  his  home  ever  since.  None 
have  been  more  active  in  the  development  of  the 
city  and  State  than  he,  and  in  both  he  takes  an 
honest  pride.  Chicago,  as  well  as  Illinois,  was 
fortunate  in  the  beginning,  in  the  fact  that  the 


376 


EIJJOTT  ANTHONY. 


pioneers  were  of  good  blood,  the  blood  which  has 
developed  the  best  of  the  entire  Northwest  and 
West.  Wherever  the  New  England  blood  pre- 
dominates, churches,  schoolhouses,  manufactories 
and  highways  of  commerce  have  appeared  simul- 
taneously and  systematically.  With  a  determina- 
tion to  succeed  in  his  chosen  profession,  Mr. 
Anthony  began  practice  among  the  fifty  lawyers 
who  constituted  the  Bar  of  Chicago  at  his  com- 
ing. Throughout  his  long  and  busy  career,  he 
has  been  a  diligent  worker,  and  in  less  than  three 
years  after  coming  here  he  was  recognized  as  a 
leading  attorney  of  the  young  city,  and  his  rise 
was  quite  as  rapid  as  his  ambition  had  dared  to 
hope.  He  foresaw  the  rise  of  a  great  city,  sur- 
rounded by  a  tributary  country  of  almost  bound- 
less resources,  and  became  identified  with  many 
enterprises  and  projects  for  their  mutual  advan- 
tage and  growth.  "If  a  general  diffusion  of 
learning,  science  and  the  arts  at  this  time  is  de- 
sirable," said  he,  "then  the  Mississippi  Valley 
is  the  chosen  spot  for  their  cultivation.  The 
generations  are  increasing,  and  the  career  of  duty 
and  usefulness  which  is  to  be  seen  by  our  chil- 
dren will  be  under  constantly  increasing  excite- 
ment, and  the  voice  which  in  the  morning  of  life 
shall  awaken  a  large  and  patriotic  sympathy,  will 
be  echoed  back  by  a  community  vastly  swelled  in 
its  proportions  before  that  voice  shall  be  hushed 
in  death." 

When  he  arrived  in  Chicago,  the  young  law- 
yer had  no  acquaintance,  no  influential  friends  to 
push  his  claims  to  attention,  and  no  capital  save 
individual  ability  and  merit,  which  won  him  rec- 
ognition. During  his  first  year's  residence  in 
Chicago,  he  compiled,  with  the  aid  of  his  devoted 
wife,  '  'A  Digest  of  the  Illinois  Reports, ' '  which 
was  soon  after  published  and  received  with  great 
favor  by  the  profession  throughout  the  State.  In 
1858  he  was  elected  City  Attorney  for  Chicago, 
and  distinguished  his  administration  of  that  re- 
sponsible office  by  the  energy  and  ability  with 
which  he  conducted  the  legal  business  of  the  city. 
He  became  an  expert  upon  all  subjects  of  mu- 
nicipal corporation  law,  and  was  for  several  years 
specially  retained  by  the  city  authorities  to  con- 
duct many  important  cases  in  the  local  courts,  in 


the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  in  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  at  Washington.  While 
acting  for  the  city  he  established  several  new  and 
interesting  law  points,  among  which  was  that  the 
collection  of  special  assessments  could  not  be  en- 
joined by  a  Court  of  Chancery;  next,  that  the 
city  of  Chicago  could  not  be  garnisheed  to  collect 
the  salary  or  wages  of  any  of  its  officers  or  em- 
ployes; and  lastly,  that  no  execution  could  issue 
against  the  city  to  collect  a  judgment;  and  at  a 
later  period,  that  the  city  could  not  tie  up  its  leg- 
islative powers  by  making  contracts  with  the  gas 
companies  for  the  supply  of  gas,  so  as  to  interfere 
with  its  legislative  prerogatives.  These  positions 
were  at  the  time  so  novel  that  they  were  for  a 
time  gravely  doubted  by  the  most  eminent  mem- 
bers of  the  legal  profession,  and  many  of  the 
newspapers  subjected  him  to  the  severest  ridicule; 
but  he  was  upheld  by  the  highest  tribunal  in  the 
State  on  every  point,  and  they  are  now  fixed  and 
settled  as  the  law  of  the  State. 

In  1863  he  was  appointed  the  General  Attorney 
and  Solicitor  of  the  Galena  Union  Railroad  Com- 
pany and  all  its  branches,  then  the  leading  rail- 
road corporation  in  the  Northwest,  and  for  many 
years  held  that  position,  until,  in  fact,  the  con- 
solidation of  that  company  with  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railway  Company  was  effected.  A 
contest  arose  over  this  consolidation,  and  he  was 
shortly  after  retained  by  a  number  of  the  bond- 
holders and  non-consenting  stockholders  to  test 
the  validity  of  the  consolidation,  and  in  con- 
nection with  that  case  prepared  and  printed 
a  most  remarkable  argument  upon  the  law  of 
the  case,  which  grew  into  a  treatise,  which 
he  entitled,  '  'The  Law  Pertaining  to  the  Consoli- 
dation of  Railroads,"  which  is  unquestionably 
the  most  complete  and  exhaustive  treatise  upon 
that  subject  ever  made.  It  is  a  marvel  of  legal 
research  and  of  acute  reasoning,  and  is  a  most 
learned  and  clear  statement  of  the  rights  and 
duties  of  directors  of  corporations  and  the  rights 
of  minority  stockholders,  and  called  forth  the 
admiration  of  corporation  lawyers  throughout  the 
country.  The  late  Samuel  J.  Tilden  was  directly 
interested  in  the  questions  involved,  as  well  as 
many  of  the  leading  capitalists  and  railway  mag- 


ELLIOTT  ANTHONY. 


377 


nates  in  New  York,  and  the  array  of  legal  talent 
was  formidable,  the  late  Judge  Beckwith  leading 
the  opposition  to  Judge  Anthony.  The  case  was 
tried  in  chancery  before  Judge  David  Davis,  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  the  late 
Samuel  J.  Treat,  United  States  District  Judge  for 
the  Southern  District  of  this  State,  and  Mr.  An- 
thony's position  was  sustained  in  almost  every 
particular.  The  differences  of  stockholders  were 
shortly  settled  out  of  court,  however,  thus  avoid- 
ing a  legal  decision,  which  could  not  fail  to  favor 
Judge  Anthony's  clients.  At  this  time  Mr. 
Anthony  received  numerous  letters  from  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  lawyers  and  judges  in  this 
country,  complimenting  him  upon  his  masterly 
exposition  of  the  law.  Among  these  were  the  late 
Josiah  Quincy  and  Sidney  Bartlett,  of  Boston; 
Mr.  Justice  Swayne,  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court;  the  late  Thomas  A.  Ewing,  of  Ohio,  and 
many  others.  His  brief,  which  was  in  the  shape 
of  a  bound  volume  of  several  hundred  pages,  was 
in  great  demand  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, 
and  was  most  kindly  reviewed  by  several  of  the 
leading  legal  periodicals  and  journals  in  Great 
Britain. 

In  the  last  two  conventions  for  the  revision  of 
the  constitution  of  the  State,  in  1862  and  1870, 
Judge  Anthony  served  as  a  delegate.  In  the 
convention  of  1862,  Mr.  Anthony's  colleagues 
were  Henry  Muehlke,  Hon.  John  Wentworth,  and 
Melville  W.  Fuller,  now  Chief  Justice  of  the 
United  States.  In  both  conventions,  Mr.  An- 
thony took  a  leading  part,  being  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  expert  members  upon  constitutional 
law  and  methods  of  procedure.  In  the  conven- 
tion of  1870  he  served  on  the  Executive,  Judicial 
and  Railroad  Committees,  reporting  many  of  the 
provisions  of  the  present  constitution  relating  to 
those  matters.  He  was  instrumental  in  provid- 
ing for  Appellate  Courts  and  additional  judges  in 
Cook  County,  when  the  public  business  required 
it.  Whenever  he  spoke  in  the  convention,  he 
commanded  attention,  and  always  spoke  to  the 
point,  clearly  and  forcibly. 

Judge  Anthony  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Republican  party  in  Illinois,  and  was  a  delegate 
to  the  first  convention  of  that  party  in  Cook 


County.  He  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  third- 
term  movement  in  z88o,  and  was  a  delegate  in 
the  National  Convention  which  nominated  Gen. 
Garfield  for  President.  In  the  fall  of  that  year 
he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  and  re-elected  six  years  later, 
filling  the  position  twelve  years  with  dignity,  im- 
partiality and  expedition  of  public  business.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  Chicago  Law  Institute, 
having  drawn  the  charter  and  visited  Springfield 
twice  at  his  own  expense  to  secure  its  passage 
by  the  Legislature,  and  was  three  times  made 
President  of  the  Institute.  He  has  been  an  ex- 
tensive traveler,  both  in  his  native  country  and 
over  Europe,  and  the  reviews  and  periodicals  of 
this  country  have  been  often  enriched  by  his  ob- 
servations. His  ripe  scholarship  and  keen  obser- 
vation conspire  to  make  his  utterances  and  writ- 
ings valuable  to  his  fellows. 

Judge  Anthony  is  a  rapid  thinker,  and  grasps 
a  point  with  a  celerity  which  contributed  no  little 
to  his  advancement  in  the  profession  which  he 
adorns.  He  writes  with  facility,  and  his  contri- 
butions to  legal  periodicals  are  numerous  and 
able.  They  cover  almost  every  legal  topic,  and 
are  authorities  wherever  found.  His  descriptions 
of  Russian  and  British  courts  and  methods  of 
procedure  are  likely  to  prove  interesting  to  one 
not  particularly  versed  in  law,  and  are  of  especial 
value  to  the  profession.  He  also  gives  much 
thought  and  study  to  historical  and  philosophical 
topics,  on  which  he  has  written  much.  His 
treatise  on  the  "Law  of  Self- Defense"  should  be 
read  and  carefully  considered  by  every  citizen. 

Judge  Anthony  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Chicago  Public  Library,  and  was  a  member  of 
its  first  Board  of  Directors.  He  has  been  es- 
pecially active  in  the  effort  to  preserve  the  mem- 
ory of  the  pioneers,  whose  number  is  now  very 
small.  When  all  have  passed  away,  who  shall 
commemorate  their  virtues?  "Let  the  record  be 
made  of  the  men  and  things  of  to-day,  lest  they 
pass  out  of  memory  to-morrow  and  are  lost. ' '  At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Bar  Association 
in  1892,  he  read  a  very  interesting  paper,  entitled 
"Remember  the  Pioneers,"  which  is  replete  with 
interesting  reminiscences.  At  the  meeting  of  the 


378 


F.  C.  HAGEMAN. 


association  in  1893,  Judge  Anthony  was  elected 
President,  an  honor  most  worthily  bestowed.  In 
1889  the  Judge  received  from  his  alma  mater  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  to  which  his  merit  had 
long  entitled  him. 

On  the  i4th  of  July,  1852,  Elliott  Anthony 
married  Miss  Mary  Dwight,  a  sister  of  his  law  pre- 
ceptor, and  grand-daughter  of  President  Dwight, 
the  well-known  head  of  Yale  College.  A  daugh- 
ter (now  deceased)  and  three  sons  have  been  given 
him,  two  of  whom  are  associated  with  him  in 
the  practice  of  law  in  Chicago. 

During  his  busy  life,  into  which  has  been 
crowded  an  immense  amount  of  labor  in  the  in- 
terest of  his  fellow-men,  Judge  Anthony  has  ever 
kept  in  sight  the  wish  to  accomplish  something 
worthy  of  emulation  and  commemoration,  as 
evidenced  in  his  remarks  upon  the  virtues  and 


works  of  a  co-laborer  and  brother  judge,  with 
which  this  notice  may  be  fittingly  closed.  He 
said:  "May  our  successors  in  the  profession  look 
back  upon  our  times,  not  without  some  kind  re- 
grets and  some  tender  recollections.  May  they 
cherish  our  memory  with  that  gentle  reverence 
which  belongs  to  those  who  have  labored  ear- 
nestly, though  it  may  be  humbly,  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  law.  May  they  catch  a  holy 
enthusiasm  from  the  review  of  our  attainments 
however  limited  they  may  be,  which  shall  make 
them  aspire  after  the  loftiest  possessions  of  human 
learning.  And  thus  may  they  be  enabled  to  ad- 
vance our  jurisprudence  to  that  degree  of  perfec- 
tion which  shall  make  it  a  blessing  and  protection 
to  our  own  country,  and  excite  the  just  admiration 
of  mankind." 


DR.  FREDERICK  CHARLES  HAGEMAN. 


0R.  FREDERICK  CHARLES  HAGEMAN, 
one  of  the  most  useful  and  influential  citizens 
of  DuPage  County,  and  a  former  prominent 
citizen  of  Chicago,  was  a  son  of  Dr.  Christoph 
Hageman,  and  was  born  at  Minden,  Prussia,  on 
the  26th  of  November,  1817.  His  mother  died 
when  he  was  a  mere  child,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen he  set  out  for  America.  His  first  employ- 
ment was  on  the  Great  Lakes  as  a  sailor,  and  he 
settled  in  Chicago  in  the  fall  of  1843.  His  father 
came  to  join  him,  and  was  one  of  three  persons 
who  escaped  from  a  burning  steamer  on  Lake 
Erie,  the  brother  and  step-mother  of  our  subject 
being  lost  in  that  disaster.  The  first  regular 
graduating  class  of  five  from  Rush  Medical  Col- 
lege, Chicago,  in  1847,  included  Frederick  C. 
Hageman.  In  connection  with  his  practice,  he 
opened  a  drug  store  on  South  Water  Street,  Chi- 
cago, removing  later  to  North  Clark  Street,  and 


thence  to  Indiana  Street,  where  he  built  the  first 
brick  structure  on  the  North  Side.  Here  he 
served  as  Alderman,  and  was  at  one  time  City 
Physician. 

In  the  spring  of  1852,  Dr.  Hageman  moved  to 
Winfield,  DuPage  County,  and  invested  in  farm 
lands,  becoming  in  time  an  extensive  owner.  He 
lived  there  for  a  few  years,  but  spent  most  of  his 
remaining  years  in  Wheaton,  and  was  a  very  suc- 
cessful physician.  He  was  elected  Coroner  during 
the  first  years  after  coming  here,  and  filled  that 
position  several  terms,  being  the  incumbent  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  3d 
of  September,  1869. 

Dr.  Hageman  was  an  active  and  public-spirited 
citizen,  and  did  much  to  promote  the  prosperity 
of  the  community.  He  was  active  in  securing 
the  county  seat  at  Wheaton,  which  involved  the 
construction  of  a  court  house  as  a  gift  to  the 


BRAMAN  LOVELESS. 


375 


county.  He  was  reared  in  the  Lutheran  faith, 
but  espoused  Universalism,  and  was  an  ardent 
Democrat  in  political  contests,  and  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order.  He  made  many  addresses  in  sup- 
port of  the  war  for  the  Union  through  Kane,  Du- 
Page  and  other  counties,  and  materially  aided  in 
raising  the  Eighth  and  Twelfth  Illinois  Cavalry 
regiments,  and  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  In- 
fantry. He  went  out  as  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-first  Infantry,  which 
served  a  short  time  in  garrison  duty.  He  was  a 
supporter  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  his  second  cau- 
didacy  for  President. 

At  Buffalo,  in  June,  1843,  our  subject  married 
Miss  Margaret  Snyder,  a  native  of  Elsass,  Ger- 
many, who  came  to  America  when  seven  years 
old  with  her  parents,  George  and  Anna  Mary 
(Gearhardt)  Snyder.  George  Snyder  was  a  tal- 
ented architect,  but  understanding  no  English, 
he  was  obliged  to  accept  any  employment  that 
offered  when  he  arrived  at  Buffalo.  While  em- 


ployed as  a  hodcarrier  in  the  repair  of  a  church, 
he  noticed  that  the  builders  had  great  difficulty  in 
following  the  plans.  He  essayed  to  explain,  and 
showed  such  interest  and  knowledge  that  an  in- 
terpreter was  obtained,  through  whom  he  so  in- 
telligently directed  the  work  that  he  was  placed 
in  charge,  and  from  that  time  had  no  lack  of  em- 
ployment in  his  profession.  Mrs.  Hageman  was 
born  April  21,  1821,  and  died  November  19, 
1887.  She  was  a  woman  of  much  intelligence 
and  ability,  and  conducted  her  husband's  estate 
with  greater  skill  than  had  marked  his  own  man- 
agement of  it  during  his  life. 

Of  the  six  children  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hageman, 
the  first  died  in  infancy.  Dr.  Frederick  Christian 
Hageman,  of  Chicago,  is  the  second.  Mary 
(Mrs.  Henry  Grote),  George  W.  and  Franklin 
Julius  are  residents  of  Wheaton.  Louis  B.  died 
at  Wheaton  February  8,  1892,  aged  thirty-four 
years. 


BRAMAN  LOVELESS. 


BRAMAN  LOVELESS,  eldest  son  and  third 
child  of  Ariel  C.  Loveless,  is  among  the  suc- 
cessful business  men  of  DuPage  County  and 
Chicago,  and  prominent  in  charitable  and  Chris- 
tian work.  He  was  born  May  27,  1839,  in  Had- 
ley,  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y.  He  was  fifteen 
years  old  when  the  family  came  West,  and  re- 
mained on  the  farm  with  his  father  until  Febru- 
ary, 1859,  when  he  started  for  Pike's  Peak,  to 
engage  in  mining,  that  "El  Dorado"  having  just 
been  discovered.  Proceeding  by  rail  to  a  point 
forty  miles  west  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  then  the 
terminus  of  the  railway,  he  traveled  overland, 
much  of  the  way  on  foot,  to  Omaha,  where  he 
joined  a  wagon  train.  On  reaching  the  moun- 


tains, he  was  stricken  with  mountain  fever,  and 
was  obliged  to  return  home.  He  again  took  up 
farming  with  his  father  until  the  spring  of  1861. 
He  had  just  rented  a  farm  and  prepared  to  en- 
gage in  business  on  his  own  account,  when  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion  broke  out.  Stirred  by  pa- 
triotic impulses,  he  at  once  offered  his  services 
in  defense  of  the  Union,  and  was  enrolled  as  a 
member  of  Company  A,  Thirty -sixth  Illinois  In- 
fantry, on  the  8th  of  August.  Although  a  mem- 
ber of  the  regimental  band,  Mr.  Loveless  carried 
a  musket  through  part  of  his  service,  taking  part 
in  some  fierce  engagements.  The  regiment  was 
stationed  at  first  at  Rolla,  Mo. ,  whence  it  marched 
in  dead  of  winter  to  Pea  Ridge,  Ark.,  taking 


BRAMAN  LOVELESS. 


part  in  the  battle  at  that  point  under  Gen.  Sigel. 
On  the  way  to  Pittsburgh  Landing,  it  marched 
six  hundred  miles  to  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo. ,  where 
transportation  was  taken  by  boat.  Arriving  at 
Pittsburgh  Landing,  after  the  famous  battle,  it 
proceeded  southward,  at  one  time  marching  eigh- 
teen miles  in  the  night  to  aid  in  investing  Cor- 
inth, Miss.  From  there  it  proceeded  to  Cincin- 
nati, to  join  Gen.  Lew  Wallace,  but  was  soon 
transferred  to  Louisville,  where  it  became  a  part 
of  the  Second  Division  of  the  Fourth  Army  Corps, 
under  Gen.  Sheridan.  From  this  time  the  regi- 
ment participated  in  many  severe  battles,  among 
which  were  Perryville,  Stone  River,  Peach  Tree 
Creek,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Dallas,  New  Hope 
Church,  Atlanta  and  Jonesboro.  The  history  of 
this  campaign  is  one  of  almost  continual  fighting, 
and  Mr.  Loveless  witnessed  many  scenes  of  cruel 
carnage.  He  was  mustered  out  September  23, 
1864,  having  more  than  served  out  his  three- 
years  term  of  enlistment,  and  without  ever  receiv- 
ing a  reprimand. 

From  1865  to  1872  Mr.  Loveless  followed  farm- 
ing near  Elgin,  in  Kane  County.  In  May,  1872, 
he  went  to  Chicago  and  engaged  for  seven  years 
in  the  grain,  feed  and  coal  trade.  Since  selling 
out  this  business,  he  has  engaged  in  the  hotel  and 
real-estate  business  with  marked  success.  In 
August,  1882,  he  purchased  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  land  at  Turner,  and  five  years 
later  added  forty  acres  to  this.  The  entire  tract 
was  platted  as  an  addition  to  the  village  of  Turner 
in  1893,  and  is  known  as  Montvievv.  Many  lots 
have  already  been  sold,  and  this  investment  is 
among  the  best  made  by  a  man  known  for  fore- 
sight and  shrewdness  in  business.  Like  many 
other  investments  in  the  neighborhood  of  Chi- 
cago, this  has  proven  a  popular  site,  and  is  vindi- 
cating the  sagacity  of  its  projector. 

Mr.  Loveless  experienced  religion  in  January, 
1860,  and  united  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  In  1883  he  began  to  extend  the  revival 
work  which  he  had  been  doing  in  a  quiet  way 
for  many  years,  and  became  a  powerful  and  much- 
sought  aid  in  evangelistic  work.  Until  failing 
strength,  in  1889,  compelled  him  to  resign  this 
work,  he  gave  his  entire  attention  to  it  and  la- 


bored in  many  Western  States,  chiefly  in  Iowa, 
Illinois  and  California.  In  this  he  was  ably  as- 
sisted by  his  wife,  a  lady  of  strong  faith  and 
spirit.  In  reviewing  his  work,  the  Cedar  Rapids 
(Iowa)  Republican  said :  '  'Though  his  address  had 
no  peculiar  charm,  and  his  work  seemed  devoid 
of  the  personal  magnetism  which  characterizes 
the  influence  of  many  public  speakers,  his  earnest- 
ness and  sincerity  carried  great  power. ' '  He  still 
continues,  as  for  many  years  past,  to  do  mission 
work  in  Chicago,  and  is  an  active  temperance 
worker,  both  by  precept  and  example.  In  1888 
he  was  the  Prohibition  candidate  for  Senator  from 
the  Fourteenth  Illinois  District,  and  has  been 
three  years  President  of  the  County  Committee  of 
that  party,  and  four  years  President  of  the  Whea- 
ton  Prohibition  Club.  From  Lincoln  to  Garfield 
he  was  a  Republican,  and  is  ready  to  again  affili- 
ate with  the  Republican  party  when  it  consents 
to  espouse  the  Prohibition  issue. 

October  17,  1860,  Mr.  Loveless  married  Miss 
Mary  Tweddale,  a  native  of  New  York  City,  a 
daughter  of  Garlius  and  Elizabeth  Tweddale,  na- 
tives of  Whithorn,  an  island  in  the  south  of  Scot- 
land. Mrs.  Loveless  was  a  teacher  before  her 
marriage.  She  died  in  1865,  leaving  a  son,  Frank 
Ariel,  now  a  resident  of  Chicago.  On  the  3d  of 
April,  1866,  Mr.  Loveless  was  again  married,  the 
bride  being  Miss  Huldah  Elizabeth  Holden,  who 
was  born  in  Stockholm,  St.  Lawrence  County, 
N.  Y.  Her  parents,  John  and  Mary  A.  (Clark) 
Holden,  were  natives,  respectively,  of  England 
and  Gilsuni,  N.  H.,  the  latter  being  descended 
from  an  old  New  England  family,  dating  from 
the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  Three  children  have 
blessed  the  second  union  of  Mr.  Loveless,  namely : 
Braman  H.,  Benjamin  E.  and  Gertrude.  The 
second  died  February  5,  1893,  and  the  first  is 
practicing  law  in  Chicago  and  residing  in  Whea- 
ton.  Mrs.  Loveless  taught  the  first  colored  school 
in  the  North,  at  Elgin,  and  continued  in  the 
work  three  years.  She  is  active  in  temperance 
work,  and  is  an  officer  in  control  of  several  char- 
itable and  philanthropic  undertakings  in  Chicago, 
independent  of  her  husband's  work,  for  the  suc- 
cess of  which  he  gives  her  large  credit. 


W.  A.  SPALDING. 


WILLIAM  A.  SPALDING. 


fSGjILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  SPALDING,  who 
\  A I  ^or  forty  years  lived  a  quiet  and  happy  life 
Y  Y  in  Chicago,  deserves  more  than  a  passing 
notice  on  account  of  his  manly,  upright  character 
and  the  appreciation  in  which  he  was  held  by 
those  privileged  to  enjoy  his  acquaintance  and 
friendship.  He  was  born  at  Onondaga  Hill,  four 
miles  from  the  city  of  Syracuse,  New  York, 
August  17,  1815,  and  was  the  eighth  child  in  the 
family  of  Coit  Spalding.  The  latter  was  born 
May  10,  1772,  and  married  Rhoda  Cobb  on  the 
8th  of  May,  1799.  Of  their  family  of  eight  sons 
and  three  daughters,  none  are  now  living.  The 
mother  died  December  6,  1857,  and  the  father 
May  22,  1859. 

The  town  and  family  of  Spalding  are  known  to 
have  existed  in  the  southern  part  of  Lincolnshire, 
England,  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  about  1632 
Edward  Spalding  left  that  place  and  settled  in 
Braintree,  in  the  new  colony  of  Massachusetts. 
From  the  latter  are  descended  nearly  all  bearing 
the  name  in  the  United  States,  many  of  whom 
have  been  distinguished  as  soldiers,  ecclesiastics, 
jurists,  legislators,  manufacturers  and  business 
men.  They  were  active  in  subduing  the  wilder- 
ness and  in  establishing  the  church,  school  and 
factory  in  New  England.  Many  served  in  King 
Philip's  War,  several  distinguished  themselves  at 
the  heroic  defense  of  Fort  Groton,  Connecticut, 
and  fifty-two  participated  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  nine  of  whom  were  active  in  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  where  one  fell  from  the  back  of  his 
disabled  horse. 


During  the  period  of  Mr.  Spalding' s  boyhood, 
Syracuse  was  not  the  commercial  center  it  now  is, 
and  the  community  was  wholly  rural  in  its  char- 
acter. He  enjoyed  the  limited  advantages  of  so- 
ciety and  school  which  the  time  and  region 
afforded  in  early  boyhood,  but  was  thrown  upon 
his  own  resources  while  yet  a  mere  }'outh.  He 
was  fond  of  outdoor  life,  and  took  employment 
as  a  railroad  man,  running  west  from  Buffalo. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-five  years  he  had  become  a 
conductor  on  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad, 
running  between  Detroit  and  Chicago.  His 
promptness,  faithfulness  and  integrity  are  shown 
by  the  fact  that  he  remained  in  that  employ  until 
his  removal  to  Chicago,  in  1852,  to  take  charge 
of  the  union  station,  operated  by  the  Michigan 
Central  and  Illinois  Central  Railways.  This  oc- 
cupation further  illustrated  his  capacity  and  the 
confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  officers  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Railroad  Company.  Up  to  the 
time  of  his  death  he  filled  this  responsible  posi- 
tion, enjoying  the  respect  of  all  who  were  brought 
in  contact  with  him.  His  home  on  Michigan 
Avenue  was  the  scene  of  quiet  comfort,  and  he 
was  always  a  valued  member  of  a  small  circle  of 
congenial  friends.  He  loved  to  select  his  com- 
panions, was  always  true  in  all  the  relations  of 
life,  and  was  most  appreciated  by  those  who  knew 
him  best.  He  was  loath  to  talk  of  himself,  con- 
sequently it  is  now  difficult  to  learn  much  of  his 
early  life.  That  he  was  somewhat  adventurous 
in  youth  is  indicated  by  his  relation  of  his  expe- 
riences while  on  a  voyage  to  Newfoundland, 


382 


JOSEPH  KIPLEY. 


during  which  the  boat  on  which  he  was  a  passen- 
ger was  violently  tossed  about  by  the  waves  in  a 
storm,  and  he  was  in  imminent  danger  of  losing 
his  life.  He  was  very  fond  of  horses,  and  one  of 
his  first  purchases  after  he  began  to  earn  money, 
was  a  driving  horse.  He  believed  in  extracting 
the  most  that  was  possible  from  life,  and  sought 
to  make  those  around  him  cheerful  and  contented 
in  mind,  as  he  always  was.  He  suffered  from 
gradual  paralysis  during  the  last  five  years  of  his 
life,  without  murmuring,  and  passed  away  at  his 
home,  April  16,  1892,  his  remains  being  depos- 
ited at  Rose  Hill  two  days  later.  It  is  said  that 
he  never  had  an  enemy  in  the  world.  He  was  a 
member  of  Trinity  Protestant  Episcopal  Church; 
was  a  high  degree  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, a  life-long  Democrat  in  political  affiliations, 
as  was  his  father  before  him.  He  was  named  after 
William  Augustus  Ellis,  who  was  a  nephew  of 


his  father,  and  also  a  prominent  early-day  Demo- 
crat. 

April  18,  1852,  Mr.  Spalding  married  Miss 
Jane  Ann,  daughter  of  William  Augustus  Ellis 
and  Prudence  Horton,  his  wife.  The  Ellis  fam- 
ily, like  the  Spaldings,  was  early  planted  in  New 
England.  The  parents  of  William  A.  Ellis  were 
Warren  Ellis,  born  February  26,  1766,  and 
Nancy  Spalding,  born  February  2,  1774.  They 
were  married  January  17,  1793,  and  had  five  sons 
and  three  daughters,  William  A.  being  the  eldest 
son  and  second  child,  born  January  17,  1796,  and 
died  July  27,  1832.  He  had  two  sons  and  a 
daughter,  Mrs.  Spalding  being  the  only  survivor 
at  this  time.  Warren  Ellis  died  August  10, 
1813.  The  adopted  daughter  of  William  A.  and 
Jane  A.  Spalding  is  now  the  wife  of  Ferdinand 
W.  Peck,  of  Chicago  (whose  biography  will  be 
found  elsewhere  in  this  work) . 


JOSEPH  KIPLEY. 


(JOSEPH  KIPLEY  is  Assistant  Chief  of  Police 
I  of  Chicago.  He  has  reached  this  responsible 
(•/  and  important  position  through  meritorious 
conduct,  which  has  won  for  him  promotion  from 
rank  to  rank,  until  he  is  now  almost  at  the  head 
of  the  police  department  of  the  second  city  of  the 
Union.  The  record  of  his  life  is  as  follows:  He 
was  born  in  Paterson,  N.  J. ,  in  1848,  and  is  a  son  of 
Charles  and  Catherine  (Waller)  Kipley.  The 
family  is  of  German  origin.  The  parents  of  our 
subject  were  both  born  in  Baden-Baden,  Germany, 
and  there  continued  to  reside  until  1845,  when 
they  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America,  and  located 
in  New  Jersey.  The  father  is  a  carpenter  by 
trade,  and  has  made  that  pursuit  his  life  work. 
Both  parents  are  still  living  in  Chicago,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-seven  years. 

No  event  of  special  importance  occurred  during 
the  boyhood  and  youth  of  Joseph  Kipley,  who 


was  reared  in  his  parents'  home,  and  acquired 
his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
State.  He  thus  obtained  a  good  knowledge  of 
the  English  branches,  and  has  since  been  a  close 
student  of  the  topics  of  the  time  and  of  current 
events.  When  his  school  life  was  ended,  he  came 
westward,  locating  in  Chicago,  and  entered  the 
employ  of  R.  B.  Appleby,  a  picture  dealer  of  this 
city,  with  whom  he  continued  until  he  entered 
upon  the  work  which  led  to  his  present  position. 
It  was  on  the  22d  of  January,  1872,  that  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  police  force,  serving  as  a 
patrolman.  From  that  position  he  has  risen  suc- 
cessively, step  by  step,  to  a  position  of  prominence. 
When  he  joined  the  force  it  consisted  of  only  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  he  has  made  his  way 
without  any  political  influence. 

In  1872   Mr.    Kipley  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Winnefred  Wheeler. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
DIVERSITY  OF  ILLIN 


SAMUEL  E.  GROSvS 


S.  E.  GROSS. 


383 


SAMUEL  EBERLY  GROSS. 


(pAMUEL  E.  GROSS  is  one  of  Chicago's  best 
2\  known  business  men,  and  especially  in  real- 
ty estate  circles  has  he  a  wide  acquaintance. 
He  has  long  been  active  in  promoting  the  growth 
and  advancement  of  the  city,  not  merely  for  his 
own  interest,  but  largely  for  the  benefit  of  the 
community  as  well.  He  was  born  on  the  Old 
Mansion  Farm  in  Dauphin  County,  Pennsylva- 
nia, November  n,  1843.  He  is  descended  from 
Huguenot  ancestry,  and  reliable  information 
shows  that  the  family  lived  in  America  in  1 726, 
at  which  time  Joseph  Gross  was  the  owner  of 
property  in  Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania. 
His  grandson,  who  was  the  great-grandfather  of 
our  subject,  valiantly  aided  the  colonies  in  their 
struggle  for  independence  and  became  a  captain 
in  the  service,  his  commission,  dated  November 
25,  1776,  being  signed  by  John  Hancock,  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania.  When  the  war  was  over 
he  went  to  Dauphin  County,  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  owned  extensive  farm  and  milling  interests. 
His  wife,  who  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Sahler, 
was  of  Holland  descent  on  the  paternal  side,  and 
of  Huguenot  on  the  maternal,  coming  from  the 
'Du  Bois  family,  which  was  prominent  in  Kings- 
ton, New  York,  as  early  as  1649.  The  mother 
of  Mr.  Gross  was  in  her  maidenhood  Elizabeth 
Eberly.  She  came  of  a  family  of  German  origin, 
whose  representatives  have  been  prominent  in 
various  professional  walks  in  life. 

The  American  people  are  coming  iO  recognize 
more  fully  every  day  the  fact  that  good  blood  tells. 
The  most  prominent  characteristics  of  Mr.  Gross 
are  inherited  from  ancestors  who  were  active  in 
war  and  in  the  same  lines  of  business  as  himself. 
His  genealogy  is  traced  as  follows:  Seigneur 
Jean  de  Gros,  Master  of  the  Chamber  of  the 
Count  of  Dijon,  (died  1456),  married  Peronette 
le  Roye;  their  eldest  son,  Jean,  of  Dijon,  Secre- 


tary to  Due  de  Bourgogne,  married  Philiberte  de 
Sourlam;  their  son,  Ferry,  of  Dijon,  in  1521, 
married  Phillipolte  Wielandt;  their  son,  Jean,  of 
Dijon,  (died  1548),  married  Catharine  lyaurym; 
their  son,  Jean,  of  Dijon,  in  1599,  married  Jacque- 
line de  Berneincourt;  their  son,  Jean,  of  Dijon, 
in  1620,  married  Leonore  de  Briard;  their  son, 
Jacob,  married  Marie  Debar,  and  removed  from 
France  at  the  time  of  the  persecution  of  the  Hugue- 
nots to  the  Palatinate,  Germany,  and  later  re- 
moved to  Mannheim  on  the  Rhine.  Their  son, 
Johann,  of  Mannheim,  in  1665,  married  Miss 
Neihart;  their  son,  Johann  Christopher,  of  Mann- 
heim, in  1703,  married  Elizabeth  Metger;  and 
their  son,  Joseph,  in  1719,  accompanied  theMen- 
nonites  from  the  Palatinate  to  America,  residing 
for  some  time  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and 
removing  afterward  to  Pennsylvania.  He  mar- 
ried Catherina  ,  owned  property  in 

the  neighborhood  of  the  Trappe,  Montgomery 
County,  Pennsylvania,  previous  to  1726,  and  land 
in  Philadelphia  County  in  1728,  and  died  in  1753; 
their  son,  John,  of  Montgomery  County,  married 
Clara—  — ,  and  died  in  1788;  their  son, 

John,  born  in  1749,  was  a  Captain  in  the  War  of 
the  Revolution.  In  1778  he  married  Rachel  Sah- 
ler, and  died  in  1823;  their  son,  Christian,  born 
in  1788,  of  Dauphin  County,  Pennsylvania,  mar- 
ried Ann  Custer,  of  Montgomery  County,  and 
died  in  1843;  their  son,  John  C.,  in  1843,  married 
Elizabeth  Eberly,  of  Cumberland  County,  Penn- 
sylvania; and  their  eldest  son,  Samuel  E.,  is 
the  subject  of  this  biography. 

Through  his  great-grandmother,  Rachel  Sah- 
ler, wife  of  Capt.  John  Gross  of  Revolutionary 
fame,  Samuel  E.  Gross  is  directly  descended  from 
Matthew  Blanshan,  Louis  Dubois  and  Christian 
Deyo,  Huguenots  of  France,  who,  like  Jacob  de 
Gros,  at  the  time  of  the  persecution,  removed  to 


S.  E.  GROSS. 


the  Palatinate  in  Germany,  and  thence  emigrated 
to  America  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Matthew  Blanshan  and  his  family  were  the 
first  of  the  refugees  to  try  their  fate  in  the  New 
World,  sailing  from  the  Palatinate  April  27,  1660. 
Louis  Dubois  and  Christian  Deyo  soon  followed, 
and  were  two  of  the  twelve  patentees  who,  in 
1677,  obtained  title  to  all  the  lands  in  Eastern 
New  York  State  lying  between  the  Shawangunk 
Mountains  and  the  Hudson  River,  and  were  in- 
strumental in  founding  New  Paltz  and  Kingston 
in  Ulster  County. 

Rachel  Sahler  was  the  daughter  of  Abraham 
Sahler  and  Elizabeth  Dubois.  Her  mother,  Eliza- 
beth Dubois,  was  the  daughter  of  cousins,  Isaac 
Dubois  and  Rachel  Dubois.  Isaac  Dubois,  her 
father,  was  the  son  of  Solomon  Dubois,  and  her 
mother,  Rachel  Dubois,  was  the  daughter  of  Sol- 
omon Dubois'  eldest  brother,  Abraham.  The 
mother  of  Rachel  Dubois  was  Margaret  Deyo, 
daughter  of  Christian  Deyo,  the  patentee.  Abra- 
ham Dubois,  Rachel's  father,  and  Solomon  Du- 
bois, her  husband's  father,  were  both  sons  of 
Louis  Dubois,  the  patentee  and  founder  of  New 
Paltz,  and  his  wife,  Catherine  Blanshan,  daugh- 
ter of  Matthew  Blanshan,  the  first  of  these  Hugue- 
not arrivals. 

In  1846,  Mr.  Gross  came  with  his  parents  to 
Illinois,  and  after  residing  for  a  time  in  Bureau 
County  removed  to  Carroll  County.  His  early  ed- 
ucation was  acquired  in  the  district  schools,  and 
he  afterwards  attended  Mt.  Carroll  Seminary. 
Prompted  by  patriotic  impulses,  he  enlisted  in  his 
country's  service  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  late 
war,  although  only  seventeen  years  of  age.  He 
joined  the  Forty-first  Illinois  Infantry,  and  took 
part  in  the  Missouri  campaign,  but  was  then  mus- 
tered out  by  reason  of  the  strong  objections  made 
by  his  parents  to  his  sendee,  on  account  of  his 
youth.  He  spent  the  following  year  as  a  student 
in  Whitehall  Academy,  Cumberland  County, 
Pennsylvania,  but  in  June,  1863,  he  again  left 
school,  for  the  Confederates  had  invaded  the  Key- 
stone State  and  he  could  no  longer  remain  quiet- 
ly at  his  books.  On  the  2gth  of  June  he  was  made 
First  Lieutenant  of  Company  D,  Twentieth  Penn- 
sylvania Cavalry,  being  one  of  the  youngest  offi- 


cers of  that  rank  in  the  army.  His  faithful  and 
valiant  service  won  him  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
Captain  of  Company  K,  February  17,  1864.  He 
participated  in  many  of  the  important  battles  of 
the  eastern  campaign,  and  when  the  war  was 
over  was  mustered  out  at  Cloud  Mills,  Virginia, 
July  13,  1865. 

At  this  time  Chicago  was  becoming  a  city  of 
prominence  and  gave  rich  promise  for  a  brilliant 
future.  Attracted  by  its  prospects,  Mr.  Gross 
here  located  in  September,  1865,  and  entered  Un- 
ion Law  College.  The  following  year  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar,  entering  at  once  upon  practice. 
In  the  mean  time,  however,  he  had  invested  a 
small  capital  in  real  estate.  He  built  upon  his 
lots  in  1867,  and  as  his  undertakings  in  this  di- 
rection met  with  success,  he  gave  more  and  more 
attention  to  the  business.  He  was  instrumental 
in  the  establishment  of  the  park  and  boulevard 
system  in  the  winter  of  1869.  When  the  great 
fire  broke  out  in  1871,  and  Mr.  Gross  saw  that  his 
office  would  be  destroyed,  he  hastily  secured  his 
abstracts,  deeds  and  other  valuable  papers,  as 
many  as  he  could  get,  and,  putting  them  in  a  row- 
boat,  carried  them  to  a  tug.  When  the  flames 
had  completed  their  disastrous  work,  he  returned 
to  the  old  site  of  his  office  and  resumed  business. 
A  financial  depression  from  1873  until  1879  fol- 
lowed the  boom,  and  Mr.  Gross  gave  his  time  to 
the  study  of  politics,  science,  and  to  literary 
pursuits. 

On  the  revival  of  trade,  Mr.  Gross  determined 
to  devote  his  entire  time  to  real-estate  interests, 
and  to  the  southwest  of  the  city  founded  several 
suburbs.  In  1882,  to  the  north,  he  began  what 
has  now  become  Gross  Park.  In  1883,  he  began 
the  work  which  has  made  him  a  public  benefac- 
tor, that  of  building  homes  for  people  of  moderate 
means,  and  the  selling  the  same  to  them  on  time. 
Thus  many  a  family  has  secured  a  comfortable 
home,  where  otherwise  their  wages  would  have 
been  expended  in  rent,  and  in  the  end  they  would 
have  had  nothing  to  show  for  it.  Unimproved 
districts  under  his  transforming  hand  became  pop- 
ulated and  flourishing  neighborhoods.  In  1886, 
Mr.  Gross  founded  the  town  of  Brookdale;  platted 
Calumet  Heights  and  Dauphin  Park  the  following 


CALVIN  DE  WOLF. 


385 


year,  and  platted  a  forty-acre  subdivision  on  Ash- 
land Avenue.  A  large  district  near  Humboldt 
Park  was  improved  by  him,  and  some  three  hun- 
dred houses  were  built  near  Archer  Avenue  and 
Thirty-ninth  Street.  The  beautiful  town  of  Gross- 
dale  has  been  one  of  his  most  successful  ventures. 
He  established  the  town  one  mile  west  of  River- 
side, and  beautiful  drives,  lovely  homes,  churches, 
a  theatre  and  fine  walks  make  this  one  of  Chica- 
go" s  best  suburbs.  He  has  also  recently  founded 
the  beautiful  town  of  Hollywood,  and  during  the 
last  twelve  years  he  has  founded  sixteen  thriving 
suburban  towns  and  cities.  His  fortune  is  esti- 
mated at  $3,000,000,  or  over,  and  although  his 
reputation  is  that  of  a  multi-millionaire  the  United 
Workingmen's  societies  showed  their  confidence 
in  him  by  nominating  him  to  the  mayoralty  in 
1889,  an  honor  which  from  press  of  private  busi- 
ness he  was  obliged  to  decline. 

Constantly  has  the  business  of  Mr.  Gross  in- 
creased, until  his  dealings  have  reached  the  mill- 
ions. He  buys  property  outright,  and  then  sells 
as  the  purchasers  feel  that  they  can  pay.  It  is 
said  that  he  has  never  foreclosed  a  mortgage,  and 
his  kindliness,  forbearance  and  generosity  have 
won  for  him  the  love  and  confidence  of  the  poorer 
people  and  the  high  regard  of  all. 

Mr.  Gross  was  married  in  January,   1874,  to 


Miss  Emily  Brown,  a  lady  of  English  descent. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Club,  the  Union 
Club,  the  Washington  Park,  the  Athletic,  Mar- 
quette  and  Iroquois  Clubs.  He  is  a  patron  of  the 
Art  Institute  and  the  Humane  Society,  and  his 
support  is  given  to  other  benevolent  organizations. 
He  holds  membership  with  the  Chicago  Union 
Veteran  Club;  U.  S.  Grant  Post  No.  28,  G.  A. 
R.;  the  Western  Society  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 

In  1886,  Mr.  Gross  made  a  trip  to  Europe, 
spending  four  months  in  visiting  the  leading  cit- 
ies and  points  of  interest  in  that  continent.  He 
also  made  investigations  concerning  city  develop- 
ment. In  1889,  he  traveled  through  Mexico  and 
the  cities  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  later  in  the 
year  attended  the  Paris  Exposition.  In  1892,  he 
went  to  Europe  once  more,  and  also  visited  the 
Orient.  In  manner,  Mr.  Gross  is  genial,  pleas- 
ant and  entertaining,  and  the  kindliness  of  his  face 
at  once  wins  him  friends.  Although  he  would 
not  be  called  a  professing  philanthropist,  his  life 
has  certainly  been  characterized  by  a  practical 
charity,  which  has  probably  proven  of  more  bene- 
fit than  the  acknowledged  philanthropic  work  of 
some  others.  His  success  in  business  seems  mar- 
velous, yet  it  is  but  the  result  of  industry,  enter- 
prise, and  careful  and  well-directed  management. 


CALVIN  DE  WOLF. 


EALVIN  DE  WOLF,  now  one  of  the  foremost 
citizens  of  Chicago,  is  an  example  of  the 
manner  in  which  men  rise  to  stations  of 
wealth  and  honor  through  sturdy  moral  integrity 
and  unceasing,  ambitious  toil.     His  story  is  that  of 
a  young  man  who  came  to  Chicago  with  nothing 
in  the  days  of  the  city's  infancy,  and  by  a  sustained 
effort  has  grown  with  the  city's  growth,  until  he 
is  numbered  among  the  representative  men  of  the 
'  'great  city  by  the  inland  sea. ' ' 


Calvin  De  Wolf  was  born  in  Braintrim,  Luzerne 
County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  i8th  of  February, 
1815,  and  was  one  of  the  family  of  fifteen  children 
of  Giles  M.  De  Wolf,  a  well-to-do  farmer.  His 
father  and  grandfather  were  born  inPomfret,  Con- 
necticut, and  his  more  remote  ancestors  were 
among  the  early  settlers  in  Lyme,  Connecticut, 
being  colonists  who  came  over  from  Holland,  to 
which  country  they  had  probably  been  driven  from 
France  (where  the  family  originated)  by  religious 


386 


CALVIN  DE  WOLF. 


persecution.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Anna  Spaulding,  was  born  in  Cavendish,  Ver- 
mont, and  was  a  descendant  of  Edward  Spaulding, 
who  settled  in  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts,  in 

1633- 

Soon  after  the  birth  of  Calvin  De  Wolf,  his  par- 
ents removed  to  his  mother's  native  place  and  re- 
mained there  until  he  was  five  years  of  age,  and 
then  returned  to  Braintrim,  Pennsylvania,  from 
whence,  four  years  later,  they  removed  to  the  ad- 
joining county  of  Bradford,  where  his  father  pur- 
chased a  farm  in  the  beech  woods  of  that  county. 
This  farm  was  covered  with  heavy  timber,  the 
clearing  of  which  was  a  task  of  a  different  kind 
and  of  much  greater  magnitude  than  falls  to  the 
lot  of  most  farmers  of  the  present  day.  Putting 
this  land  into  condition  to  be  sufficiently  produc- 
tive to  support  the  large  family  of  its  owner  fur- 
nished work  for  every  hand  for  years. 

Calvin  De  Wolf  was  the  eldest  of  his  father's 
sons  who  lived  beyond  the  infantile  period,  and 
converting  the  beech  forest  into  tillable  land  was 
a  task  in  which  he  was  required  to  practice,  and 
which,  with  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  required  all  his 
time  except  the  three  winter  months,  when  he  at- 
tended school  until  he  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  After  attaining  his  majority  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  obtain  an  education,  and,  under  the  in- 
struction of  his  father,  who  was  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  ability,  had  a  good  common-school 
education  and  was  well  versed  in  mathematics,  he 
obtained  a  good  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  algebra 
and  surveying.  He  was  also  assisted  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  elements  of  Latin  by  a  gentleman  of 
liberal  education  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood. 
When  he  had  progressed  to  this  point  in  educa- 
tion, he  left  home  and  entered  Grand  River  In- 
stitute, in  Ash  tabula  County,  Ohio,  in  1836.  That 
institution,  then  famous  throughout  eastern  Ohio 
and  western  Pennsylvania,  was  conducted  some- 
what on  the  plan  of  agricultural  colleges  of  the 
present  day,  in  that  students  who  desired  to  do  so 
could  partially  support  themselves  by  manual  la- 
bor and  pursue  a  course  of  study  at  the  same  time. 
For  a  year  and  a  half  young  De  Wolf  maintained 
himself  at  this  school  and  fitted  himself  for  teach- 
ing; he  also  presided  for  a  term  or  two  at  the  peda- 


gogue's desk.  At  all  times,  however,  when  op- 
portunity offered,  he  was  intent  on  study  and  made 
the  most  of  his  educational  opportunities. 

Then,  as  now,  the  West  was  looked  to  as  the 
land  of  opportunities  and  the  goal  of  the  ambition 
of  every  aspiring  young  man.  Calvin  De  Wolf, 
with  his  industrious  habits  and  ambitious  desires, 
was  not  content  to  spend  his  days  in  the  East,  but 
looked  westward  with  longing  eyes,  and  in  those 
days  the  West  was  not  so  far  away  as  now  and 
Chicago  was  ihcluded  in  the  term.  In  the  fall  of 
1837,  young  De  Wolf  arranged  with  a  trader  who 
was  making  a  shipment  of  fruit  by  boat  from  Ash- 
tabula  to  Chicago  to  pay  his  passage  between  the 
cities  by  assisting  to  load  and  unload  the  fruit  and 
take  charge  of  it  in  transit,  which  agreement  he 
faithfully  carried  out  and,  in  due  time,  found  him- 
self in  this  city,  then  covering  a  small  area  of  ter- 
ritory at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  and  hav- 
ing but  one  four-story  brick  building — the  old 
Lake  House,  then  the  pride  of  the  West.  The 
first  thing  the  young  man  had  to  do  was  to  look 
for  employment,  for  he  had  come  West  with  very 
little  money.  He  hoped  to  obtain  a  situation  as 
teacher  in  the  city  schools,  and  passed  the  required 
examination  for  license  to  teach,  but  his  hopes 
were  disappointed  and  he  had  to  seek  elsewhere, 
as  there  were  others  whose  claims  had  to  be  first 
considered.  Disappointed  but  not  cast  down,  he 
set  out  on  foot  across  the  prairie  to  seek  like  em- 
ployment in  some  other  locality.  After  traveling 
thirty-five  or  forty  miles,  he  at  last  arrived  at 
Hadley,  Will  County,  Illinois,  with  only  a  York 
shilling  in  his  pocket.  He  was  more  fortunate  in 
his  quest  there,  and  obtained  the  position  of  vil- 
lage schoolmaster,  teaching  during  the  winter  of 
1837-38,  and  returning  the  following  spring  to 
Chicago.  Here  he  again  made  application  for  em- 
ployment as  teacher,  and  was  successful.  While 
teaching  school  he  also  engaged  in  various  other 
occupations  which  were  calculated  to  improve  his 
financial  condition. 

In  1838,  Mr.  De  Wolf  began  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  Spring  &  Goodrich,  a  firm  com- 
posed of  Giles  Spring,  afterward  Judge  of  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  Chicago,  and  Grant  Goodrich,  for 
many  years  one  of  the  prominent  lawyers  of  the 


CALVIN  DE  WOLF. 


387 


city.  In  1843,  he  was  examined  and  admitted  to 
the  Bar  by  Judge  Richard  M.  Young,  and  The- 
ophilus  W.  Smith,  then  sitting  on  the  Supreme 
Bench,  and  immediately  after  began  practice  in 
this  city,  which  then  had  a  Bar  consisting  of  about 
thirty  lawyers,  a  large  number  of  whom  became 
prominent  as  jurists  in  later  years.  Up  to  1854, 
Mr.  De  Wolf  was  engaged  in  the  active  practice 
of  law.  He  was  then  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
an  office  which  at  that  time  and  place  was  a  highly 
important  and  responsible  one,  as  the  city  was  de- 
veloping rapidly  and  the  amount  of  business  in- 
cident to  its  growth  gave  rise  to  a  great  deal  of 
friction,  which  had  to  be  adjusted  in  the  tribunal  of 
law.  Mr.  De  Wolf  held  this  office  six  successive 
terms,  four  by  popular  election  and  two  by  ap- 
pointment. The  whole  period  covered  was  more 
than  twenty-five  years,  and  more  than  ninety 
thousand  cases  were  disposed  of  by  him,  a  far 
greater  number  than  any  other  judicial  officer  in 
this  State  had  ever  decided.  Preliminary  exam- 
inations in  many  important  cases  which  afterward 
became  celebrated  in  the  higher  courts  were  heard 
in  the  earlier  years  of  his  magistracy  by  Judge 
De  Wolf,  as  he  was  then  known  to  the  profession 
and  the  public. 

Judge  De  Wolf  had  been  taught  from  childhood 
to  hate  slavery,  and  as  early  as  1839  became  Sec- 
retary of  an  anti-slavery  society,  of  which  Rev. 
Flavel  Bascom,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was  the 
first  President,  and  Judge  Manierre,  Treasurer, 
and  of  which  many  of  the  prominent  business  and 
professional  men  of  the  city  were  earnest  and  ac- 
tive members.  In  1842,  the  Illinois  State  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  held  a  meeting  in  Chicago,  at 
which  an  organization  was  effected  to  raise  funds 
for  establishing  an  anti-slavery  newspaper  in  Chi- 
cago. Henry  L.  Fulton,  Charles  V.  Dyer,  Shu- 
bal  D.  Childs  and  Calvin  De  Wolf  were  appointed 
a  committee  to  collect  funds  and  set  the  enterprise 
on  foot,  Mr.  De  Wolf  being  made  Treasurer  of  the 
committee.  As  a  result  of  their  efforts,  the  West- 
em  Citizen  came  into  existence,  with  Z.  Eastman 
as  editor  and  publisher,  and  for  several  years  it 
was  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  Abolition 
newspapers  in  the  country.  It  was  in  1858,  that 
Mr.  De  Wolf,  in  connection  with  other  Abolition- 


ists of  Chicago,  brought  down  upon  himself  the 
wrath  of  a  disappointed  slave-hunter  and  his  sym- 
pathizers, who  sought  to  inflict  upon  him  condign 
punishment  for  facilitating  the  escape  of  a  liberty- 
seeking  black  woman. 

Stephen  F.  Nuckolls  was  a  southern  man  who 
had  carried  his  slaves  with  him  into  Nebraska. 
One  of  these  slaves,  a  young  negro  woman,  Eliza, 
made  her  escape,  and  by  some  means  or  other 
found  her  way  to  Chicago,  to  which  place  she  was 
followed  by  her  master,  Nuckolls,  who  came  near 
effecting  her  capture.  His  scheme  was  frustrated 
by  the  parties  who  appeared  before  Judge  De 
Wolf,  charging  him  with  riotous  conduct.  Under 
the  warrant  issued  from  the  magistrate's  court, 
the  slave-owner  was  arrested  and  locked  up  for 
a  few  hours,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  colored  wo- 
man made  her  escape  from  the  city.  Nuckolls 
carried  the  matter  to  the  United  States  Courts,  and 
succeeded  in  having  the  magistrate,  Mr.  De  Wolf, 
George  Anderson,  A.  D.  Hay  ward  and  C.  L. 
Jenks  indicted  for  "aiding  a  negro  slave  called 
Eliza  to  escape  from  her  master," -she  having 
been  '  'held  as  a  slave  in  Nebraska  and  escaped  to 
Illinois. ' '  This  involved  the  constitutional  ques- 
tions as  to  whether  or  not  slaves  could  be  held 
in  free  territory.  The  defendants  held  that  the 
negro  woman  was  not  lawfully  held  as  a  slave  in 
Nebraska,  and  moved  to  quash  the  indictment  on 
that  ground.  This  motion  was  never  passed  upon 
by  the  court,  but,  in  1861,  the  case  was  dismissed 
by  advice  of  the  Hon.  E.  C.  Larned,  United  States 
District  Attorney. 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  state  that  a  man  hold- 
ing the  radical  views  of  Calvin  De  Wolf  became 
identified  at  the  outset  of  its  existence  with  the 
Republican  party,  and  that  he  still  remains  in 
the  ranks  of  the  same  organization.  But  he  has 
never  been  an  active  politician.  He  served  two 
terms  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  ot 
Chicago,  and  from  1856  to  1858  served  as  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Revision  and  Publication 
of  Ordinances,  where  he  rendered  important  service 
to  the  city  in  codifying  and  putting  the  ordinances 
in  form  to  be  easily  referred  to,  to  be  generally  un- 
derstood and  easily  and  systematically  enforced. 
He  retired  from  the  position  of  Magistrate  in  1879, 


388 


C.  M.  FITCH. 


and  is  not  now  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law,  but 
devotes  his  time  mainly  to  the  management  of  his 
financial  affairs. 

Mr.  De  Wolf  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  is  now  one  of  the  Elders  of  the  Sixth 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago,  in  which  he  is 
an  influential  member,  and  in  the  work  of  which  he 
bears  a  prominent  part.  "Do  right"  is  a  motto 
which  he  has  made  the  rule  of  his  life.  In  the 
discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  public  official  he  was 


conscientious  and  upright;  as  a  lawyer,  watchful 
over  his  client's  interests  and  honorable  in  his 
dealings  with  both  court  and  client;  in  his  general 
business  dealings  he  has  been  a  man  of  his  word, 
upright  and  honest.  His  residence  in  Chicago 
from  pioneer  times  has  caused  him  to  be  well 
known,  and  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  land- 
marks of  a  generation  of  sagacious  business  men 
now  rapidly  passing  away. 


DR.  CALVIN  M.  FITCH. 


0R.  CALVIN  MAY  FITCH,  one  of  the  oldest 
physicians  now  in  active  practice  in  this  city, 
graduated  at  the  medical  department  of  the 
university  of  New  York  in  1852,  and  subse- 
quently studied  in  Europe.  He  came  to  Chicago 
in  1855,  and  is  therefore  in  the  fortieth  year  of 
his  practice  in  this  city.  Doctor  Fitch  was  born 
January  3,  1829,  in  Sheldon,  Franklin  County, 
Vermont.  His  grandfather,  Dr.  Chauncey  Fitch, 
married  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Sheldon,  for 
whom  the  town  of  Sheldon  was  named,  and  prac- 
ticed there  until  his  death.  Colonel  Sheldon  com- 
manded the  Connecticut  Cavalry  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  and  the  family  have  several  letters 
of  Washington's  still  in  their  possession.  Doctor 
Fitch's  father,  Rev.  John  Ashley  Fitch,  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman,  married  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Cal- 
vin May,  who  for  nearly  fifty  years  practiced 
medicine  in  St.  Armand,  Canada,  just  across  the 
Vermont  line.  Doctor  May  graduated  from  Yale 
about  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  he 
and  Dr.  Chauncey  Fitch  were  the  pioneer  physi- 
cians in  that  section,  and  although  eighteen  miles 
apart,  frequently  met  in  consultation. 

Doctor  Fitch  is  of  old  New  England  stock,  the 
sixth  in  descent  from  Rev.  James  Fitch,  who  came 
to  this  country  from  Bocking,  England,  in  1638. 
Maj,  James  Fitch,  son  of  Rev.  James  Fitch,  served 


in  King  Philip's  War.  He  was  active  in  promot- 
ing the  founding  of  Yale  College,  donating  to  the 
college  in  October,  1731,  six  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  acres  of  land  in  the  town  of  Killingsly,  and 
all  the  glass  and  nails  which  should  be  necessary 
to  build  the  college  edifice.  Rev.  Ebenezer  Fitch, 
a  grandson  of  this  Maj.  James  Fitch,  and  brother 
of  Dr.  Chauncey  Fitch,  was  a  tutor  in  Yale  for 
several  years  prior  to  1791,  when  he  resigned  from 
Yale  to  take  charge  of  the  Academy  at  Williams- 
town,  Massachusetts,  and  when  that  academy  was 
chartered  as  a  college  (Williams  College)  in  1793, 
Mr.  Fitch  was  elected  its  first  President,  which 
position  he  held  for  twenty-two  years. 

In  1860  Doctor  Fitch  married  Susan  Ransom, 
daughter  of  Daniel  Ransom,  originally  from 
Woodstock,  Vermont,  and  for  many  years  in 
business  in  this  city.  In  1871  Mr.  Ransom  re- 
moved to  Longmont,  Colorado,  where  he  recently 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  Doctor  Fitch  has 
one  son,  Dr.  Walter  May  Fitch,  a  graduate  of 
Rush  Medical  College,  who  is  associated  with  his 
father  in  practice. 

Doctor  Fitch  is  or  has  been  a  member«of  several 
medical  societies,  the  Chicago  Medical,  the  South 
Avenue,  the  State  Medical  and  American  Medical 
Associations,  but  has  never  been  connected  with 
any  medical  school,  although  a  professorship  has 


CHARLES  HUNTINGTON. 


389 


been  twice  offered  him.  He  has  always  enjoyed 
the  study  of  languages,  and  speaks  several  fluently, 
and  it  is  partly  in  consequence  of  this  fact  that  no 
small  percentage  of  his  large  practice  is  among 


our  foreign-born  citizens.  A  practice  of  this  char- 
acter involves  much  hard  work,  but  carries  with  it 
the  chance  to  do  much  good. 


CHARLES  HUNTINGTON. 


HARLES  HUNTINGTON,  a  veteran  of  the 
railroad  service  in  Chicago  and  the  oldest 
\,J  general  baggage  agent,  in  point  of  service, 
in  the  United  States,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, May  29,  1824.  He  is  a  son  of  Christo- 
pher and  Mary  (Webb)  Huntington.  The  Hunt- 
ington  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Connecticut. 
All  persons  of  that  name  in  America  are  supposed 
to  be  descendants  of  Christopher  Huntington  and 
his  brothers,  who  came  from  England  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Connecticut  colony.  They  sprang 
from  an  ancient  English  family,  and  the  name  is 
supposed  to  have  originated  as  a  military  title. 
Their  posterity  is  numerous,  and  includes  many 
noted  American  citizens.  The  name  of  Christo- 
pher Huntington  was  perpetuated  through  seven 
successive  generations,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  being  the  last.  His  father,  Christo- 
pher Huntington,  was  a  physician  who  practiced 
in  Connecticut.  The  father  of  Charles  Hunting- 
ton  was  a  wholesale  manufacturer  of  shoes,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Foot  Guards,  a 
regiment  of  Connecticut  militia.  He  died  in  1832, 
at  the  premature  age  of  thirty-five  years. 

Mrs.  Mary  Huntington  was  a  daughter  of  Ab- 
ner  Webb,  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  who  also  rep- 
resented one  of  the  early  Connecticut  families. 
She  survived  her  husband  but  one  year,  dying  in 
1833,  and  leaving  three  orphaned  sons.  Charles 
is  the  eldest.  Henry  is  now  a  prominent  citizen 
of  Burnham,  Michigan,  and  George  died  in  1850, 
of  yellow  fever,  at  Mobile,  Alabama. 

Soon  after  his  father's  death,  on  the  3d  of  July, 
1832,  Charles  Huntington  left  his  boyhood  home 
and  took  passage  by  stage  to  Albany,  en  route  to 
the  home  of  an  uncle  at  Penn  Yan.  His  young 


heart  was  sorely  tried  by  this  separation  from 
natal  ties,  but  the  celebration  of  the  Nation's 
birthday  at  Albany  the  next  morning  after  his  ar- 
rival there  distracted  his  attention  from  his  child- 
ish sorrow  and  so  cheered  the  way  that  his  further 
stage  journey  to  Schenectady  was  made  in  com- 
parative comfort.  Here  he  took  passage  on  the 
Erie  Canal  as  far  as  Geneva,  whence  the  journey 
was  completed  by  stage.  At  Penn  Yan,  he  found 
a  comfortable  home  with  his  uncle,  Elisha  H. 
Huntington,  who  afterwards  became  a  banker  in 
Chicago. 

Charles  received  about  two  years'  schooling  in 
all,  spending  most  of  his  boyhood  in  working  at 
odd  jobs.  Being  a  robust  youth,  he  was  adapted 
to  many  useful  employments,  and  among  other 
things,  assisted  in  building  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Penn  Yan,  for  which  his  uncle  had  the 
contract,  handling  all  the  material  for  that  struc- 
ture. At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  was  entrusted 
by  his  uncle  with  an  important  mission  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  was  sent  to  purchase  an  outfit 
for  bottling  mineral  waters,  and  subsequently  took 
charge  of  a  drug  store  at  Rochester,  owned  by 
Elisha  Huntington.  At  one  time,  he  was  em- 
ployed as  conductor  of  a  construction  train  on  the 
Canandaigua  &  Elmira  Railroad. 

At  an  early  age,  he  went  to  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  to  take  charge  of  the  machine  depart- 
ment of  the  Panama  Railroad,  at  Aspinwall.  He 
was  one  of  the  very  few  non-residents  who  escaped 
the  Chagres  fever,  and  at  the  end  of  his  one  year's 
engagement,  he  resigned  and  returned  to  New 
York.  Thence,  in  March,  1854,  he  came  toChiT 
cago  and  soon  after  accepted  a  position  as  en- 
gineer on  the  Great  Western  Railroad — now  a 


390 


CHARLES  HUNTINGTON. 


part  of  the  Wabash  system — his  headquarters  be- 
ing at  Springfield,  Illinois.  On  the  loth  day  of 
January,  1855,  he  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad,  with  which  he  has 
been  since  continuously  engaged.  He  was  pro- 
moted from  engineer  to  freight  conductor,  and 
soon  afterward  became  a  passenger  conductor. 
In  1858,  he  was  made  general  baggage  agent  with 
offiee  on  the  site  of  the  present  Chicago  Union 
Passenger  Station.  His  appointment  was  made 
by  a  receiver,  in  whose  hands  the  affairs  of  the 
company  were  then  placed,  and  as  the  duties  of 
the  office  were  comparatively  light,  he  continued 
to  run  a  passenger  train  between  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis  until  1865,  employing  only  one  assistant  in 
his  office  at  Chicago.  These  statements  show  a 
vast  difference  between  the  passenger  traffic  of 
those  days  and  the  present.  When  he  first  en- 
tered the  service  of  this  road,  the  eastern  terminus 
was  at  Joliet,  whence  all  freight  for  Chicago  was 
transferred  to  the  canal,  the  .passenger  trains 
reaching  this  city  by  way  of  the  Chicago  &  Rock 
Island  tracks.  The  southern  terminus  was  at 
Alton,  where  all  passengers  and  freight  for  St. 
Louis  were  transferred  to  Mississippi  steamboats. 

In  1857,  Mr.  Huntington  took  a  prominent 
part  in  a  strike  on  the  part  of  employees  of  this 
line,  which  suspended  all  business  thereon  for 
eighteen  days.  This  strike  was  caused  by  arrear- 
age of  salaries,  ranging  from  three  to  eighteen 
months.  Mr.  Huntington  was  a  member  of  a 
committee  which  settled  the  matter  with  ex-Gov. 
Joel  A.  Matteson,  who  was  lessee  of  the  road,  the 
trouble  being  compromised  by  payment  of  part  of 
the  arrearages  at  once  and  the  promise  of  double 
payments  each  month  until  all  were  paid  up  in 
full. 

The  scarcity  of  currency  at  that  time  is  illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that  the  conductor  rarely  col- 
lected sufficient  cash  on  a  trip  to  pay  the  board 
bills  of  his  crew  for  the  same  time.  The  rude 
appliances  and  equipments  of  railroads  in  those 
days  made  railroad  operation  a  very  difficult  mat- 
ter. Many  cars  were  without  sufficient  brakes, 
•and  a  '  'down  grade' '  had  terrors  for  the  men  on  a 
heavy  train .  It  was  often  necessary  to  set  out  cars 
with  defective  brakes  or,  as  was  not  infrequent, 


with  no  brake  at  all,  to  avoid  disaster.  On  one 
occasion,  while  approaching  Alton  on  a  steep 
down  grade,  Conductor  Huntington  was  horrified 
by  the  discovery  that  there  was  not  a  working 
brake  on  the  train.  The  labors  of  the  reversed 
engine,  however,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Alton  station  agent,  who  ran  out  and  so  placed 
the  switches  that  they  passed  the  station  without 
doing  any  damage  and  were  able  to  bring  the 
train  to  a  stop  after  running  a  mile  beyond  their 
destination. 

In  his  domestic  affairs,  Mr.  Huntington  has 
been  sorely  afflicted.  In  July,  1845,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Amelia,  daughter  of  Harvey  Tomlin- 
son,  of  Geneva,  New  York.  In  1856,  he  was 
called  upon  to  mourn  her  death.  Of  their  three 
children,  but  one  survives — Mary  Isabella,  who  is 
now  the  wife  of  Edward  L.  Higgins,  ex-Adjutant 
of  Illinois.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Higgins  have  four  chil- 
dren, and  reside  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  Mr. 
Huntington's  two  sons,  Edwin  and  William,  died 
in  childhood,  of  scarlet  fever.  He  was  again  mar- 
ried, in  1866,  to  Mary  Goodrich,  of  Chicago,  whose 
death  occurred  on  the  i6th  of  April,  1890,  at  the 
age  of  sixty  years.  The  death  of  his  sons  and  of 
his  first  wife  occurred  during  his  absence  from 
home,  and  was  more  trying  on  this  account. 

Mr.  Huntington  has  been  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  order,  being  connected  with 
Bloomington  Lodge.  He  is  Secretary  and  Treas- 
urer of  the  Conductors'  Mutual  Aid  Association, 
which  he  helped  to  organize  in  1874.  In  early 
life,  he  was  a  Whig,  and  supported  the  candidacy 
of  William  H.  Harrison  in  1840,  though  not  old 
enough  to  vote  at  that  time.  Since  1860  he  has 
been  a  Republican.  Before  leaving  New  York, 
he  served  as  Deputy  Sheriff  of  Yates  County,  and 
the  State  still  owes  him  for  a  tedious  trip  which 
he  made  in  securing  a  requisition  from  the  gov- 
ernor of  New  Yoik  and  serving  the  same  on  the 
governor  of  Pennsylvania,  in  securing  and  bring- 
ing to  justice  a  notorious  thief.  While  a  boy, 
he  visited  Baltimore  and  witnessed  the  operation 
of  the  first  telegraph  line  in  the  world,  which 
had  just  been  completed.  He  is  now  the  oldest 
employee  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad,  in 
point  of  service. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
DIVERSITY  OF  ILLIN 


C.  M.  HENDERSON. 


CHARLES  M.  HENDERSON. 


HARLES  MATHER  HENDERSON,  a  rep- 
resentative  business  man  and  exemplary  citi- 
zeu  °f  Chicago,  a  scion  of  the  old  Puritan 
stock,  was  born  in  New  Hartford,  Litchfield 
County,  Connecticut,  and  is  a  son  of  James  F. 
Henderson  and  Sabrina  (Marsh)  Henderson,  both 
natives  of  the  "Land  of  Steady  Habits."  His 
paternal  grandmother,  in  maidenhood,  bore  the 
name  of  Mather,  being  a  lineal  descendant  of  Cot- 
ton Mather,  the  noted  Puritan  divine  and  author, 
of  Massachusetts  colony.  His  maternal  grand- 
father, Roswell  Marsh,  was  a  Revolutionary  sol- 
dier and  witnessed  the  execution  of  the  unfortu- 
nate Major  Andre. 

The  first  fifteen  years  of  C.  M.  Henderson's 
life  were  passed  in  the  usual  manner  of  urban 
New  England  boys  of  that  period,  during  which 
time  he  was  a  pupil  in  the  district  school  of  his 
native  village.  After  attending  the  Baptist  School 
at  SufEeld  one  year,  he  went  out,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  years,  to  teach  a  district  school,  in  which 
undertaking  he  acquitted  himself  with  credit,  re- 
turning at  the  end  of  one  term  to  his  studies  at 
Suffield,  where  he  continued  another  year.  His 
tastes  and  ambition  pointed  to  a  commercial  career, 
and  when,  in  1853,  an  uncle  in  Chicago  offered 
him  a  position  in  the  wholesale  boot  and  shoe 
house  of  C.  N.  Henderson  &  Co.,  he  promptly 
accepted.  He  was  then  eighteen  years  of  age, 
and  was  installed  as  general  clerk  and  salesman. 
Applying  himself  diligently  in  both  store  an.d  of- 
fice, wherever  his  services  were  most  needed,  he 
rapidly  acquired  a  general  knowledge  of  the  busi- 
ness, and  shortly  became  very  useful  to  his  em- 
ployers. So  rapid  was  his  advancement  that  in 
less  than  four  years  after  entering  the  establish- 
ment he  became  a  partner  in  it,  in  which  connec- 
tion he  continued  until  the  death  of  his  uncle  in 
1859- 


Mr.  Henderson  immediately  organized  a  new 
firm,  under  the  name  of  C.  M.  Henderson  &  Co., 
his  partner  being  Mr.  Elisha  Wadsworth,  for- 
merly the  head  of  the  great  dry  goods  house  of 
Wadsworth,  Farwell  &  Co.  Mr.  Wadsworth  was 
virtually  a  silent  partner,  as  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  business  was  left  to  Mr.  Henderson, 
who  carried  it  on  so  successfully  that,  at  the  end 
of  two  or  three  years,  he  was  enabled  to  purchase 
the  interest  of  his  partner.  He  now  associated 
with  himself  his  brother,  Wilbur  S.  Henderson, 
who  had  been  several  years  in  his  employ  as  clerk, 
and  also  gave  an  interest  to  his  bookkeeper,  Ed- 
mund Burke,  who  sold  his  share  to  Mr.  Hender- 
son some  years  later. 

The  firm  continued  to  do  a  jobbing  business 
Until  1865,  when  a  small  factory  was  established 
for  the  production  of  the  heavy  goods  demanded 
by  the  western  trade.  This  was  the  nucleus  of 
what  has  become  one  of  the  largest  establishments 
of  its  kind  in  the  United  States.  The  original 
factory  is  still  in  operation,  surrounded  by  im- 
mense modern  buildings,  equipped  with  all  that 
genius  has  supplied  for  the  saving  of  labor  and  the 
improvement  of  the  quality  of  finished  products. 
In  1880  a  building  was  constructed,  devoted  to  the 
production  of  ladies'  fine  wear,  and  recently  an- 
other immense  structure  has  risen,  whose  mission 
is  the  construction  of  gentlemen's  fine  shoes. 
These  factories  are  located  at  Dixon,  Illinois,  and 
the  offices  and  shops  employ  over  one  thousand 
people  daily.  In  1888  the  firm  was  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  Illinois,  the  name  remaining 
unchanged,  and  several  of  the  old  and  faithful 
employes  became  stockholders. 

The  business  has  occupied  many  locations  in 
the  city,  the  first  being  on  South  Water  Street. 
Subsequently  three  different  stores  on  Lake  Street 
were  used  in  succession,  and  in  1868  the  building 


392 


ALEXANDER  BEAUBIEN. 


and  stock  at  the  corner  of  that  thoroughfare  and 
Michigan  Avenue  were  swept  away  by  fire.  The 
great  fire  of  1871  found  the  business  located  at 
Nos.  58  and  60  Wabash  Avenue,  and  in  common 
with  thousands  of  others  it  was  annihilated.  No 
time  was  wasted  in  repining,  and  inside  of  three 
weeks  after  this  disaster  business  was  resumed  in 
a  one-story  board  shanty  on  Michigan  Avenue. 
In  four  months  after  the  loss,  the  firm  was  estab- 
lished in  a  new  brick  building  on  Wabash  Avenue, 
the  plastering  being  completed  after  its  occupancy. 
In  the  fall  of  1872,  another  removal  was  made,  to 
the  corner  of  Madison  and  Franklin  Streets,  and 
five  years  later  it  was  moved  to  the  corner  of 
Monroe  Street,  one  block  south,  where  it  con- 
tinued until  the  firm  was  able  to  occupy  its  own 
fine  building.  This  is  located  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  Adams  and  Market  Streets,  and  was 
built  in  1884.  It  covers  a  ground  space  170x120 
feet,  is  six  stories  high,  and  is  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  purposes  of  an  office  and  distributing  depot. 
The  development  of  this  immense  and  successful 
business  is  the  result  of  Mr.  Henderson's  execu- 
tive ability,  industry  and  well-known  integrity. 
As  a  business  man,  he  commands  high  standing 
among  Chicago's  enterprising  and  superlatively 
aggressive  business  circles,  while  he  enjoys  the 
respect  and  friendship  of  a  wide  acquaintance  as 
a  man  and  gentleman. 

Mr.  Henderson  is  somewhat  socially  inclined, 
and  holds  membership  in  several  clubs,  among 
which  are  the  Union  League,  Chicago,  Calumet 
and  Commercial.  Of  strong  religious  nature,  he 
early  adopted  the  Christian  religion  as  his  rule  of 


practice,  and  has  been  a  communicant  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago  since  1868.  He 
has  been  active  and  useful  in  church  and  mission 
work,  was  two  years  President  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  for  ten  years, 
until  failing  health  compelled  him  to  resign  some 
of  his  work,  acted  as  Superintendent  of  the  Rail- 
road Chapel  Mission. 

In  political  sentiment,  he  is  a  Republican  from 
principle,  and  has  always  been  active  in  every  ef- 
fort to  promote  good  government  for  the  city.  In 
the  reform  movement  of  1874,  which  secured  a 
re-organization  of  the  fire  department  and  numer- 
ous other  changes —  among  them  a  new  city  char- 
ter, the  present  one — he  was  especially  active, 
contributing  liberally  in  money  to  carry  on  the 
work,  and  giving  of  his  time  and  counsel.  In 
many  other  ways  he  has  shown  his  disposition  to 
discharge  his  whole  duty  and  shirk  no  responsi- 
bility as  a  citizen.  He  seeks  the  best  and  right 
thing  in  government,  regardless  of  partisan  preju- 
dices or  advantage.  As  a  part  of  his  duty  to  the 
public,  he  is  now  acting  as  Trustee  of  the  Home 
for  Incurables  and  the  Lake  Forest  University. 
He  is  devoted  to  his  home  and  family,  and  when 
duty  does  not  call  him  away,  he  is  found,  out  of 
business  hours,  at  his  pleasant  home  on  Prairie 
Avenue.  In  1858  he  was  married  to  Miss  Emily, 
daughter  of  James  Hollingsworth,  of  Chicago. 
A  son,  who  died  in  infancy,  and  three  daughters 
have  been  given  him.  Amid  kind  friends  and 
many  other  surroundings  that  conduce  to  peace 
and  happiness,  he  is  enjoying  the  fruits  of  a  busy 
and  useful  life. 


ALEXANDER  BEAUBIEN. 


LEXANDER  BEAUBIEN  enjoys  the  dis- 
/  1  tinction  of  being  the  oldest  individual  born 
/  I  in  Cook  County.  The  date  of  his  birth  was 
January  28,  1822,  and  the  place  is  on  the  east 
side  of  Michigan  Avenue,  between  Randolph  and 


Washington  Streets.  The  house  in  which  he 
was  born  had  been  built  a  few  years  earlier  by 
John  Dean,  and  was  one  of  five  or  six  buildings, 
including  Fort  Dearborn,  which  then  stood  upon 
the  site  of  Chicago. 


ALEXANDER  BEAUBIEN. 


393 


Alexander  is  one  of  twelve  children  born  to 
John  B.  and  Rosette  (La  Frambois)  Beaubien. 
The  father  was  born  at  Detroit,  Michigan,  during 
the  closing  days  of  the  American  Revolution. 
His  father,  Antoine  Beaubien,  and  his  grand- 
father, who  also  bore  the  name  of  Antoine, 
were  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Detroit,  and 
carried  on  an  extensive  farm  at  that  place.  An- 
toine Beaubien,  Sr.,  was  a  native  of  France,  and 
doubtless  came  to  America  before  the  French  and 
Indian  War. 

John  B.  Beaubien  first  visited  Fort  Dearborn  in 
1809.  His  purpose  in  coming  hither  was  to 
trade  with  the  Indians,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  that 
object  he  was  quite  successful,  remaining  in  the 
vicinity  for  some  time.  At  the  time  of  the  mas- 
sacre, in  1812,  he  had  gone  to  Mackinaw,  but 
the  following  year  he  returned  as  agent  of 
John  Jacob  Astor  and  built  a  trading-post  near 
the  site  of  the  old  fort.  Branch  posts  were  also 
established  at  Milwaukee,  Pecatonica,  Hennepin 
and  Danville,  goods  being  transported  on  pack- 
horses  between  these  points  and  the  main  store- 
house at  Chicago.  Mr.  Beaubien  had  the  super- 
vision of  all  these  posts,  and  remained  in  charge 
of  them  for  some  years.  He  made  a  pre-emption 
claim  to  the  land  between  State  Street  and  the 
lake,  extending  as  far  south  as  Madison  Street, 
and  including  about  one  acre  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river;  but,  owing  to  some  technicality,  the 
government  refused  to  give  him  a  title  to  the 
same.  About  1840  he  settled  on  a  half-section 
of  land  near  the  Desplaines  Eiver,  in  Leyden 
Township,  with  his  family,  improving  the  same 
until  it  became  a  desirable  farm.  He  died  at 
Naperville,  Illinois,  in  1864,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four  years.  Had  all  white  men  manifested  the 
spirit  of  justice  and  fairness  exhibited  by  him  in 
dealing  with  the  Indians,  much  trouble  and  mis- 
ery might  have  been  averted. 

Mrs.  Rosette  Beaubien  was  born  in  Michigan. 
Her  father,  Joseph  La  Frambois,  was  a  French- 
man, and  her  mother  was  a  member  of  the  Potta- 
watomie  tribe.  In  1804,  while  still  a  young  girl, 
Mrs.  Beaubien  came  to  Chicago,  accompanying 
the  party  in  command  of  Major  Whistler,  which 
originally  built  Fort  Dearborn.  She  was  living 


with  the  Kinzie  family  when  the  fort  was  aban- 
doned in  1812,  and  with  her  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kin- 
zie, and  one  or  two  other  persons,  started  in  a 
canoe  to  follow  the  troops.  They  were  near 
shore  and  in  plain  sight  of  the  massacre  which 
took  place  near  the  foot  of  Eighteenth  Street,  and 
Mrs.  Beaubien  often  described  the  scene  to  her 
children  in  later  years.  After  the  battle  was 
over,  Mr.  Kinzie  and  party  continued  the  journey 
in  safety  to  St.  Joseph  and  thence  to  Detroit. 
Mrs.  Beaubien  died  at  River  Park,  Illinois,  in 
1845.  Following  are  the  names  of  her  children: 
George,  who  died  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years; 
Susan  and  Monique,  twins;  Julia;  Henry  and 
Philip,  twins;  Alexander;  Ellen  Maria,  wife  of 
Joseph  Robeson;  William  S.;  Margaret  (Mrs. 
De  Witt  Robinson) ;  Louise  (Mrs.  N.  D.  Wood); 
and  Caroline  (Mrs.  Stephen  Fields).  Alexander 
and  the  four  last  mentioned  are  the  only  members 
of  this  family  now  living,  but  they  probably  know 
more  of  the  early  history  of  Chicago  than  any 
other  family  in  existence. 

The  circumstances  attending  his  youth  gave 
Mr.  Beaubien  little  opportunity  for  education  save 
that  gained  in  the  school  of  experience,  but  ex- 
tensive reading  and  observation  have  given  him 
a  well-stored  mind.  He  was  eighteen  years  old 
when  the  family  removed  from  Chicago  to  Ley- 
den  Township, where  he  became  one  of  the  leading 
farmers,  and  filled  all  the  township  offices  except 
that  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which  he  declined. 
In  1862  he  returned  to  Chicago,  which  has  since 
been  his  home.  During  the  most  of  this  time  he 
has  been  connected  with  the  police  force  of  the 
city,  and  for  seven  years  past  has  been  in  charge 
of  the  lock-up  at  the  Harrison  Street  Station, 
discharging  the  duties  of  that  position  in  a  man- 
ner which  meets  the  approval  of  all  his  superior 
officers,  though  the  administration  of  the  city 
government  has  several  times  changed  during  this 
period. 

He  readily  recalls  the  time  when  every  house 
in  the  then  village  of  Chicago  could  be  counted 
from  the  roof  of  his  father's  home.  He  saw  the 
first  frame  house  built  by  his  uncle,  Mark  Beau- 
bien. The  latter  also  built  the  first  brick  resi- 
dence, a  one  and  one-half  story  structure,  on  the 


394 


J.  S.  TOPPAN. 


north  side  of  Lake  Street,  about  fifty  feet  west  of 
Fifth  Avenue.  Mr.  Beaubien  witnessed  the  first 
public  execution  in  Cook  County,  when  John 
Stone  was  hung  for  murder.  This  took  place  on 
the  prairie,  about  where  Thirty-first  Street  now 
is,  and  one-quarter  of  a  mile  west  of  the  lake. 

Mr.  Beaubien  was  married,  in  1850,  to  Miss 
Susan  Miles,  a  daughter  of  Stephen  Miles  of  Can  - 
andaigua,  New  York.  Five  children  have  blessed 
their  union,  as  follows:  Julia  Caroline,  wife  of 
Eugene  Wait;  Ida  E.  (Mrs.  Albert  H.  Moulton, 
of  Alexander,  Genesee  County,  New  York) ; 
Fannie  G.,  wife  of  Richard  S.  Beaubien;  William 
S.,  Jr.;  and  Harry  Miles;  all  except  Mrs.  Moul- 
ton living  in  Chicago.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Beaubien 
also  have  five  grandchildren,  in  whose  company 
they  find  great  comfort  and  delight. 


Mr.  Beaubien  was  the  first  child  baptised  by  a 
Catholic  priest  in  Chicago,  although  the  rite  was 
not  performed  until  he  was  six  years  of  age, 
when  Father  Badden  chanced  to  visit  this  place. 
It  is  needless  to  add  that  Mr.  Beaubien  has  con- 
sistently retained  that  faith  to  the  present  time. 
Since  1882  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Police- 
men's Benevolent  Association.  He  is  independ- 
ent in  political  action,  supporting  such  men  and 
measures  as  he  deems  best  suited  to  the  public 
interests,  irrespective  of  party  allegiance.  He 
leads  a  quiet,  unassuming  life,  and  takes  great 
pleasure  in  discussing  events  connected  with  the 
pioneer  days  of  Cook  County,  the  most  important 
of  which  either  came  under  his  own  observation 
or  that  of  his  parents. 


JAMES  S.  TOPPAN. 


(TAMES  SMITH  TOPPAN,  a  man  of  broad 
I  business  experience,  has  been  an  extensive 
Q)  traveler  and  has  resided  and  been  engaged 
in  business  in  nearly  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
He  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Massachusetts, 
October  7,  1830,  of  good  old  New  England  stock, 
as  is  shown  by  the  following  resume  of  his  gene- 
alogy: 

The  name  Toppan  was  originally  Topham, 
taken  from  the  name  of  a  place  in  Yorkshire, 
England,  meaning  upper  hamlet  or  village.  The 
pedigree,  as  far  back  as  it  has  been  traced,  com- 
mences with  Robert  Topham,  who  resided  at 
Linton,  near  Pately  Bridge,  which  is  supposed  to 
have  been  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  He 
made  his  will  in  1550.  His  second  son,  Thomas 
Topham,  was  of  Arneclifie,  near  L,inton.  He 
died  in  1589,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  at 
Arneclifie.  Edward  Topham,  alias  Toppan,  eld- 
est son  of  Thomas  Topham,  was  of  Aiglethorpe, 
near  Linton,  and  has  his  pedigree  recorded  in  the 


College  of  Arms,  with  armorial  bearings.  Will- 
iam Toppan,  fourth  son  of  Edward  Toppan,  of 
Aiglethorpe,  lived  for  some  time  at  Calbridge, 
where  his  son  Abraham  was  baptised  April  10, 
1606. 

The  family  still  exists  in  England,  and  is 
now  of  Middleham,  in  the  northwest  part  ot 
Yorkshire,  on  the  river  Ouse.  The  crest  is  a 
Maltese  cross  (croix  patee)  with  entwined  ser- 
pents. As  early  as  1637  Abraham  Toppan  re- 
sided at  Yarmouth.  His  wife  was  Susanna  Taylor. 

In  the  first  volume  of  the  fourth  series  of  the 
publications  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety, pp.  98-99,  is  the  following: 

'  'A  Register  of  the  names  of  such  persons  who 
are  21  years  and  upward  and  have  license  to 
passe  into  forraigne  parts  from  March,  1637,  to 
29th  of  September,  by  virtu  of  a  Commission  of 
Mr.  Thomas  May  hew,  Gentleman." 

Among  these  persons  are  the  following: 

"Abraham  Toppan,  cooper,  aged  31,  Susanna, 


J.  S.  TOPPAN. 


395 


his  wife,  aged  31,  with  their  children  Peter  and 
Elizabeth,  and  one  mayd  servant,  Anne  Goodin, 
aged  18  years,  sailed  from  Yarmouth,  10  May, 
1637,  in  the  ship  'Rose,'  of  Yarmouth,  Wm. 
Andrews,  Master." 

In  October,  1637,  Abraham  Toppan  was  in 
Newbury,  Massachusetts,  as  appears  by  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  town  records: 

"Abraham  Toppan  being  licensed  by  John  En- 
dicott  Esqr.  to  live  in  this  jurisdiction,  was  re- 
ceived into  the  town  of  Newberry  as  an  inhabi- 
tant thereof,  and  has  promised  under  his  hand  to 
be  subject  to  any  lawful  order  that  shall  be  made 
by  the  towne. 

"Oct.  1637.  ABRAHAM  TOPPAN." 

The  genealogy  from  this  time  on  is  as  follows: 

Jacob  (son  of  the  above) ,  b.  1645,  m.  Hannah 
Sewall  24th  August,  1670. 

Abraham,  b.  2gth  June,  1684,  m.  Esther 
Sewall  24th  October,  1713. 

Edward,  b.  7th  September,  1715,  m.  Sarah 
Bailey  7th  September,  1743. 

Enoch,  b.  7th  May,  1759,  m.  Mary  Coffin 
2nd  February,  1794. 

Edward,  b.  7th  April,  1796,  m.  Susan  L,. 
Smith,  22nd  January,  1821. 

James  S.,  b.  yth  October,  1830,  m.  Juliet  A. 
Lunt,  1 3th  August,  1861. 

The  old  homestead  upon  Toppan  Street,  in 
Newburyport,  was  built  by  Jacob  Toppan  in  1670, 
and  was  first  occupied  by  himself  and  his  bride. 
The  house  has  been  lived  in  almost  continually 
since,  and  is  still  in  the  possession  of  the  fam- 
ily, being,  even  now,  in  a  remarkably  well-pre- 
served condition. 

Edward  Toppan,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  spent  his  entire  life  as  a  farmer  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  native  town,  and  was  the  fa- 
ther of  the  following  children:  EdwardS.,  Charles, 
Hannah,  James  S.,  Margaret,  Susan  L.,  Serena 
D.  and  Roland  W. 

James  S.  left  school  at  twelve  years  of  age, 
and  remained  at  home  upon  the  farm  until  he  was 
fifteen,  when  he  entered  a  stationery  store  in  his 
native  town. 

In  May,  1849,  when  less  than  nineteen  years 
of  age,  he  left  Boston  for  California  in  the  barque 


"Helen  Augusta."  A  stop  of  seven  days  was  made 
at  St.  Catherines,  Brazil,  where,  on  the  day  after 
their  arrival,  six  of  the  crew  deserted,  and  as  no 
others  could  be  had  to  fill  their  places,  four  pas- 
sengers, including  Mr.  Toppan,  volunteered  to 
fill  them,  and  did  sailors'  duties  for  the  remainder 
of  the  voyage.  After  rounding  Cape  Horn,  they 
spent  one  day  on  the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez, 
made  famous  as  the  home  of  Robinson  Crusoe. 
Another  stop  of  a  week's  duration  was  made  at 
the  Gallapagos  Islands  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing supplies  of  water,  terrapin  and  fish,  and  on 
the  ist  of  October  they  arrived  in  San  Francisco. 

Mr.  Toppan's  first  work  here  was  to  build 
a  fence  around  some  lots  on  the  Sand  Hills  for  a 
Mr.  David  Murphy,  and  also  to  cloth  and  paper 
two  houses  for  the  same  person.  When  this  was 
completed,  he,  in  company  with  another  young 
man,  bought  a  whale-boat,  which  they  ran  as  a 
ferry-boat  between  San  Francisco  and  what  is 
now  Oakland. 

Shortly  afterwards  this  was  sold  out  at  a  good 
profit,  and,  in  company  with  two  others,  Mr. 
Toppan  laid  claim  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  mission  land,  supposing  it  to  be  public  property. 
A  redwood  tree,  measuring  eight  feet  in  diameter 
at  the  butt,  was  cut  down,  and  from  one  length  of 
the  trunk  they  built  a  house  some  thirty  by  eigh- 
teen or  twenty  feet  in  size.  Two  yoke  of  oxen 
and  an  old  prairie  wagon  were  purchased  for 
$1,200,  and  the  land  was  cleared,  plowed  and 
planted. 

While  waiting  for  their  crops  to  mature  they 
employed  their  leisure  time  in  cutting  wild  hay 
and  building  a  lever  press — a  young  sycamore 
tree  serving  as  the  lever.  Strips  of  green  raw- 
hide were  used  in  binding  the  bales,  and  in  this 
manner  six  tons  of  hay  were  baled.  They  then 
loaded  it  on  old  overland  wagons,  two  of  which 
were  borrowed,  drawn  by  oxen,  and  started  for 
San  Francisco,  a  distance  of  forty-eight  miles. 

Upon  arriving  at -the  Dolores  Mission,  they 
found  a  large  number  of  persons  waiting  to  pur- 
chase the  hay,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  they  had 
disposed  of  their  loads  for  $2,400.  This  was  the 
first  large  quantity  of  hay  that  had  ever  reached 
San  Francisco. 


396 


J.  S.  TOPPAN. 


On  their  return  they  gathered  their  crops  and 
purchased  a  sloop,  with  which  to  take  them  to 
market  at  San  Francisco.  Potatoes  brought  eigh- 
ty-five cents  per  pound,  and  other  products  were 
proportionately  high.  After  remaining  in  this 
business  for  a  year,  Mr.  Toppan  was  prostrated 
with  fever  and  ague,  and  was  obliged  to  sell  out 
and  return  to  San  Francisco.  Having  remained 
there  three  months  and  experienced  no  improve- 
ment, he  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  master 
of  the  ship  "L,owell,"  of  Newburyport,  to  take  a 
trip  with  him  to  Mazatlan,  Mexico.  From  there 
the  vessel  was  ordered  to  Ypala,  a  thousand  miles 
south,  where  it  was  loaded  with  a  cargo  of  dye- 
woods  for  Boston.  As  Mr.  Toppan  did  not  care 
to  return  home  by  the  way  of  Cape  Horn,  he  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  from  a  wealthy  Spanish  gen- 
tleman to  accompany  him  to  the  City  of  Mexico. 
They  made  their  way  to  Typic,  and  thence  to 
their  destination,  making  the  entire  trip  on  horse- 
back, stopping  at  the  principal  towns  along  their 
route.  Mr.  Toppan  remained  in  the  City  of 
Mexico  six  weeks,  and  was  then  appointed  a 
special  bearer  of  dispatches  to  Washington  by  the 
United  States  Minister. 

After  delivering  these  dispatches  and  visiting 
his  home  he  went  to  New  York  and  took  passage 
in  the  Vanderbilt  steamer  "Daniel  Webster"  for 
San  Francisco,  by  way  of  Nicaragua. 

They  reached  Nicaragua  during  the  rainy  sea- 
son, and  were  eighteen  days  in  crossing  the  Isth- 
mus, and  while  passing  up  the  Pacific  Coast  to 
San  Francisco  eleven  stops  were  made  for  the 
purpose  of  burying  people  who  had  died  of  fever 
contracted  on  the  Isthmus. 

On  reaching  the  Golden  Gate  City,  Mr.  Top- 
pan  formed  a  partnership  with  George  Mansfield, 
a  former  chief  steward  of  the  Massasoit  House,  of 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  they  opened  a 
hotel  on  Clay  Street,  which  they  called  the  Mas- 
sasoit House.  This  venture  proving  a  success, 
they  carried  on  the  hotel  until  it  was  destroyed  in 
the  second  big  fire.  They  then  purchased  an  in- 
terest in  a  stern-wheel  boat  called  '  'The  Fashion, ' ' 
which  they  ran  between  San  Francisco  and  Colusa, 
the  latter  place  being  on  the  Sacramento  River, 
one  hundred  miles  above  the  city  of  Sacramento. 


A  year  after  this  Mr.  Toppan,  being  ill  with 
bilious  fever,  sold  his  interest  in  the  boat  and 
took  passage  for  Honolulu,  Sandwich  Islands. 
After  a  stay  of  six  weeks  he  boarded  the  clipper 
ship  "Sovereign  of  the  Seas,"  bound  for  New 
York.  At  that  time  this  ship  was  the  largest 
sailing-vessel  afloat,  and  eighty  days  after  leaving 
Honolulu  they  reached  New  York,  having  made 
the  shortest  passage  ever  made  by  a  sailing-vessel. 

Two  months  were  now  passed  at  home,  and 
then,  the  family  physician  having  advised  a 
warmer  climate  for  him,  he  sailed  from  Boston  to 
Calcutta,  going  as  third  mate  of  the  vessel.  Be- 
fore starting  he  had  made  arrangements  with 
Frederick  Tudor,  a  large  dealer  in  and  shipper  of 
ice,  to  act  as  his  agent.  He  represented  Mr.  Tudor 
for  eight  years  in  Calcutta,  two  years  in  Ceylon, 
two  years  in  Singapore,  and  two  years  in  Java, 
opening  new  houses  in  the  last  three  places. 

During  his  residence  in  the  East,  Mr.  Toppan 
visited  Newburyport  three  times,  remaining  about 
three  months  on  each  occasion.  These  trips  were 
made  through  the  Red  Sea,  Suez  Canal,  the  Med- 
iterranean and  overland  across  Europe  to  Liver- 
pool. He  was  on  the  eve  of  going  to  Hong  Kong, 
to  open  an  ice-house  there  when  Mr.  Tudor's 
death  prevented. 

Mr.  Toppan  then  returned  home  and  accepted 
a  position  with  Addison,  Gage  &  Co.,  of  Boston, 
to  start  an  ice  business  in  Havana,  Cuba,  but  af- 
ter three  years  they  were  obliged  to  discontinue 
operations  on  account  of  the  internal  dissensions 
of  the  people  of  Cuba. 

He  then  returned  to  Boston  and  became  inter- 
ested in  petroleum  oil.  By  experimenting,  he 
discovered  a  new  way  of  filtering,  and  went  to 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  made  arrangements 
for  manufacturing  and  placing  his  oil  upon  the 
market.  This  business  venture  continued  until 
the  peculiar  grade  of  oil  which  was  used  as  a  base 
became  exhausted,  since  which  time  none  like  it 
has  been  found. 

Again,  he  went  to  Boston  and  purchased  a  one- 
third  interest  in  a  large  fish-oil  house,  taking 
possession  on  the  i^ih  of  September,  1872.  On 
the  loth  of  November  the  entire  plant  was  de- 
stroyed in  the  great  Boston  fire.  The  business, 


N.  S.  HAYNES. 


397 


however,  was  soon  resumed,  and  continued  until 
the  following  September,  when  the  Jay  Cook 
panic  caused  a  failure. 

Four  years  after  this,  or  in  May,  1877,  Mr. 
Toppan  became  identified  with  the  Galena,  and 
the  Signal  Oil  Works,  Limited,  of  Franklin,  Penn- 
sylvania, coming  to  Chicago  as  their  Resident 
Manager  for  this  territory. 

He  was  the  originator  of  the  contract  system 
of  supplying  railroads  with  their  lubricating  oils, 
these  contracts  being  based  upon  the  car  and  lo- 
comotive mileage  of  the  different  roads.  So  sat- 
isfactory and  successful  has  this  system  proved, 
that  to-day  upwards  of  seventy  per  cent,  of  the 
railway  mileage  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico 
is  supplied  in  this  manner  by  the  above-named 
concerns. 

Mr.  Toppan  was  married,  August  13,  1861,  in 
Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  to  Miss  Juliet  A. 
Lunt,  who  immediately  accompanied  him  to  Java. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  the  late  George  and  Caroline 
(Chase)  Lunt,  and  had  one  sister.  Both  her  parents 
died  in  Newburyport,  the  father  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six,  and  the  mother  at  seventy-five.  Mr. 
Lunt  was  a  ship-owner  and  master,  and  spent  the 
major  part  of  his  life  at  sea.  Mrs.  Toppan 
made  two  or  three  trips  with  him  around  the 
world,  and  first  met  her  husband  in  Calcutta. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Toppan  became  the  parents  of 
four  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  first  child, 
James  S.,  was  born  in  Batavia,  Java.  When  this 
child  was  ten  months  old,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Toppan 
left  Java  for  home,  sailing  from  Liverpool  on  the 
old  Cunarder  "Africa."  When  two  days  out, 
small-pox  broke  out  in  the  cabin,  the  child  took 
it  and  died  ten  days  after  reaching  home.  Frank 
W.  was  born  in  Cleveland,  and  lived  only  a  few 
weeks. 

Of  the  remaining  children,  George  L.,  who 
married  Grace  D.  Chapman,  of  Boston,  resides  in 
Evanston.  William  R.  married  Carrie  H.  Clark, 
01  this  city,  and  has  a  son  and  daughter.  Carrie 
L.  married  George  T.  Loker,  of  this  city;  and 
Fannie  C.  is  still  at  home. 

Mr.  Toppan  is  a  member  of  the  society  of  Cali- 
fornia Pioneers,  and  of  the  Sons  of  Massachusetts; 
is  domestic  in  his  tastes  and  fond  of  his  family. 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  Unitarian  faith,  and 
he  and  his  wife  attend  Prof.  Swing's  and  Bishop 
Cheney's  Churches. 

He  always  votes  the  Republican  ticket,  and  is 
a  stanch  supporter  of  his  party,  keeps  abreast  of 
the  times,  is  broad-gauged  and  well  informed, 
and  is  a  pleasant,  genial  man  and  an  entertain- 
ing companion. 


REV.  N.  S.  HAYNES. 


REV.  N.  S.  HAYNES,  pastor  of  the  Engle- 
wood  Church  of  Christ,  Chicago,  is  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  his  birth  having  occurred  in 
Washington,  Mason  County,  on  the  7th  of  March, 
1844.     When  he  was  a  lad  of  eight  summers,  his 
parents  removed  to  Illinois,  settling  in  Woodford 
County,  on  a  farm  near  the  town  of  Eureka.    No 


event  of  special  importance  occurred  during  his 
youth,  which  was  passed  in  the  usual  manner  of 
farmer  lads.  During  the  summer  he  aided  in  the 
labors  of  the  field,  and  in  the  winter  months  be- 
came familiar  with  the  common  branches  of  learn- 
ing by  study  in  the  district  schools.  In  1859,  he 
became  a  student  in  Eureka  College,  where  he 


N.  S.  HAYNES. 


remained  until  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion,  when,  prompted  by  patriotic  im- 
pulses, he  joined  an  Illinois  regiment  and  went  to 
the  front.  On  his  return  from  the  South,  he  re- 
sumed his  study  in  college,  and  in  1867  was  grad- 
uated from  the  full  classical  course.  He  con- 
tinued his  studies  after  this,  however,  and  in 
1868  the  degree  of  Master  ot  Arts  was  conferred 
upon  him. 

In  the  fall  of  1867,  Mr.  Haynes  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  principal  of  the  public  schools  of  Kan- 
sas, Edgar  County,  Illinois,  and  for  a  year  filled 
that  position  in  a  creditable  and  acceptable  man- 
ner. In  May,  1868,  he  determined  to  enter  the 
ministry,  feeling  that  his  services  were  needed  in 
the  cause  of  Christianity,  and  in  June  of  that  year 
he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  churches 
of  Kansas  and  Eureka.  In  July  he  became  the 
regular  pastor  of  the  churches  of  Kansas  and  Dud- 
ley, and  did  good  work  in  both.  During  that  time 
he  also  organized  the  church  in  Newman.  In  the 
fall  of  1869,  he  entered  the  Bible  College  of  I,ex- 
ington,  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  during  the 
school  year,  and  then  returned  to  his  former  field 
in  Edgar  County.  In  July,  1872,  he  went  to 
Prince  Edward  Island,  where  he  spent  one  hun- 
dred and  two  days,  during  which  time  he  delivered 
one  hundred  and  five  sermons  and  held  a  two-days 
public  discussion  with  Rev.  Mr.  Melville,  a  min- 
ister of  the  Kirk  and  a  graduate  of  Edinburgh  Uni- 
versity. As  a  result  several  prominent  members 
of  the  Kirk  were  converted  and  a  strong  and  influ- 
ential church  was  organized  at  Montague  Bridge, 
where  the  debate  was  held. 

After  his  return  from  abroad,  Mr.  Haynes,  in 
August,  1873,  became  pastor  of  the  church  in  De- 
catur,  Illinois,  where  he  remained  almost  uninter- 
ruptedly until  January,  1 88 1 .  He  found  there  a 
church  of  small  membership,  with  little  influence, 
and  the  services  were  held  in  a  very  dilapidated 
house.  Undaunted  by  the  obstacles  in  his  path, 
with  zeal  and  energy  he  began  his  labors  there, 
and  during  his  pastorate  a  commodious  chapel  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  over  $7,000,  the  membership 
of  both  the  Sunday-school  and  congregation  was 
more  than  doubled,  and  the  church  was  placed  on 


a  good  working  basis,  becoming  one  of  the  lead- 
ing religious  organizations  in  the  city. 

Soon  after  his  removal  to  Decatur,  Mr.  Haynes 
was  married.  On  the  2oth  of  November,  1873,  he 
was  joined  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Rose  Frazier,  the 
ceremony  being  performed  near  Paris,  Illinois. 
Three  children  have  been  born  to  them,  but  Ruth, 
the  eldest,  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen  months. 
Rose,  aged  fifteen,  and  Ethel,  ten  years  of  age,  are 
still  at  home. 

On  resigning  the  pastorate  of  the  Decatur 
Church,  Mr.  Haynes  entered  upon  his  duties  as 
State  Evangelist,  to  which  position  he  was  elected 
by  the  Illinois  Christian  Missionary  Convention 
on  the  ist  of  January,  1881.  He  thus  served  un- 
til September  i,  1886,  during  which  time  the 
Permanent  Fund  of  the  society  grew  from  less  than 
$2,000  to  $20,000,  and  it  is  now  a  source  of  constant 
income  for  the  evangelistic  work  in  the  State. 
He  traveled  extensively  all  over  Illinois,  laboring 
untiringly,  aiding  missions,  preaching  the  gospel, 
locating  pastors,  and  performing  all  the  labors  that 
came  to  his  hand  which  were  calculated  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  Christianity. 

On  the  ist  of  September,  1886,  Mr.  Haynes  be- 
came pastor  of  the  First  Christian  Church  in  Pe- 
oria,  Illinois,  where  he  continued  until  the  ist  of 
March,  1892.  There  again  his  labors  were  very 
successful  and  he  left  the  church  in  a  flourishing 
condition, its  work  being  carried  on  systematically, 
while  everything  was  in  a  harmonious  condition. 
On  the  ist  of  March,  1892,  he  accepted  a  call  from 
the  church  of  Englewood,  where  he  has  since  con- 
tinued, winning  the  love  and  respect  of  his  con- 
gregation and  the  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  has 
been  brought  in  contact,  of  whatever  denomina- 
tion. He  is  an  able  writer  and  has  long  been  a 
valued  contributor  to  the  Christian  Evangelist, 
one  of  the  leading  papers  of  the  denomination. 
His  writings  are  clear,  logical  and  to  the  point, 
and  in  every  department  of  church  work  he  has 
proven  almost  equally  successful.  As  a  teacher, 
evangelist,  pastor,  writer  and  superintendent  of 
missionary  operations,  he  has  indeed  shown  him- 
self to  be  '  'a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed. ' ' 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
.DIVERSITY  OF 


ADAM  C.  ORR. 


A.  C.  ORR. 


399 


ADAM  C    ORR. 


I  DAM  C.  ORR  is  one  of  the  highly-esteemed 
citizens  of  Park  Ridge.  His  home  is  the 
center  of  sociability,  and  there  men  of  culture 
delight  to  gather  and  discuss  literary  and  other 
topics  which  tend  to  mental  advancement.  Mr. 
Orr  was  born  in  La  Chute,  in  the  province  of  Que- 
oec,  Canada,  November  9,  1839,  and  is  a  son 
of  Samuel  and  Jane  (Hicks)  Orr.  On  the  pa- 
ternal side  our  subject  came  from  the  old  Mc- 
Lean family,  of  Scotland.  At  length,  however, 
;ae  family  became  divided  in  the  Scottish  feuds, 
and  those  who  located  in  the  Lowlands  took  the 
name  of  Ayrs,  which  was  subsequently  changed 
into  the  present  mode  of  spelling. 

Samuel  Orr  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  Canada  in 
1817.  He  married  Miss  Hicks,  who  was  born  in 
me  north  of  Ireland,  although  of  English  ex- 
traction. To  .Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Orr  were 
born  ten  children.  One  died  in  infancy.  Three 
came  to  the  United  States,  namely:  Priscilla  J. 
Orr,  of  Park  Ridge;  Frank  A.  Orr,  of  Chicago; 
and  the  subject  of  our  sketch.  The  other  six  re- 
main in  Canada,  namely:  Elias  S.  Orr,  Registrar 
of  Compton  County,  Quebec;  Capt.  Wesley  F. 
Orr,  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Calgary,  Alberta; 
James  E.  Orr,  of  the  same  place;  George  M.  Orr, 
of  St.  Catherines;  William  E.  R.  Orr,  of  Tees- 
water;  and  Watson  C.  Orr,  of  Winona,  Ontario. 

la  the  common  schools  of  his  native  country, 
Adam  C.  Orr  acquired  a  good  English  education, 
in  his  father's  country  store  he  received  his  first 
lessons  in  business,  but  he  left  mercantile  pur- 
suits to  engage  in  teaching,  which  profession  he 
successfully  followed  for  thirteen  years  in  Canada. 
In  1863  he  spent  a  term  at  the  Normal  School, 
affiliated  to  McGill  College,  Montreal,  and  sub- 
sequently, while  engaged  in  teaching,  read  the 


Arts  curriculum  of  that  university,  and  made 
translations  of  the  Satires  of  Juvenal  and  Odes  of 
Horace  into  English  verse,  the  manuscripts  of 
which  were  destroyed  in  the  Chicago  fire.  He 
was  for  some  time  employed  as  teacher  of  the 
French  language  and  literature  in  La  Chute  Col- 
lege, P.  Q. ,  and  later  as  Principal  of  the  Central 
School,  St.  Mary's,  Ont.  It  was  in  1870  that  he 
came  to  Chicago,  where  soon  after  he  engaged  as 
Superintendent  with  the  Gillett  Chemical  Works. 

On  the  ist  of  October,  1876,  Mr.  Orr  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Cleo  Petrie,  who 
was  born  in  Crystal  Lake,  McHenry  County,  111., 
December  10,  1848.  Her  parents,  Henry  and 
Maria  (Ruggles)  Petrie,  were  of  German  extrac- 
tion, and  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  north- 
eastern Illinois,  whence  they  came  from  the  vi- 
cinity of  Albany,  N.  Y.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Orr 
was  born  a  son,  Samuel  Henry,  who  died  at  the 
age  of  thirteen  years.  He  was  a  boy  who  at- 
tracted almost  universal  attention  because  of  his 
perfect  physique,  fine  intellectual  attainments, 
and  gentlemanly  bearing.  He  was  a  member  of 
a  company  of  Zouaves,  in  which  he  held  the 
highest  office,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  their  uni- 
form. The  flag  that  floats  from  the  school  build- 
ing at  Park  Ridge  was  given  by  his  mother  with 
appropriate  ceremony  to  the  Board  of  Education 
in  memory  of  her  darling  boy. 

Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Orr  hold  an  enviable  posi- 
tion in  social  circles  where  true  worth  and  intel- 
ligence are  received  as  the  passports  into  good 
society.  They  have  made  their  home  in  Park 
Ridge  since  1881.  Socially,  Mr.  Orris  connected 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
with  the  Royal  Arcanum.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  the  Pacific. 


CORNELIUS  PRICE. 


CORNELIUS  PRICE. 


EORNELIUS  PRICE  is  the  only  surviving 
pioneer  who  engaged  in  contracting  and 
masonry  in  the  early  days  of  Chicago.  He 
was  born  in  New  York  City,  on  the  1 7th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1819,  and  is  a  son  of  Cornelius  and  Nancy 
(Maloy)  Price,  being  the  third  child  of  a  family 
of  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  and  was  de- 
scended from  early  settlers  of  that  city.  His  an- 
cestors emigrated  from  England  to  America,  but 
the  family  originated  in  Wales.  Nancy  Maloy 
was  born  in  Albany,  New  York,  and  was  a  de- 
scendant of  John  Maloy,  a  native  of  the  North  of 
Ireland,  who  came  to  New  York  in  an  early  day 
and  was  employed  by  the  Schuylers.  Dutch 
was  then  the  common  language  of  the  people  of 
the  Empire  State,  and  Mr.  Maloy  learned  to  speak 
the  language  fluently. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Albany 
and  Troy,  New  York,  andofWatkins,  near  Seneca 
Lake,  where  for  six  years  his  parents  resided  up- 
on a  farm.  He  learned  the  trade  of  masonry  and 
brick-laying  with  his  father,  who  was  a  builder, 
serving  a  four-years  apprenticeship.  In  1836,  the 
family  emigrated  westward,  making  the  journey 
by  way  of  the  Lakes  to  Detroit,  from  whence  they 
traveled  by  team  and  wagon  to  Chicago,  reaching 
their  destination  on  the  26th  of  September.  The 
family  remained  in  the  city  for  about  a  year,  dur- 
ing a  part  of  which  time  its  head  was  engaged  in 
building.  He  then  removed  with  his  wife  and 
children  to  a  farm  on  the  Chicago  &  Milwaukee 
Railroad,  near  Libertyville,  in  Lake  County, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1848. 

Cornelius  Price,  Jr.,  spent  the  summer  months 


of  the  three  years  following  his  advent  in  Chicago 
at  work  at  his  trade  in  this  city,  and  during  the 
winter  returned  to  his  father' s  home.  During  the 
business  depression  of  1841,  it  was  impossible  to 
get  a  day's  work  in  Chicago,  and  father  and  son 
went  to  Galena,  making  the  journey  on  foot. 
There  they  found  plenty  of  employment,  and 
erected  several  of  the  leading  business  houses  of 
the  town.  In  the  winter  of  1847-48,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  returned  to  the  city,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring  began  contracting  here,  erecting  at 
that  time  and  in  the  subsequent  years  many  large 
buildings.  During  those  early  days,  he  built  a 
four-story  brick  building  on  the  corner  of  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Water  Streets,  which  was  considered 
a  very  high  structure.  He  erected  the  Sherman 
House,  and  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire  rebuilt 
it.  He  also  took  a  contract  for  the  erection  of 
the  Tremont  House,  the  Field  &  Leiter  warehouse, 
the  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  residence  and  hundreds 
of  other  buildings.  For  a  period  succeeding  the 
great  fire,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Abner 
Price,  he  employed  a  force  of  a  hundred  or  more 
masons  and  five  hundred  laborers,  and  for  many 
years  was  considered  one  of  the  leading  contract- 
ors in  masonry  in  this  city.  In  1890,  he  retired 
from  business. 

Mr.  Price  was  married  in  Chicago,  in  1848,  to 
Miss  Melinda  Stoughton,  a  native  of  Batavia, 
Genesee  County,  New  York,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Stoughton,  an  early  settler  of  Chicago.  Five  chil- 
dren were  born  to  them,  of  whom  four  are  yet 
living,  namely:  James  S.,  who  is  engaged  in  con- 
tracting in  Chicago;  George  E.  and  Samuel,  who 
are  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits;  Wallace,  a 
mason;  and  Mary,  who  is  still  with  her  parents. 

Mr.  Price  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat.     He 


MICHAEL  LOCHNER. 


401 


ha*  held  but  one  office,  that  of  South  Park  Com- 
missioner, in  which  position  he  served  for  six 
years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  and 
both  he  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Universalist 
Church,  in  which  they  have  held  membership  since 
the  early  days  of  Chicago.  They  now  worship  at 
St.  Paul's  Universalist  Church.  Their  first  home 
was  at  No.  226  Wabash  Avenue,  later  at  No. 
374  Wabash  Avenue,  and  twenty  years  ago  they 
removed  to  No.  1826  Indiana  Avenue,  where  they 
now  reside.  Mr.  Price  still  makes  a  daily  trip 


downtown,  usually  walking  half  the  distance.  He 
has  long  been  one  of  the  active  agents  in  the 
growth  and  development  of  Chicago,  and  has  ever 
manifested  a  commendable  interest  in  its  welfare. 
His  life  has  been  upright  and  his  career,  both  pub- 
lic and  private,  is  above  reproach.  He  still  man- 
ifests a  deep  interest  in  current  events  and  in  those 
affairs  which  tend  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
city.  He  is  one  of  the  few  living  representatives  of 
pioneer  days  in  Chicago,  and  takes  great  pleasure 
in  talking  of  the  early  times. 


MICHAEL  LOCHNER. 


h/l  ICHAEL  LOCHNER,  a  pioneer  and  prom- 
I V I  inent  farmer  of  Niles  Township,  was  born 
101  in  Roeddingen,  Bavaria,  Germany,  Sep- 
tember 5,  1836.  His  grandfather  kept  a  hotel, 
and  also  dealt  in  lumber,  at  that  place,  and  his 
parents,  Michael  and  Susannah  (Berchman)  Loch- 
ner,  were  both  born  there.  The  father,  Michael 
Lochner,  Sr. ,  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  com- 
posed of  two  sons  and  seven  daughters,  and  was 
a  farmer.  In  the  year  1844,  he  left  his  native 
land  to  make  a  home  in  the  New  World,  and 
arrived  in  Cook  County,  Illinois,  settling  in 
Niles  Township  in  July  of  that  year.  He  bought 
one  hundred  acres  of  land  on  sections  18  and  19, 
and  continued  to  reside  there  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  August  7,  1848,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
eight  years.  His  widow  survived  until  1863,  reach- 
ing the  age  of  fifty-eight.  Five  of  their  seven  chil- 
dren grew  to  maturity.  John,  the  eldest  of  these, 
was  shot  at  the  battle  of  Chattanooga,  during  the 
Civil  War,  while  serving  as  a  member  of  the  Thir- 
teenth Illinois  Infantry.  Michael,  the  subject  of 
this  biography,  is  the  second.  Magdalena  married 
John  Brosel,  now  a  resident  of  Niles  Township, 


and  died  in  Chicago.  Killian  is  a  farmer  of  Pilot 
Township,  Kankakee  County,  this  State;  and 
Michael  Medad  is  engaged  in  the  same  occupa- 
tion in  Niles 

As  shown  above,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
near  the  completion  of  his  eighth  year  when  the 
family  arrived  in  Niles,  and  here  all  his  life  has 
been  spent  since  that  time.  On  the  22d  of  July, 
1894,  was  celebrated  at  his  residence,  by  friends 
and  relatives,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  ar- 
rival here.  He  had  but  little  opportunity  for 
English  studies,  attending  the  primitive  public 
schools  of  this  region  two  or  three  months  in  the 
winter  for  a  few  terms,  and  during  the  same  time 
he  attended  the  parochial  schools  of  the  vicinity 
about  one  year.  When  he  was  but  twelve  years 
old  his  father  died,  and  the  care  of  the  farm  de- 
volved upon  him.  From  that  time  he  took  the 
lead  in  the  labors  of  the  farm  and  did  a  man's 
work.  His  mother  continued  to  reside  on  the 
homestead  until  her  death,  after  which  he  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  the  other  heirs  and  became 
its  sole  owner.  He  has  disposed  of  a  portion  of 
this  farm,  retaining  but  eight  acres  of  the  orig- 


402 


B.  J    SWEET. 


inal  farm,  to  which  lie  has  added  twenty-eight 
acres,  and  he  is  also  the  possessor  of  one  hundred 
acres  in  Wheeling  Township.  He  has  always 
made  farming  his  business,  and  has  achieved  suc- 
cess. He  is  a  Trustee  of  St.  Peter's  Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  Niles  Center,  and  is  active  in 
the  erection  of  the  fine  new  church  edifice  now  be- 
ing constructed  by  that  society.  He  has  served 
two  terms  as  School  Trustee,  and  has  often  re- 
fused township  offices,  being  averse  to  engage  in 
the  strife  for  preferment.  In  matters  of  National 
policy,  he  has  always  upheld  the  Democratic 
party,  but  takes  little  part  in  political  action.  As 
a  farmer  and  citizen,  he  enjoys  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  fellows,  and  enjoys  the  blessings 
of  life  in  a  rational  and  quiet  way. 

In  1865,  Mr.  lyochner  was  married  to  Terese 
Baumann,  a  native  of  Chicago  and  daughter  of 
Franz  Baumann,  formerly  of  Baden,  Germany. 
Thirteen  children  have  been  given  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lochner,  of  whom  eleven  are  still  living, 
namely:  Susan  Bridget,  wife  of  Martin  Knidl,  of 


Wheeling,  Cook  County,  Illinois;  Agatha,  Mrs. 
William  Hoffman ,  of  Morton  Grove ;  Michael,  Jr. , 
at  home;  Mary,  wife  of  Henry  Heinz,  residing  in 
Niles  Center;  Peter  and  Frederick,  employed  as 
grocery  clerks  in  Chicago;  Teresa,  Annie,  Kath- 
arine, John  and  Albert,  with  their  parents.  Mag- 
dalena,  the  seventh,  and  Caroline,  the  eighth, 
died  at  the  ages  of  five  years  and  four  months, 
respectively. 

Mr.  Lochner  has  served  in  all  thz  hardships  and 
severe  labors  common  to  pioneeis  of  this  locality. 
In  the  early  days,  all  produce  was  hauled  to  Chi- 
cago with  oxen,  and  gave  very  small  returns  for 
the  labor  necessary  to  its  production  and  market- 
ing. He  remembers  getting  stusk  with  a  wagon 
in  the  mud  of  Randolph  Street,  between  Franklin 
and  Fifth  Avenue.  Hickory  wood  sold  for  a  few 
shillings  per  cord,  and  hay  was  almost  a  drug  in 
the  market.  He  persevered,  and  by  the  work  of 
his  own  hands  won  a  home  and  comfort  for  his 
declining  years. 


GEN.  BENJAMIN  JEFFREY  SWEET. 


.  BENJAMIN  JEFFREY  SWEET,  de- 
ceased,  was  for  many  years  a  well-known 
and  prominent  citizen  of  Cook  County,  and 
the  history  of  the  community  would  be  incomplete 
without  a  record  of  his  life.  A  native  of  Clinton 
County,  N.  Y.,  he  was  born  April  24,  1832. 
His  parents  were  Rev.  James  and  Charlotte  (New- 
ell) Sweet.  Their  family  numbered  eight  chil- 
dren who  grew  to  mature  years,  and  several  who 
died  in  childhood.  When  our  subject  was  a 
youth  of  sixteen,  the  family  removed  to  Stock- 
bridge,  Wis.,  where  the  father  was  employed  as  a 
circuit  preacher  of  the  Christian  Church  for  some 
years.  He  also  devoted  much  time  to  missionary 
work  among  the  Stockbridge  Indians.  He  was  an 


eloquent  speaker,  and  the  many  excellencies  of  his 
character  won  him  the  love  and  confidence  of  all 
with  whom  he  was  brought  in  contact.  His  death 
occurred  during  the  war,  and  his  wife  passed 
away  in  1875.  Their  family  numbered  the  follow- 
ing: Benjamin  J.,  of  this  sketch;  John  Jay,  who 
was  a  member  of  Company  K,  Fourth  Wisconsin 
Cavalry,  and  was  killed  at  Port  Hudson  during 
the  late  war;  Elbert  E-,  now  of  Wisconsin;  Mrs. 
Belinda  Blodgett,  of  Charlotte,  Mich. ;  Mrs.  Au- 
gusta Blodgett,  of  Charlotte,  Mich. ;  Mary,  who 
lives  in  Wisconsin;  Rose,  wife  of  Obed  Dodge; 
and  Mettie,  the  youngest  daughter. 

When  the  family  moved  to  the  frontier,  they 
were  in  limited  circumstances,  and  Gen.  Sweet 


B.  J.  SWEET. 


403 


aided  in  their  support  by  chopping  wood  and  do- 
ing farm  work.  He  was  ambitious  to  secure  an 
education,  and  to  this  end  studied  at  night,  and 
when  he  had  acquired  a  sufficient  sum  to  pay  his 
tuition,  he  attended  Appleton  Academy  for  two 
terms.  He  then  taught  school  at  Brothertown, 
and  all  this  time  he  was  carrying  on  the  farm  and 
continuing  his  studies  after  the  labors  of  the  day 
were  over. 

Mr.  Sweet  was  married  May  i,  1851,  at  the  age 
of  nineteen,  to  Lovisa,  daughter  of  Elihu  and 
Martha  (Chubbuck)  Denslow,  of  Stockbridge, 
Wis.,  who  had  also  lived  near  the  Sweet  family 
in  Clinton  County,  N.  Y.  After  his  marriage, 
Gen.  Sweet  continued  teaching,  and  also  took  up 
the  study  of  law  in  Stockbridge.  At  length  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  and  opened  an  office  in 
Chilton,  Wis.  In  1858  he  was  elected  to  the 
Wisconsin  Senate,  and  served  for  two  terms,  but 
when  the  war  broke  out  he  put  aside  all  other 
considerations  to  enter  the  country '  s  service.  He 
aided  in  raising  the  Sixth  Regiment  of  Wisconsin 
Volunteers,  of  which  he  was  commissioned  Major, 
and  also  helped  to  organize  the  Fourth  Wisconsin 
Infantry.  His  command  was  assigned  to  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  while  encamped  in 
Virginia,  opposite  the  capital,  he  and  Gen.  Bragg, 
who  then  held  the  rank  of  Captain,  occupied  a 
cabin  together  at  Arlington  Heights.  The  inac- 
tion of  the  army  in  the  spring  of  1862  caused  him 
to  resign,  and  he  returned  home,  but  the  country 
had  his  war  allegiance,  and  he  aided  in  organiz- 
ing the  Twenty-first  and  Twenty-second  Wis- 
consin Regiments,  being  made  Colonel  of  the 
Twenty-first,  which  was  assigned  to  the  Army  of 
the  Cumberland.  At  the  battle  of  Champion 
Hills,  Col.  Sweet  was  seriously  wounded  in  the 
neck  and  right  elbow.  He  was  very  ill  for  a 
year  and  lost  the  use  of  his  arm,  but  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  he  again  went  to  the  front,  and 
at  Gallatin,  Tenn.,  while  still  in  poor  health,  built 
a  fort.  Later  he  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the 
Eighth  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  and  did  guard  and 
;ourt-inartial  duty  in  Philadelphia,  from  whence 
he  came  to  Chicago  to  take  command  of  Camp 
Douglas,  of  which  he  was  in  charge  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  promoted  to  the  rank 


of  Brigadier-General  in  1865.  He  had  from  eight 
to  ten  thousand  prisoners  under  his  care,  with  a 
very  small  guard,  and  during  this  time  the  no- 
torious conspiracy  was  formed  for  liberating  the 
prisoners  and  capturing  the  city,  but  the  plan 
was  discovered  and  thwarted  by  the  heroic  ef- 
forts of  Gen.  Sweet.  No  truer  soldier  fought  un- 
der the  Stars  and  Stripes,  or  was  more  loyal  to 
the  cause  of  the  union. 

When  the  country  no  longer  needed  his  serv- 
ices, Gen.  Sweet  returned  to  Chilton,  where  his 
family  had  remained  during  his  absence,  and  re- 
sumed law  practice;  but  his  old  clients  had  gone 
elsewhere  while  he  was  at  the  front,  so  he  changed 
his  place  of  residence.  In  1868  he  opened  a  law 
office  in  Chicago  and  established  his  family  upon 
a  farm  near  Lombard,  twenty  miles  from  the  city. 
The  law  firm  of  Sweet,  Wilson  &  Vallette  was 
formed  and  did  business  for  some  time.  Mr.  Sweet 
was  appointed  United  States  Pension  Agent  at 
Chicago  by  President  Grant,  and  held  that  posi- 
tion until  1870,  when  he  was  promoted  to  be  Su- 
pervisor of  Internal  Revenue.  After  the  great 
Chicago  fire  of  1871,  he  received  the  appointment 
of  First  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue 
for  the  United  States,  and  in  1872  took  his  place 
in  Washington,  severing  his  connection  with  the 
law  office  in  Chicago.  The  family,  however,  re- 
mained at  Lombard.  While  discharging  his  du- 
ties in  the  Capitol  City,  he  was  taken  ill  with  ty- 
phoid pneumonia,  and  died  a  week  later,  on  the 
ist  of  January,  1874. 

Mrs.  Sweet  was  killed  by  the  cars  in  Lombard, 
August  14,  1878,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight.  They 
were  people  of  prominence  and  ever  gave  their 
support  to  the  promotion  of  those  interests  which 
they  believed  would  be  of  benefit  to  the  commu- 
nity. They  usually  attended  and  contributed  to 
the  church  nearest  their  home,  but  were  liberal 
in  religious  belief.  Their  family  numbered  five 
children,  as  follows:  Ada  C.,  who  is  United 
States  Pension  Solicitor  in  Chicago,  and  is  a  lady 
of  rare  intelligence  and  ability,  who  is  widely 
known  for  her  charitable  and  philanthropic  la- 
bors; Lawrence  W. ,  who  died  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, just  previous  to  his  father's  death;  Minnie, 
who  was  the  wife  of  C.  F.  Weber,  of  Chicago, 


404 


E.  H.  PRATT. 


and  who  is  now  deceased;  Martha  Winifred,  a 
well-known  writer  on  the  staff  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Examiner,  and  wife  of  Orlow  Black,  of  San 
Francisco,  Cal. ;  and  Benjamin  Jeffrey,  who  lives 
in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Sweet  was  a  man  of  strong  conviction  and 
was  inflexible  in  his  support  of  what  he  believed 
to  be  right.  He  was  a  warm  advocate  of  aboli- 
tion, and  in  1856  he  made  speeches  throughout 
Wisconsin  in  support  of  Fremont.  He  carried 
Calumet  County  for  Gen.  Grant,  the  only  time  it 


ever  gave  a  Republican  majority.  In  manner  he 
was  genial,  friendly  and  unassuming,  and  wher- 
ever he  went  he  won  friends.  Even  those  op- 
posed to  him  politically  had  for  him  the  highest 
respect.  He  was  a  diligent  student,  and  mas- 
tered German  and  also  studied  music  after  he  had 
arrived  at  mature  years.  Every  duty  devolving 
upon  him  was  faithfully  performed,  every  trust 
reposed  in  him  was  discharged  with  fidelity,  and 
as  a  citizen,  friend,  and  business  man  he  was  ever 
honorable,  just  and  true. 


EDWIN  HARTLEY  PRATT,  M.  D.,  LL.  D. 


r~DWIN  HARTLEY  PRATT,  M.  D.,  LL.  D., 
r»)  only  surviving  son  of  Dr.  Leonard  Pratt  (see 
I  biography  in  this  work) ,  was  born  at  To- 
wanda,  Pa.,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1849.  At 
the  age  of  three  years,  in  1852,  he  came  with  his 
parents  to  Illinois,  where  he  continued  for  thir- 
teen years  to  reside  in  the  township  of  Rock 
Creek,  Carroll  County.  After  some  preparation 
in  the  district  schools  of  that  township,  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  entered  Mt.  Carroll  Seminary, 
where  he  remained  one  year.  On  the  removal  of 
the  family  to  Wheaton  in  1865,  he  entered  Whea- 
ton  College,  an  institution  somewhat  widely 
known  as  the  seat  of  a  single  idea — suppression 
of  secret  societies.  Soon  after  coming  to  Whea- 
ton, Dr.  Leonard  Pratt  joined  the  Independent 
Order  of  Good  Templars,  of  which  the  son  be- 
came also  a  member.  On  learning  this,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  college  insisted  that  young  Pratt  either 
leave  the  college  or  the  lodge.  To  his  credit  be 
it  said,  young  Pratt  was  equally  firm  with  the 
college  authorities  in  maintaining  his  principles, 
and  chose  the  former  alternative.  He  then  en- 
tered the  University  of  Chicago,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  the  full  classical  course  in  1871. 
This  institution  subsequently  conferred  upon  him 


the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  in  recognition  of 
his  valuable  discoveries. 

Our  subject  now  took  up  the  study  of  medicine 
in  his  father's  office,  and  also  began  attendance 
at  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Chicago, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  the  spring  of  1873, 
being  valedictorian  of  his  class.  He  shortly  after 
took  the  chair  of  Anatomy  in  his  alma  mater,  and 
pursued  at  the  same  time  a  special  study  of  that 
branch  of  medical  science  under  the  tutelage  of 
eastern  colleges.  At  the  end  of  three  years  he 
resigned,  to  take  the  same  position  in  the  Chicago 
Homeopathic  College,  then  just  organized.  From 
this  he  was  transferred,  at  his  own  request,  seven 
years  later,  to  the  chair  of  Surgery  in  the  same 
college.  This  position  he  filled  for  six  years, 
when,  as  the  result  of  his  own  investigations,  dis- 
coveries and  developments,  the  chair  of  Orificial 
Surgery  was  created  for  him  in  that  institution, 
and  this  he  has  occupied  to  the  present  time. 

Dr.  Pratt  is  an  original  thinker,  and  has  made 
some  revolutions  in  surgery  as  the  outcome  of  his 
own  investigation  and  practice.  Naturally,  he 
incurred  the  opposition  and  criticism  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  profession,  but  this  he  has  almost 
wholly  overcome  with  his  tongue  and  pen  and  the 


W.  A.  RAY. 


405 


demonstrations  of  the  operating  room.  He  has 
inherited  much  of  the  power  of  oratory  of  his  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  and  is  a  very  forcible,  succinct 
and  convincing  speaker.  These  qualities  have 
given  him  great  power  in  the  class-room,  and  he 
has  sent  out  large  numbers  of  practitioners  who 
are  constantly  spreading  the  fame  and  success  of 
his  discoveries.  With  his  pen,  Dr.  Pratt  is  no 
less  able  and  convincing  than  he  is  as  a  speaker, 
and  it  is  a  brave  man  who  now  attempts  to  con- 
trovert his  theories  or  to  detract  from  his  success 
in  the  healing  art.  He  is  the  founder  and  editor 
of  the  Journal  of  Orificial  Surgery,  a  monthly 
publication  which  is  now  acknowledged  as  stand- 
ard and  widely  quoted  by  other  medical  standards. 
Through  his  influence,  a  magnificent  sanitarium 
has  been  established  on  the  north  side  of  the  city 
of  Chicago,  facing  Lincoln  Park.  This  institu- 
tion was  incorporated  in  1890,  with  Dr.  Pratt  as 
President  and  Surgeon-in-Chief,  and  an  able  corps 
of  assistants,  and  here  his  specialties  in  surgery  are 
put  in  practical  operation,  to  the  relief  and  cure 
of  thousands  of  sufferers  annually.  This  insti- 
tution is  a  magnificent  six-story  structure,  built 
of  buff  Bedford  stone,  100x120  feet  in  dimensions, 
occupying  a  beautiful  site  overlooking  lovely 
Lincoln  Park  and  Lake  Michigan.  Here  is  found 
every  accessory  of  a  comfortable,  and  even  luxuri- 
ous, home  for  the  invalid.  Dr.  Pratt  is  also  Pro- 


fessor of  Surgery  and  Mental  Training  in  the 
Lincoln  Park  Training  School  for  Misses,  located 
in  the  same  section  of  the  city.  As  is  made 
apparent  by  the  foregoing,  his  time  is  very  fully 
taken  up,  but  he  is  a  man  of  great  mental  and 
physical  energy,  and  is  fully  equal  to  the  tasks 
which  his  ability  and  philanthropy  have  called 
down  upon  him. 

Dr.  Pratt  is  a  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Homeopathy  and  of  the  Illinois  State  As- 
sociation of  that  school,  as  well  as  an  honorary 
member  of  many  similar  State  associations.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  surgical  staff  of  the  Cook 
County  Hospital,  where  his  superior  skill  is  often 
called  into  play.  In  his  religious  and  political 
sentiments,  he  adheres  to  the  precepts  laid  down 
by  his  honored  father. 

In  June,  1877,  Dr.  Pratt  married  Miss  Isadora 
M.  Bailey,  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  a  lady  well  fitted  by  nature  and  cultivation 
as  a  companion  for  her  talented  husband.  A  son 
and  daughter  were  given  to  this  couple,  but  both 
have  been  taken  away,  the  former  in  childhood 
and  the  latter  in  infancy.  In  1893  Dr.  Pratt 
erected  at  Wheaton  a  beautiful  home,  to  which 
he  may  retire  in  summer  from  the  cares  and  bur- 
dens of  his  large  practice  and  other  duties  in  the 
city  of  Chicago. 


COL.  WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  RAY. 


EOL.  WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  RAY,  a  prom- 
inent business  man  of  Chicago,  now  residing 
in  Blue  Island,  was  born  in  Kingston,  N.  Y., 
on  the  2ist  of  May,  1829,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry 
M.   and   Mary  S.   (Millard)    Ray.     His  mother 
was  a  relative  of  Millard  Fillmore,  President  of 
the  United  States.     His  father  was  born  in  Delhi, 
N.   Y.,  and  was  a  son  of  Martin  Ray,  who  was 


descended  from  an  old  Holland  family.  By  oc- 
cupation the  last-named  was  a  farmer,  and  in 
Delhi  he  served  as  Magistrate.  In  his  family 
were  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  and  the  former 
all  became  prominent  business  men  of  Walworth 
County,  Wis.  About  1853,  Henry  M.  Ray  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Delavan,  Wis.  He  had 
been  engaged  in  manufacturing  in  the  Empire 


4o6 


W.  A.  RAY. 


State,  but  after  his  emigration  westward  pur- 
chased the  large  farm  on  which  he  spent  his  re- 
maining days,  his  death  occurring  in  1866,  at  the 
age  of  sixty  years.  His  wife  long  survived  him, 
and  passed  away  in  Delavan  in  April,  1892,  the 
day  previous  to  her  eighty-ninth  birthday. 

Col.  Ray  spent  the  first  eighteen  years  of  his 
life  in  the  place  of  his  nativity,  and  then  removed 
with  the  family  to  Walton,  N.  Y. ,  where  his  fa- 
ther purchased  a  woolen  factory  and  other  proper- 
ty, which  formerly  belonged  to  William  B.  Ogden, 
a  well-known  pioneer  and  leading  business  man 
of  Chicago.  Mr.  Ray  also  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  lumber,  which  he  floated  down  the 
river  to  the  Philadelphia  market,  and  in  this  line 
of  trade  the  Colonel  entered  upon  his  business 
career.  Later  he  became  foreman  in  his  father's 
woolen-mill.  His  education  was  acquired  in  the 
schools  of  Kingston  and  in  Franklin  Institute, 
from  which  he  was  graduated.  He  entered  that 
school  with  a  view  to  becoming  a  civil  engineer, 
and  was  employed  in  laying  out  the  Walton  and 
Hancock  plank  road,  which  has  since  become  the 
bed  of  a  railroad. 

The  Colonel's  residence  in  the  West  dates  from 
1856,  at  which  time  he  removed  to  Chicago. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  he  embarked  in  farming, 
and  also  became  a  controlling  stockholder  in  the 
Walworth  County  Bank,  of  Delavan,  Wis.  This 
organization  was  afterward  merged  in  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Delavan,  of  which  he  became 
Cashier  and  chief  Manager,  thus  serving  until 
the  fall  of  1866,  when  he  again  came  to  Chicago 
and  began  dealing  in  grain,  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  E.  V.  Robbins  &  Co.  On  his  first  arrival 
in  this  city,  he  engaged  in  business  as  the  junior 
partner  of  the  firm  of  S.  A.  Millard  &  Co. ,  dealers 
in  agricultural  implements.  He  afterward  re- 
moved to  L,acon,  111. ,  where  he  organized  the  bank- 
ing house  of  Ray  &  Brooks.  One  year  later  he  re- 
turned to  Wisconsin.  For  the  long  period  of  twenty- 
two  years  he  operated  on  the  Chicago  Board  of 
Trade,  although  residing  for  a  part  of  the  time  in 
New  York  City.  He  has  been  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  New  York  Produce  Exchange, 
and  his  extensive  business  interests  have  been  so 


well  and  ably  conducted  that  he  has  become  one 
of  the  substantial  citizens  of,  the  community. 

In  1887,  Col.  Ray  removed  with  his  family  to 
Pasadena,  Cal. ,  and  while  there  was  President  of 
the  San  Gabriel  Valley  Bank  and  aided  in  the 
organization  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  of  which  he 
became  Vice- President.  In  1890  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  Blue  Island,  building  a  pleasant  home 
on  Maple  Avenue.  He  here  organized  the  Calu- 
met State  Bank,  of  which  he  is  President.  He 
also  owns  extensive  real  estate  interests  in  Chi- 
cago, much  of  which  he  purchased  before  the 
great  fire. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  Col.  Ray  organized  Com- 
pany F,  of  the  Fortieth  Wisconsin  Infantry,  and 
on  reaching  Madison  was  made  commander  of 
the  regiment,  having  previously  served  as  Colonel 
in  the  Wisconsin  Militia.  The  troops  were  or- 
dered to  Memphis,  and  engaged  in  the  defense  of 
that  city.  While  there,  Gen.  Forrest  made  his 
famous  raid  on  Memphis,  and  the  Fortieth  Wis- 
consin was  the  first  in  the  line  of  battle  to  repulse 
the  attack.  Our  subject  remained  in  that  city 
until  the  regiment  was  disbanded,  in  October, 
1864. 

Col.  Ray  has  been  twice  married.  In  Walton, 
Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1852,  he  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Cornelia  Townsend,  who 
died  in  Delavan,  Wis.,  in  1858,  leaving  one  son, 
Platt  Townsend,  whose  death  occurred  on  the 
29th  of  July,  1873,  when  about  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  The  Colonel  was  again  married,  October 
29, 1862,  his  union  being  with  Susie  C.  Kelsey.who 
was  born  in  Danville,  Vt. ,  and  came  of  an  old 
New  England  family.  Her  father  was  Maj.  John 
Kelsey,  of  Lacon,  111.  Three  children  have  been 
born  of  their  union:  George  Chandler,  a  grain- 
dealer,  who  now  operates  on  the  Chicago  Board 
of  Trade,  and  resides  in  Normal,  111. ;  Alice  Gil- 
christ  and  Robert  Edgerton. 

For  twenty  years  the  Colonel  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago, 
but  the  family  are  now  communicants  of  the 
Congregational  Church  of  Blue  Island.  He 
holds  membership  with  George  H.  Thomas  Post, 
G.  A.  R.,  and  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 


R.  L.  JAMES. 


407 


in  his  political  views  is  a  Republican.  Immedi- 
ately succeeding  the  great  fire  of  Chicago,  he  was 
active  in  the  organization  of  an  informal  relief 
committee  for  the  purpose  of  caring  for  the  desti- 
tute and  homeless.  He  also  organized  a  force  of 
special  police  for  the  restoration  of  order  and  sup- 
pression of  rioting,  authorized  by  the  Citizens' 
Committee.  The  city,  however,  was  soon  after 
placed  under  martial  law  by  the  United  States 


Government,  and  the  force  was  disbanded.  In 
business  affairs,  Col.  Ray  exercises  keen  fore- 
sight, sound  judgment  and  ready  decision.  To 
the  possession  of  these  qualities,  together  with  a 
determined  will  and  excellent  executive  ability, 
may  be  attributed  the  unvarying  success  of  the 
numerous  enterprises  with  which  he  has  been 
identified. 


ROBERT  LEE  JAMES,  M.  D.,  B.  S. 


QOBERT  LEE  JAMES,  M.  D.,  B.  S.,  one  of 

^  the  wide-awake  and  progressive  citizens  of 
r\  Blue  Island,  now  successfully  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  medicine,  was  born  in  Morris,  111. , 
on  the  5th  of  September,  1865.  His  parents  were 
Elisha  B.  and  Sarah  (Evans)  James.  His  fa- 
ther was  of  Welsh  descent,  and  the  family  was 
founded  in  America  by  ancestors  from  that  country 
who  came  to  the  United  States  during  early  Colo- 
nial days.  Elisha  B.  James  was  born  in  Ohio, 
and  came  to  Illinois  in  1843.  His  wife  is  also  a 
native  of  the  Buckeye  State,  and  her  residence  in 
Illinois  dates  from  1848.  Both  still  make  their 
home  in  Morris,  where  Mr.  James  is  engaged  in 
farming  and  stock-raising  on  an  extensive  scale, 
being  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  agricultur- 
ists of  that  community. 

Dr.  James,  after  attending  the  public  schools, 
became  a  student  in  the  Morris  Normal  and  Sci- 
entific School,  and  later  pursued  the  scientific 
course  of  study  in  the  Northern  Indiana  Normal 
School  at  Valparaiso,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1888.  He  then  went  to  Oberlin  College, 
where  he  took  a  special  course  of  study  With 
the  desire  of  entering  the  medical  profession 
and  making  its  practice  his  life  work,  he  gained 
admission  to  the  Chicago  Homeopathic  College. 
He  graduated  from  that  institution  with  the  de- 


gree of  M.  D. ,  and  also  graduated  from  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  Chicago  with 
the  same  degree.  He  received  the  degree  of  B. 
S.  on  the  completion  of  his  course  in  Valparaiso. 

During  his  vacations  Dr.  James  engaged  in  prac- 
tice with  Dr.  Beebe,  of  Chicago,  as  his  assistant, 
and  thus  gained  a  practical  as  well  as  theoretical 
knowledge  of  medicine,  so  that  when  he  came  to 
Blue  Island  in  1891,  it  was  not  as  an  unskilled 
physician.  He  here  began  practice  with  Dr.  E. 
C.  Reed,  and  on  the  ist  of  January  he  bought 
out  his  partner,  succeeding  to  the  entire  business, 
which  has  since  steadily  increased.  He  is  now 
enjoying  an  extensive  practice. 

On  the  3ist  of  December,  1891,  was  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  Dr.  James  and  Miss  Jessie  E. 
Butler,  a  native  of  Hancock,  Mich.  Their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  one  child,  Earl  Butler. 
The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Royal  Ar- 
canum, the  Knights  of  Maccabees,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Health  of  Blue  Island  and  of  the  Chicago 
Medical  Society.  He  exercises  his  right  of  fran- 
chise in  support  of  the  men  and  measures  of  the 
Republican  party,  but  has  never  sought  political 
preferment  for  himself.  He  is  a  thorough-going 
scholar,  and  ranks  among  the  most  successful 
young  physicians  of  Cook  County.  He  gives 


408 


C.  H.  STILES. 


special  attention  to  surgery,  being  well  fitted  for 
that  work  both  by  education  and  inclination. 
Since  coming  to  Blue  Island  Doctor  and  Mrs. 


James  have  made  many  warm  friends,  and  their 
presence  is  considered  a  desirable  addition  to  the 
leading  social  gatherings  in  the  community. 


CHARLES  HENRY  STILES. 


OHARLES  HENRY  STILES,  a  prominent 

1 1  stock-breeder,  and  business  man  of  Wheaton, 
\^J  was  born  at  Cazenovia,  N.  Y. ,  on  the  loth 
of  April,  1849,  and  is  a  scion  of  the  oldest  and 
best  New  England  blood.  His  first  ancestor  in 
this  country  was  Robert  Stiles,  who  came  from 
Yorkshire,  England,  and  settled  at  Rowley,  Mass., 
in  1639.  Joseph  Dalton  Stiles,  grandfather  of 
the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  a  native  of  New 
Hampshire,  born  at  Keene  in  1798.  He  married 
for  his  second  wife  (the  first  having  died  at  a  very 
early  age)  Desdemona  Wadsworth,  and  lived  at 
Cazenovia,  N.  Y.  Here  was  born  his  son,  Ly- 
man  Harkness  Styles,  who  took  for  a  helpmate 
Miss  Martha  Dobbin,  a  native  of  Catskill,  same 
State.  To  them  were  born  three  children,  the 
first  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  the  third  being  he 
whose  name  heads  this  article.  When  the  latter 
was  twelve  years  old,  his  parents  died,  and  he 
passed  the  succeeding  eight  years  of  his  life  as  a 
member  of  the  family  of  Virgil  Maro  Armour,  a 
cousin  of  Philip  D.  Armour,  the  noted  Chicagoan. 
C.  H.  Stiles  attended  the  common  schools  the 
allotted  time  for  farmer  lads,  and  early  displayed 
an  energy  and  business  capacity  which  gave 
promise  of  a  useful  career.  At  the  age  of  twenty 
years  he  went  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  business  with  his  brother-in-law,  Levi 
W.  Hart,  under  the  firm  name  of  Hart  &  Stiles. 
They  manufactured  cigars,  and  kept  a  drug  store 
and  livery  stable  for  two  years.  The  capital  em- 
ployed in  this  way  by  Mr.  Stiles  was  inherited  from 
his  uncle,  Adonirarn  Dobbins,  a  prominent  hard- 
ware merchant  of  Geneva,  N.  Y.  Subsequently, 


Mr.  Stiles  spent  three  years  in  the  United  States 
railway  mail  service,  and  had  charge  of  the  first 
white  mail  car  sent  out  on  the  Lake  Shore  & 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad.  At  the  expiration 
of  his  term  in  this  service,  he  engaged  in  selling 
pools  and  bookmaking  on  races,  and  has  since 
been  associated  with  most  of  the  great  racing 
events  in  this  country.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing 
for  him  to  handle  $100,000  in  a  single  day's 
racing.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Bride 
&  Stiles,  formerly  Bride,  Armstrong  &  Stiles, 
which  controls  the  privileges  on  the  principal 
tracks  of  America,  having  just  closed  a  contract 
for  ten  years  on  the  Mexican  circuit. 

Having  resolved  to  engage  in  the  breeding  of 
fine  trotting  animals,  Mr.  Stiles  purchased  in 
1890  one  hundred  acres,  a  mile  north  of  Wheaton, 
which  he  has  fitted  up  with  all  the  conveniences 
and  requisites  for  that  purpose,  and  now  makes 
his  home  there.  He  is  the  owner  of  "Elect- 
wood,"  No.  17,004,  by-  "Electioneer,"  No.  125; 
dam  "Amrah,"  by  "Nutwood,"  No.  600,  one  of 
the  finest  specimens  of  "Electioneer"  stock,  and 
numerous  other  finely-bred  horses.  He  has  not 
spared  money,  and,  with  his  opportunities  for 
selecting  winning  strains,  he  can  not  fail  to  de- 
velop some  of  the  fastest  steppers  in  the  country. 
His  farm  and  stables  compose  the  home  of  one 
hundred  handsome  and  aristocratic  blooded  ani- 
mals. He  is  interested  in  the  new  regulation  mile- 
track  adjoining  his  farm,  a  great  resort  for  Chi- 
cago horsemen,  which  will  hereafter  be  the  scene 
of  interesting  trotting  events.  The  farm  also 
furnishes  a  breeding-ground  for  game  chickens 


F.  V.  H.  MINARD. 


409 


and  fine  dogs — Scotch  Collie  and  English  Fox 
Terriers — to  which  Mr.  Stiles  gives  considerable 
attention. 

Socially,  Mr.  Stiles  is  a  most  genial  and  affable 
gentleman,  whom  it  is  a  pleasure  to  meet.  While 
he  is  deeply  interested  in  racing  and  stock-breed- 
ing, he  is  capable  of  conversing  intelligently  on 
other  topics,  being  possessed  of  an  interest  in 
general  affairs  and  a  progressive  and  enterprising 
spirit.  He  is  a  member  and  stockholder  of  the 
Northwestern  Breeders'  Association  and  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

Mr.  Stiles  is,  no  doubt,  the  youngest  soldier 
who  saw  two  years'  active  service  in  the  Civil 
War.  He  enlisted  in  July,  1863,  in  Company 
B,  Fifteenth  New  York  Cavalry,  and  served  un- 
der Gens.  Sigel,  Hunter  and  Sheridan,  taking 
part  in  every  battle  and  all  the  campaigns  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley.  The  horse  he  rode  in  the 
Hunter  campaign  was  one  of  three  that  came  back 
in  our  lines  out  of  thirteen  hundred  starters,  which 
not  only  shows  that  it  was  a  hard  campaign  on  men 
and  horses,  but  also  shows  that  Mr.  Stiles  was  a 


good  forager  and  horseman.  He  was  a  member  of 
Custer's  famous  division,  the  only  cavalry  division 
that  ever  received  a  distinctive  badge  from  the 
Government,  which  consisted  of  a  red  necktie, 
worn  at  the  Grand  Review  in  Washington,  in 
June,  1865.  Immediately  after  the  last-named 
event,  Mr.  Stiles  was  discharged  as  a  supernum- 
erary non-commissioned  officer,  his  regiment  hav- 
ing been  consolidated  with  another. 

In  1889  occurred  an  interesting  and  important 
event  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Stiles,  when  he  took  for 
a  helpmate  Miss  Delia  E.  Burt,  a  native  of  Liv- 
erpool, England,  and  a  daughter  of  an  Episcopal 
clergyman,  Rev.  Dr.  Lionel  Jerome  Burt  and  his 
wife,  Henrietta  Evangeline,  nee  Westreff.  Mrs. 
Stiles  is  an  amiable  and  accomplished  lady,  who 
takes  an  interest  in  church  and  society  matters, 
and  presides  over  the  hospitable  home  of  her  hus- 
band with  grace  and  ease.  Their  residence  oc- 
cupies a  high  and  healthful  site,  overlooking  the 
little  city  of  Wheat  on,  and  is  the  abode  of  quiet 
elegance  and  refinement. 


FRANCIS  VAN  HORN  MINARD. 


I""  RANCIS  VAN  HORN  MINARD,  a  retired 
It)  farmer,  now  living  in  the  village  of  Blue  Is- 
|  *  land,  has  by  a  well-spent  life  and  systematic 
business  methods  won  a  competence  that  ena- 
bles him  to  lay  aside  business  cares  and  spend  his 
declining  days  in  rest  from  labor.  He  was  born 
near  Prattsville,  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  Novem- 
ber 14,  1833,  and  is  a  son  of  Elisha  and  Persis 
(Van  Horn)  Minard.  His  parents  were  natives 
of  Columbia  County,  N.  Y.,  and  the  Minard  fam- 
ily is  supposed  to  have  been  of  Irish  origin,  while 
the  Van  Horns  are  of  Dutch  descent.  The  father 
of  our  subject  was  a  son  of  Joshua  and  Zipporah 
(Bowles)  Minard.  The  former,  who  was  born  in 


1765,  followed  fanning  near  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  and 
had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

In  1841,  Elisha  Minard  emigrated  with  his 
family  to  Cook  County,  111.,  bringing  most  of  his 
goods  in  wagons.  He  settled  upon  a  tract  of 
wild  land  in  Bremen  Township,  for  which  he  had 
previously  traded  eastern  property,  owning  there 
two  hundred  acres,  which  is  now  in  possession 
of  our  subject.  His  death  occurred  on  the  old 
homestead  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  years,  in  1845. 
His  wife,  who  survived  him  for  some  time,  de- 
parted this  life  in  Lee  County,  111.,  about  1860. 
In  their  family  were  the  following  children:  Will- 
iam Hubbard,  now  deceased;  Henry  H.,  of  Free- 


4io 


F.  T.  E.  KALLUM. 


port,  111.;  George  Wellington  and  Julia  Maria, 
both  deceased;  Mary  Eliza,  deceased,  wife  of  James 
Luce;  and  Francis  V.,  who  completes  the  family. 

The  educational  advantages  which  our  subject 
received  were  those  afforded  by  the  district  schools. 
He  was  a  child  of  only  twelve  years  when  his  fa- 
ther died,  but  remained  at  home,  and  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  took  charge  of  the  farm,  which  he  suc- 
cessfully operated  for  many  years.  He  after- 
wards bought  out  his  brothers'  and  sisters'  inter- 
ests in  the  place,  becoming  sole  owner.  It  is  still 
his  property  and  yields  to  him  a  good  income. 
In  1889  he  came  to  Blue  Island,  and  has  since 
lived  a  retired  life. 

On  the  24th  of  November,  1855,  was  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Minard  and  Miss  Margaret 
L.  Gilson,  who  was  born  in  Bremen  Township, 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Dexter  Gilson,  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  that  locality.  Their  children  were  as 
follows:  William  Arthur,  now  deceased;  Dexter 


G.;  Millicent  M.,  wife  of  Irving  Patrick,  of  Will 
County,  111.;  Nellie  L-,  deceased;  William  W.  and 
Willis  W.,  the  former  of  Chicago,  and  the  latter 
deceased;  and  Wellington  and  Winnifred,  twins, 
the  former  deceased,  and  the  latter  at  home.  The 
mother  of  this  family  was  called  to  her  final  rest 
June  8,  1877,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  years. 
On  the  26th  of  October,  1882,  Mr.  Minard  was 
again  married,  his  second  union  being  with  Ag- 
nes J.  Patrick,  daughter  of  Walter  Patrick,  one 
of  Cook  County's  pioneers. 

Mr.  Minard  is  an  advocate  of  Republican  prin- 
ciples, having  warmly  supported  that  party  since 
casting  his  first  presidential  vote  for  John  C.  Fre- 
mont. The  family  attends  the  Congregational 
Church.  He  is  a  public-spirited  citizen  and  an 
accommodating  neighbor,  whose  genial  manners 
win  the  esteem  and  good-will  of  all  who  know 
him. 


FRITHJOF  T.  E.  KALLUM. 


r~R!THJOF  T.  E.  KALLUM,  who  is  con- 
Iv)  nected  with  the  Chicago  Title  and  Trust 
I  ^  Company,  and  makes  his  home  in  Blue 
Island,  was  born  in  Dramen,  Norway,  July  31, 
1863,  and  is  a  son  of  Julius  and  Louisa  (John- 
son) Kallum.  His  father  served  for  twelve  years 
in  the  Norwegian  army,  and  was  also  in  the  Gov- 
ernment employ  as  a  surveyor.  In  1865  he  bade 
adieu  to  his  friends  and  native  land,  and  with  his 
family  sailed  for  America.  After  living  for  four 
years  in  Chicago,  they  took  up  their  residence  in 
Washington  Heights,  and  the  father  aided  in  the 
survey  of  that  town  and  built  the  first  residence 
after  the  town  was  platted.  There  he  spent  his 
remaining  days,  being  called  to  the  home  beyond 
on  the  yth  of  September,  1873,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
nine  years.  His  widow  still  resides  at  the  old 


home.  Their  children  weie:  Carrie,  wife  of  Jacob 
Woldenberg,  of  Washington  Heights;  Gummil 
and  Bertha,  both  of  whom  are  engaged  in  teach- 
ing in  that  place;  and  Frithjof  of  this  sketch. 

Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Washington  Heights,  completing  the  pre- 
scribed course  of  study  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 
Later  he  attended  the  Metropolitan  Business  Col- 
lege, of  Chicago.  On  leaving  the  public  schools, 
he  started  out  to  earn  his  own  livelihood,  and  se- 
cured a  position  in  a  paper-box  factory,  where  he 
worked  for  about  a  year.  He  then  became  office 
boy  for  Justice  D.  Harry  Hammer,  with  whom 
he  remained  for  about  seven  years,  during  which 
time  he  was  promoted  until  he  became  chief 
clerk. 

Mr.  Kallum  entered  upon  his  official  career  on 


J.  F.  SNYDER. 


411 


attaining  his  majority,  having  been  elected  Police 
Justice  of  Washington  Heights.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-three  he  was  made  Town  Clerk  of  Calu- 
met Township,  and  later  was  appointed  Deputy 
Clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  County, 
serving  under  Judges  Gary,  Anthony,  J.  P.  Alt- 
geld  and  Brentano.  In  January,  1891,  here- 
signed,  in  order  to  accept  a  position  with  the  Chi- 
cago Title  and  Trust  Company,  with  which  he 
has  since  been  connected. 

On  the  23d  of  February,  1886,  Mr.  Kalluin 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Ada  Sorgen- 
frei,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Sorgenfrei, 
of  Blue  Island,  in  which  place  the  lady  was  born. 
They  had  two  children,  but  both  died  in  infancy. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kallum  located  first  in  Washing- 


ton Heights,  but  in  1887  came  to  Blue  Island, 
and  in  1893  h£  built  here  a  handsome  residence, 
at  the  corner  of  Grove  and  Chatham  Streets. 

In  his  social  relations,  Mr.  Kallum  is  connected 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  with  the  Royal 
Arcanum,  and  attends  the  First  German  Evangel- 
ical Lutheran  Church  of  Blue  Island.  In  politics 
he  is  first,  last  and  always  a  Republican,  the 
party  finding  in  him  a  most  stalwart  advocate, 
ever  ready  to  advance  its  interests.  He  is  an  en- 
ergetic, capable  and  successful  business  man,  and 
all  duties  of  a  public  nature  which  fall  to  his  lot 
are  discharged  with  such  promptness,  impartiality 
and  good  cheer  as  to  inspire  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  all  concerned. 


JOHN  FRAZIER  SNYDER. 


(JOHN  FRAZIER  SNYDER,  City  Attorney 
I  ofWheaton,  and  an  able  and  successful  mem- 
G)  ber  of  the  Chicago  Bar,  has  been  a  resident 
of  this  city  since  1871.  He  is  a  grandson  of 
Thomas  Snyder,  who  was  bom  in  the  Mononga- 
hela  Valley,  in  Virginia,  and  settled  on  a  farm 
near  Hubbard,  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  about 
1830.  Thomas  Snyder's  father,  of  German  de- 
scent, was  stolen  from  Virginia  by  the  Indians 
when  nine  years  old  and  taken  west  of  the  Ohio 
River,  where  he  was  held  in  captivity  until  he 
grew  to  manhood.  One  day  he  was  sent  by  his 
captors  across  the  Ohio  River  with  a  pony,  to 
gather  up  arrows  which  they  had  been  shooting. 
He  seized  this  opportunity  to  make  his  escape, 
riding  the  pony  as  long  as  it  could  hold  out  to 
run,  and  then  continuing  his  way  on  foot  till  he 
reached  the  white  settlements.  Thomas  Suyder 
married  Rebecca  Titus,  also  a  native  of  Virginia, 
of  English  lineage.  He  died  about  1859,  being 
in  the  neighborhood  of  seventy  years  old. 


Joshua  Snyder,  son  of  Thomas,  and  father  of 
the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  born  in  Virginia  in 
1825,  and  was  therefore  but  a  child  when  taken 
by  his  parents  to  Ohio.  He  married  Harriet 
Frazier,  a  native  of  that  State,  and  in  1844  came 
to  Illinois,  removing  thence  to  Nebraska  in  1879. 
He  has  been  forty -five  years  a  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odist preacher,  and  has  moved  from  place  to  place 
as  selected  by  his  conference.  He  was  Chaplain 
of  the  Nebraska  Senate  in  the  session  of  1892-93. 
He  served  three  years  in  the  Union  army  during 
the  Civil  War,  as  Captain  of  Company  D,  Eighty- 
third  Illinois  Infantry,  going  out  under  Col. 
(afterward  Gen.)  Harding,  of  Monmouth,  and 
participating  in  all  the  experiences  of  that  regi- 
ment. His  wife,  Harriet,  is  a  daughter  of  John 
V.  and  Nancy  (Veach)  Frazier,  of  Scotch  an- 
cestry. 

J.  Frazier,  eldest  of  the  four  children  of  Joshua 
and  Harriet  Snyder,  was  born  at  Kishwaukee, 
Winnebago  County,  111.,  January  16,  1849.  Up 


4I2 


D.   C.   MAHON. 


to  twelve  years  of  age  he  passed  most  of  his  life 
at  Viola,  Mercer  County,  111.,  and  the  family  was 
located  at  Bloomington  when  the  father  entered 
the  army.  He  attended  the  Normal  School  at 
Normal,  near  Bloomington,  and  Monmouth  Col- 
lege, and  graduated  in  the  classical  course  at 
Wheaton  College  in  1876.  He  began  the  study 
of  law  under  the  preceptorship  of  Col.  H.  F. 
Vallette,  of  Chicago,  was  later  with  D.  C.  &  C. 
W.  Nochols,  of  the  same  city,  and  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  October,  1880.  His  progress  at  the 
Bar  has  been  steady,  and  he  now  enjoys  the 
emoluments  of  a  large  general  practice,  including 
law  and  chancery  cases,  and  has  also  successfully 
conducted  the  defense  in  important  criminal  trials. 
He  occupies  offices  in  the  Schloesser  Block  in 
Chicago,  111.  He  served  as  Police  Magistrate  of 
Wheaton  for  eight  years,  and  was  elected  City 
Attorney  in  April,  1893.  His  cases  are  prepared 
with  care,  and  their  trial  is  marked  by  legal 
acumen  and  alertness,  and  a  reserve  of  force  which 
conspires  to  overcome  any  sudden  obstacles,  as 
well  as  to  exhaust  the  resources  of  his  adversaries. 


Personally,  Mr.  Snyder  is  a  man  of  large  frame 
and  fine  physique,  and  his  presence  is  calculated 
to  attract  attention  anywhere,  and  especially  to 
impress  a  jury,  when  re-enforced  by  his  keen 
mentality  and  able  pleadings. 

In  political  associations,  he  is  an  ardent  Repub- 
lican, and  is  not  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  faith 
that  actuates  him  in  sustaining  this  exponent  of 
his  ideal  in  the  progress  of  good  government. 
He  attends  the  Methodist  Church,  of  which  his 
wife  is  a  communicant. 

Mr.  Snyder  became  the  husband  of  Miss  Frankie 
Ellen  Wheaton  on  the  i4th  of  August,  1878,  and 
is  the  possessor  and  occupant  of  a  happy  home  on 
Seminary  Street,  in  the  city  named  for  Mrs.  Sny- 
der's  father,  Jesse  C.  Wheaton,  Sr.  Two  bright 
children  complete  this  family  circle,  namely: 
Juanita  Clemm  and  John  Frazier,  Jr.  Mrs.  Sny- 
der graduated  in  the  classical  course  of  Wheaton 
College  in  June,  1875,  and  taught  six  years  in 
the  Wheaton  High  School,  being  Principal  the 
last  three  years. 


DAVID  CRAIG  MAHON. 


0AVID  CRAIG  MAHON,  who  is  now  living 
retired  on  a  competency  acquired  through 
perseverance  and  honest  toil,  was  born  in 
County  Antrim,  in  the  northern  part  of  Ireland, 
February  14,  1830.  His  grandparents  were 
Scotch-Irish,  but  of  them  he  remembers  noth- 
ing. His  father  was  John  Mahon,  a  native 
of  Scotland,  who  removed  to  Ireland  with  his 
parents  when  very  young.  He  emigrated  to 
America  with  his  family  in  1842,  and  remained 
in  New  York  City  a  few  weeks,  after  which  he 
came  to  Chicago.  When  a  short  period  had 
elapsed,  he  took  up  his  residence  upon  a  farm 
about  eighteen  miles  from  the  city,  situated  in 


Northfield  Township,  Cook  County.  Here  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life,  passing  away  at 
the  advanced  age  of  eighty -four  years.  He  was 
a  successful  farmer,  and  left  his  family  in  com- 
fortable circumstances.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject, who  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Martha  Craig, 
was  a  native  of  County  Antrim,  Ireland.  Her 
parents  were  Scotch-Irish,  and  removed  from 
Scotland  to  the  Emerald  Isle  at  an  early  day. 
She  was  married  at  her  birthplace  in  1820,  and 
the  children  born  to  this  worthy  couple  were 
Martha,  Mary  Jane,  John,  Elizabeth,  David, 
Agnes  and  James.  Four  died  in  Chicago,  and 
Elizabeth,  James  and  our  subject  still  reside  here- 


D.  C.  MAHON. 


David  Mahon  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  this  city,  and  in  1844,  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  he  began  to  learn  the  trade  of 
carriage-ironing  with  Oliver  Jellerson.  He  served 
this  firm  five  years,  and  then  engaged  with  the 
McCormick  Reaper  Manufacturing  Company, 
with  which  he  continued  for  two  years.  In  1851 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Galena  Union  Rail- 
way Company,  working  in  their  shops,  which 
were  opened  at  that  time;  but  the  gold  fever  be- 
ing then  at  its  height,  with  a  friend,  he  resolved 
to  go  to  California.  They  set  out  from  Chicago 
on  the  1 6th  of  April,  and  with  a  mule-team  made 
the  entire  journey  overland  by  the  usual  route, 
making  short  stops  at  principal  points  for  rest 
and  fresh  supplies,  and  meeting  with  no  unpleas- 
ant experiences.  On,  the  i5th  of  September,  they 
arrived  at  Sacramento,  where  they  remained  for 
a  week,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  a  mining  out- 
fit. Mr.  Mahon  then  went  to  Grass  Valley,  a 
small  mining  town  of  about  six  hundred  inhab- 
itants. Here  he  worked  nine  months,  digging 
for  gold,  when,  broken  down  in  health  through 
hard  work  and  constant  exposure,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  that  labor.  He  then  returned 
to  Sacramento,  and  after  a  brief  rest,  entered  the 
service  of  Howe  &  Prudder,  manufacturers  of 
wagons,  mining  tools  and  supplies.  He  was  made 
foreman  of  the  works  at  a  very  large  salary,  ow- 
ing to  his  great  efficiency.  The  first  work  per- 
formed was  to  iron  two  large  stage  coaches  for  car- 
rying passengers  between  Sacramento  and  Stock- 
ton. With  this  firm  he  remained  two  years, 
when,  in  the  summer  of  1854,  he  embarked  for 
home  on  the  steamer  "Uncle  Sam,"  which  he 
left  at  Panama  to  cross  the  Isthmus  to  Aspinwall. 
At  this  point  he  took  passage  for  New  York  on 
the  Vanderbilt  steamer,  "North  Star,"  and  New 
York  was  made  without  a  stop.  He  then  contin- 
ued on  his  way  by  rail  to  Chicago,  reaching  home 
in  June,  1854.  Mr.  Mahon  has  never  regretted 
the  trip.  To  him  it  was  not  only  a  source  of 
pleasure,  but  also  of  profit  in  many  ways. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  home,  Mr.  Mahou  re- 
turned to  his  old  railroad  position,  which  he  held 
until  1863.  He  was  then  transferred  to  the  com- 
pany's shops  at  Sterling,  111.,  and  appointed  fore- 


man, which  position  he  held  for  eight  years,  when 
he  resigned  in  1871  to  accept  a  better  position 
with  the  Vulcan  Iron  Works,  of  Chicago.  Here 
he  had  charge  of  their  blacksmith  department, 
and  remained  with  that  firm  for  twenty  years,  one 
of  its  most  trusted  and  faithful  employes,  who  by 
fidelity  to  duty  won  the  entire  confidence  and  re- 
spect of  the  firm.  He  has  now  retired  with  a 
competency,  obtained  through  long  years  of  hon- 
est toil  and  judicious  investments. 

The  month  of  June,  1854,  witnessed  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Mahon  and  Miss  Mary  Ann  Adams, 
daughter  of  William  H.  and  Maria  (Bethel)  Ad- 
ams. Her  parents  were  of  English  descent,  and 
came  to  Chicago  in  1835,  from  New  York.  They 
lived  and  died  on  a  farm  near  the  city,  and  there 
Mary  was  born.  She  had  a  sister  and  two  brothers: 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Charles  Harpell;  William,  who 
is  married  and  resides  in  Chicago;  and  James, 
who  died  in  this  city  in  1874.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Mahon  were  born  the  following  children:  John, 
who  married  Jennie  Thompson,  and  has  a  son 
Willie;  James,  who  died  when  six  years  of  age; 
and  Annie,  Mrs.  Charles  Grimm,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two,  in  1885.  She  and  her 
brother  lie  buried  in  Graceland  Cemetery. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mahon  attended  the  Midwinter 
Fair  held  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.  They  left  Chi- 
cago via  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railroad, 
March  8,  1894,  an<i  returned  June  8,  1894.  They 
not  only  visited  the  Fair  at  San  Francisco,  but 
Los  Angeles,  Sacramento,  and  other  points  of 
interest  in  the  Golden  State.  Mr.  Mahon  went 
over  the  ground  traversed  during  his  first  resi- 
dence in  California,  but  found  that  so  many 
changes  had  occurred  everything  was  unrecog- 
nizable. He  was  greatly  pleased,  however,  with 
his  trip. 

Mr.  Mahon  is  a  member  of  Covenant  Lodge 
No.  526,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.;  Corinthian  Chapter, 
R.  A.  M.;  St.  Bernard  Commandery  No.  35, 
K.  T. ;  and  Oriental  Consistory.  He  has  taken  the 
Thirty -third  Degree,  and  is  very  prominent  in  Ma- 
sonic circles.  He  also  belongs  to  the  California 
Pioneers,  and  takes  great  interest  in  regularly  at- 
tending their  meetings  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 


D.  F.  DORSETT. 


DUDLEY  F.  DORSETT. 


0UDLEY  FOLSOM  DORSETT  is  the  man- 
ager and  senior  member  of  the  real-estate 
firm  of  Dudley  F.  Dorsett  &  Company,  lo- 
cated on  Dearborn  Street,  Chicago.  Though  a 
comparatively  young  man,  his  business  career  has 
been  marked  by  an  integrity  of  purpose  and  pro- 
gressive, persevering  spirit  that  justly  entitles  him 
to  representation  in  this  record.  He  is  the  sec- 
ond of  nine  children  born  to  Folsom  Dorsett  and 
Anna  Vezain,  and  is  a  native  of  Indiana,  born  in 
the  town  of  Burrows,  Carroll  County,  on  the  twen- 
ty-seventh day  of  February,  1867. 

While  Folsom  Dorsett  was  born  in  the  Empire 
State,  his  father,  Dudley  F.  Dorsett,  came  from 
New  England,  the  family  being  remotely  of  Eng- 
lish origin.  About  1845  the  last-mentioned  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Pekin,  Illinois,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  agriculture  until  1867,  when 
he  became  a  resident  of  Chicago.  Here  he  em- 
barked in  the  manufacture  of  pipe  and  cement, 
which  industry  he  carried  on  for  about  ten  years, 
retiring  shortly  before  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1877,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Lawrence,  was  one 
of  the  heirs  of  the  famous  Lawrence-Townley  es- 
tate in  England.  Her  death  occurred  in  Chicago 
in  1872. 

Folsom  Dorsett  has  been  a  citizen  of  Chicago 
since  1870,  having  been  continuously  in  the  em- 
ploy of  Marshall  Field  &  Company  since  that 
date.  Mrs.  Anna  Dorsett  was  born  in  Paris, 
France,  and  came  with  her  parents  to  America  in 
1850.  They  first  settled  at  Syracuse,  New  York, 
but  later  removed  to  Ottawa,  Illinois,  where  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dorsett  were  married. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  attended  the  Hayes 
School  in  Chicago,  and  at  fifteen  years  of  age  be- 
gan his  business  career,  which  has  been  continu- 
ously in  one  line  from  that  date.  He  first  entered 
the  employ  of  Turner  &  Bond,  real-estate  dealers. 


After  spending  three  years  as  an  errand  boy,  clerk 
and  assistant  bookkeeper,  he  was  advanced  to  the 
position  of  bookkeeper  and  cashier.  He  contin- 
ued with  this  firm  over  ten  years,  becoming  the 
chief  office  man  of  the  concern.  During  this  pe- 
riod its  volume  of  business  greatly  increased,  and 
his  duties  and  responsibilities  were  correspondingly 
augmented.  When  this  firm  dissolved  in  1892, 
he  took  an  interest  in  the  firm  of  Henry  L. 
Turner  &  Company,  continuing  this  connection 
until  April  i,  1894,  when  the  present  firm  of 
Dudley  F.  Dorsett  &  Company  was  organized.  In 
addition  to  a  general  real-estate  business,  it  nego- 
tiates loans,  places  insurance  and  gives  special  at- 
tention to  the  interests  of  estates  and  non-resi- 
dents. Though  it  began  operations  at  an  inaus- 
picious period  of  the  trade  in  realty,  Mr.  Dorsett 
had  an  extensive  acquaintance  and  patronage  al- 
ready acquired,  and  the  business  of  the  firm  has 
been  steadily  prosperous. 

Mr.  Dorsett  has  recently  become  interested  in 
the  fielding  Electric  Alarm  Mail  Box,  an  ingeni- 
ous, novel  and  useful  arrangement  lately  patented, 
and  is  a  stockholder  and  secretary  of  a  company 
organized  to  promote  its  manufacture  and  sale. 

On  the  eighth  of  September,  1890,  occurred  the 
wedding  of  Dudley  F.  Dorsett  and  Miss  Coraline 
Bosworth,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  H.  M.  and 
Elizabeth  Bosworth,  of  Kansas  City.  Mr  Dorsett 
is  connected  with  several  social  and  fraternal  or- 
ganizations, among  which  may  be  mentioned  the 
Masonic  Order,  the  Royal  League  and  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Foresters.  He  has  been  a  con- 
sistent supporter  of  the  men  and  issues  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  and,  though  never  seeking  public 
office  for  himself,  has  been  instrumental  on  more 
than  one  occasion  in  securing  positions  of  trust  and 
honor  for  his  friends,  of  which  class  the  city  con- 
tains a  legion. 


A.  C.  DUCAT. 


4*3 


GEN.  ARTHUR  C.  DUCAT. 


ARTHUR  CHARLES  DUCAT  was 
born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  on  the  24th  of  Feb- 
ruary,  1830.  His  father,  Mungo  Moray 
Ducat,  was  a  gentleman  who  traced  his  lineage 
from  a  very  ancient  Highland  family,  renowned 
in  the  annals  of  Scotland.  He  was  a  native  of 
Cupar  Angus,  but  in  early  life  removed  to  New 
Lawn,  County  Dublin,  Ireland,  where  he  also 
possessed  large  estates.  His  wife,  Dorcas  Julia 
Atkinson,  was  born  in  County  Armagh,  Ireland, 
and  died  in  Downer's  Grove,  Illinois,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1889,  aged  eighty-six  years.  Her  father 
was  an  Englishman,  of  Cambridgeshire. 

Arthur  C.  Ducat  was  educated  at  private 
schools  in  his  native  city,  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  years  came  to  America  with  the  inten- 
tion of  becoming  a  civil  engineer.  He  pursued 
that  profession  for  some  years  on  important  rail- 
road lines  and  other  public  works.  This  occupa- 
tion was  abandoned  when  he  was  tendered  the 
position  of  Secretary  and  General  Surveyor  of  the 
Board  of  Underwriters  of  Chicago,  which  position 
he  accepted  and  occupied  until  the  opening  of  the 
Civil  War.  In  the  mean  time  he  began  to  mani- 
fest a  keen  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  city,  and 
organized,  drilled  and  disciplined  the  Citizens' 
Fire  Brigade,  a  semi-military  and  armed  body  of 
citizens.  Their  duties  were  to  attend  fires  and  save 
and  guard  property  and  life.  This  action  also 
had  a  deeper  meaning,  for  Ducat  had  resolved  to 
abolish  the  old  "volunteer"  fire  department  and 


introduce  a  new  one  in  its  place  on  a  paid  and 
disciplined  basis,  employing  steam  fire-engines. 
He  was  obliged  to  protect  the  first  engines 
brought  to  Chicago  from  the  demonstrations  and 
attacks  of  mobs,  incited  by  the  bad  element  of  the 
volunteer  department,  which  he  did  by  the  aid  of 
his  fire  brigade.  He  wrote  the  ordinances  estab- 
lishing and  substituting  steam  engines  for  the  old 
hand  machines,  and  enlisted  the  vote  of  the  Com- 
mon Council  to  adopt  it. 

Upon  the  beginning  of  hostilities  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to 
offer  substantial  aid  in  support  ot  the  Government. 
His  taste  had  led  him  to  the  study  of  military- 
history  and  science,  and  he  knew  as  much  of  the 
art  of  war  as  a  lieutenant  fresh  from  West  Point. 
The  roar  of  the  first  guns  had  scarcely  ceased 
before  he  had  raised  and  offered — first  to  the  State 
of  Illinois  and  then  to  the  National  Government 
— a  corps  of  three  hundred  engineers,  sappers  and 
miners.  Many  of  these  men  were  professionals 
who  had  seen  service  and  understood  the  details 
of  field  and  permanent  fortifications,  and  works 
connected  therewith,  the  rapid  construction  of 
bridges,  roads,  etc.  The  Government  was  not 
aware,  however,  of  the  struggle  before  it  and  per- 
haps thought  that  engineers  would  not  be  neces- 
sary. So  Ducat  was  chagrined  and  disappointed 
by  the  rejection  of  what  he  foresaw  would  be  a 
much-needed  service.  Notwithstanding  this  re- 
fusal, he  immediately  enlisted  as  a  private,  and 


416 


A.  C.  DUCAT. 


in  April,  1861,  became  a  member  of  the  Twelfth 
Illinois  Infantry.  He  was  without  political,  gov- 
ernmental or  family  influence,  and  resolved  to  do 
his  duty  and  depend  upon  his  merits  for  promo- 
tion. Although  a  good  horseman,  he  selected 
the  infantry  arm  of  the  service,  as  he  believed  it 
would  do  most  of  the  fighting.  His  regiment 
was  among  the  first  that  seized  the  important 
strategic  point  of  Cairo  and  supported  General 
Lyon  in  taking  possession  of  the  arsenal  at  St. 
Louis.  It  was  not  long  before  Ducat's  military 
acquirements  and  capabilities  were  appreciated. 
Within  a  month  he  was  commissioned  Second 
Lieutenant,  and  afterwards  appointed  Adjutant  of 
the  regiment.  Upon  the  expiration  of  the  three 
months  for  which  he  had  enlisted,  he  was  again 
enrolled  for  three  years  in  the  same  regiment,  and 
appointed  Captain  of  Company  A.  The  Twelfth 
formed  a  part  of  the  brigade  that  first  occupied 
the  sacred  soil  of  Kentucky,  taking  possession  of 
Paducah  in  August,  1861.  Here  he  was  pro- 
moted to  be  Major  of  his  regiment,  and  in  the 
month  of  April  following,  at  Fort  Donelson, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel.  In  August,  1862,  he  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  the  grand  guards,  pickets  and 
outposts  for  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  When 
Major-General  Ord  was  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand, Ducat  was  ordered  to  his  staff,  and  when 
Major-General  Rosecrans  relieved  General  Ord, 
Ducat  was  attached  to  the  staff  of  the  former.  At 
Rosecrans'  great  battle  of  Corinth  and  the  subse- 
quent pursuit  of  the  enemy,  he  served  as  acting 
Chief  of  Staff  and  Inspector-General,  and  so  con- 
ducted himself  as  to  receive  the  warmest  con- 
gratulations of  his  superior  officers,  not  only  for 
bravery,  but  for  efficiency,  making  most  important 
suggestions  as  to  movements,  and  carrying  them 
out  with  great  success. 

Subsequently  he  was  directed  by  the  general  in 
command  to  conduct  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  enemy 
at  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi,  a  distance  of  over 
seventy-five  miles,  through  a  country  infested 
with  a  superior  force  of  guerrillas  and  the  enemy's 
cavalry,  who  were  not  to  be  depended  upon  to 
recognize  a  flag  of  truce.  He  succeeded,  and  dis- 
played as  much  tact  and  discretion  in  the  im- 


portant negotiations  entrusted  to  him  as  in  the 
field.  He  was  afterward  detailed  to  arrange  with 
General  Burnside  the  Knoxville  campaign,  rep- 
resenting General  Rosecrans  on  that  occasion. 

When  Major-General  Rosecrans  took  command 
of  the  forces  known  as  the  Army  of  the  Ohio 
(which  subsequently  became  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland),  Colonel  Ducat  was  ordered  to  ac- 
company General  Rosecrans  and  named  as  acting 
Chief  of  Staff  and  acting  Inspector-General.  In 
this  important  and  responsible  position  he  ren- 
dered the  most  efficient  service  in  re-organizing, 
equipping,  disciplining  and  drilling  the  army, 
in  raising  the  siege  of  Nashville,  and  in  opening 
the  railway  from  that  city  to  Louisville.  He  was 
afterward  appointed  by  the  War  Department  In- 
spector-General of  the  Fourteenth  Army  Corps, 
and  after  the  battle  of  Stone  River  and  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Army  and  Department  of  the 
Cumberland,  he  was  appointed  Inspector-General 
of  that  army  and  department  (the  most  military 
of  the  staff  positions),  in  addition  to  which  he  had 
charge  of  the  grand  guards,  pickets  and  out- 
posts, and  the  organization  of  the  signal  corps 
of  the  army.  When  it  is  recollected  that  Ducat 
was  a  self-educated  soldier,  his  selection  from 
among  the  many  able  and  experienced  men  who 
had  made  war  their  profession  is  a  distinc- 
tion indicating  a  high  degree  of  merit.  He  or- 
ganized the  Bureau  of  the  Inspector-General  on  a 
system  substantially  new,  but  adapted  to  secure 
the  greatest  efficiency  and  discipline  of  a  great 
army  in  the  field.  At  first  his  strict  and  rigid 
exactions  rendered  him  unpopular,  but  as  soon 
as  results  began  to  manifest  themselves  in  the 
greater  efficiency  of  the  troops,  their  sanitary 
condition  and  military  spirit,  he  became,  among 
officers  and  men,  one  of  the  most  popular  officers 
of  that  army.  He  formulated  and  put  in  practice 
a  system  of  picketing  and  outposting  an  army 
which  highly  distinguished  him.  When  General 
Rosecrans  was  relieved  and  Maj.-Gen.  George  H. 
Thomas  took  command,  Ducat  was  ordered  to 
the  staff  of  the  latter,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  he  left  the  service  at  the  close  of  the  wjr, 
respected  and  beloved  by  all. 

Many  of  these  facts  are  obtained  from  an  a  *i- 


A.  C.  DUCAT. 


cle  written  by  General  Rosecrans,  who  also  said 
of  him:  "I  regard  him  as  an  extraordinary  man, 
*  *  *  an  excellent  tactician,  *  *  a  soldier 
by  nature;  so  much  so,  that  he  never  exacted 
the  credit  he  easily  merited,  nor  the  promotion 
given  to  less  able  and  more  plodding  men. ' ' 

The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  General 
Grant:  "His  services  have  been  very  valuable 
and  have  been  highly  appreciated."  General 
Thomas  wrote:  "One  of  the  most  able  and  use- 
ful of  the  army  staff  and  cannot  well  be  spared." 
General  Sheridan  characterized  him  as  "an 
officer  of  high  standing  and  distinguished  merit." 
Another  writer  on  the  war  says:  "Ducat  was 
early  distinguished  for  his  thorough  knowledge 
of  military  details,  his  organizing  powers  and  his 
executive  ability;  but  especially  for  his  sleepless 
vigilance  and  activity,  that  mastered  all  details  of 
topography  and  the  movement  of  hostile  armies. ' ' 

The  late  President  Garfield,  Quartermaster 
General  Meigs,  Major  Generals  Ord,  Palmer,  and 
others,  addressed  the  war  department,  recom- 
mending the  higher  promotion  of  Ducat,  but  the 
lack  of  influence  at  headquarters,  together  with 
his  own  indifference  regarding  promotion,  seemed 
to  prevent  him  from  receiving  appointments  to 
higher  commands.  He  was  always  fully  con- 
tented in  any  capacity  in  the  army  to  which  he 
was  appointed. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  hostilities,  the  Home  In- 
surance Company,  of  New  York,  appointed  him 
to  superintend  its  business  in  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Kentucky,  and  shortly  afterward  he  became  its 
general  agent  in  Chicago.  His  career  as  an  act- 
ive underwriter  was  eminently  successful,  his 
popularity  and  acquaintance  throughout  the  West 
being  of  great  advantage  to  his  employers.  The 
firm  of  Ducat  &  Lyon,  of  which  he  was  the 
head,  carries  on  a  general  fire-insurance  business. 
The  business  under  his  control  has  always  been 
successful  and  profitable.  One  of  the  standard 
works  of  America  is  "Ducat's  Practice  of  Fire 
Underwriting,"  which  he  brought  out  in  1857. 

Before  the  great  fire  he  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  that  organized  the  celebrated  Fire 
Insurance  Patrol  of  Chicago.  He  remained 


chairman  of  the  Patrol  Committee  five  years  after 
the  fire,  and  infused  into  it  the  esprit  du  corps 
and  military  spirit  that  have  characterized  it 
and  brought  about  the  extension  of  the  fire 
limits  to  be  co-extensive  with  the  city  limits 
— an  important  work,  adroitly  managed  in  the 
face  of  great  opposition.  He  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  which  framed  the  new  building 
law  after  the  great  fire,  and,  in  conjunction  with 
Frederick  Baumann,  wrote  the  most  elaborate 
and  well-digested  building  law  in  this  or  any 
other  country.  The  Board  of  Local  Fire  Under- 
writers was  organized  on  the  basis  of  his  recom- 
mendation, in  the  capacity  of  committee  for  that 
purpose,  to  which  position  he  was  appointed  soon 
after  the  great  fire. 

In  1873  there  was  a  movement  in  Illinois  to  re- 
organize the  National  Guard  of  the  State.  The 
advice  of  General  Ducat  on  this  subject  was 
sought,  and  the  military  code  upon  which  the 
present  efficient  Guard  was  organized  is  the  prod- 
uct of  his  brain  and  pen,  for  which  he  was  made 
major  general  and  its  commander.  In  1886  he 
was  elected  commander  of  the  Illinois  Comman- 
dery  of  the  military  order  of  the  Loyal  Legion. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, and  of  the  Masonic  order,  being  identified 
with  Apollo  Commandery,  Knights  Templar; 
and  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Club.  He  was 
always  a  staunch  Republican,  though  never  a 
candidate  for  civil  office.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Lyon,  daughter  of  William  Lyon,  Esq.,  of 
Bedford,  Pennsylvania.  Her  death  occurred  in 
Chicago,  October  26,  1890,  at  the  age  of  forty  - 
three  years.  In  1892  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Alice  Jane  Soutar,  daughter  of  P.  J.  Soutar,  an 
eminent  lawyer  of  Dunfermline,  Scotland.  Six 
of  General  Ducat's  children  survive.  Arthur  C. , 
Jr.,  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  is  a  lieutenant  in 
the  United  States  Army;  Kate,  the  second  child, 
is  the  wife  of  C.  P.  Stivers,  of  Chicago;  and 
Mary,  Reginald,  Elizabeth  and  Alice  complete 
the  family,  whose  members  are  communicants  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  General  Ducat 
was  reared.  The  latter  died  January  29,  1896,  at 
his  home  in  Downer's  Grove. 


418 


DANIEL  WARREN. 


DANIEL  WARREN. 


0ANIEL  WARREN,  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
Illinois,  deserves  more  than  passing  notice 
in  this  record.  He  was  the  representative 
of  one  of  the  oldest  American  families,  which 
will  always  live  in  history  because  of  the  brave 
general  who  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of  Bun- 
ker Hill.  Daniel  Warren  was  a  successful  busi- 
ness man,  who  came  West  to  embrace  the  op- 
portunity to  secure  a  large  landed  estate  at  small 
original  outlay.  He  was  a  native  of  Massachu- 
setts, born  about  1 780,  near  Concord,  the  scene  of 
the  first  conflict  of  arms  in  behalf  of  colonial  in- 
dependence and  American  liberty. 

In  early  life,  Mr.  Warren  went  to  western  New 
York,  and  opened  the  first  store  in  Fredonia, 
Chautauqua  County,  that  State.  He  afterward 
lived  about  fourteen  years  in  Westfield,  same 
county.  While  a  resident  of  New  York,  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  Naper  brothers,  who 
settled  the  present  prosperous  town  of  Naperville, 
in  DuPage  County,  Illinois.  Naturally,  when 
he  decided  to  locate  in  the  West,  he  called  upon 
them,  at  their  Illinois  home,  and  at  once  found  a 
satisfactory  location  about  halfway  between  Na- 
perville and  the  present  town  of  Warrenville. 
This  was  in  the  spring  of  1833,  while  Chicago 
was  scarcely  thought  of  as  a  city,  and  certainly, 
its  present  marvelous  development  undreamed-of 
by  the  wildest  speculator  on  human  destiny.  In 
a  few  years,  Mr.  Warren  sold  out  his  claim  and 
moved  to  the  present  site  of  Warrenville,  where 
he  built  a  sawmill  and  laid  out  a  town.  He  also 
secured  nearly  a  section  of  land,  and  made  farm- 
ing his  principal  industry  until  advancing  years 
caused  his  retirement  from  active  life.  In  all  his 
undertakings,  he  was  assisted  by  his  only  son, 
Col.  J.  M.  Warren,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be 
found  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  The  father 


passed  away  at  his  home  in  Warrenville  in  1866, 
aged  eighty-six  years. 

Nancy  Morton,  who  became  the  wife  of  Daniel 
Warren,  and  the  mother  of  a  son  and  seven 
daughters,  was  born  in  Orange,  Worcester  Coun- 
ty, Massachusetts,  on  the  ninth  day  of  February, 
1785.  When  nine  years  old,  she  went  with  her 
parents  to  Madison  County,  New  York,  and  was 
the  favorite  companion  of  her  brother,  Rev.  Sal- 
mon Morton,  a  well-known  pioneer  clergyman  of 
western  New  York.  That  she  was  a  woman  of 
refinement  and  graces  of  mind  is  shown  by  the 
character  of  her  daughters,  several  of  whom  be- 
came ornaments  of  Chicago  society.  The  pio- 
neers were  largely  dependent  upon  their  own  re- 
sources for  amusement  and  culture,  and  the  youth 
of  the  time  were  fortunate  whose  parents  brought 
educated  and  refining  influences  with  them.  Mrs. 
Warren  took  a  keen  delight  in  the  lives  of  her 
offspring,  and  lived  to  a  great  age,  retaining  her 
faculties  to  the  end,  which  came  February  4, 
1873,  and  she  was  buried  on  the  eighty-eighth 
anniversary  of  her  birth. 

Following  are  the  names  of  the  children  of 
Daniel  and  Nancy  (Morton)  Warren:  Philinda, 
widow  of  P.  H.  Fowler,  now  in  her  ninety-first 
year,  residing  at  Warrenville;  Louisa,  married 
Frederick  Bird,  and  died  at  Rockton,  Illinois; 
Julius  Morton  (see  biography  elsewhere  in  this 
volume);  Sarah,  wife  of  Abel  Carpenter,  died  in 
Chicago;  she  was  one  of  the  first  teachers  in  this 
city,  in  a  select  school;  Harriet,  Mrs.  C.  B.  Dod- 
son,  lived  at  Geneva,  Illinois,  where  she  died; 
Mary  and  Maria  were  twins,  the  former  now  re- 
siding in  Chicago,  being  the  widow  of  Jerome 
Beecher,  and  the  latter  died  in  the  same  city, 
while  wife  of  Silas  B.  Cobb;  Jane  married  N.  B. 
Curtiss,  a  prominent  business  man  of  Peoria. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
UIVERSITY  OF  r 


CHARLES  C.  P.  HOLDEN 


MRS.  C.  C.  P.  HOLDEN 


OF  THE 
vlN|ERSlTY  OF  ILLK 


C.  C.  P.  HOLDEN. 


419 


CHARLES  C.  P.  HOLDEN. 


EHARLES  C.  P.  HODDEN  was  born  at  Gro- 
ton,  New  Hampshire,  August  9,  1827.  His 
father's  name  was  Phineas  H.,  and  his 
mother,  prior  to  her  marriage,  was  Miss  Betsey 
Parker.  His  genealogical  record  shows  his  earliest 
American  ancestor  to  have  been  one  Richard 
Holden,  who,  in  1634,  with  his  brother  Justinian, 
came  from  Ipswich,  England,  in  the  sailing-ves- 
sel "Francis,"  settling  in  the  locality  which  after- 
ward became  Watertown,  Massachusetts.  Mr. 
Holden' s  maternal  grandfather  was  Lieutenant 
Levi  Parker,  a  patriot  who  served  in  the  army  of 
the  Revolution,  taking  part  in  the  battle  of  Bun- 
ker Hill  and  not  returning  to  his  fireside  until 
after  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis.  He  chanced  to 
be  with  Washington  at  the  time  of  Arnold's  trea- 
son and  Andre's  capture,  and  served  as  one  ol 
the  guards  at  the  execution  of  the  gallant  British 
officer  who  was  punished  as  a  spy,  and  whose 
conspicuous  bravery  Lieutenant  Parker  sincerely 
admired. 

Mr.  Holden' s  father,  with  his  family  of  nine 
children,  came  West  in  1836,  reaching  Chicago 
June  30.  With  hired  ox-teams  he  at  once  set  out 
for  the  prairie,  where  he  pre-empted  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  Government  land,  selecting  as 
a  location  Skunk's  Grove,  on  the  "Sauk  Trail," 
in  the  edge  of  Will  County,  thirty  miles  south  of 
the  future  city.  He  was  the  first  settler  in  that 
region,  his  nearest  neighbor  being  two  miles  and 
a-half  distant,  and  his  children  being  compelled 
to  walk  three  miles  across  the  trackless  prairie  to 
receive  instruction  in  the  rude  log  hut  which 
served  as  a  schoolhouse. 

Among  such  surroundings  Charles  rapidly  de- 

»This  sketch  is  taken  from  the  "History  of  Chicago,"  by  per- 
mission of  the  publishers  Munsell  &  Co. 


veloped  great  physical  strength.  When  not  more 
than  ten  years  old  he  drove  a  breaking  team  of 
five  yoke  of  oxen,  his  father  holding  the  plow, 
and  was  able  to  do  all  that  usually  fell  to  the  lot 
of  farmers'  boys  in  those  early  days.  When  he 
was  fifteen,  his  father  placed  him  in  Sweet's  gro- 
cery store,  on  North  Water  Street,  near  Wolcott, 
now  North  State  Street,  where  for  six  months  he 
worked  hard  for  his  board.  At  the  end  of  that 
time,  however,  his  employer  presented  him  with 
a  pair  of  cassimere  pantaloons,  which  the  young 
clerk  highly  prized. 

In  the  spring  of  1847  his  patriotic  ardor,  no  less 
than  his  love  of  adventure,  prompted  him  to  en- 
list in  Company  F,  of  the  Fifth  Regiment  of  Illi- 
nois Volunteers,  and  after  serving  until  the  end 
of  the  Mexican  War  he  was  mustered  out  of  serv- 
ice at  Alton,  Illinois,  October  16,  1848.  He 
immediately  secured  employment  in  the  book 
otore  of  A.  H.  &  C.  Burley,  where  he  remained 
until  March,  1850.  On  the  igthofthat  month 
he  joined  a  party  which  set  out  from  Old  Fort 
Kearney,  Missouri,  for  California.  The  route 
was  overland,  and  the  pilgrims  took  up  their 
weary  journey  with  two  teams.  They  reached 
Hangtown  July  1 2  and  at  once  began  mining  on 
the  Middle  Fork  of  the  American  River.  Young 
Holden  spent  two  seasons  on  this  stream,  pass- 
ing the  second  at  Coloma  Bar.  In  the  fall  ot 
1851  he  began  farming  and  stock-raising  at  Napa 
Valley,  which  pursuits  he  followed  until  Decem- 
ber i,  1853,  when  he  turned  his  face  eastward. 
He  took  passage  on  the  steamship  "Winfield 
Scott,"  bound  from  San  Francisco  for  Panama, 
but  the  vessel  was  wrecked  in  a  fog  on  the  reef 
of  Anna  Capa  Island,  at  midnight,  December  2. 
As  soon  as  the  grinding  of  the  ship's  bottom  on 


420 


•C.  C.  P.  HOLDEN. 


the  rocks  aroused  the  three  hundred  or  more  pas- 
sengers to  a  comprehension  of  their  danger,  they 
buckled  on  life  preservers,  promptly  given  them 
by  the  officers,  and  anxiously  awaited  their  sup- 
posed fate.  They  recalled  the  doom  of  the  ill- 
fated  "Independence,"  which  had  gone  to  the 
bottom  a  few  months  before  with  four  hundred 
souls  on  board.  The  officers  of  the  "Winfield 
Scott"  did  their  duty  nobly,  the  furnace  fires 
were  promptly  extinguished  and  the  first  boat- 
loads of  impatient,  terror-stricken  voyagers  were 
landed  on  the  shelving  rocks,  which,  however, 
seemed  a  veritable  haven  of  refuge.  The  pass- 
age to  these  rocks  was  perilous,  but  every  one 
was  safely  transported.  The  stranded  passengers 
and  crew,  however,  underwent  torments  of  hun- 
ger and  thirst  upon  a  barren  ledge  until  rescued, 
seven  days  after  the  wreck,  by  the  steamship 
"California,"  which  carried  them  to  Panama. 
The  '  'Scott' '  was  abandoned  to  the  pitiless  buffet- 
ing of  the  elements  and  ultimately  went  to  pieces. 
Neither  cargo,  express  matter  (except  the  money), 
mail  nor  baggage  was  rescued.  The  destitute 
passengers  made  the  best  of  their  way  across  the 
isthmus  and  were  taken  to  New  York  by  the 
Pacific  Mail  steamer  "Illinois,"  landing  January 
3,  1854.  Mr.  Holden  returned  to  Chicago,  reach- 
ing this  city  March  18,  1854,  precisely  four  years 
(lacking  one  day)  from  the  date  of  his  departure. 

The  next  important  event  in  his  life  was  his 
entry  into  the  service  of  the  land  department  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  which 
occurred  February  20,  1855. 

Seven  months  later — on  September  17,  1855 
— he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Reynolds, 
daughter  of  Isaac  N.  and  Rue  Ann  Reynolds,  of 
New  lycnox,  Will  County,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Hol- 
den was  the  granddaughter  of  Abraham  Holder- 
man,  of  Holderman's  Grove,  Illinois,  where  he 
settled  in  1830. 

Mr.  Holden  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in 
Illinois  politics  since  1858,  when  he  went  as  a 
delegate  from  Chicago  to  Springfield  to  the  Re- 
publican State  Convention.  The  train  that  car- 
ried the  delegation  was  decorated  with  a  banner 
bearing  the  legend,  "For  United  States  Senator, 
Abraham  Lincoln."  It  was  after  the  adjourn- 


ment of  this  convention  that  the  great  commoner 
uttered  those  memorable  words: 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand. 
I  believe  this  Government  cannot  endure  per- 
manently, half  slave,  half  free.  I  do  not  expect 
the  Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the 
house  to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the 
other." 

Mr.  Holden  was  elected  a  member  of  the  city 
council  in  April  1861,  he  representing  the  old 
"fifth  ward,"  and  continued  a  member  of  the 
municipal  legislature  until  December,  1872.  Dur- 
ing his  protracted  term  of  service  he  had  an  eye 
single  to  the  city's  good.  He  worked  as  did  few  of 
his  confreres,  '  'public  office' '  being,  in  his  esti- 
mation, a  "public  trust."  Measures  of  genuine 
improvement — not  for  his  own  ward,  but  looking 
to  the  benefit  of  all  Chicago — found  in  him  an 
ardent  champion.  The  improvement  of  streets 
was  one  of  his  cherished  hobbies,  of  which  he 
never  lost  sight.  In  this  connection  due  credit 
should  be  given  to  Mr.  Holden's  labors.  The 
water  supply  received  his  thoughtful  considera- 
tion, and  it  was  largely  through  his  efforts  that  the 
present  system  of  abundant  distribution  through- 
out the  city  took  its  inception  and  received  its  im- 
pulsive force.  While  a  member  of  the  council  he 
was  constantly  agitating  this  question.  He  was 
the  advocate  of  pure  water,  and  plenty  of  it,  for 
every  man,  woman  and  child  within  the  corporate 
limits.  Indeed  had  it  not  been  for  him  and  others 
like  him,  Chicago  would  have  been,  to-day,  as 
poorly  supplied  with  water  as  some  of  her  sister 
western  cities.  It  was  through  his  persistent  la- 
bor that  the  city  authorized  the  building  of  the 
second  tunnel  under  the  lake,  with  its  extension, 
besides  the  construction  of  the  waterway  ending 
at  Ashland  Avenue  and  Twenty-second  Street. 

As  to  Mr.  Holden's  influence  in  this  regard, 
see  proceedings  of  the  common  council  for  1869 
and  1870,  pp.  87,  91,  in,  and  page  690,  Pro- 
ceedings 1868-9. 

During  the  dark  hours  of  the  nation's  history, 
Mr.  Holden  was  conspicuously  loyal.  His  vote, 
his  voice  and  his  efforts  were  always  in  support 
of  the  Union.  His  vote  as  a  municipal  legislator 


C.  C.  P.  HOLDEN. 


421 


was  always  in  behalf  of  aiding  the  National  Gov- 
ernment with  men  and  money.  In  1862  he 
raised  a  company  for  the  Eighty- eighth  regiment 
of  Illinois  Volunteers,  his  brother,  Levi  P.,  being 
elected  its  captain.  In  1864,  when  a  draft  was 
ordered  in  case  the  quota  of  troops  allotted  to 
Chicago  was  not  furnished  through  voluntary  en- 
listment, he  determined  that  there  should  be  no 
draft  in  his  ward — the  Tenth.  He  organized  a 
"Ward  Draft  Association"  and  was  chosen  its 
president.  The  members  worked  with  a  will,  and 
the  sum  of  $51,912  was  raised  wherewith  to  pay 
bounties  to  volunteers,  thus  warding  off  what 
Mr.  Holden  was  inclined  to  regard  as  a  threat- 
ened disgrace.  Mr.  Holden  furnished  three  rep- 
resentatives for  his  family  for  the  army — Harris 
Durkee,  for  his  wife;  Frederick  A.  Hausmann, 
for  his  sister-in-law,  Rowena  P.  Reynolds;  and 
Alonzo  C.  Ide  for  himself. 

His  part  in  civic  affairs  has  always  been  a  prom- 
inent one.  He  was  marshal  of  the  city  council 
on  the  occasion  of  the  reception  of  the  remains  of 
President  Lincoln  on  their  way  to  their  final  rest- 
ing place  at  Springfield,  and  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee named  to  secure  the  attendance  of  General 
Grant  at  the  great  fair  held  at  Dearborn  Park, 
July,  1865.  It  was  he  who  introduced  the  reso- 
lutions which  were  adopted  by  the  council  relative 
to  Lincoln's  funeral.* 

At  the  time  of  the  great  fire  of  1871,  he  was 
president  of  the  council,  and  rendered  valuable 
service  in  bringing  order  out  of  chaos  and  secur- 
ing succor  for  the  destitute.  A  detailed  account 
of  his  efficient  work  at  that  trying  period  may  be 
found  in  Andreas'  History  of  Chicago,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  761-772. f  At  the  next  municipal  election 
both  the  great  political  parties — Republican  and 
Democratic — placed  Mr.  Holden  in  nomination 
for  the  mayoralty,  each  also  nominating  a  full 
ticket  for  the  other  city  offices.  But  there  was  an 
element  in  the  community  which  was  of  opinion 
that  political  considerations  ought  not  to  be  re- 
garded at  such  a  time,  and  in  consequence  a  com- 
plete "citizens'-"  ticket,  known  as  the  "fire- 
proof," was  nominated,  containing  the  names  of 

*See  Council  Proceeding!  for  1866,  p.  8. 

tSee  also  Council  Proceedings  for  1871,  pp.  346,  347. 


Joseph  Medill  for  Mayor  and  David  A.  Gage  foi 
Treasurer.  The  "fire-proof "  ticket  was  elected. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Holden  was  an  elector  on  the 
Greeley  ticket,  but,  with  his  associates,  went 
down  in  the  political  cyclone  which  swept  the 
country  in  November  of  that  year. 

Previous  to  this — in  March,  1869 — Governor 
Palmer  had  appointed  him  a  West  Chicago  Park 
Commissioner,  and  re-appointed  him  in  1871.  He 
accepted  the  trust,  and  with  his  brother  commis- 
sioners laid  out  the  magnificent  system  of  parks 
and  boulevards  which  has  so  largely  aided  in 
building  up  the  great  West  Side.  He  resigned 
from  the  board  in  1878. 

In  1873,  he  was  called  upon  to  mourn  the  loss 
of  his  wife,  who  for  a  lifetime  had  been  his  coun- 
sellor, his  helpmeet,  and  the  honored  mistress  of 
his  happy  home.  She  passed  away  July  26,  after 
a  lingering  illness,  and  was  laid  to  rest  at  Rosehill. 
It  was  a  source  of  regret  to  both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Holden  that  the  latter's  youngest  sister,  Rowena 
(who  had  been  a  member  of  the  family  since 
1858),  was  not  at  home  during  this  protracted 
sickness,  she  being  absent  on  an  extended  tour 
through  Europe  and  the  Orient.  An  adopted 
daughter,  Sarah  J. ,  remained  to  sustain  him  in 
his  bereavement. 

In  February,  1873,  Mr.  Holden  left  the  employ 
of  the  Illinois  Central  railway,  after  eighteen 
years'  consecutive  service,  during  which  period 
he  had  aided  in  selling  two  million  acres  of  the 
corporation's  lands.  He  then  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  construction  of  the  Chicago  &  Illi- 
nois River  Railroad,  running  from  Joliet  to  Coal 
City,  the  charter  and  organization  of  which  he 
virtually  controlled;  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in 
this  company,  whose  line  ultimately  became  a 
part  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  system. 

In  1874,  he  was  elected  a  County  Commissioner, 
and  July  4,  1877,  as  president  of  the  board,  laid 
the  corner  stone  of  the  county  court  house.  His 
investments  in  real  estate  proved  fortunate,  and 
he  has  erected  several  blocks,  among  them  one 
at  the  corner  of  Monroe  and  Aberdeen  Streets 
and  another  at  Nos.  298  to  302  West  Madison 
Street. 

Mr.  Holden's  adopted  daughter,  Sarah  J.,  was 


422 


W.  B.  PARSONS. 


married,  February  17,  1885,  to  Mr.  George  M. 
Say  re.  and  now  resides  at  Elmira,  New  York. 
They  have  two  children,  Charles  Holden  and 
Grade.  Some  three  years  later,  July  n,  1888, 
he  was  married  for  a  second  time,  his  bride  being 
Miss  Thelena  N.  McCoy,  daughter  of  Henry  M. 
and  Mary  (Lakin)  McCoy.  She  was  born  at 
Port  Perry,  Canada,  where  she  received  her 
schooling  and  musical  education.  Her  mother 
died  in  1879,  and  she  being  the  eldest  daughter, 
much  fell  to  her  lot  in  caring  for  the  family,  which 
consisted  of  her  father,  two  brothers  and  three 
sisters.  She  bravely  assumed  the  responsibility. 
The  children  were  educated,  and  while  caring  for 
her  household  she  was  pursuing  her  musical  and 
other  studies.  The  western  fever  having  seized 
her  father,  he  removed  with  his  family  to  South 
Dakota,  where,  in  the  winter  of  1888,  they  passed 
through  the  terrible  blizzard  that  scourged  the 
Dakotas,  and  where  he  is  now  living  a  quiet  life 
with  his  second  wife,  in  Mitchell,  of  that  State. 

Thelena,  who  had  in  previous  years  met  Mr. 
Holden,  was  married  to  him  July  n,  1888,  and 
accompanied  him  to  their  cozy  home  in  Chicago. 
Her  brother  Charles,  with  his  wife  and  three 
children,  lives  in  Rapid  City,  South  Dakota.  Her 
brother  George  and  wife  reside  in  Hart,  Michi- 
gan. Her  eldest  sister,  Addie,  married  Dr.  J.  H. 
Reed,  of  Lansing,  Michigan.  Her  sister  Nettie 


married  Dr.  T.  Allen,  of  Garnett,  Kansas;  and 
Emma,  her  baby  sister,  who  was  always  Mrs. 
Holden's  favorite  and  especial  charge,  was  mar- 
ried to  Mr.  Lu  Newman,  of  Chicago,  in  1888. 
She  died  December  i,  1893.  Mrs.  Holden  is  of 
a  very  domestic  nature,  and  strives  to  make  their 
home  pleasant.  It  is  adorned  with  much  of  her 
own  work,  she  being  handy  both  with  the  brush 
and  needle,  as  is  clearly  shown  in  their  domestic 
home,  which  is  on  the  great  West  Side  in  this  city. 

Mr.  Holden's  mother  passed  away  September 
23,  1869,  and  his  father  February  23,  1872. 
They  died  on  the  farm  they  had  located  in  1836. 
His  sister  Mary  E.  (Mrs.  J.  W.  Freer)  died 
November  28,  1845,  and  his  sister  Sarah  Ann 
C.  February  13,  1847. 

In  his  social  relations  he  is  a  member  of  sev- 
eral well-known  organizations,  among  them  the 
Illinois  State  Association  of  Veterans  of  the 
Mexican  War,  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, the  California  Pioneers'  Association  of  Chica- 
go, the  Old  Settlers'  Society  of  Cook  County  and 
the  German  Old  Settlers'  Association.  By  the  latter 
organization  he  was  presented  with  a  gold  medal 
in  1888.  At  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  Mr.  Holden 
still  retains  his  mental  and  physical  faculties  un- 
impaired, hale  and  hearty  in  his  declining  years, 
one  of  the  distinguished  products  of  Chicago's 
cosmopolitan  influence. 


WILLIAM  B.  PARSONS. 


BOSTWICK  PARSONS,  a  for- 
mer  citizen  of  Chicago,  now  deceased,  is 
well  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  columns  of 
this  work,  on  account  of  his  family  connections, 
his  precocity  as  a  child,  his  ability  as  a  student, 
and  the  part  which  he  took  in  the  legal  profession 
and  in  business.  He  was  born  at  Burlington, 
Vermont,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1833,  and 
was  the  son  of  Judge  Sylvanus  Parsons,  a  promi- 
nent citizen  and  scion  of  one  of  the  old  families  of 
New  England. 


As  a  youth  he  was  quiet  and  studious,  much 
preferring  the  company  of  books  to  the  society  of 
other  children,  and  so  rapid  was  his  progress  in 
the  acquisition  of  an  education  that  he  not  only 
completed  the  primary  studies  incident  to  prepa- 
ration for  college,  but  mastered  Latin  and  Greek, 
which  he  taught  in  Spalding's  School  at  Barre, 
Vermont,  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years.  Entering 
Dartmouth  College  when  a  mere  lad,  he  made  a 
brilliant  record  as  a  student  in  that  institution, 
and  graduated  third  in  his  class,  the  most  of 


SCOTT,  SR. 


423 


whose  members  were  several  years  older  than  he. 
His  subsequent  career  showed  that  the  teachings 
of  this  old  and  honored  institution — the  alma 
mater  of  Daniel  Webster  and  a  host  of  other  emi- 
nent statesmen,  lawyers,  orators  and  men  of  other 
professions — were  not  lost  upon  him. 

At  the  completion  of  his  college  course,  stirred 
by  the  same  spirit  which  has  caused  the  migration 
from  New  England  of  thousands  of  her  worthy 
sons,  who  have  contributed  in  a  great  measure  to 
people  the  West,  build  up  our  interests  and  shape 
the  destiny  of  the  Nation,  and  full  of  love  for  the 
free  institutions  for  which  his  ancestors  had  per- 
iled their  lives  in  the  great  struggle  for  freedom, 
he  decided  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  liberty-loving 
people  of  Kansas,  who  were  then  in  the  throes  of 
that  mighty  moral  struggle  which  preceded  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion.  Settling  in  Coffee  Coun- 
ty, the  young  lawyer  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession  and  soon  rose  to  a  prominent 
place  at  the  bar,  and  was  honored  by  being 
elected  County  Attorney.  The  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War  interfered  with  the  practice  of  the  law 
and  stirred  his  patriotism.  He  volunteered  at  an 
early  date,  as  a  private  in  a  Kansas  regiment, 
and  served  out  the  term  of  his  enlistment,  after 


which  he  re-enlisted  and  was  appointed  to  a  place 
in  the  Paymaster's  department,  where  he  served 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  Returning  to  Kansas, 
he  was  again  elected  attorney  of  his  county. 

After  spending  several  years  in  the  profession 
and  acquiring  prominence  as  a  lawyer,  declining 
health  compelled  him  to  abandon  the  practice, 
and  he  sought  a  higher  altitude  and  new  em- 
ployment in  the  mountain  districts  of  Colorado, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  mining  enterprises 
until  the  year  1882.  At  the  latter  date  he  came 
to  Chicago  and  retired  from  active  life.  He  died 
here  January  31,  1885. 

On  the  i2th  of  November,  1861,  William  B. 
Parsons  and  Julia  W.  Kinzie  were  united  in  wed- 
lock at  Burlington,  Kansas,  the  home  of  Robert 
A.  Kinzie,  the  pioneer  of  Chicago,  whose  biogra- 
phy appears  in  this  work.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parsons 
were  the  parents  of  three  children,  namely:  Rob- 
ert Wilkins,  now  a  resident  of  Chicago;  William 
Guy,  cashier  of  the  United  States  Rubber  Com- 
pany, of  New  York;  and  Frank  Kinzie  Parsons, 
who  is  a  stock-raiser  in  Montana.  Mrs.  Parsons 
survives  her  husband,  and  occupies  a  responsible 
position  in  the  Chicago  postomce,  which  she  has 
held  for  twenty  years. 


WILLARD  SCOTT,  SR. 


SCOTT,  SR.,  deceased,  who  for 
many  years  was  connected  with  the  leading 
business  interests  of  Naperville,  and  for 
half  a  century  made  his  home  in  this  section  of 
the  great  commonwealth  of  Illinois,  was  a  native 
of  New  York,  born  in  Unadilla,  Otsego  County, 
April  20,  1808.  His  parents  were  Stephen  J.  and 
Hadassah  (Trask)  Scott.  The  father  followed 
the  sea  in  his  early  years  and  became  the  owner 
and  master  of  a  schooner,  which  bore  his  name 
and  was  engaged  in  the  coast  trade  along  the  At- 


lantic shore.  In  Connecticut  he  wedded  Miss 
Trask,  who  was  a  relative  of  Gen.  Israel  Putnam, 
one  of  the  heroes  of  Revolutionary  fame.  On 
leaving  Hartford,  Conn.,  they  went  to  Unadilla, 
and  the  year  1816  witnessed  their  removal  to 
Maryland,  where  they  spent  the  next  decade. 

During  this  time  our  subject  was  acquiring  an 
education  in  the  common  schools,  and  also  took  a 
short  course  in  mathematics.  It  was  his  desire 
to  become  a  sailor,  but  his  mother  urged  him  not 
to  do  this,  for  the  life  was  too  fraught  with  dan- 


424 


C.  J.  MAGILL. 


gers.  In  1825  the  family  made  a  visit  to  New 
York,  and  then  started  for  St.  Joseph,  Mich. ,  go- 
ing through  Canada  to  Detroit,  and  thence  by 
water.  The  goods  were  shipped  by  sailing-vessel 
to  Detroit,  and  thence  Willard  took  them  to  their 
destination.  He  went  to  Detroit  with  a  man 
from  Ohio,  and  the  journey  thither  was  a  perilous 
one  through  the  unbroken  forest,  there  being  no 
road  except  the  Indian  trails.  They  reached  De- 
troit ten  days  before  the  arrival  of  their  goods, 
during  which  time  they  lived  on  corn  and  pota- 
toes. The  family  were  not  pleased  with  their 
home  in  Michigan,  and,  crossing  the  Lake,  located 
in  Evanston. 

On  the  i6th  of  July,  1829,  Willard  Scott  wed- 
ded Caroline  Hawley,  in  Holderman's  Grove.  In 
1818,  her  father,  Pierce  Hawley,  went  from  Ver- 
mont to  Vincennes,  Ind. ,  and  afterwards  came  to 
Illinois,  locating  in  Holderman's  Grove  in  1825. 
In  the  fall  of  1830,  he  and  his  family,  accompa- 
nied by  Mr.  Scott  and  his  family,  located  three 
miles  south  of  Naperville,  in  what  is  now  DuPage 
County,  but  was  then  a  part  of  Cook  County. 
Cook  County  at  that  time  also  comprised  Lake, 
McHenry  and  Will  Counties.  There  were  thirty- 
two  votes  polled  in  Chicago  that  year,  Mr.  Scott's 
father  depositing  the  first  one.  During  the  War 
of  1832,  our  subject  proved  a  valued  citizen  in 
the  settlement,  on  account  of  his  knowledge  of 
the  Indians  and  their  methods  of  warfare. 

In  1838  Mr.  Scott  became  a  resident  of  Naper- 


ville, built  the  Naperville  Hotel,  and  conducted  it 
for  eighteen  years,  after  which  he  carried  on  mer- 
chandising for  twenty  years,  most  of  the  time  be- 
ing associated  with  his  son  Thaddeus.  The  firm 
of  Willard  Scott  &  Co.  controlled  the  leading  bus- 
iness in  this  place,  and  operations  are  still  carried 
on  under  that  name,  Willard  Scott,  Jr. ,  succeed- 
ing his  father  and  brother  Thaddeus  in  the  busi- 
ness. Retiring  from  merchandising  after  the 
Civil  War,  Mr.  Scott  was  President  of  the  Du- 
Page County  Bank,  subsequently  of  the  Bank  of 
Naperville,  and  was  a  private  banker  until  his 
death,  September  13,  1892.  He  possessed  busi- 
ness ability  of  a  high  order,  was  sagacious  and  far- 
sighted,  and  his  enterprise  was  tempered  by  a 
commendable  conservatism.  He  won  success,  and 
his  prosperity  was  the  reward  of  his  own  labors. 
In  political  belief  our  subject  was  a  Democrat, 
and  his  first  vote  was  cast  for  Andrew  Jackson 
in  1828.  He  was  a  resident  of  Naperville  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  and  was  ever  found  in 
the  front  rank  of  those  enterprises  calculated  to 
advance  the  best  interests  of  the  community. 
Throughout  DuPage  and  Cook  Counties  he  was 
widely  known,  and  was  held  in  the  highest  re- 
gard by  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor.  The 
name  of  Willard  Scott  is  inseparably  connected 
with  the  history  of  this  community,  and  the  rec- 
ord of  the  county  would  be  incomplete  without  his 
sketch. 


CHARLES  J.  MAGILL. 


OHARLES  JAMES  MAGILL,  whose  name  William  Magill,  wasanative  ofMiddletown,  Con- 
ll  has  for  years  been  a  synonym  for  unbiased  necticut,  born  June  30,  1792.  The  Magill  family 
\J  integrity  and  honesty  of  purpose  among  the  is  of  Irish  extraction,  and  was  founded  in  Con- 


early  residents  of  Chicago,  was  born  at  St.  John's, 
Newfoundland,  in  November,  1818.     His  father, 


necticut  by  two  brothers,  named  Robert  and  Will- 
iam Magill,   who  came  from   Belfast   and  were 


C.  J.  MAGIU,. 


425 


among  the  first  settlers  of  the  Connecticut  Colony. 
The  old  family  homestead,  which  has  sheltered 
many  successive  generations,  is  still  standing  at 
Middletown. 

While  a  young  man,  William  Magill  moved  to 
Newfoundland.  For  many  years  he  was  in  the 
service  of  the  British  Government,  first  as  the 
Collector  of  the  port  of  St.  John's,  and  later  as 
Governor  of  the  provincial  prison  at  that  place. 
Retiring  from  public  life,  he  removed  to  Char- 
lottetown,  in  Prince  Edward  Island,  where  his 
death  occurred  on  the  fourteenth  of  August,  1878. 
He  was  a  man  of  exemplary  character  and  note- 
worthy ability,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  long  contin- 
uance in  public  life.  His  wife,  Ann  Morris,  who 
was  a  native  of  Dublin,  Ireland,  died  at  St.  John's, 
Newfoundland,  about  the  year  1850.  Of  their  three 
children,  Charles  J.  is  the  eldest.  John  was  for 
many  years  a  prominent  citizen  and  public  official 
of  Chicago;  and  Sarah,  Mrs.  Henry  L.  Messieur- 
er,  now  deceased,  was  well  known  to  the  early 
residents  of  Chicago. 

William  Magill  was  one  of  a  family  of  six 
children,  all  of  whom,  with  their  posterity,  have 
been  conspicuous  for  longevity,  intelligence  and 
refinement.  His  sister,  Mrs.  Ann  Campbell,  who 
was  at  that  time  a  widow,  came  to  Chicago  soon 
after  1850.  For  some  years  she  taught  a  private 
school  on  the  North  Side,  and  many  of  her  pupils 
are  prominent  in  the  business  and  social  life  of 
Chicago  to-day.  She  was  a  lady  of  rare  intelli- 
gence, tact  and  benevolence,  and  was  regarded  by 
her  pupils  as  a  model  of  wisdom  and  strength  of 
character.  Mrs.  Juliette  Kinzie,  who  was  well 
known  throughout  America  as  the  author  of 
"Wau-bun,  "  was  a  niece  of  William  Magill. 

At  the  age  of  eleven  years  Charles  Magill  left 
home  and  went  to  sea,  and  followed  a  marine  life 
until  the  autumn  of  1852.  A  portion  of  that  pe- 
riod was  spent  in  navigating  the  Great  Lakes.  In 
the  year  last  named  he  located  permanently  in 
Chicago,  though  he  had  frequently  visited  this 
port  previous  to  that  date.  He  engaged  in  the 
forwarding  and  commission  business,  becoming 
the  owner  of  vessel  property,  and  simultaneously 
acting  as  agent  of  vessel-owners  at  other  points  on 
the  lakes.  Among  other  corporations  which  he 


represented  was  the  Ohio,  Superior  &  Huron 
Railroad  Company,  which  was  operating  a  line  of 
boats  on  the  middle  lakes.  He  dealt  in  salt  and 
other  merchandise,  and  was  one  of  the  first  mem- 
bers of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  joining  that 
body  in  1853,  and  still  retaining  his  membership, 
though  he  retired  from  active  business  operations 
in  1893. 

While  on  a  voyage  to  the  Bermuda  Islands,  Mr. 
Magill,  who  was  then  a  young  man,  formed  the 
acquaintance  of  Miss  Esther  S.  Chalker.  This 
gifted  lady  became  his  wife,  the  marriage  taking 
place  at  Guilford,  Connecticut.  The  couple  first 
located  at  Buffalo,  but  in  July,  1854,  removed  to 
Chicago,  where  Mrs.  Magill  died  in  October, 
1886.  She  was  born  at  Hamilton,  Bermuda,  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1819.  Hermother,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Stowe,  was  descended  from  one  of  the  oldest 
families  in  that  colony,  her  ancestors  receiving  a 
grant  of  land  from  the  British  crown  upon  locat- 
ing there.  The  old  Stowe  residence,  now  the 
property  of  the  Government,  is  still  standing  at 
Hamilton. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Magill  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children.  Jacob  C.,  the  eldest,  is  a  well-known 
business  man  of  Chicage.  Anna  C.,  Mrs.  Hugh 
Alexander,  is  a  resident  of  Brooklyn,  New  York. 
William  C.  is  also  well  known  in  Chicago.  Ed- 
ward S.  is  a  commercial  traveler  residing  in  Wich- 
ita, Kansas.  Mary  E.  is  the  wife  of  E.  C.  Ward, 
of  Chicago,  in  which  city  Arthur  W.  also  resides. 
Sarah  L,.,  now  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  C.  S. 
Spencer,  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana;  and  Charles  A. 
is  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Kingman, 
Kansas. 

Though  he  has  a  host  of  friends,  Captain  Ma- 
gill has  formed  but  few  social  connections.  For 
many  years  he  has  held  membership  with  the 
Church  of  the  Epiphany,  of  which  he  is  a  Senior 
Warden.  He  has  always  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  his  associates  to  a  remarkable  degree.  As  an 
illustration  of  this  fact  may  be  cited  the  case  of 
one  of  his  early  friends  in  Chicago,  who,  upon  his 
demise  a  few  years  since,  made  Mr.  Magill  the 
sole  administrator  of  his  large  estate,  providing  in 
his  will  that  if  any  of  the  heirs  should  question 
any  act  of  the  executor  they  should  be  disinher- 


426 


J.  A.  SWEET. 


ited.     After  a  long,  eventful  and  useful  life,  Cap- 
tain Magill  is  spending  his  declining  years  in  well- 


merited  peace  and  tranquility,  which  it  is  the  wish 
of  his  many  friends  may  be  long  continued. 


JOHN  A.  SWEET. 


flOHN  ALLEN  SWEET,  a  member  of  one  of 
I  the  leading  mercantile  firms  of  Chicago,  was 
G)  born  March  20,  1846,  at  Farmington,  Frank- 
lin County,  Maine,  and  comes  from  the  genuine 
Puritanic  New  England  stock.  His  ancestors 
were  of  those  long-lived,  hardy,  industrious,  fru- 
gal, as  well  as  moral  people,  who,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  hardships  and  privations  consequent 
upon  the  early  settlement  of  the  country,  did  not 
forget  to  devote  themselves  to  laying  the  founda- 
tion for,  and  the  shaping  and  rounding  out  of  a 
moral  character  as  an  example  for  their  posterity. 
His  great-grandfather,  whose  name  was  Eben- 
ezer  Sweet,  was  born  at  Attleboro,  Massachu- 
setts, January  18,  1741.  In  1782,  he  went  to  that 
portion  of  Maine  which  was  then  uninhabited  ex- 
cept by  Indians,  save  perhaps,  half  a  dozen  white 
families.  He  cleared  off  a  little  patch  of  timber 
land,  as  the  beginning  of  the  settlement  after- 
wards known  as  Farmington,  one  of  Nature's 
most  beautiful  spots  to  be  found  anywhere.  Here 
he  resided  during  his  long  life,  and  died  Novem- 
ber 4,  1838,  at  the  age  of  ninety-seven  years  and 
ten  months.  He  was  a  tanner  by  trade,  and  in 
the  year  1785  built  the  first  tannery  in  that 
township.  He  was  a  man  of  the  strictest  integ- 
rity, and  lived  an  exemplary,  moral  life,  industri- 
ous in  his  habits,  and  accumulated  a  pecuniary 
independence.  He  married  Desire  Daggett,  who 
was  also  a  native  of  Attleboro,  Massachusetts, 
born  September  17,  1745,  and  died  at  Farming- 
ton,  Maine,  October  4,  1839,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 


four  years.  They  had  five  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  third  son,  Ellis  Sweet,  who  was  born 
November  20,  1770,  died  May  7,  1848,  at  the  age 
of  seventy -eight  years.  He  married  Mary  Fuller, 
who  was  born  in  1775,  and  died  January  2,  1854, 
at  the  age  of  seventy- nine  years.  He  became  the 
owner  of  his  father's  farm,  in  the  year  1822. 
During  the  War  of  1812,  he  entered  the  United 
States  service,  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Colonel,  commanding  a  regiment  during  that 
struggle.  He  and  his  wife  became  the  parents  of 
five  children,  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
eldest  son.  Loring  Sweet,  was  born  August  7, 
1796,  and  died  July  6,  1881,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five  years  and  eleven  months.  He  was  married, 
June  7,  1828,  to  Elizabeth  Berry  Allen,  who  was 
born  in  1809,  at  Canton,  Oxford  County,  Maine, 
and  died  in  Farmington,  March  28,  1875,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-six  years.  Her  father  was  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  three  years.  Five  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Loring  Sweet, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  being  the  fifth  son  and 
seventh  child. 

John  Allen  Sweet  laid  the  foundation  of  his  ed- 
ucation in  the  public  schools  and  academy  of  his 
native  town,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years 
graduated  from  the  State  University.  It  was  his 
intention  in  early  life  to  qualify  himself  for  the 
practice  of  law.  Coming  West  in  1868,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two  years,  he  studied  law  for  about 
two  years,  and  for  several  years  following  applied 


E.  W.  CASE. 


427 


himself  at  intervals  to  legal  study,  giving  his  at- 
tention chiefly  to  its  bearing  upon  trade  and 
commerce. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Sweet  became  connected  with  the 
wholesale  dry  goods  firm  of  Carson,  Pirie,  Scott 
&  Company,  of  Chicago,  assuming  charge  of  their 
collection  and  legal  departments,  and  after  six 
years'  service,  or  in  1878,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
exclusive  charge  of  the  credit,  legal  and  collection 
departments  of  this  firm,  and  has  occupied  that 
position  up  to  the  present  time,  having  retained 
his  present  connection  for  nearly  a  fourth  of  a 
century,  and  in  his  particular  line  of  business  he 
has  earned  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  suc- 
cessful man  in  the  trade,  being  admittedly  with- 
out a  peer  as  a  credit  manager. 

In  appreciation  of  his  ability,  integrity  and 
long  and  faithful  service,  the  firm  rewarded  him 
with  a  general  partnership,  to  which  he  was  ad- 
mitttd  on  the  first  of  January,  1892.  Mr.  Sweet 
is  thoroughly  known  among  bankers  and  business 
men  of  Chicago,  the  seat  of  the  keenest  commercial 
competition,  where  only  the  fittest  can  survive, 
and  enjoys  a  most  enviable  reputation  as  a  manly, 
straightforward  and  safe  business  manager.  In 
speaking  of  him,  the  Inter  Ocean  recently  said: 
"In  appearance,  Mr.  Sweet  is  tall  and  symmet- 


rically proportioned.  He  is  genial,  affable  and 
courteous,  and  has  a  faculty  of  making  and  re- 
taining friends.  He  is  a  natural  physiognomist, 
and  has  rarely  been  known  to  make  a  mistake  in 
reading  men's  characters.  It  is  to  these  qualities 
that  his  success  in  a  most  important  department 
must  be  largely  attributed.  He  is  an  indefatigable 
worker,  and  is  as  well  known  as  a  man  of  grand 
business  capacities  among  the  commercial  circles 
of  New  York,  as  he  is  here  in  Chicago,  where 
he  has  lived  and  labored." 

Mr.  Sweet  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Athletic 
Club  and  prominent  in  Masonic  circles,  being  a 
member  of  Chicago  Commandery  and  Oriental 
Consistory,  having  taken  the  thirty-second  degree. 
On  the  i8th  of  June,  1878,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  Stevenson,  daughter  of  John  W.  and 
Caroline  C.  Stevenson,  of  Sandusky,  Ohio,  where 
Mrs.  Sweet  was  born,  October  2,  1855.  They 
have  had  two  children:  Fred  Kent  Sweet,  born 
September  26,  1879,  and  died  December  i  of  the 
same  year;  and  John  Allen  Sweet,  Junior,  who 
was  born  April  27,  1881  The  family  is  in  com- 
munion with  St.  Andrew's  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  holds  a  desirable  position  in  social 
circles. 


ELISHA  W.  CASE. 


r~I,ISHA  W.  CASE.  The  New  England 
ry  Yankee  never  forgets  the  home  of  his  child- 
L.  hood.  Wherever  he  may  wander,  and  in 
whatever  situation  he  may  be  placed,  visions  of 
his  native  hills  and  dells  are  retained  in  his  mind, 
and  these  scenes  always  recall  many  little  acces- 
sories which  contributed  their  share  towards  the 


comfort  and  delight  of  the  youthful  mind  or  body. 
The  typical  New  England  homestead  is  no  less 
famous  for  its  Christian  principles,  and  the  sturdy 
characters  which  it  has  trained  and  sent  forth  to 
leave  their  impress  upon  every  important  institu- 
tion of  the  great  West,  than  for  its  culinary  tri- 
umphs and  the  superior  quality  of  the  pastry 


428 


E.  W.  CASE. 


found  upon  its  hospitable  boards.  And  who 
knows  to  what  extent  the  memory  of  the  latter 
has  served  to  keep  alive  the  recollection  of  precepts 
and  teachings  which  have  helped  to  mould  the 
characters  of  many  of  the  best  men  and  women  of 
the  present  day? 

Elisha  W.  Case,  whose  name  is  identified  in 
the  minds  of  hungry  people  with  one  of  the  most 
popular  articles  of  daily  consumption,  was  born 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  January,  1833.  He 
is  the  youngest  son  and  ninth  in  a  family  of  ten 
children  born  to  John  Case  and  Diana  Congdon. 
The  Case  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Connect- 
icut. Their  first  American  ancestor  came,  while 
a  young  man,  from  England,  and  was  married  in 
Connecticut,  about  1657,  to  Sarah,  daughter  of 
William  Spencer.  Several  successive  generations 
of  their  posterity  have  lived  in  the  same  locality, 
and  the  name  is  still  one  of  the  most  common  ones 
to  be  found  in  that  state. 

John,  father  of  Elisha  W.  Case,  was  a  son  of 
Samuel  and  Susannah  Case.  During  his  youth 
he  became  a  sailor,  and  while  on  board  a  whal- 
ing vessel  was  taken  prisoner  by  a  British  man-of- 
war,  whose  officers  claimed  him  as  a  subject  of 
the  Crown,  and  he  was  pressed  into  the  naval 
service.  He  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  es- 
cape, for  which  he  was  severely  flogged.  He 
finally  succeeded  in  eluding  his  captors,  and  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  in  time  to  enlist  in 
the  War  of  1812,  and  rendered  valuable  service 
at  the  battle  of  New  London.  After  the  war  he 
learned  the  trade  of  a  machinist  and  was  em- 
ployed for  many  years  in  the  railroad  shops  at 
Norwich.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  years 
spent  in  Washtenaw  County,  Michigan,  this 
place  continued  to  be  his  home  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  April,  1847,  a^  the  age  of  six- 
ty-two years.  His  wife's  death  took  place  about 
eight  years  earlier. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  his  father  having 
died,  Elisha  W.  Case  left  home  and  went  to  New 
York  City,  where  he  learned  his  trade  in  the  or- 
iginal Connecticut  pie  bakery.  In  1854  he  came 
to  Chicago  and,  taking  advantage  of  the  wide- 
spread reputation  which  everywhere  existed  for 
New  England  cookery,  he  began  the  manufacture 


of  "Connecticut  pies"  on  Milwaukee  Avenue, 
near  Halsted  Street.  This  was  the  first  exclu- 
sive pie  bakery  in  the  city.  The  people  employed 
were  all  natives  of  the  Nutmeg  State,  well  versed 
in  the  culinary  art,  and  the  superior  quality  of 
their  wares,  which  far  surpassed  anything  previ- 
ously offered  in  this  market,  created  a  demand 
for  them  which  has  been  continuously  increasing 
to  the  present  time. 

About  1859  the  "Mechanical  Bakery"  began 
doing  business  on  Clinton  Street.  Mr.  Case  be- 
came the  foreman  of  the  pie  department  of  the 
concern,  which  filled  large  contracts  for  supplies 
for  the  Union  army.  In  1869  he  severed  his 
connection  with  this  establishment  and  became  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Case  &  Martin,  which  built 
a  large  bakery  at  the  corner  of  Wood  and  Wal- 
nut Streets,  where  the  business  of  exclusive  pie- 
baking  was  resumed  and  has  ever  since  been  con- 
ducted. Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Martin  in  1890, 
Mr  Case  became  the  sole  proprietor,  and  contin- 
ued to  conduct  the  enterprise  until  June  i,  1894, 
when  the  Case  &  Martin  Company  was  incorpor- 
ated. 

The  fame  of  their  Connecticut  pies  is  well 
known  to  everybody  in  Chicago  and  many  adja- 
cent cities  and  towns,  and  there  are  few  people 
who  cannot  testify  to  their  excellence  as  appeas- 
ers  of  appetite.  Their  goods,  which  are  for  the 
most  part  hand-made,  are  prepared  from  formulas 
used  by  the  best  Connecticut  cooks,  and  such  is 
the  demand  for  this  particular  article  of  dessert 
that  about  one  hundred  people  are  employed  in 
its  production,  and  they  turn  out  from  ten  thou- 
sand to  eighteen  thousand  nine-inch  pies  per 
day. 

Mr.  Case  is  the  inventor  of  the  pie  wagon 
which  is  now  used  by  nearly  all  bakers  and  which 
he  began  to  employ  in  1872.  He  has  contrived 
a  number  of  articles  and  appliances  which  are 
useful  in  his  business,  and,  though  he  has  spent 
considerable  time  and  money  in  experiments,  has 
never  patented  any  of  his  ideas,  some  of  which 
have  been  adopted  and  patented  by  others. 

June  i,  1851,  Mr.  Case  was  married  to  Eliza 
Jane  Baldwin,  daughter  of  William  and  Char- 
lotte Baldwin,  of  Braufort,  Connecticut.  Of 


C.  T.  NICHOLS. 


429 


their  five  children,  one  died  in  infancy,  and  Ever- 
ett passed  away  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years. 
The  names  of  the  survivors  are  John  M. ,  Elmer  G. 
and  Edna  J.,  the  latter  the  wife  of  P.  M.  Vermass, 
all  of  Chicago.  The  family  is  connected  with  the 
Western  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  in  which  soci- 
ety Mr.  Case  has  been  a  Deacon  for  twenty -five 
years.  He  has  voted  for  every  presidential  can- 
didate nominated  by  the  Republican  party,  and 


though  he  refrains  from  political  agitation  he 
always  endeavors  to  fulfill  his  duty  as  a  citizen. 
In  private  and  social  circles  as  well  as  in  business 
affairs,  he  has  maintained  a  reputation  for  stabil- 
ity and  integrity,  which  causes  him  to  be  among 
the  best  known  and  most  highly  esteemed  citi- 
zens of  this  great  city,  the  growth  of  which  has 
been  almost  identical  with  that  of  his  business. 


CLIFFORD  L.  NICHOLS. 


CLIFFORD  L.  NICHOLS,  of  Blue  Island, 
I  (  the  efficient  and  well-known  Superintendent 
\J  of  the  Illinois  Division  of  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  was  born  in  Wyanet, 
111.,  on  the  3oth  of  November,  1856,  and  is  a  son 
of  David  T.  and  Hulda  G.  (Barry)  Nichols.  The 
father  came  to  this  State  in  1839,  taking  up  his 
residence  in  the  then  town  of  Chicago,  where  he 
carried  on  a  harness-shop  for  several  years.  In  1846 
he  removed  to  Kane  County,  111.,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business  for  some 
time.  In  1850  he  crossed  the  plains  to  California, 
attracted  by  the  discovery  of  gold  on  the  Pacific 
Slope,  but  returned  to  Illinois  the  following  year, 
as  he  did  not  find  that  wealth  was  as  easily  ob- 
tained in  the  West  as  reports  had  indicated.  In 
1853  he  removed  to  Wyanet,  Bureau  County, 
where  he  opened  a  harness-shop,  and  in  1854  he 
became  agent  for  the  Chicago,  Burlington  & 
Quincy  Railroad  at  that  place,  continuing  with 
that  company  in  the  same  capacity,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  years,  up  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  on  the  loth  of  December,  1893, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one  years.  He  was 
born  in  Broadalbin,  N.  Y.  His  wife,  who  is  a 
native  of  Madison,  N.  Y.,  still  resides  in  Wyanet. 
The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  record 
attended  the  public  schools  until  fourteen  years  of 


age,  when  he  began  to  learn  the  art  of  telegraphy 
in  his  father's  office.  In  1876,  having  mastered 
the  business,  he  left  Wyanet  and  secured  a  posi- 
tion as  operator,  train  dispatcher  and  ticket  agent 
elsewhere.  He  was  employed  at  various  points 
on  the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad 
until  1880,  when  he  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railroad  as  train 
dispatcher.  From  time  to  time  he  won  promo- 
tion as  the  result  of  his  faithful  and  meritorious 
service,  until  he  had  become  Superintendent  of 
the  Eastern  Division.  Later  he  was  made  Super- 
intendent of  the  Kansas  City  Division,  and  with 
the  exception  of  a  short  period  remained  with 
that  company  until  1890,  as  Superintendent  of 
the  Elgin,  Joliet  &  Eastern  Road.  He  then  be- 
came connected  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio,  and 
the  Missouri,  Kansas  &  Texas  Railroads.  In 
1892  he  engaged  with  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
&  Pacific  Railroad  Company  as  chief  train  dis- 
patcher at  Horton,  Kan.,  and  in  August,  1893, 
he  came  to  Blue  Island  as  Superintendent  of  the 
Illinois  Division  of  that  road,  which  position  he 
now  fills. 

Mr.  Nichols  was  married  in  1878  to  Miss  Mabel 
E.  Frans,  daughter  of  Harry  B.  Frans,  of  Gales- 
burg,  111.,  and  a  native  of  California.  They  now 
have  four  children,  Earl,  Jessie,  Ethel  and  Allan. 


AI,ONZO  HUNTINGTON. 


ALONZO  HUNTINGTON. 


aLONZO  HUNTINGTON,  who  was  born  at 
Shaftesbury,  Vermont,  September  i,  1805, 
and  died  in  Chicago,  November  17,  1881, 
was  a  Vermonter  of  good  old  stock.  Capt.  Amos 
Huntington,  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  was  his 
grandfather,  and,  like  Samuel  Huntington,  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
was  a  great-grandson  of  the  first  of  the  name  in 
America.  Samuel  was  also  President  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  Chief  Justice  of  Connecticut, 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  and  (1789)  recipient  of 
two  electoral  votes  at  the  first  Presidential  elec- 
tion. Alonzo  was  also  grand-nephew  of  Gov- 
ernor Galusha,  of  Vermont.  His  father  owned 
and  operated  a  marble  quarry,  in  which  business 
young  Alonzo  took  his  share  of  work  and  respon- 
sibility, even  while  laying  the  foundation  of  his 
education;  his  higher  teaching  being  deferred  to 
that  of  an  elder  brother,  whom  his  service  at  home 
helped  through  Union  College. 

In  spite  of  this  sacrifice,  he  managed  to  secure 
a  fair  degree  of  good  practical  culture,  and,  so 
grounded,  he  studied  law  in  Buffalo  under  the 
Hon.  I.  T.  Hatch,  and  was  there  admitted  to  the 
Bar.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1835,  became  State's 
Attorney  in  1837,  and  administered  his  office  so 
well  as  to  be  re-elected  in  1839,  serving  until 
1841.  His  most  noteworthy  case  in  this  connec- 
tion was  the  prosecution  of  John  Stone  for 
the  murder  of  Lucretia  Thompson,  which  ex- 
cited great  interest,  and  elicited  from  the  Ameri- 
can remarks  which  the  presiding  judge  (Pearson) 
thought  demanded  prosecution  for  contempt  of 
court.  A  suit  was  accordingly  instituted  by  the 
State's  Attorney  under  the  orders  of  the  court. 
It  had  no  result,  except  the  usual  one  of  calling 
down  the  united  voice  of  the  press  on  the  head 


of  the  prosecutor,  who  had  simply  done  his  of- 
ficial duty  and  obeyed  orders. 

His  term  of  office  ended,  Mr.  Huntington  re- 
sumed practice,  wherein  (as  in  his  official  life)  his 
qualities  and  attainments  assured  success.  His 
manners  were  dignified,  yet  cordial;  his  standing 
as  a  man  and  citizen  flawless;  his  relations  in 
private  and  family  life  kind,  generous  and  de- 
voted. Many  know  that  by  his  energy,  ability, 
foresight  and  self-denial  he  gained  a  handsome 
fortune;  few  have  any  idea  of  the  burden  of  duty 
he  was  taking  so  voluntarily  on  his  strong  shoul- 
ders. During  much  of  his  later  life  he  was  the 
stay  and  support  of  his  father,  mother,  two  broth- 
ers and  a  widowed  sister,  besides  his  own  con- 
siderable family;  the  whole  load  sustained  with 
an  heroic  cheerfulness  that  either  felt  no  weari- 
ness, or  concealed  what  it  felt.  Three  genera- 
tions carried  wholly  by  one  inflexible  conscience 
and  faithful  heart! 

Mrs.  Huntington  was  also  of  distinguished 
descent,  being  granddaughter  of  Gideon  Olin, 
one  of  the  founders  of  Vermont  and  a  member  of 
Congress  (1803-7);  a  niece  of  the  late  Abraham 
Olin,  a  member  of  the  Thirty-fifth,  Thirty-sixth 
and  Thirty-seventh  United  States  Congresses,  and 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Quaker- 
ess, Mary  Dyer,  who  suffered  religious  martyr- 
dom on  Boston  Common  in  1660.  She  was  a  sis- 
tor  of  Dr.  Charles  V.  Dyer,  the  celebrated  wit 
and  humorist  of  the  early  days  of  Chicago,  whose 
engaging  qualities  she  shared  and  transmitted  to 
her  children,  of  whom  two  survive  their  parents: 
Frances,  Mrs.  Benjamin  M.  Wilson,  and  Henry 
Alonzo,  late  Brevet  Major  in  the  United  States 
army,  a  brave  soldier  in  the  Union  War,  and  still 
distinguished  in  literary  and  social  life. 


EDWIN  PARDRIDGE. 


431 


EDWIN  PARDRIDGE. 


IT  DWIN  PARDRIDGE,  one  of  the  most  re- 
Iv)  markable  characters  ever  connected  with 
the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  passed  away 
at  his  residence  on  Prairie  Avenue  on  the  morn- 
ing of  April  17,  1896,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of 
his  age.  The  Chicago  Tribune  said:  "The  his- 
tory of  Mr.  Pardridge's  sixty  years  has  few  paral- 
lels. He  was  a  man  of  the  clearest  perceptions, 
and  his  strong  convictions  and  the  nerve  with 
which  he  backed  them  made  him  a  marked  man. 
Since  1 869  he  has  been  a  familiar  figure  in  local 
commercial  circles,  and  for  the  last  ten  years, 
during  which  time  he  had  devoted  himself  almost 
exclusively  to  speculation,  his  name  and  fame 
were  world-wide.  Probably  no  man  as  merchant 
and  operator  has  been  called  upon  in  the  West 
to  meet  such  odds  and  face  such  opposition;  and 
those  who  knew  him  are  agreed  as  to  his  busi- 
ness acumen,  courage,  common  sense  and  kind- 
liness of  heart. ' ' 

Mr.  Pardridge  exemplified  in  a  marked  degree 
the  sturdiness  of  character  handed  down  by  a 
long  line  of  New  England  ancestry.  The  pro- 
genitor of  this  family  came  from  England,  and 
first  settled  in  Massachusetts  early  in  the  history 
of  that  colony.  Thence  the  line  extending  to 
this  subject  was  transferred  to  Grafton,  near 
Troy,  New  York,  where  his  grandfather  was  a 
thrifty  farmer.  He  was  a  man  of  large  stature, 
and  reached  a  green  old  age.  He  was  twice 
married.  His  first  wife,  Miss  Smith,  of  an  old 
New  York  family,  was  the  mother  of  eleven  chil- 
dren, and  died  at  the  age  of  fifty  years.  She 
was  a  woman  of  great  thrift  and  economy,  and  a 
devoted  mother.  Six  of  her  children  reached 


maturity,  namely:  Asa,  Ambrose,  Abiah,  Anson, 
Julia  and  Lydia.  All  were  born  at  Grafton, 
were  interested  in  farming,  and  were  highly  re- 
spected and  prospered  in  life. 

The  youngest  son,  Anson,  was  reared  on  the 
old  homestead,  where  he  remained  until  he  had 
attained  his  majority.  He  then  went  to  Durham- 
ville,  Oneida  County,  New  York,  where,  after 
four  years  of  patient  labor,  he  was  enabled  to  set- 
tle down  upon  a  farm.  He  married  Miss  Amanda 
Field,  a  native  of  Leyden,  Massachusetts,  a 
daughter  of  John  Field,  a  Revolutionary  soldier, 
who  reached  the  age  of  eighty-two  years.  His 
father  and  two  brothers  immigrated  from  Wales 
before  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  settled 
in  Massachusetts.  His  wife,  Silence  Lincoln, 
was  a  native  of  that  State,  and  was,  no  doubt,  a 
scion  of  the  same  family  as  the  late  martyred 
President,  whose  family  was  of  English  descent 
and  located  in  Massachusetts.  Anson  Pardridge 
was  born  June  10,  1804,  passed  his  entire  life 
upon  a  farm,  and  died  April  28,  1877.  His  wife 
was  born  in  the  same  year  as  himself,  November 
23,  and  died  January  26,  1890.  She  was  a  de- 
voted member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  Anson,  Marion,  Edwin, 
Charles  W.  and  Ellen.  The  eldest  daughter  is 
the  wife  of  Charles  J.  Stokes,  and  the  other  of 
Charles  Oscar  Gleason,  all  residing  in  Evanston. 
The  elder  son  remained  on  the  home  farm  until 
1877,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
now  resides.  The  younger  son  has  been  inter- 
ested all  his  life  in  the  dry-goods  trade,  and  is 
now  in  Chicago. 

Edwin  Pardridge  was  born  at   Durhamville, 


432 


EDWIN  PARDRIDGE. 


New  York,  October  24,  1835.  His  life  was  an 
independent  one,  and  his  success  was  achieved  en- 
tirely through  his  own  unaided  efforts.  His  educa- 
tion was  supplied  by  the  district  schools,  and  he 
very  early  began  his  mercantile  career,  in  which  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune,  in  a  village 
store  near  his  home.  After  working  five  years 
in  a  general  store  at  Lyons,  New  York,  he  en- 
gaged in  the  dry-goods  business  at  Buffalo,  in 
partnership  with  his  youngest  brother.  This  con- 
tinued until  1869,  when  he  came  to  Chicago.  He 
was  ambitious  and  desired  a  larger  field  of  opera- 
tions. His  first  store  was  located  at  Lake  and 
State  Streets,  and  in  its  conduct  he  showed  the 
same  discriminating  judgment  and  mastery  of  de- 
tail which  later  characterized  his  operations  on 
the  Board  of  Trade.  In  1870  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  his  brother,  Charles  W.  Pardridge, 
to  continue  the  business. 

The  great  fire  of  1871  destroyed  this  store, 
which  was  then  on  Wabash  Avenue.  After  that 
disaster  they  built  the  Boston  Store,  and  pur- 
chased the  adjoining  one  at  Nos.  112-116  State 
Street,  which  was  known  as  Pardridge' s  Main 
Store.  He  finally  reverted  the  Boston  Store  to 
his  partner,  Charles  W.  Pardridge,  and  retained 
the  main  store.  He  also  had  a  dry-goods  store 
in  Detroit  at  the  time  of  his  demise.  He  had 
started  and  operated  numerous  other  stores,  but 
had  largely  abandoned  trade  to  gratify  his  pas- 
sion for  speculation.  He  made  careful  invest- 
ments of  his  profits,  and  soon  after  the  fire  he 
was  the  owner  of  one  hundred  rented  houses. 
His  faith  in  local  real  estate  continued,  and  when 
he  died  he  had  more  than  seven  hundred  tenants 
in  flats,  houses  and  store  property.  Beside  this, 
he  conveyed  much  property  to  members  of  his 
family  to  provide  against  the  possible  disasters  of 
speculation. 

Mr.  Pardridge  operated  upon  the  Board  of 
Trade  for  about  twenty  years,  and  for  the  first 
five  years,  as  is  the  case  with  most  beginners,  he 
was  a  buyer,  and  was  much  of  the  time  a  loser. 
He  was  attracted  to  speculation  by  the  success  of 
a  few  very  wealthy  men  who  had  acquired  their 
property  in  this  manner.  He  was  not  an  im- 
pulsive, but  a  systematic  and  persistent,  operator. 


He  formulated  a  plan  which  he  ever  afterwards  fol- 
lowed. He  became  a  seller,  and  though  he  often 
took  great  risks,  and  even  approached  seeming 
recklessness,  and  on  a  few  occasions  narrowly 
escaped  bankruptcy,  his  gains  far  exceeded  his 
losses  and  justified  the  soundness  of  his  plan. 
The  fortunes  Mr.  Pardridge  won  and  lost  through 
his  boldness  in  plunging  became  the  gossip  of 
the  world.  He  used  to  say  that  it  did  not  require 
much  education  to  make  a  speculator,  but  it 
needed  plenty  of  cool  common  sense.  Mr.  Pard- 
ridge's  clear  foresight  was  emphatically  shown 
in  August,  1892,  when  May  wheat  was  selling  at 
$1.06  per  bushel,  and  the  majority  of  traders 
were  predicting  that  it  would  reach  $1.50.  Mr. 
Pardridge  said  that  it  would  sell  for  eighty  cents 
per  bushel,  and  it  became  the  case  of  one  man 
against  the  world,  for  all  the  speculative  trade 
at  home  and  abroad  believed  in  higher  prices. 
Though  he  lost  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  million 
dollars  during  that  summer,  he  stuck  to  his  pre- 
diction, which  was  verified  before  the  following 
March,  and  the  speculative  world,  which  had 
laughed  at  him,  was  forced  to  pay  him  tribute  to 
the  extent  of  millions  of  dollars. 

He  was  never  exacting  in  times  of  stringency, 
and  it  is  well  known  that  he  could  have  closed 
out  many  houses  by  exacting  the  margins  due 
him.  He  never  attempted  to  corner  the  market, 
but  contented  himself  with  putting  in  prac- 
tice his  theory  of  short  selling.  His  fame  be- 
came world- wide,  and  between  1890  and  1894 
his  movements  meant  a  great  deal  more  than 
the  crop  reports  or  the  amount  of  exports. 
As  seen  on  the  floor  of  the  board,  Mr.  Pardridge 
was  a  modest,  unassuming  man,  and  while  he 
could  play  like  a  wizard  with  millions  of  dollars 
as  if  they  were  so  many  pennies,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  plainly  dressed  men  on  the  board.  His 
most  pronounced  characteristic  was  dogged  de- 
termination, though  it  was  never  expressed  in 
his  face. 

Mr.  Pardridge  had  few  intimate  friends  on  the 
board,  but  this  was  principally  because  he  did 
not  care  about  casual  friends.  His  chief  friend 
and  supporter  was  A.  J.  Cutler,  whose  biography 
will  be  found  in  this  volume.  Scores  of  traders 


H.  D.  BAKER. 


433 


remember  with  gratitude  how  Mr.  Pardridge 
saved  them  from  bankruptcy  by  timely  loans. 
These  kind  acts  he  was  accustomed  to  do  without 
ostentation,  and  he  never  desired  to  hear  them 
mentioned.  He  practiced  silent  charity,  and 
never  permitted  his  left  hand  to  know  what  his 
right  hand  did.  The  poor  and  unfortunate  were 
special  objects  of  his  bounty,  and  many  cases  of 
his  liberality  hitherto  unknown  have  come  to 
light  since  his  death. 

The  tension  under  which  Mr.  Pardridge  lived 
as  an  operator  undermined  his  constitution,  and 
his  death  resulted  from  Bright' s  Disease,  after 
three  months  of  almost  constant  suffering.  But 
his  vitality  was  something  remarkable.  A  few 
weeks  before  his  death  Mr.  Cutler  called  at  his 
home,  but  learned  that  he  was  unable  to  talk 
about  anything  pertaining  to  business.  The 
next  day  he  was  thunderstruck  on  receiving 
orders  from  Mr  Pardridge  to  sell  wheat,  and 
within  a  day  or  two  the  latter  was  seen  on  the 
floor  of  the  exchange. 


July  10,  1861,  Mr.  Pardridge  was  married, 
near  Durhamville,  New  York,  to  Miss  Sarah 
Swallow,  a  native  of  the  town  of  Verona,  Oneida 
County,  New  York,  and  a  daughter  of  William  and 
Mary  (Hicks)  Swallow,  both  natives  of  England. 
The  father  was  nineteen  years  old  when  he  came 
to  this  country,  and  was  known  as  an  energetic 
business  man  of  Durhamville.  His  wife  came  to 
the  United  States  when  eleven  years  of  age. 
They  were  active  members  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  were  highly  respected  by  the  people 
of  Durhamville,  at  which  place  they  ended  their 
days  in  peace  and  quiet  contentment. 

The  five  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pardridge 
have  all  reached  maturity.  The  eldest,  Sarah 
Blanche,  wife  of  R.  C.  Price,  resides  at  Wauke- 
gan;  Grace  Emily,  wife  of  C.  W.  L,eeming,  Will- 
ard  Edwin  and  Frederick  Charles  Pardridge  re- 
side on  Indiana  Avenue;  and  Florence  Eva  re- 
sides at  home  with  her  mother. 


HENRY  D.  BAKER. 


HENRY  DAVIS  BAKER  is  a  native  of  Illi- 
nois, whose  patriotic  impulses  and  thorough- 
going business  methods  have  gained  for  him 
a  reputation  well  worthy  of  perpetuation  in  this 
record.     He  was  born  at  Lockport,  Will  County, 
April  7,  1845,  and  is  the  elder  of  two  sons  born 
to  James  S.  Baker  and  Adeline  H.  Eddy. 

James  S.  Baker  was  born  in  Otsego  County, 
New  York,  and  removed  to  Illinois  in  1837,  be- 
coming one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Lockport. 
He  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  followed  that 
occupation  there  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1890,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years.  He 
was  prominent  in  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  but  interested 
himself  little  in  public  affairs.  His  only  official 


service  was  in  the  capacity  of  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
He  was  a  son  of  John  Baker,  an  Englishman, 
born  near  the  city  of  Hull,  who  came  to  this 
country  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  cent- 
ury. He  settled  in  Otsego  County,  New  York, 
where  he  was  married,  and  died  there  at  the  age 
of  sixty  years.  His  wife  survived  to  the  age  of 
eighty-four. 

Mrs.  Adeline  H.  Baker  was  born  near  Nor- 
wich, Chenango  County,  New  York.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Eli  Eddy,  a  farmer  of  that  locality, 
whose  ancestors  were  among  the  number  ban- 
ished from  the  Massachusetts  Colony  in  company 
with  Roger  Williams,  and  became  pioneers  of 
Rhode  Island.  Mrs.  Baker  died  of  cholera  in 
1854.  Her  second  son,  Ernest,  died  in  Engle- 


434 


H.  D.  BAKER. 


wood,  Chicago,  in  1891,  at  the  age  of  forty-two 
years.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Mr. 
James  S.  Baker  was  married  to  Mrs.  Philinda  B. 
Moon,  a  native  of  Rochester,  New  York. 

Henry  D.  Baker  received  a  common-school 
education,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years  en- 
listed in  Cogswell's  Independent  Battery,  Illinois 
Light  Artillery.  He  entered  the  service  on  the 
23d  of  February,  1864,  and  served  until  June  23, 
1865,  being  mustered  out  at  Vicksburg,  Missis- 
sippi. He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Nash- 
ville, under  General  Thomas,  and  was  subse- 
quently employed  on  detached  service  at  that 
place  under  General  Rosseau.  Still  later,  he 
served  under  Captain  Barr,  Ordnance  Officer  at 
Fort  McPherson,  Natchez,  Mississippi.  Though 
the  bullets  sometimes  whizzed  in  close  proximity 
to  his  body,  he  came  unscathed  from  the  conflict, 
and  returned  to  the  pursuits  of  peace. 

The  next  few  years  after  the  war  he  spent  at 
different  places  in  the  South  and  West,  and  in 
1871,  just  previous  to  the  Great  Fire,  he  located 
in  Chicago.  He  was  employed  for  a  short  time 
by  a  commission  house  on  the  Board  of  Trade, 
and  for  fifteen  years  thereafter  was  connected 
with  the  Singer  &  Talcott  Stone  Company.  After 
severing  his  connection  with  that  house,  he  spent 
four  years  in  the  office  of  Fraser  &  Chalmers, 
the  well-known  foundrymen.  His  clerical  duties 
were  always  dispatched  in  a  thorough  and  com- 
petent manner,  and  he  gained  a  reputation  for 
being  an  expert  accountant. 

About  twelve  years  ago  Mr.  Baker  began  in- 
vestigating building  and  loan  associations,  and 
demonstrated  to  his  own  satisfaction  that  this 
form  of  investment,  when  properly  managed,  of- 
fered one  of  the  very  best  opportunities  for  people 
of  moderate  incomes.  He  became  identified  with 
the  Bankers'  and  Merchants'  Building  and  Loan 
Association,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  reliable 
concerns  of  that  character  organized  in  the  city. 
He  has  served  as  a  Director  of  that  institution 
since  1884.  In  1891  he  became  its  Secretary, 
filling  that  position  with  marked  ability  for  the 
next  three  years.  Owing  to  ill-health,  he  re- 
signed the  office  of  Secretary  at  the  end  of  that 
period,  and  devoted  the  next  year  to  rest  and  re- 


cuperation. In  1 894  he  became  Secretary  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  Building  and  Loan 
Association.  This  institution,  which  has  been 
established  for  about  eleven  years,  is  in  a  sound 
and  healthy  condition,  having  matured  its  first 
five  series  of  stock,  and  is  now  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  substantial  and  prosperous  corpora- 
tions of  the  kind. 

Mr.  Baker  is  a  conservative,  energetic  and  far- 
seeing  business  man,  and  eminently  adapted  to 
the  management  of  involved  and  extensive  finan- 
cial accounts.  He  is  known  as  one  of  the  well- 
informed  men  in  the  city  on  matters  pertaining  to 
building  and  loan  associations,  and  his  services 
and  counsel  are  frequently  sought  by  other  in- 
dividuals and  corporations  whose  affairs  have  be- 
come entangled  through  incompetent  or  unfaith- 
ful management.  In  addition  to  his  duties  as 
Secretary  of  the  association  with  which  he  is  now 
identified,  he  transacts  a  general  loan  and  fire  in- 
surance business. 

In  1877  Mr.  Baker  was  married  to  Miss  Agnes 
M.  Milne,  daughter  of  Robert  Milne,  of  Lock- 
port,  Illinois.  Mr.  Milne,  who  was  an  early  set- 
tler at  that  place,  became  one  of  the  leading  farm- 
ers and  stock-breeders  of  Illinois,  and  served  as 
a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Canal  Commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Governor  of  the  State. 
He  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-seven  years,  passing 
away  in  November,  1891.  Mrs.  Baker,  who  is 
an  accomplished  and  amiable  lady,  is  the  mother 
of  a  son  and  two  daughters.  Horace  S.,  the  son, 
is  a  student  at  the  Evanston  Township  High 
School.  The  daughters  are  named,  respectively, 
Adeline  M.  and  Elsie  M.  The  family  is  con- 
nected with  the  Congregational  Church  of  Evan- 
ston, which  city  has  been  its  home  since  the 
spring  of  1890.  Mr.  Baker  is  a  member  of 
Unity  Council  of  the  National  Union  at  Evanston, 
and  of  John  A.  Logan  Post,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  Ma- 
sonic order  since  he  was  twenty-one  years  old, 
and  in  political  sentiment  is  an  independent  Re- 
publican. He  entertains  no  aspirations  for  polit- 
ical honors,  but  endeavors  in  a  quiet  way  to  fulfill 
all  the  duties  of  an  American  citizen. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

DIVERSITY  OF  ILL!*' 


U.  H.  WHEELER. 


435 


URIAH   H.  WHEELER. 


HRIAH  HARMON  WHEELER.  The  clos- 
ing life  work  of  Uriah  H.  Wheeler  ended  a 
branch  of  one  of  the  distinguished  Bay  State 
families;  which  pathetic  fact  invites  attention  well 
back  towards  primal  Pilgrim  days,  an  era  of  rug- 
gedly severe  but  sterling  deeds.  Briefly  told,  the 
story  runs  as  follows:  Traditionally  from  Wales, 
in  1640  (only  twenty  years  subsequent  to  the  im- 
mortal landing  of  the  Pilgrims),  Thomas  Wheeler 
is  found  at  Concord,  Massachusetts,  historic  scene 
of  the  "Minute-men"  fight  in  earliest  Revolu- 
tionary times.  Here  he  founded  a  large  family, 
in  evidence  of  which  fact  it  is  only  necessary  to 
say  that  persons  bearing  this  name  have  from 
that  day  to  this  always  exceeded  the  numbers  of 
those  of  any  other  family  name  in  that  town. 

He  rose  to  the  rank  of  Captain,  and  as  such 
was  in  command  of  that  intrepid  score  of  com- 
rades who  made  the  march  in  1675  to  Brookfield, 
to  treat  with  King  Philip,  where,  falling  into  an 
ambush,  about  one- half  of  the  band  was  slaugh- 
tered. Captain  Wheeler  had  his  horse  shot  under 
him  while  in  the  saddle,  and,  being  himself  badly 
wounded,  was  from  under  the  very  tomahawks  of 
savage  foes  rescued  by  his  son,  Sergeant  Thomas 
Wheeler,  who,  although  suffering  from  wounds, 
placed  his  father  upon  another  horse  of  a  fallen 
soldier,  and  from  the  bloody  scene  both  found 
safety  in  flight. 

The  following  year,  Captain  Wheeler  died, 
never  having  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his 
wounds.  Thomas  Wheeler,  junior,  in  the  mean 
time  having  married  and  had  children,  later  re- 
moved to  the  rapidly  developing  town  of  Marl- 
boro, situated  only  a  few  miles  west. 


The  scene  now  changes  to  New  Marlboro,  in 
Berkshire  County,  western  Massachusetts,  whose 
original  grantors  were  principally  from  Marlboro, 
whence  the  name.  Benjamin  Wheeler,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  said  Thomas  Wheeler,  junior, 
was  the  first  settler  in  this  new  grant,  and  one  of 
the  organizers  of  New  Marlboro.  The  winter  of 
1739-40  was  spent  by  him  entirely  alone  in  his 
log  cabin,  provisions  being  brought  from  Shef- 
field, the  nearest  settlement,  ten  miles  distant. 
The  next  year  he  brought  his  family,  who,  the 
following  season,  were  reinforced  by  the  arrival 
of  several  other  families. 

The  old  Wheeler  homestead  is  situated  one 
mile  northwest  of  New  Marlboro  Center,  on  the 
road  to  Great  Barrington,  on  the  right  of  An- 
thony Brook  (so  called  from  the  last  Indian  oc- 
cupant of  the  valley),  and  remained  in  the  family 
for  one  hundred  and  forty  years,  through  five 
generations  of  direct  descendants,  four  of  the 
number  bearing  the  Christian  name  of  Benjamin. 
From  the  first  Benjamin  Wheeler,  above  named, 
the  descent  is  traced  to  the  subject  of  this  biog- 
raphy through  Zenas  Wheeler  and  his  wife, 
Azubah;  their  son  Zenas,  born  October  22,  1756, 
and  his  wife,  Elizabeth;  their  son,  Warren  Wheel- 
er, born  March  10,  1788,  who  was  the  father  of 
Uriah  H.  Wheeler,  as  related  below.  Trans- 
planted to  new  soil,  the  family  tree  throve  and 
spread  out  its  branches,  many  of  them  bearing 
distinguished  offspring,  conspicuously  Capt.  Ze- 
nas Wheeler  of  Revolutionary  War  times. 

In  the  western  part  of  New  Marlboro,  at  a 
place  locally  known  as  "Mill  River,"  is  a  fine 
water  power  upon  the  Konkapot  River,  where  in 


436 


U.  H.  WHEELER. 


later  years  paper  and  lumber  manufacturing  has 
been  extensively  carried  on.  Attracted  thither 
in  1836,  Warren  Wheeler  erected  the  first  mill 
for  the  manufacture  of  writing  paper.  So  rapidly 
did  the  new  industry  develop,  that  in  1855,  of 
three  paper  mills  then  running  there,  that  of 
Warren  Wheeler  &  Co.  was  the  largest,  more 
than  forty  hands  being  employed  and  a  yearly 
output  of  $50,000  worth  of  stock  being  made — a 
remarkable  showing  for  so  early  a  day ;  therefore 
no  wonder  the  firm  was  rated  very  high  in  the 
metropolis  of  New  York. 

This  firm  later  became  Wheeler  &  Sons,  after- 
wards Wheeler,  Sheldon  &  Babcock,  and  was 
finally  sold  out  to  a  syndicate  known  as  the 
Marlboro  Paper  Company,  and  later  to  the  Brook- 
side  Paper  Company,  while  to-day  these  large  in- 
dustries of  the  vicinity  are  controlled  by  the  well- 
known  Berkshire  Paper  Company.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  Warren  Wheeler  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  trade. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  Uriah  Harmon  Wheel- 
er, was  born  at  New  Marlboro  in  the  year  1825, 
being  a  son  of  the  said  Warren  Wheeler  and  wife, 
Alice  (Harmon)  Wheeler.  Of  delicate  mould, 
he  was  an  apt  pupil,  and  we  know  made  the 
most  of  opportunities  at  local  schools  and  later  at 
Meriden  (Connecticut)  Academy.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  he  became  a  partner  with  his  father 
in  the  paper  mill,  succeeding  to  a  place  made 
vacant  by  the  death  of  an  elder  brother,  Warren 
Wheeler,  junior,  who  had  formerly  been  the  first 
partner  of  Cyrus  W.  Field,  father  of  the  Atlantic 
Telegraph  Cable. 

Uncertain  health  led  to  disposing  of  this 
lucrative  business  in  1854,  at  which  period  father 
and  son  came  West;  the  former  to  Berrien 
Springs,  Michigan,  the  latter  to  the  welcoming 
city  of  Chicago,  where  he  located  on  the  South 
Side,  destined  henceforth  to  be  his  home.  For 
ten  years  he  was  a  partner  and  Chicago  repre- 
sentative of  the  great  lumber  firm  of  E.  &  J.  Can- 
field  of  Chicago,  and  Manistee,  Michigan,  which 
then  owned  extensive  local  yards,  situated  on  the 
West  Side,  near  the  Lake  Street  Bridge.  When 
this  branch  of  the  business  was  sold  out, 
not  wishing  to  leave  Chicago,  Mr.  Wheeler 


severed  his  pleasant  relationship  with  this  firm. 
Subsequently  he  bought  from  the  well-known 
John  B.  Idson  his  interest  in  the  wholesale  belt- 
ting  and  rubber  business  at  No.  174  Lake  Street, 
thus  becoming  a  partner  of  Sylvanus  Hallock 
(formerly  of  New  York),  under  the  firm  style 
of  Hallock  &  Wheeler,  one  of  the  first,  largest 
and  most  reputable  houses  of  its  kind  in  their 
day. 

Here  failing  health  found  him  in  January,  1875, 
obliged  to  halt  midway  in  life's  pleasant  march. 
For  the  final  two  years,  he  endured  the  lot  of  a 
patiently  resigned  invalid;  and  so  when  the  Angel 
of  Death  visited  his  earthly  home,  April  21, 
1876,  he  found  not  an  anxious  but  a  prepared 
well-doer,  at  peace  with  both  God  and  men.  The 
remains  were  borne  by  loving  friends  from  the 
family  mansion  at  Twenty-second  Street  to  their 
last  home,  Rose  Hill.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Mitchell 
officiated  at  the  obsequies  of  one  who  had  for  a 
long  time  been  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  politics,  he  was  an 
unswerving  Republican;  never  aggressively  active 
in  political  life,  but  quietly  fulfilling  his  duties  of 
citizen  as  he  wisely  knew  them. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  married,  in  1846,  to  Miss 
Lorinda  Canfield  Wheeler,  of  New  Marlboro, 
who  was  born  at  Hudson,  on  the  Hudson,  where 
her  parents  were  for  a  time  residing.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Abraham  Wheeler,  who  married  a 
Miss  Lorinda  Canfield,  of  eastern  New  York,  a 
descendant  of  an  old  Connecticut  family. 

Their  happy  union  was  blessed  with  four  chil- 
dren, whom  unkind  fate  removed  upon  the  very 
threshold  of  their  lives.  Mr.  Wheeler  possessed  a 
typical  old-school  Massachusetts  face,  intellectu- 
ally refined  and  bearing  an  expression  almost 
feminine  in  gentleness.  Deeply  set  dark  blue 
eyes  lent  a  spirituelle  radiance  to  finely  chiseled, 
classic  features,  as  vividly  portrayed  by  the 
skilled  brush  of  the  well-known  New  York  artist, 
Theodore  Pine.  Beloved  by  those  with  whom 
he  became  intimate,  he  was  held  in  respectful 
esteem  by  all  acquaintances  in  business  relations. 
Socially  he  was  an  ever- welcome,  genial  compan- 
ion, full  of  clever,  refined  thoughts,  delivered 
without  ostentation.  His  superior  success  was 


AARON  OLLENDORFF. 


437 


mainly  due  to  a  well-defined,  consistent  conser- 
vation of  energies,  for  while  naturally  conserva- 
tive, a  delicate  constitution  was  continually  teach- 
ing this  essential  lesson.  And  here  we  stay  our 


narrative,  with  an  observation  of  an  honored  fel- 
low-citizen: "He  was  faithful  in  all  things. 
None  of  our  business  men  has  better  merited 
the  epithet  gentleman." 


AARON  OLLENDORFF. 


REV.  AARON  OLLENDORFF,  one  of  the 
most  highly  respected  citizens  of  Chicago, 
died  at  his  home  in  that  city  October  30, 
1895,  and  his  remains  were  deposited  in  Wald- 
heim  Cemetery.  He  was  born  August  31,  1816, 
in  Rawicz,  in  the  Province  of  Posen,  Prussia, 
and  was  a  son  of  Marcus  Ollendorff,  a  wealthy 
contractor  of  that  city,  where  his  ancestors  had 
been  born  and  reared  for  many  generations. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  a  liberal 
education,  preparing  for  a  teacher,  and  com- 
menced his  career  at  the  age  of  seventeen  as  tutor 
in  a  private  family  in  Kozmen,  Germany.  At 
the  age  of  twenty- five  years  he  was  a  teacher 
and  minister  in  Holland,  where  he  achieved  con- 
siderable fame  through  an  address  made  at  the 
funeral  of  a  noted  rabbi.  This  address  was 
printed  and  sold  throughout  the  entire  kingdom, 
the  proceeds  being  devoted  to  the  building  of  a 
synagogue.  Proceeding  to  Pleshen,  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Posen,  he  opened  a  school,  and  also  be- 
came an  instructor  in  the  Jewish  religion.  He 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Posen. 

In  1855  he  accompanied  his  brother  and  broth- 
er-in-law to  Australia,  whither  they  were  led  by 
the  brilliant  promise  of  the  newly  opened  gold- 
fields.  They  were  ten  weeks  on  the  voyage  from 
England  to  Australia  on  a  sailing-vessel.  Arriv- 
ing in  Melbourne,  he  immediately  became  pastor 
of  a  Hebrew  congregation,  but  returned  in  1858 
to  Germany,  locating  in  Breslau,  where  he  opened 
a  college  for  boys  in  company  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  P.  Joseph,  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 

Mr.  Ollendorffinvested  his  means  in  real  estate, 
but  the  speculation  proved  unfortunate,  and  in 


1866  he  came  to  America  to  retrieve  his  fortunes. 
He  located  for  a  time  in  Baltimore,  where  he 
was  associated  for  a  time  with  Mr.  Joseph,  a 
brother-in-law,  in  the  wholesale  jewelry  business. 
From  there  he  was  called  to  Chicago  to  take 
charge  of  the  North  Chicago  Hebrew  congrega- 
tion, the  first  of  that  sect  on  the  North  Side. 
He  ofiiciated  there  three  years,  the  house  of  wor- 
ship being  located  on  Superior  Street,  near  Wells 
Street,  and  his  residence  was  on  Illinois  Street, 
near  LaSalle  Avenue.  He  was  next  called  to 
Quincy,  Illinois,  where  he  ofiiciated  three  years, 
thus  escaping  the  great  Chicago  fire.  In  1873 
he  returned  to  the  city  and  became  an  active 
member  of  his  former  congregation,  devoting 
himself  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  private 
pursuits. 

Beside  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  Ollen- 
dorff family  has  produced  another  noted  scholar 
— Professor  Ollendorff,  of  Paris,  France,  who  was 
the  author  of  grammars  in  all  modern  languages, 
many  of  which  are  still  in  use. 

Doctor  Ollendorff  was  married  in  Great  Glogau, 
Germany,  March  29,  1853,  to  Miss  Sophia  Joseph, 
of  Great  Glogau,  Silesia,  Germany.  She  was  a 
native  of  that  place  and  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Henrietta  (Peisach)  Joseph.  The  children  of 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Ollendorff  were  Fannie,  Martha, 
Max,  Paul  and  Arthur.  The  only  survivor, 
Fannie,  is  the  wife  of  Millard  Cass,  a  prominent 
real-estate  dealer  of  Chicago.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cass  are  the  parents  of  two  sons,  namely:  Mr. 
Philip  Cass,  a  promising  young  man  of  twenty- 
one,  who  is  an  expert  electrician  and  bicyclist; 
and  Sigmund  Cass,  now  eleven  years  old,  a  stu- 
dent of  the  Chicago  public  schools. 


438 


S.  P.  SKINNER. 


Doctor  Ollendorff's  mother,  Helen  Ollendorff, 
was  a  famous  beauty,  born  and  reared  in  Dantzig, 
West  Prussia.  The  fame  of  her  beauty  extended 
to  Rawicz,  where  her  future  husband  lived.  He 
hastened  to  Dantzig  and  succeeded  in  bringing 
her  home  as  his  bride.  The  beauty  of  this  lady 
was  transmitted  to  her  posterity,  and  is  noticeable 
in  her  only  granddaughter  living  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  She  lived  to  the  great  age  of 
ninety-six  years,  and  preserved  her  remarkable 
beauty  and  vivacity  of  spirits  until  her  death. 


Reverend  Doctor  Ollendorff  was  one  of  the 
greatest  Talmudic  and  Hebraic  scholars  of  the 
age,  and  was  considered  an  authority  on  all  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  ancient  Hebrew  history.  His 
funeral  was  one  of  the  most  imposing  ever  seen 
on  the  North  Side,  and  was  conducted  from  the 
new  temple  of  the  North  Side  Hebrew  congrega- 
tion, corner  of  LaSalle  Avenue  and  Goethe  Street, 
the  Reverend  Doctor  Norden,  pastor  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  Reverend  Doctor  Felsenthal  offici- 
ating. 


SAMUEL  P.  SKINNER. 


REV.  SAMUEL  PROUTY  SKINNER,  one 
of  the  fathers  of  Universalism  in  the  West, 
and  for  seven  years  the  publisher  of  its  lead- 
ing western  organ,  passed  away  in  Chicago, 
August  12,  1858,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years. 
He  was  the  son  of  Baxter  Skinner,  a  farmer  in 
Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  was  born 
in  1810.  The  family  was  noted  for  its  intellect- 
ual force,  and  furnished  one  of  the  Presidents  of 
Lombard  University,  at  Galesburg,  Illinois,  Otis 
A.  Skinner. 

Samuel  P.  Skinner  was  educated  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  was  married, 
in  Conway,  Franklin  County,  Massachusetts,  to 
Miss  Armenia  Pulsifer,  a  native  of  that  town. 
She  survived  him  two  years,  dying  in  Chicago 
in  1860.  They  had  no  children,  but  adopted  a 
niece,  Sarah  A.,  who  is  now  the  wife  of  Charles 
E.  Lake,  residing  in  Chicago.  Dr.  Skinner,  as 
he  was  called  by  his  contemporaries,  was  justly 
so  styled,  for  Lombard  College  (as  it  was  then 
known)  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Divinity;  but  he  did  not  accept  it,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  himself.  He  was  a  man  of  rare 
beauty  of  character,  and  spread  sunshine  wherever 
he  went.  He  was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 
He  first  preached  at  Cambridgeport,  Massachu- 
setts, whence  he  went  to  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
and  was  pastor  ol  the  Universalist  Society  there 


ten  years.  Returning  to  Boston,  he  preached  oc- 
casionally at  Newton  Upper  Falls,  near  that  city. 
His  health  was  never  robust,  and  he  decided  to 
try  the  western  climate. 

He  arrived  in  Chicago  in  October,  1845,  and 
six  months  afterward  accepted  a  call  to  the  First 
Universalist  Church,  now  known  as  St.  Paul's, 
and  at  present  presided  over  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Can- 
field,  D.  D.  He  purchased  land  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Van  Buren  Street  and  Wabash 
Avenue,  upon  which  was  erected  in  i856achurch 
edifice  patterned  after  the  church  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Neal,  at  Boston.  This  was  destroyed  in  the 
great  conflagration  of  1871,  soon  after  which  the 
society  built  a  church  at  great  expense  on  the  east 
side  of  Michigan  Avenue,  between  Seventeenth 
and  Eighteenth  Streets,  on  what  was  known  as 
the  Widow  Clark  property,  for  years  a  land- 
mark of  Chicago.  Later  the  church  was  abandoned 
as  being  too  far  down  town,  and  the  present 
handsome  house  of  the  society  was  put  up  at 
Thirtieth  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue.  Rev.  Mr. 
Skinner  continued  as  pastor  until  1852,  when  he 
was  compelled  to  give  up  the  ministry  on  account 
of  feeble  health.  Though  not  possessed  of  a  good 
voice,  his  sermons  were  able,  and  he  held  the 
society  together  and  established  it  firmly. 

Upon  abandoning  the  pulpit,  he  did  not  get 
out  of  church  work,  and  bought  the  Better  Cove- 


J.  Y.  SANGER. 


439 


nant,  a  small  denominational  paper,  which  he  en- 
larged and  improved,  changing  the  name  to  the 
New  Covenant.  It  is  now  a  flourishing  religious 
journal,  known  as  the  Universalist.  He  was  an 
easy  writer  and  superior  editor,  and  continued 
the  management  of  the  paper  for  some  years, 
when  he  sold  it  to  Rev.  D.  P.  Livermore,  who  con- 
ducted it  a  long  time,  until  his  removal  to  Bos- 
ton, where  he  now  resides. 


In  his  last  years  Dr.  Skinner  gave  some  atten- 
tion to  real-estate  investments,  and  he  left  a  com- 
petence to  his  family.  Cut  off  at  a  comparatively 
early  age,  the  church  lost  in  him  one  of  its  most 
faithful  and  useful  workers,  and  his  memory  is 
still  lovingly  cherished  in  its  records.  He  was  of 
a  retiring  disposition,  and  those  who  intimately 
knew  him  best  appreciated  his  worth.  His  works 
live  after  him. 


JAMES  YOUNG  SANGER. 


(TAMES  YOUNG  SANGER  was  conspicuous 
I  for  many  years  among  the  prominent  eastern- 
O  born  citizens  of  Illinois.  His  birthplace  is 
in  Sutton,  Vt. ,  his  birth  having  occurred  on  the  yth 
of  March,  in  the  year  1814.  He  received  a  prac- 
tical common-school  education,  and  was  a  pre- 
cocious youth  in  business  matters.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen,  he  became  head  clerk  in  the  store  of 
Isaac  Harris,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa. ,  then  the  largest 
mercantile  establishment  of  its  kind  in  the  city. 
He  was  methodical,  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
his  employers,  remarkable  for  his  readiness  and 
facility  in  business,  and  commanded  the  admiring 
commendation  of  his  associates. 

His  father,  David  Sanger,  after  removing  from 
Vermont,  associated  with  himself  one  of  his  sons, 
and  they  became  contractors  on  the  Erie  Canal 
and  other  public  works  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
They  built  some  of  the  locks  at  Lockport,  N.  Y., 
and  had  other  contracts  on  the  canal,  James  Y. 
Sanger  being  associated  with  them.  The  four  sons 
of  David  Sanger  all  became  contractors  and  build- 
ers of  public  works.  After  completing  their  work 
in  New  York,  they  went  to  Pennsylvania  and 
engaged  in  the  same  kind  of  business.  Going 
from  there  to  Ohio,  they  assisted  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Ohio  canals;  still  going  westward, 
they  performed  similar  work  on  the  Wabash  & 


Erie  Canal.  Following  the  completion  of  this 
undertaking,  J.  Y.  Sanger  moved  to  St.  Joseph, 
Mich. ,  where  he  opened  a  general  store,  and  was 
interested  in  bridge-building  and  similar  enter- 
prises. 

In  1836  James  Y.  Sanger,  his  father  and  Gen. 
Hart  L.  Stewart  came  to  Chicago  and  bid  for 
contract  work  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal, 
which  was  let  by  the  State  of  Illinois.  Several 
of  these  contracts  were  secured  by  these  gentle- 
men, who  had  formed  a  co-partnership  for  that 
purpose,  and  their  first  work  was  in  the  vicinity 
of  Chicago.  As  the  work  progressed  southwest- 
ward,  the  canal  was  constructed  where  now  the 
famous  quarries  of  L,emont  and  neighboring  towns 
are  situated,  and  a  vast  amount  of  rockwork  was 
excavated.  They  also  built  the  aqueduct  and  bridge 
at  Ottawa,  the  locks  at  Peru,  and  constructed 
various  other  public  works.  In  the  spring  of 
1840  J.  Y.  Sanger  moved  to  Chicago. 

The  year  1842  proved  disastrous  to  them. 
There  was  due  them  a  large  amount  of  money 
for  work  which  they  had  performed  at  an  im- 
mense outlay.  The  State  defaulted  payment, 
and  they  were  compelled  to  accept  in  satisfaction 
of  their  claim  State  script,  whose  commercial 
value  was  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  its  face  repre- 
sentation. Mrs.  Sanger  received  as  a  present 


440 


T.  Y.  SANGER. 


from  her  husband  $2,000  of  this  script,  worth 
$500,  with  which  she  bought  a  lot,  on  which  the 
Stewart  House  now  stands.  One  half  of  this  she 
afterward  sold  to  her  sister,  the  wife  of  Gen. 
Stewart,  at  cost  price;  upon  the  other  half,  which 
constituted  the  corner  lot,  she  erected  a  two- 
story  frame  house,  with  frontage  of  twenty-five 
feet,  and  planted  the  remainder,  a  strip  of  fifteen 
feet,  with  trees  and  flowers  for  ornament.  This 
property  she  sold  a  few  years  afterward  for 
$12,000. 

In  the  year  1850,  James  Y.  Sanger,  Gen. 
Stewart,  L.  ?•  Sanger  and  others  organized  a 
company  to  build  public  works,  especially  rail- 
roads, on  a  more  extensive  scale  than  the  people 
of  the  West  had  ever  seen  them  carried  on  be- 
fore. This  organization  was  known  as  Sanger, 
Camp  &  Co.,  and  its  first  undertaking  was 
the  construction  and  equipment  of  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi  Railroad,  which  was  projected  to  run 
from  East  St.  Louis  to  Vincennes,  Ind.  For  the 
completion  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  line 
the  compensation  was  to  be  $5,000,000.  Shortly 
afterward,  they  contracted  with  the  Belleville  & 
Alton  Railroad  Company  to  build  a  line  from 
Belleville,  by  way  of  St.  Louis,  to  Alton  for 
$1,000,000.  In  the  winter  of  1853-54,  the  North 
Missouri  Railroad  Company  contracted  with  this 
firm  for  a  railroad  from  St.  Louis  to  the  Iowa 
State  line,  northwesterly  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles.  The  estimates  for  this  work  were  about 
$7,000,000.  In  1855  another  contract  was  made 
by  Sanger,  Camp  &  Co.  to  complete  a  railroad 
from  St.  Louis,  by  way  of  Vandalia,  to  the  Wabash 
River,  near  Terre  Haute,  a  distance  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  miles,  and  for  this  they  were  to 
receive  $8,000,000.  The  total  of  the  contracts 
undertaken  by  this  company,  within  the  dates 
mentioned,  amounted  to  more  than  $21,000,000. 
Nothing  more  clearly  illustrates  the  energy  and 
enterprise  of  the  members  of  this  company  than 
the  mention  of  these  figures.  Their  work  was 
pushed  with  vigor,  and  their  operations  were 
watched  with  interest  by  the  people  of  the  entire 
West. 

In  addition  to  the  works  which  the  company 
constructed,  and  which  have  been  already  men- 


tioned, a  line  of  railroad  fifteen  miles  in  length 
was  built  from  St.  Louis  to  Belleville,  which  be- 
came one  of  the  most  profitable  pieces  of  railroad 
property  in  the  United  States,  in  proportion  to  its 
length.  The  year  1857  scattered  broadcast  its 
calamities  with  an  impartial  hand,  and  financial 
troubles  involved  Sanger,  Camp  &  Co. ,  as  they  did 
thousands  of  others.  The  railroad  companies 
with  which  their  contracts  were  made  were  una- 
ble to  meet  their  financial  obligations,  and  this 
company  was  compelled  to  take  $8,000,000  for 
the  work  they  had  performed,  which,  if  completed 
according  to  the  contract,  would  have  brought 
them  $21,000,000.  In  1857  James  Y.  Sanger, 
disappointed  in  his  expectations  with  regard  to 
eastern  railroads,  turned  his  attention  toward  the 
West,  and  went  to  California,  where  he  put  in 
operation  a  railroad  from  Sacramento  to  Marys- 
ville,  the  first  one  ever  operated  in  California. 
He  remained  on  the  Pacific  Coast  for  two  years, 
and  then  returned  to  Chicago. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  he  became  a 
contractor  for  Government  supplies,  which  con- 
tinued to  be  his  principal  business  during  the 
continuance  of  the  war.  After  the  return  of 
peace,  he  again  engaged  in  railroad  work,  and 
associated  with  Gen.  James  H.  Ledlie  in  the  or- 
ganization of  a  syndicate  to  build  the  Union  Pa- 
cific Railroad.  The  syndicate  secured  several 
large  contracts.  Before  any  considerable  amount 
of  work  had  been  done,  Mr.  Sanger's  health 
failed,  and  he  was  disappointed  in  his  expecta- 
tion of  putting  his  whole  time  upon  this  pro- 
ject. In  a  short  time  his  condition  compelled 
him  to  abandon  it  entirely.  His  interest  in  the 
company  was  taken  by  Gen.  John  M.  Corse,  who 
was  afterward  Postmaster  at  Boston.  Thus  it 
was  that  Mr.  Sanger  missed  an  opportunity  of 
sharing  the  large  profits  of  this  enterprise.  He 
returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death,  on  July  3,  1867. 

It  was  after  his  settlement  at  St.  Joseph,  Mich., 
that  Mr.  Sanger  met  Miss  Mary  Catherine  Mc- 
Kibben,  daughter  of  Col.  James  McKibben, 
whose  family  had  moved  from  Pennsylvania  to 
Michigan  after  his  death.  Col.  McKibben'swife 
was  the  daughter  of  William  Nelson,  an  Irish 


H.  W.  THOMAS. 


44i 


gentleman,  who  emigrated  to  America  after  the 
Revolutionary  War  and  settled  in  Bedford,  Pa., 
where  his  family  grew  up  and  his  only  daughter 
married  Col.  McKibben.  The  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  Sanger  and  Miss  McKibben  resulted  in 
mutual  affection  and  led  to  their  marriage,  which 
occurred  at  Lockport,  111.,  April  5,  1841.  Miss 
McKibben  was  born  in  Westmoreland  County, 
Pa. ,  and  was  one  of  four  children  born  to  Col. 
and  Mrs.  McKibben.  She  was  the  true  help- 
mate and  companion  of  the  noble  husband  whom 
she  survives,  and  for  the  honor  of  whose  memory 
she  has  performed  many  good  works.  She  is 
familiar  with  the  history  of  Chicago  from  the 
period  of  its  early  growth,  and  is  still  a  resident  of 
this  city.  She  has  been  the  mother  of  two  sons  and 
one  daughter,  all  of  whom  were  born  in  Chicago. 
One  son,  James  McKibben  Sanger,  died  Septem- 
ber 19,  1877,  leaving  two  sons,  James  P.  and 
John  Foster  Sanger.  The  other  son,  Fred  W. 


Sanger,  resides  in  his  native  city.  The  daugh- 
ter is  the  wife  of  George  M.  Pullman,  of  Chicago. 
For  more  than  thirty  years  Mr.  Sanger  was  one 
of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Illinois,  and  one 
whose  efforts  contributed  as  much  as  those  of  any 
other  toward  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
State.  The  influence  of  the  enterprises  with 
which  he  was  identified  upon  the  commerce  of 
the  West  is  incalculable.  The  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  of  railroad  in  the  construction  of  which 
he  was  largely  instrumental,  were  built  at  an  out- 
lay of  $12,000,000.  It  is  not  necessary  to  speak 
of  the  many  lesser  enterprises  with  which  he  was 
identified.  He  was  widely  known,  not  only  in 
commercial,  but  also  in  social  circles,  and  was  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  order.  His 
success  in  life  was  due  to  his  fertility  of  resource, 
his  wonderful  ability  to  recover  from  pecuniary 
embarrassments,  and  his  indomitable  energy. 


REV.  HIRAM  WASHINGTON  THOMAS. 


REV.  HIRAM  WASHINGTON  THOMAS, 
D.  D.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  the  son 
of  Joseph  and  Margaret  (McDonald)Thomas, 
who  were  well-to-do  farmers  in  Hampshire  Coun- 
ty, W.  Va.  On  his  father's  side  he  is  of  Ger- 
man and  Welsh,  and  on  his  mother's  Scotch  and 
English,  extraction.  Hiram  is  the  fourth  in  a 
family  of  six  children,  having  three  brothers 
older  and  two  sisters  younger  than  himself,  and 
was  born  in  Hampshire  County,  among  the  moun- 
tains of  West  Virginia,  April  29,  1832.  When 
but  a  year  old  the  family  removed  to  Preston 
County,  near  the  Maryland  line,  where  he  grew 
to  manhood.  He  was  naturally  of  a  slender  con- 
stitution, with  a  massive  brain  overtopping  his 
body,  and  it  was  fortunate  that  his  childhood  and 
early  manhood  were  spent  on  a  farm  among  the 


rugged  mountains.  The  outdoor  active  life  of  a 
farmer  toned  up  his  physical  constitution  to  a 
reasonable  equality  with  his  mental  capacity, 
so  that  he  has  been  able  to  bear  an  amount  of  in- 
tellectual work  surpassed  by  few,  and  at  the  age 
of  sixty  years  his  vigor  is  unimpaired  and  his 
personal  appearance  still  youthful.  The  educa- 
tional facilities  of  his  native  place  were,  fortu- 
nately perhaps  for  him,  meagre  and  primitive, 
and  he  was  left  to  the  very  necessary  work  of 
preparing  a  constitution  for  future  use.  The 
thirst  for  knowledge  was,  however,  so  great  in 
him,  that  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  went  one  hun- 
dred miles  on  foot  to  Hardy  County,  Va.,  and 
worked  nights  and  mornings  for  a  winter's  school- 
ing at  a  little  village  academy.  Two  years  after, 
one  Doctor  McKesson,  of  his  neighborhood,  took 


442 


H.  W.  THOMAS. 


him  under  his  private  tutelage  for  two  years,  after 
which  he  attended  the  Cooperstown,  Pennsyl- 
vania Academy,  and  subsequently  the  Berlin 
Seminary,  in  the  same  State,  then  under  the  di- 
rection of  J.  F.  Eberhart,  now  a  member  of  the 
People's  Church,  Chicago,  and  a  fast  friend  of 
the  Doctor's. 

On  moving  to  Iowa  he  continued  his  studies 
privately  under  Dr.  Charles  Elliott,  formerly 
President  of  the  Iowa  Wesley  an  University.  His 
studies  have,  however,  never  been  discontinued. 
Like  many  men  of  mark,  he  has  never  graduated, 
but  expects  to  remain  a  student  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  The  greater  part  of  his  knowledge  of  books 
he  has  acquired  since  he  began  to  preach,  and 
has  facilitated  his  work  greatly,  and  fastened  his 
acquirements  in  his  memory,  by  making  immedi- 
ate use  of  them  as  fast  as  acquired,  a  most  ad- 
mirable method. 

His  mother  was  a  devout  Methodist,  and  his 
father  a  Quaker.  The  moral  tone  of  the  family 
was  exceptionally  high,  and  its  religion  both 
practical  and  intensely  devotional.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  Hiram  became  converted,  and  began 
soon  after  to  preach.  L,ike  many  other  great 
preachers,  he  had  the  conviction  from  childhood 
that  he  must  one  day  preach,  and  although  he 
fought  against  it  long  and  energetically,  yet  when 
the  time  came  he  yielded  and  entered  into  the 
work. 

He  at  first  joined  the  Pittsburgh  Conference  of 
the  Evangelical  Association,  or  German  Method- 
ists, with  whom  he  remained  till  in  1856,  when 
he  joined  the  Iowa  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

March  19,  1865,  he  married  Miss  Emmeline  C. 
Merrick,  an  accomplished  young  lady  of  Demp- 
seytown,  Pa.  Her  people  were  Presbyterians, 
and  Methodist  preachers,  and  though  popular  with 
the  same  class  who  used  to  hear  Christ  "gladly," 
were,  nevertheless,  at  that  period  considered  rather 
among  the  proletariat.  The  union  has  been,  how- 
ever, a  happy  one,  and  through  all  the  extraordi- 
nary trials  of  the  life  of  an  itinerant  Methodist 
preacher  on  the  frontier,  they  have  found  in  each 
other  an  unfailing  source  of  strength  and  consola-  . 
tion. 


In  the  autumn  of  1854  his  parents  sold  out  their 
Virginia  home,  and  the  family  removed  to  Wash- 
ington County,  Iowa,  and  bought  a  tract  of  land. 
Thither  Hiram,  with  his  young  wife,  followed 
them  the  following  spring.  The  summer  was 
spent  opening  a  new  farm,  house-building,  etc., 
the  young  preacher  working  faithfully  seven  days 
in  the  week,  six  on  the  farm  and  one  in  the  pul- 
pit. In  the  fall  that  scourge  of  a  new  country, 
congestive  chills  and  fever,  brought  him  and  his 
faithful  wife  to  the  verge  of  death,  but,  as  he  firmly 
believes,  his  life  was  spared  in  answer  to  prayer. 
Whether  his  faithful  spouse  was  included  in  the 
petition,  or  is  indebted  to  the  efficacy  of  a  stronger 
vital  organization  for  her  escape,  is  not  recorded, 
but  it  is  certain  that  she,  too,  was  spared  to  re- 
mark that  there  was  little  left  of  Hiram  but  '  'a 
handful  of  bones  and  a  tuft  of  red  hair. ' ' 

But  he  was  not  ordained  to  bury  himself  or  his 
talents  in  Iowa  soil,  and  speedily  relinquished 
the  farm  entirely  for  the  pulpit,  and  entered  fully 
upon  the  arduous  life  of  a  Methodist  itinerant. 
For  several  successive  years  he  managed  to  eke 
out  a  subsistence  for  himself  and  family  on  $300 
a  year.  The  leading  charges  of  Marshall,  Ft. 
Madison,  Washington,  Mt.  Pleasant  and  Burling- 
ton enjoyed  the  benefit  of  his  labors,  besides  which 
he  spent  two  years  as  Chaplain  of  the  State  Peni- 
tentiary. In  1869  he  was  transferred  to  the  Rock 
River  Conference,  and  stationed  at  Park  Avenue, 
Chicago.  After  three  years  he  was  appointed  to 
the  First  Church  (Methodist  Church  Block)  of 
the  same  city,  where  likewise  he  remained  three 
years.  He  was  then  sent  to  the  First  Church  of 
Aurora  for  two  years,  and  next  to  Centenary 
Church,  Chicago,  where  his  term  of  three  years 
expired  in  October,  1880.  His  early  preaching 
gave  promise  of  all  his  later  fame.  He  always 
drew  large  congregations  and  the  church  flour- 
ished under  his  care.  It  was  predicted  many 
years  ago  by  astute  friends  that  he  only  had 
to  be  transferred  to  a  large  city  to  acquire  a  na- 
tional reputation.  He  has  captured  every  place 
in  which  he  has  preached,  and  his  success  in 
Chicago  is  only  a  repetition  of  his  career  on  a 
smaller  scale  in  the  villages  and  towns  of  his 


H.  W.  THOMAS. 


443 


earlier  ministry.  There  have  usually  been  many 
demands  for  him,  and  a  spirited  rivalry  between 
the  leading  churches  of  his  conference,  as  there  is 
now  between  cities  and  denominations. 

Dr.  Thomas  has  been  a  man  of  sorrows  as 
well  as  of  privations  and  arduous  labors.  Of 
seven  children  born  to  his  home  but  one  survives, 
Dr.  Homer  M.  Thomas,  now  a  prominent  physi- 
cian of  Chicago.  His  large  personal  experience 
in  the  school  of  grief  has  opened  a  door  for  him 
into  the  hearts  of  the  afflicted  and  desolate  few 
not  tempered  in  the  same  school  can  enjoy.  He 
was  born  and  reared  in  humble  life;  he  drew  his 
first  breath  among  the  freedom-inspiring  moun- 
tains; he  had  his  long  struggle  with  poverty,  and 
is  familiar  with  its  trials  and  temptations;  he  has 
mingled  with  the  lowly,  and  become  familiar 
with  their  wants  and  woes,  and  no  fame,  honor 
or  pelf  of  his  later  years  can  lift  him  above  the 
common  people  in  his  sympathies  or  his  labors. 
He  began  his  life  with  them,  he  has  spent  it  for 
them,  he  will  close  it  among  them.  This  is  the 
secret  of  his  heresy — it  is  the  secret  of  his  power. 
And  had  not  Methodism  progressed  out  of  its 
primitive  simplicity  and  liberality,  it  would  not 
have  scandalized  and  wronged  itself  by  driving 
him  from  among  them.  However,  it  gave  him  a 
broader  field,  and  probably  increased  his  useful- 
ness by  breaking  down  for  him  the  wall  of  parti- 
tion which  the  church  unconsciously  had  erected 
between  her  ministers  and  the  people,  and  by 
casting  him  with  her  ban  upon  him  into  the 
bosom  of  the  people  whom  he  loved.  "Nothing 
pains  me  more, ' '  he  said  at  one  time,  '  'or  gives 
me  more  anxious  thought,  than  that  the  world's 
great  need,  and  religion's  great  gift — man's  want 
and  God's  fullness — cannot  be  brought  together. 
It  rests  upon  me  with  such  a  weight  that  I  have 
sometimes  almost  felt  that  God  calls  me  to  a  min- 
istry at  large  outside  of  the  church,  that  I  might 
get  near  to  the  hearts  and  homes  of  the  people. ' ' 

The  expression  of  such  sentiments  could  not 
but  make  him  very  popular  among  those  who 
most  need  human  sympathy  and  ministerial  coun- 
sel and  assistance,  and  naturally  the  narrow  bigots 
of  his  own  class  would  look  with  increasing  dis- 
favor upon  him.  He  would  be  regarded  by  the 


scribes  and  pharisees  with  jealousy,  anger  and 
suspicion,  in  proportion  as  it  became  manifest  that 
"the  common  people  heard  him  gladly."  It 
hence  became  early  apparent  that  a  separation 
must  sooner  or  later  come — the  drift  of  events 
could  not  be  checked.  With  the  deepening  of 
his  sympathies  for  humanity  came  the  inevitable 
broadening  of  his  religious,  or  rather  theological,, 
views  of  truth  and  his  understanding  of  the  Script- 
ures. With  him  to  study,  to  learn  and  to  preach 
were  necessary  steps  in  a  process  continually  go- 
ing on.  He  never  waits  to  inquire  how  truth 
will  be  received,  or  what  will  be  its  consequences 
to  himself.  He  only  asks  if  it  be  truth;  his  duties 
to  proclaim  it  he  never  questions.  His  opposers 
did  not  stop  to  inquire  if  his  views  were  truth, 
nor  yet  whether  they  were  contrary  to  the  essen- 
tials of  Methodism,  but  placed  the  issues  of  their 
cause  against  him  upon  the  standards  of  the 
Church,  and  themselves  determined  the  stand- 
ards. There  could  be  but  one  issue  of  such  a 
trial.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  date  of  the 
earliest  expression  of  heresy  by  the  Doctor,  and  it 
is  of  little  moment.  It  is  probable  that  his  early 
popularity  arose  from  his  human  and  rational 
view  of  God,  the  Bible,  and  its  teachings,  which 
came  to  him  unconsciously,  and  was  expressed 
as  unconsciously  and  as  naturally  as  he  breathed. 
However,  rumors  of  his  unsoundness  were  heard 
as  far  back  as  1865,  while  yet  in  Burlington, 
Iowa,  and  on  that  account  an  effort  was  made  to 
prevent  his  transfer  to  Chicago.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  that  his  liberal  views  attracted  general 
notice.  His  nearness  to  the  people,  and  his  pop- 
ularity among  publicans  and  sinners  who  flocked 
to  hear  him,  and  many  of  whom  he  reformed, 
seemed  to  give  offense  to  the  brethren.  Besides 
this  he  did  a  good  deal  of  undenominational  work. 
He  originated  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Chi- 
cago, and  was  its  second  President.  The  society 
was  organized  soon  after  the  great  fire,  and  held 
its  meetings  for  a  time  in  the  Methodist  Church 
Block.  It  was  composed  of  such  men  as  Judge 
Booth,  Prof.  Rodney  Welch,  Dr.  Samuel  Wil- 
lard,  Gen.  Buford,  Dr.  Edmund  Andrews,  Rev. 
Dr.  Joseph  Haven,  Dr.  E.  F.  Abbott,  J.  W.  Ela, 


414 


H.  W.  THOMAS 


Prof.  Austin  Bierbower,  and  two  hundred  or  three 
hundred  more  orthodox,  liberal  sceptics,  spirit- 
ualists, atheists,  Catholics  and  all  the  shades  be- 
tween these.  Its  discussions  were  not  always 
orthodox,  as  might  be  expected,  and  Dr.  Thomas 
was  held  responsible  for  every  variation  there- 
from. 

He  affiliated  with  liberal-minded  people  outside 
of  his  own  church.  He  preached  a  powerful  ser- 
mon in  defense  of  Prof.  Swing,  and  followed  it  with 
one  on  hell,  something  after  the  example  of  Henry 
Ward  Beecher;  sometimes  preached  for  the  Uni- 
versalists  and  Unitarians;  organized  an  undenom- 
inational preachers'  meeting,  called  the  Round 
Table,  and  in  general  conducted  himself  in  a  way 
which  indicated  that  he  could  no  longer,  '  'after 
the  straighter  sect  of  our  religion,  live  a  pharisee. ' ' 
When,  therefore,  in  the  fall  of  1875,  his  term 
at  the  First  Church  in  Chicago  expired,  the  com- 
plaints had  grown  so  loud  in  certain  quarters  that 
he  was  sent  out  of  the  city  to  Aurora.  There 
was  much  dissatisfaction  about  this.  His  own 
church,  the  newspapers,  and  the  general  public 
believed  it  was  designed  to  lessen  his  field  of  in- 
fluence. Several  large  and  wealthy  churches  of 
other  denominations  offered  him  places.  Charges 
in  other  conferences  sought  his  services,  but  he 
went  quietly  to  his  new  appointment  and  soon 
built  up  a  large  congregation  in  Aurora.  Per- 
sistent efforts  were,  however,  made  to  get  him 
back  to  Chicago,  and  with  final  success,  for  he 
was  appointed  to  Centenary  Church  in  1877. 
Immediately  this  society  became  one  of  the  largest 
in  the  Northwest,  and  other  clergymen  claimed 
that  their  congregations  were  rushing  off  to  Cen- 
tenary Church  and  getting  '  'Thomasized. ' '  Dur- 
ing all  this  time  he  was  lecturing  throughout  the 
Northwest,  giving  during  the  lecture  season  one 
or  two  lectures  a  week  in  Iowa,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  and  occasionally  other  States.  This 
spread  both  his  fame  and  his  opinions,  and  mul- 
tiplied both  his  friends  and  his  enemies.  But  the 
crisis  of  his  religious  affairs  was  approaching. 

When  the  next  conference  met  at  Mt.  Carroll, 
in  October,  1878,  the  subject  of  Dr.  Thomas' 
recent  utterances  was  privately  discussed,  and  a 
plan  carefully  matured  in  secret  to  bring  the  mat- 


ter to  a  head.  With  characteristic  boldness,  and 
rejoicing  in  his  own  freedom,  Dr.  Thomas 
preached  before  the  conference  a  sermon  in  which 
he  took  occasion  to  give  free  expression  to  his 
peculiar  views  and  criticise  the  narrowness  of 
some  of  his  brethren. 

A  committee  on  conference  relations  was  ap- 
pointed. This  was  a  sort  of  Star  Chamber,  be- 
fore which  complaints  might  be  secretly  brought 
against  any  minister,  and  some  one,  unknown  to 
anybody  except  the  committee,  made  charges 
against  Dr.  Thomas,  and  an  adverse  case  was 
worked  up.  The  committee  reported  the  case  to 
the  conference,  and  there  was  much  discussion  of 
the  matter,  but  finally  the  presiding  bishop,  Dr. 
Foster,  cut  the  matter  short  by  asking  all  those 
to  rise  to  their  feet  who  felt  that  no  loyal  Method- 
ist could  preach  such  a  sermon,  an  unwarrant- 
able proceeding,  asking,  as  it  did,  judgment  be- 
fore trial.  A  large  majority,  nevertheless,  stood 
up  and  set  themselves  right  on  the  question  of 
heresy  before  the  world.  A  resolution  offered 
was  then  adopted,  asking  Dr.  Thomas  either  to 
abandon  his  objectionable  teaching,  or  withdraw 
from  the  church;  in  other  words,  to  become  a 
hypocrite  and  stay  in,  or  remain  an  honest  man 
and  get  out.  He  very  properly  refused  to  do 
either,  thinking  probably  that  the  church  was  in 
need  of  honest  and  independent  thinkers,  rather 
than  regulation  preachers. 

The  trial  began  at  the  opening  session,  Oc- 
tober 5,  1879,  and  continued  at  intervals  till  Oc- 
tober 10,  when,  as  was  anticipated,  he  was  again 
found  guilty  and  expelled,  both  from  the  minis- 
try and  the  membership  of  the  church. 

The  committee,  however,  did  not  sustain  the 
charge  upon  the  question  of  the  inspiration  of  the 
Bible,  but  acquitted  him  on  that  account.  Upon 
the  atonement  the  vote  stood  nine  to  six,  and  on 
endless  punishment  eleven  to  four. 

Shortly  before  the  meeting  of  the  conference  at 
Rockford  in  1880,  a  number  of  Chicago  gentle- 
men met  and  pledged  themselves  to  be  responsi- 
ble for  the  expenses  of  a  service  in  the  central 
part  of  the  city.  Accordingly,  Hooley's  Theatre 
was  engaged,  and  to  it  the  Doctor  went  after  the 
action  of  that  conference.  A  large  congregation 


H.  W.  THOMAS. 


445 


greeted  him  at  once,  and  he  continued  to  hold 
services  there  with  great  success  till  in  1885,  then 
in  the  Chicago  Opera  House  for  a  few  months, 
and  since  then  in  McVicker's  Theatre. 

Upon  this  expulsion  by  the  conference  at  Syca- 
more, although  it  endangered  his  right  of  appeal 
to  the  judicial  conference,  he  felt  it  his  duty 
to  continue  his  work,  and  did  so.  As  he  feared, 
so  it  turned  out.  The  judicial  conference  which 
met  at  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  December  6,  1881,  re- 
fused to  entertain  the  appeal,  and  the  decision  of 
the  conference  at  Sycamore  stands  as  final. 

To  his  new  relation  the  Doctor  and  the  public 
have  both  become  accustomed  and  are  well  satis- 
fied. He  still  preaches  to  large  audiences  every 
Sunday  at  McVicker's  Theatre,  his  influence  and 
popularity  are  unabated,  and  the  People's  Church 
of  Chicago  has  been  a  source  of  comfort  and  bless- 
ing to  thousands,  and  is  every  year  growing  in 
numbers  and  usefulness. 

The  following  statement  of  his  belief  is  from 
his  own  defense,  when  on  trial  before  the  con- 
ference: 

"And  now,  what  is  the  substance  of  what  I  be- 
lieve and  what  I  deny  ? 

'  'It  must  be  evident  that  I  hold  to  the  great  and 
fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  that  I 
am  in  hearty  accord  with  the  spirit  and  work  of 
Methodism. 

"I  hold  to  the  inspiration  and  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  that  in  matters  of  doctrine  and  duty 
they  are  final — the  authority  of  God.  But  I  do 
not  accept  the  verbal  theory  of  inspiration,  nor 
claim  that  all  parts  of  all  the  sixty-six  books  of 
the  Bible  are  of  equal  authority,  inspiration,  or 
value,  nor  that  all  parts  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  critically  infallible.  And  in  these  things, 
am  I  not  in  accord  with  the  best  scholarship  of 
our  own  church  and  of  the  world  ?  Certainly  I 
am.  Does  the  Methodist  Church,  or  the  fifth  ar- 
ticle of  religion,  require  our  ministry  to  believe 
more  or  differently  ?  I  think  not. 

'  'I  hold  to  the  doctrine  of  a  vicarious  atonement, 
but  I  hold  it  in  that  form  that  is  called  moral  or 
paternal;  or,  in  other  words,  I  hold  to  the  govern- 
mental view  with  the  penal  idea  left  out — I  deny 
the  doctrine  of  a  literal  penal  substitution.  It  is, 


I  think,  both  unreasonable  and  unscriptural.  It 
is  an  offense  to  our  deepest  moral  institutions 
and  a  burden  to  Christian  faith.  I  am  aware  that 
in  saying  this  I  am  compelled  to  differ  to  some 
extent  from  what  seems  to  be  the  teachings  of 
Wesley  and  Watson,  but  I  claim  to  be  in  sub- 
stantial accord  with  Raymond  and  Miley,  and  to 
hold  in  substance  what  in  its  last  analysis  must 
be  declared  to  be  the  true  Arrninian  Doctrine. 

"I  hold  to  the  strength  and  integrity  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  God,  that  all  sin  will  be  properly  pun- 
ished, but  I  do  not  believe  in  a  material  hell  fire, 
nor  in  the  terrible  ideas  of  future  torment  that 
have  come  down  to  us  from  the  past.  Such 
teachings,  to  my  mind,  negate  the  very  idea  of  a 
God.  I  must  agree  with  good  Dr.  Raymond, 
that  'it  is  competent  to  think  of  God  as  making 
hell  not  as  terrible,  but  as  tolerable  as  possible. 
If  God  punishes  sinners,  it  is  because  He  must. 
He  is  vindicatory,  but  not  vindictive.  He  is  a 
righteous  being,  and  a  righteous  sovereign,  but 
not  a  malicious  murderer.'  But  I  cannot  agree 
with  Dr.  Williamson,  who  says:  'Mr.  Wesley,  in 
his  sermon  on  Hell,  states  the  doctrine  of  the 
Methodist  churches  on  this  subject.  From  this 
teaching,  so  far  as  known,  there  are  no  influential 
dissenters.'  I  should  rather  say  with  Dr.  Whe- 
don,  'We  imagine  the  census  would  be  small  of 
American  Methodist  ministers  who  would  accept 
Mr.  Wesley's  physical  views  of  hell.' 

"I  hold  to  the  endlessness  of  the  law  by  which 
sin  must  be  punished,  and  hence  to  endless  pun- 
ishment for  the  endlessly  obdurate,  if  such  there 
be;  but,  assuming  as  I  do  the  freedom  of  souls 
after  death,  I  cannot  affirm  that  any  soul  will  or 
will  not  forever  remain  in  sin,  and  hence  I  can 
neither  affirm  nor  deny  endless  punishment  for 
any  soul.  But,  postulating  endless  punishment 
upon  endless  sinning,  I  am  logically  bound  to 
suppose  that  if  the  sinning  come  to  an  end,  the 
suffering  must  also  come  to  an  end,  unless,  in- 
deed, it  be  that  suffering  of  loss  that  in  the  nature 
of  things  seems  to  be  remediless.  And  I  have  a 
hope — a  hope  that  has  come  to  me  through  much 
suffering  and  prayer,  and  that  seems  to  be 
strengthened  by  the  nearest  visions  of  God — that, 
somehow,  all  the  divine  love  and  striving  to  win 


446 


H.  W.  THOMAS. 


and  save  souls  will  not  end  with  this  poor,  short 
life,  but  that  the  work  of  discipline  and  salvation 
may  go  on  in  the  immortal  world.  And  it  seems 
to  me  that  whilst  there  is  upon  some  texts  a  sur- 
face look  of  finality,  there  is  a  deeper  and  far- 
reaching  vision  of  other  texts,  and  the  Scriptures 
as  a  whole,  on  which  this  hope  may  rest." 

Dr.  Thomas  is  a  born  student.  Everything  he 
sees,  hears  and  feels,  or  in  any  way  comes  in  con- 
tact with,  he  investigates,  and  the  impress  is  left 
on  his  mind.  He  seeks  for  the  essence  and  cause 
of  things.  No  one  analyses  and  interprets  past 
history,  or  present  human  activities,  with  a  keener 
or  more  truthful  philosophy,  or  reads  nearer  the 
lines  of  truth  in  all  things  that  affect  humanity. 
He  is  an  honest  student,  intent  on  getting  the  true 
meaning  of  life  and  all  its  related  conditions  and 
existences,  without  reference  to  their  supporting 
any  pre-conceived  notions  or  dogmas  of  church  or 
society. 

As  a  public  speaker,  he  is  himself  and  nobody 
else.  When  ready  to  begin  his  sermon  he  steps 
slowly  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  without  note 
or  manuscript  about  him,  and  pausing  a  moment 
and  casting  his  eyes  over  his  expectant  congrega- 
tion, he  commences  in  a  low  and  measured  tone 
of  voice  that  scarcely  reaches  the  outer  sittings  of 
his  large  audience-room.  At  first  he  is  very  slow 
and  articulate  in  his  utterances,  and  pauses  at  the 
end  of  every  sentence.  He  is  addressing  the  un- 
derstanding. His  sentences  are  terse,  condensed, 
and  plain  in  their  meaning.  Every  one  is  very 
likely  complete  in  itself,  though  nearly  related  to 
the  preceding  ones,  and  adding  to  their  strength 
and  clearness.  There  is  no  effort  at  oratory,  and 
his  thoughts  are  couched  in  the  simplest  language. 
He  presents  deliberately  accepted  facts  of  life  and 
the  world,  and  multiplies  generalized  statements 
along  the  line  of  the  subject  under  discussion; 
statements  which  all  know  to  be  true,  but  which 
few  have  considered  in  their  relations  to  the  theo- 
ries or  views  he  is  presenting.  He  at  once  creates 
an  interest  and  prepares  the  way  for  his  discourse, 
and  lays  the  foundations  on  which  to  build  his 
arguments.  And  he  is  so  eminently  fair  and 
truthful  in  all  his  propositions,  that  from  the  start 
he  wins  both  the  sympathies  and  understanding 


of  his  hearers.  As  he  continues  to  add  proposi- 
tion to  proposition,  and  argument  to  argument, 
and  to  interweave  these,  his  voice  gradually  rises, 
becoming  clear,  strong  and  emphatic;  the  interest 
intensifies,  and  a  pleasing  spell  steals  over  his 
audience,  which  holds  them  with  greater  or  less 
tension  until  the  last  word  has  been  spoken. 

Every  sentence  now  comes  weighted  down  with 
meaning,  and  the  central  idea  and  unity  of  his 
discourse  soon  become  more  and  more  apparent. 
Each  statement  makes  clearer  and  stronger  his 
points.  Reflection  on  what  he  has  said  adds  force 
to  what  he  is  now  saying,  and  brings  out  in  fuller 
form  and  grandeur  the  high  ideals  of  his  lofty  and 
inspiring  conceptions.  And  he  always  has  an 
ideal,  a  lofty  ideal,  that  lifts  his  hearers  above  the 
cruder  every-day  thoughts  and  scenes  of  exist- 
ence. He  invites  them  to  quit  the  valleys  of  de^ 
spair  and  tread  with  him  the  highlands  of  a  nobler 
life. 

As  he  passes  along,  he  attacks  every  evil  and 
exalts  every  virtue.  The  long  face  of  the  phari- 
see  is  no  protection  to  him.  Self-righteousness, 
oppression,  the  dead  formalities  of  the  old  churches, 
and  unreasonable  and  obsolete  church  creeds,  are 
each  in  their  turn  pierced  by  the  keen  blade  of 
his  logic,  and  in  this  his  wonderful  memory  serves 
him  well  and  brings  all  needed  facts  for  his  use; 
while  poetry,  rhetoric,  apothegm,  wit,  wisdom 
and  ridicule  each  comes  at  the  proper  time  un- 
bidden to  his  aid. 

While  intensely  devotional  and  reverential  in 
his  ministrations,  he  yet  occasionally  hurls  the 
lance  of  ridicule  at  some  dominant  or  excused  so- 
cial sin  with  such  force  and  in  such  a  way  that 
his  audience  breaks  into  applause. 

He  seldom  hesitates  for  words  or  uses  a  re- 
dundancy of  speech.  Every  word  comes  forth  as 
though  it  gushed  from  a  great  suppressed  foun- 
tain of  thought  and  emotion.  And  every  sermon 
is  a  complete  philosophy  in  itself.  It  is  the  result 
of  a  study  of  all  the  things  bearing  on  that  sub- 
ject. And  he  has  a  wonderful  way  of  grouping 
facts,  history,  experiences  and  philosophies  to 
make  clear  and  impressive  a  point.  He  is  a  man 
great  even  beyond  the  appreciation  of  the  multi- 
tude who  flock  to  hear  him  gladly. 


OF  THE 
•VERSITY  OF 


J.  G.  SHORTALL. 


447 


JOHN  G.  SHORTALL. 


flOHN  G.  SHORTALL  has  been  prominently 
I  connected  with  the  history  of  Chicago  for 
Q)  almost  forty  years.  Especially  has  he  been  a 
leader  in  benevolent  work  and  an  influential 
patron  of  those  arts  which  tend  to  elevate  man- 
kind. Literature  has  found  in  him  a  friend,  and 
along  these  various  lines  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Short- 
all  have  greatly  promoted  the  best  interests  of 
this  western  metropolis. 

Mr.  Shortall  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  Sep- 
tember 20,  1838,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Char- 
lotte (Towson)  Shortall.  When  the  son  was  be- 
tween two  and  three  years  old,  his  parents  emi- 
grated with  their  family  to  America,  joining  an 
elder  branch  long  settled  in  New  York.  The 
only  brother  of  our  subject,  Pierce  S.  Shortall, 
served  continuously  throughout  the  entire  War 
of  the  Rebellion,  as  a  member  of  a  regiment  of 
New  York  volunteers,  until  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Averasboro,  North  Carolina,  in  April,  1865. 

After  the  death  of  his  parents  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  employed  by  the  late  Horace 
Greeley,  and  the  two  or  three  years,  1852,  1853 
and  1854,  passed  in  the  editorial  rooms  of  the 
New  York  Tri&une  proved  to  be  a  period  of  ed- 
ucation that  he  feels  he  could  in  no  way  have 
dispensed  with,  for  he  was  there  brought  in  con- 
tact with  the  men  who  molded  public  opinion  in 
those  clays,  and  the  master  minds  of  the  age  were 
often  there  present.  In  the  summer  of  1854, 
following  the  advice  of  Mr.  Greeley,  he  came 
to  the  West,  locating  first  in  Galena,  where  he 
was  engaged  for  a  short  time  with  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company  in  the  completion  of 
the  construction  and  survey  work  between  Scales 
Mound  and  Galena.  Going  thence  to  Chicago, 


in  the  late  autumn  of  1854,  ne  was  engaged  for 
a  few  months  upon  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and 
then  withdrew  to  enter  the  office  of  J.  Mason 
Parker,  and  incidentally  the  study  of  real-estate 
law  and  titles,  which  profession  he  has  followed 
to  the  present  time.  At  the  time  Mr.  Shortall 
entered  the  office,  Mr.  Parker  was  engaged  in 
the  work  of  preparing  the  real-estate  abstract 
books  afterwards  known  as  the  Shortall  & 
Hoard  Abstracts,  and  which  are  now  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Title  Guarantee  and  Trust  Company, 
of  which  Mr.  Shortall  is  a  Director.  Upon  the 
completion  of  the  books  in  1856,  he  leased  them 
and  began  the  business  of  making  abstracts  and 
examining  titles  of  real  estate,  which  was  then 
assuming  great  importance.  He  was  among  the 
first  to  reduce  the  details  of  that  business  down 
to  the  perfect  and  simple  system  of  to-day,  so 
that  security  in  transferring  real  estate  could  be 
guaranteed.  In  October,  1871,  the  Great  Fire 
swept  over  the  city,  and  the  county  records  were 
entirely  destroyed.  The  volume  of  the  abstract 
business  had  largely  increased.  At  that  time 
there  were  three  abstract  firms  in  Chicago,  each 
of  which  saved  a  large  part  of  its  valuable  records. 
It  was  soon  found  that  while  the  most  valuable 
portion  of  the  abstract  records  were  saved,  not  one 
set  was  entirely  complete;  and  as  it  seemed  very 
probable  that  difficulties  and  involvements  would 
in  consequence  arise,  the  three  firms  decided 
that  the  public  interests  would  be  best  served  by 
a  consolidation  of  all  the  evidences  of  title  extant. 
This  was  done.  Moneyed  men  relied  upon  the 
accuracy  of  the  books  and  the  skill  and  integrity 
of  the  owners,  and,  thus  confident,  loaned  the 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  necessary  to  the 


448 


J.  G.  SHORTALL. 


rebuilding  of  the  city.  Mr.  Shortall  continued 
•with  his  associates  in  the  conduct  of  the  business 
until  1873,  when  the  property  was  leased  to 
Messrs.  Handy  &  Company,  and  Mr.  Shortall 
retired  from  active  participation  in  it,  though 
still  retaining  his  holdings  and  interest. 

On  the  5th  of  September,  1861,  Mr.  Shortall 
married  Miss  Mary  Dunham  Staples.  They  be- 
came the  parents  of  one  son,  John  L.  Mrs. 
Shortall  died  in  August,  1880.  There  are  two 
grandchildren,  Katherine  and  Helen. 

Although  he  retired  from  private  business, 
Mr.  Shortall  has  been  none  the  less  active,  for  he 
has  devoted  his  time  and  energies  untiringly  to 
matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the  city,  be- 
lieving a  man's  duty  to  his  fellow-citizens  to  be 
continuous.  For  twenty-five  years  he  has  been 
devoted  to  the  welfare  of  his  townsmen,  doing  all 
in  his  power  to  aid  in  the  promotion  of  the  city's 
welfare,  and  imbued  with  an  exalted  pride  In  its 
progress.  He  is  a  constant  patron  of  the  fine  arts, 
and  was  one  of  the  Directors  of  the  old  Philhar- 
monic Society,  and  afterwards  was  President  of 
the  Beethoven  Society,  during  almost  its  entire 
existence.  He  is  also  one  of  the  honorary  mem- 
bers of  the  Amateur  Musical  Club  of  this  city. 
A  writer  of  intelligence  and  force,  he  has  made 
valuable  contributions  to  papers  and  periodicals. 
His  keen  appreciation  of  the  thoughts  of  master 
minds  through  all  ages  has  led  him  to  do  much 
for  literature.  As  a  member  of  many  organiza- 
tions, he  has  sought  through  them  to  influence 
public  opinion  in  high  and  honorable  channels. 
In  1880  he  was  appointed  by  the  School  Board 
one  of  the  appraisers  of  the  school  property,  and 
in  1 886  was  appointed  Appraiser  of  School  Lands 
by  Mayor  Harrison.  In  the  appraisement  of 
1880,  the  application  of  the  rental  value  to  ma- 
terially aid  in  determining  the  value  of  realty  was, 
it  is  believed,  first  introduced  and  applied  as  a 
system.  It  has  since  become  almost  universal. 
In  1883  Mr.  Shortall  was  appointed  a  Director 
of  the  Chicago  Public  Library,  served  three  terms 
as  President,  and  conducted  negotiations  on  be- 
half of  the  board  which  resulted  in  securing 
Dearborn  Park  as  the  site  of  the  public  library 
building  and  in  the  successful  adjustment  of  all 


opposing  claims.  Under  his  administration  the 
plans  of  the  superb  new  library  building  were  se- 
lected under  large  competition,  and  the  necessary 
appropriation  of  moneys  made  by  the  city.  He  was 
originally  made  a  Director  by  Mayor  Harrison  and 
re-appointed  by  Mayors  Harrison,  Cregier  and 
Washburn,  successively,  and  still  serves  in  that 
position.  In  politics  he  is  independent.  He  has 
been  connected  with  various  reform  movements 
in  the  city  government,  and  the  Municipal  Re- 
form Club,  which  did  such  valuable  service,  and 
the  Citizens'  Association  attest  in  their  records 
his  service  and  labors. 

Of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Mr.  Shortall  is  an 
old,  though  no  longer  an  active,  member.  In  re- 
ligious belief  he  is  an  Episcopalian  and  formerly 
was  a  member  of  Trinity  and  Grace  Episcopal 
Churches;  but  since  the  withdrawal  of  Professor 
Swing  from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  his 
organization  of  the  "Central  Church,"  he  has 
been  a  regular  attendant  on  its  services. 

Along  few  lines  of  work,  however,  has  the 
name  of  Mr.  Shortall  become  so  widely  known 
as  through  his  connection  with  the  Illinois  Hu- 
mane Society.  In  1869,  one  of  its  original  or- 
ganizers, he  became  one  of  its  Directors,  and  in 
May,  1877,  was  chosen  President  of  that  most 
commendable  organization,  to  which  position  he 
has  ever  since  been  annually  elected.  He  has 
earned  the  recognition  and  gratitude  of  the 
benevolent  people  of  the  city  and  State,  for  it  is 
largely  through  his  instrumentality,  his  business 
ability  and  legal  acumen,  as  well  as  his  industry 
and  devotion,  that  the  success  of  what  is  now  one 
of  the  strongest  forces  of  our  social  system  was 
assured.  Its  beneficial  results  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. It  was  through  his  efforts  that  the 
society  joined  the  protection  of  children  to  its 
work.  Mr.  Shortall  called  the  American  and 
Canadian  societies  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty 
together  in  1877,  and  the  American  Humane  As- 
sociation was  thereupon  organized  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  in  that  year.  In  1884  Mr.  Shortall  was 
elected  its  President,  and  again  in  1892  and  1893. 
He  is  also  an  honorary  member  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals.  During  the  World's  Columbian  Ex- 


J.  A.  MALTBY. 


449 


position,  Mr.  Shortall,  as  the  Chairman  of  the 
Men's  Committee  on  Moral  and  Social  Reform  of 
the  Auxiliary  Congresses,  assisted  in  the  noted 
work  of  that  committee,  and  organized  and  con- 
ducted the  Humane  Congress  in  October,  1893, 
which  was  so  successful.  He  also  arranged  the 
Humane  exhibit  of  the  American  Humane  As- 
sociation in  the  Liberal  Arts  Building,  for  which 
it  obtained  a  reward,  medal  and  diploma.  Of 
social  organizations  not  above  mentioned,  Mr. 
Shortall  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Club,  the 
Chicago  Literary  Club  and  the  Algonquin  Club 


of  Boston.  If  asked  what  is  the  controlling  ele- 
ment in  the  life  of  Mr.  Shortall,  his  many  friends 
would  undoubtedly  respond,"  A  sense  of  justice 
and  kindness."  A  warm  and  sympathetic  heart, 
which  reaches  out  in  charity  and  love  to  the 
worthy  helpless,  the  suffering  and  the  needy,  has 
made  his  name  synonymous  with  good  works, 
yet  it  is  but  just  to  him  to  say  that  he  does  not 
seek  the  admiration  of  the  public,  and,  were  it  pos- 
sible to  do  so,  his  works  would  be  concealed  from 
all  save  himself. 


JASPER  A.  MALTBY. 


gEN.  JASPER  ADALMORN  MALTBY, 
one  of  the  distinguished  officers  of  the  great 
Civil  War,  was  born  November  4,  1832,  in 
Ashtabula,  Ohio,  and  died  December  12,  1867,  in 
Vicksburg,  Mississippi.  The  Maltby  family  comes 
from  England.  The  great-grandfather  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  settled  in  Ohio,  being  one 
of  three  brothers  who  came  from  England,  the 
others  settling,  respectively,  in  New  York  and 
Baltimore.  The  Ohio  and  New  York  brothers 
left  many  descendants.  David  Maltby,  a  grand- 
son of  one  of  these,  was  the  father  of  Gen.  Jasper 
A.  Maltby. 

David  Maltby  was  an  able  attorney,  and  also 
a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  an  ardent  churchman.  He  was  a  man  of 
considerable  local  prominence  in  Ohio.  He  finally 
removed  with  a  younger  son  to  Texas,  and  died 
in  Corpus  Christi,  in  that  State,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight  years.  His  wife,  Lucy  Marsh,  was 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  Marsh,  a  prominent  physician 
of  Ohio.  She  died  at  Plymouth,  in  that  State, 
and  left  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  namely: 


Jasper  A.,  Elizabeth,  Henry  A.,  Matilda  and 
William.  The  last-named  died  in  Corpus  Christi, 
Texas,  where  he  had  been  a  noted  editor,  and 
was  at  one  time  publisher  for  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian. He  was  the  author  of  a  sketch  entitled 
"Poor  Carlotta,"  which  was  published  immedi- 
ately after  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  Maxi- 
milian, and  was  received  with  much  favor  and 
widely  copied.  He  was  a  Captain  of  Confederate 
artillery  in  the  Civil  War,  and  was  captured  dur- 
ing General  Banks'  expedition  up  the  Red  River. 
He  was  paroled,  and  a  year  later  returned  to 
Texas.  His  brother,  Henry  A.,  also  a  prominent 
newspaper  man,  now  resides  in  Brownsville,  that 
State.  Elizabeth  Maltby  married  Albert  Barber, 
and  is  the  mother  of  two  sons,  one  of  whom  is  a 
teacher  in  a  college  at  Oberlin,  Ohio.  Matilda 
Maltby  married  Allen  Barber,  a  brother  of  her 
sister's  husband,  and  is  now  deceased,  having 
left  five  children. 

David  Maltby  and  Sarepta  Marsh,  a  sister  of 
the  wife  of  the  former,  were  among  the  founders  of 
Oberlin  College,  in  which  the  latter  taught  many 


450 


J.  A.  MALTBY. 


years.  Mrs.  Lucy  (Marsh)  Maltby  was  also  a 
teacher,  as  was  her  husband.  She  was  a  woman 
of  rare  character,  and  was  highly  reverenced  by 
all  who  knew  her,  especially  by  her  husband's 
family. 

Jasper  A.  Maltby  enlisted  in  the  Mexican  War 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  and  served  gallantly, 
receiving  a  wound  at  the  battle  of  Chapultepec. 
He  came  to  Chicago  in  1850,  and  a  year  later 
went  to  Galena,  where  he  at  once  assumed  promi- 
nence through  his  energy,  ability  and  sterling 
character.  Soon  after  taking  up  his  residence 
there,  he  perfected  the  telescope  sight  for  the  rifle, 
which  made  his  name  famous.  He  was  an  ex- 
tensive dealer  there  in  sporting  goods. 

He  was  associated  with  Gen.  John  E.  Smith, 
now  a  resident  of  Chicago,  in  raising  the  famous 
1 '  Washburne  Lead  Mine  Regiment' '  for  the 
Union  army,  which  became  the  Forty-fifth  Illi- 
nois, and  within  a  short  time  after  the  fall  of 
Fort  Sumter  it  was  in  the  field.  Mr.  Smith  was 
elected  Colonel  of  the  regiment,  and  Mr.  Maltby 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  on  the  organization  at  Camp 
Douglas,  in  Chicago.  The  first  action  was  at 
Fort  Henry.  At  Fort  Donelson,  Colonel  Maltby 
received  a  bad  wound,  and  was  carried  to  the 
hospital  in  the  same  ambulance  with  General 
Logan,  who  was  struck  about  the  same  time. 
Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing, Colonel  Maltby  was  able  to  rejoin  his  regi- 
ment, which,  as  a  part  of  Logan's  division, 
participated  in  the  marches,  engagements  and 
siege  which  led  to  the  fall  of  Vicksburg. 

Col.  John  E.  Smith  having  been  promoted  for 
gallant  conduct  in  battle,  he  was  succeeded  by 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Maltby,  who  led  the  charge 
at  Fort  Hill  on  the  bloody  25th  of  June,  1863, 
receiving  three  wounds  before  gaining  the  coveted 
position.  This  was  accomplished  with  great  loss, 
and  temporary  breastworks  were  immediately 
thrown  up  to  hold  the  ground.  While  Colonel 
Maltby  was  personally  adjusting  a  heavy  piece  of 
timber  for  the  protection  of  his  sharpshooters,  it 
was  struck  by  a  cannon  ball.  The  shot  passed 
close  to  his  person,  and  the  timber  was  shivered, 
hurling  splinters  in  every  direction.  Three  of 
these  penetrated  his  body,  making  six  wounds 


which  he  suffered  in  that  costly,  but  victorious, 
action.  For  his  fearless  and  effective  bravery, 
Generals  Sherman  and  Logan  sent  a  recommen- 
dation from  the  field  that  he  be  made  a  Brigadier- 
General,  and  President  Lincoln  forwarded  his 
commission  as  such  at  once. 

When  the  final  entry  was  made  into  Vicksburg, 
the  Forty-fifth  Illinois  led  the  way,  with  General 
Maltby 's  horse  and  trappings  at  its  head.  The 
General  was  also  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  but 
rode  in  an  ambulance.  The  fight  at  Fort  Hill  was 
hand-to-hand,  and  the  colors  of  the  Forty-fifth 
were  literally  torn  to  tatters.  General  Maltby 
was  mustered  out  January  16,  1866,  and  was 
soon  thereafter  made  Military  Mayor  of  Vicks- 
burg. He  never  recovered  from  his  wounds, 
and  died  from  their  effects  December  12,  1867, 
while  still  administering  the  office  of  Mayor.  He 
was  also  operating  a  plantation,  and  kept  a  com- 
mission store  in  Vicksburg.  He  was  held  in  the 
highest  regard  by  the  people  of  the  conquered 
city,  and  was  the  idol  of  the  colored  people. 

General  Maltby  was  married  at  Galena,  March 
25,  1852,  to  Miss  Malvina  A.  James,  who  sur- 
vives him,  and  now  resides  in  Chicago.  Besides 
his  widow,  he  left  a  son,  Henry  Maltby,  a  journal- 
ist. Mrs.  Maltby  is  a  daughter  of  David  James, 
a  Sergeant  under  General  Scott,  who  fought  at 
Lundy's  Lane  in  the  War  of  1812.  Her  mother, 
Catherine  Jamieson,  was  the  daughter  of  an  Irish- 
man who  was  a  famous  distiller.  He  owned  the 
ground  in  Canada  where  Tecumseh  was  killed. 
David  James  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
his  wife  of  Canada. 

Many  of  the  most  noted  military  men  of  the  war 
testified  to  General  Maltby 's  great  courage  and 
moral  worth,  and  the  following  extract  from  the 
Vicksburg  Republican  shows  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  erstwhile  enemies: 

"With  an  unfeigned  regret,  we  announce  the 
death  of  Gen.  J.  A.  Maltby,  the  recently  ap- 
pointed Mayor  of  this  city.  No  northern  man 
who  has  cast  his  fortunes  with  our  people  has 
commanded  more  respect  from  our  citizens  than 
General  Maltby.  As  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  army,  he  was  humane  to  our  people;  as  a 
citizen  of  Mississippi,  he  was  kind  in  his  social 


A.  B.  CAPRON. 


life  and  impartial  in  his  official  action.  We  sin- 
cerely sympathize  with  his  bereaved  family,  and 
we  believe  they  have  the  sympathy  of  the  entire 
community. 

"He  met  us  upon  the  field  of  battle  in  aid  of  a 


cause  which  he  felt  sacredj  but,  like  a  true  soldier, 
he  recognized  the  valor  and  honor  of  his  enemy, 
and,  when  Peace  spread  her  white  wings  over  the 
land,  all  animosity  was  sheathed  with  his  sword. 
Peace  to  the  gallant  soldier." 


ALBERT  B.  CAPRON. 


EOL.  ALBERT  BANFIELD  CAPRON,  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  and 
a  brave  soldier  of  the  Civil  War,  was  born 
at  Laurel,  Prince  George's  County,  Maryland, 
June  12,  1844.  His  father  was  Gen.  Horace 
Capron,  who  went  to  Maryland  when  a  young 
man  and  erected  the  Laurel  Cotton  Mills,  whose 
product,  the  famous  Laurel  Cotton,  was  shipped  to 
all  parts  of  the  world.  His  mother  was  Louise 
Snowden  daughter  of  General  Snowden,  whose 
grandfather  received  a  patent  from  the  king  for 
twenty  thousand  acres.  His  estate  joined  that 
of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton.  Louise  Snow- 
den was  born  Julys,  1811,  and  married  Horace 
Capron  June  5,  1834.  She  was  a  devout  church- 
woman,  and  built  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Laurel, 
which  she  gave  to  the  people.  Her  life  was  full  of 
kind  deeds.  She  died  March  27,  1849,  mourned  by 
the  entire  community.  She  left  five  children :  Ad- 
aline,  Horace,  junior,  Albert  Banfield,  Elizabeth 
Snowden,  and  Osmond  Tiffany  (the  eldest  child, 
Nicholas  Snowden ,  died  in  in  fancy) .  The  planta- 
tion on  which  their  childhood  was  passed  was 
known  as  the  "Model  Farm  of  Maryland,"  it 
being  a  pet  scheme  of  General  Capron  to  see  to 
what  a  state  of  perfection  that  soil  could  be  brought. 
The  genealogy  of  the  family  points  to  Ban- 
field  Capron  as  the  progenitor  of  those  bearing 
the  name  in  America.  He  was  born  in  England, 
but  was  of  French-Huguenot  descent,  and  derived 
his  Christian  name  from  Lord  Banfield  of  Eng- 
land. He  came  to  America  near  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  and  settled  in  Attleboro, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  became  the  possessor  of 
large  estates.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  ability, 


both  mental  and  physical,  having  great  muscular 
development  and  wonderful  powers  of  endurance. 
He  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-two  years,  dying  in 
1752.  He  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife 
was  a  Miss  Callender,  of  Rehoboth,  Massa- 
chusetts, daughter  of  a  former  neighbor  in  Eng- 
land. The  second  wife  was  Sarah  Daggett.  He 
was  the  father  of  twelve  children.  Jonathan,  sixth 
child  of  Banfield  Capron,  married  Rebecca  Morse, 
and  was  the  ancestor  of  the  subject  of  this  biog- 
raphy. His  son,  Jonathan,  junior,  married  Alice 
Alden,  a  great-granddaughter  of  John  Alden,  of 
the  Plymouth  Colony.  Elisha,  another  son  of 
Jonathan  Capron,  married  Abigail  Makepeace, 
and  they  had  nine  children.  The  eldest  son,  Dr. 
Seth  Capron,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  September  23, 
1762,  and  married  Eunice,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Bezaleel  Mann,  of  Attleboro,  Massachusetts,  a  man 
of  prominence  as  a  physician  and  educator.  Dr. 
Seth  Capron  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
He  enlisted  March  31,  1781,  and  was  first  at- 
tached to  General  LaFayette's  corps  of  light  in- 
fantry. In  1782  he  was  transferred,  and  served 
until  the  close  of  the  war  as  aide-de-camp  on  Gen- 
eral Washington' s  staff.  He  was  a  personal  friend 
of  General  Washington,  and  commanded  the 
barge  which  conveyed  him  to  Elizabethtown 
Point,  after  he  had  taken  leave  of  his  army  at 
New  York  at  the  close  of  the  war.  Immediately 
on  returning  home  Dr.  Seth  Capron  began  the 
study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Bezaleel  Mann,  an 
eminent  physician  of  that  period.  In  1806  he 
settled  in  Whitesboro,  Oneida  County,  New 
York,  where  he  practiced  his  profession. 


452 


A.  B.   CAPRON. 


Doctor  Capron  was  a  man  of  great  enterprise  and 
industry,  and  was  possessed  of  large  resources 
and  fertility  of  commercial  ideas.  His  name  is 
identified  with  the  history  of  the  manufactures 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  He  was  the  originator 
of  the  enterprise  which,  in  1807,  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  the  "Oneida  Factory,"  the  first 
cotton-mill  erected  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
followed  shortly  by  the  "Capron  Factory,"  of 
New  Hartford.  In  1809  he  organized  a  com- 
pany and  established  the  "Oriskany  Woolen 
Factory,"  the  first  woolen  factory  ever  erected  in 
the  United  States.  Another  enterprise  of  which  he 
was  the  originator  was  the  importation  from  Spain 
of  the  first  Merino  sheep  ever  introduced  into 
Oneida  County. 

In  1825  he  removed  to  Orange  County,  and 
with  his  son,  Capt.  Seth  Capron,  established 
the  beautiful  manufacturing  town  of  Walden,  on 
the  Walkill,  where  he  died  September  8,  1835. 
Dr.  Seth  Caprou  had  six  children.  Gen.  Hor- 
ace Capron,  father  of  Albert  B.  Capron,  was  the 
fourth  son.  He  was  born  August  31,  1804, 
in  Attleboro,  Massachusetts,  and  died  at  the  Na- 
tional Capital  on  Washington's  birthday,  1885. 
His  death  was  caused  by  exposure  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Washington  Monument  the  day  before, 
on  which  occasion  he  and  the  orator  of  the  day, 
Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  were  among  the  few 
survivors  of  those  who  officiated  at  the  laying  of 
the  corner-stone,  forty  years  before,  when  he 
commanded  the  cavalry  which  took  part  in  the 
ceremony. 

General  Capron  was  connected  with  the  army 
many  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 
For  seven  years  he  was  stationed  in  Texas,  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  Indians  under  the  War  Depart- 
ment. After  the  removal  of  these  Government 
wards  to  the  Indian  Territory  he  came  to  his  farm 
in  Alden,  Me  Henry  County,  Illinois,  to  which,  a 
few  years  previously,  he  had  moved  his  family 
and  valuable  stock  from  Maryland.  He  married 
Miss  Margaret  Baker,  of  New  York  City,  and 
now  settled  down  to  the  agricultural  pursuits 
of  which  he  was  so  fond.  His  beautiful  farm  of 
a  thousand  acres  was  conducted  on  principles  so 
superior  to  anything  then  dreamed  of  in  this  part 


of  the  country,  that  it  soon  became  famous,  and 
visitors  wondered  and  admired.  The  latest  inven- 
tions and  improvements  in  machinery  and  farm 
implements  were  always  at  hand,  and  his  noble 
herds  were  his  pride.  His  home  was  beautiful 
in  all  its  appointments  and  pervaded  by  an 
atmosphere  of  culture  and  refinement.  His  large 
library  was  ever  at  the  disposal  of  his  neighbors 
and  friends. 

General  Capron  was  in  every  sense  a  pro- 
gressive man,  and  was  always  foremost  in 
advancing  better  methods.  He  was,  at  this  time, 
much  interested  in  the  State  Fairs,  feeling  that 
they  should  have  the  influence  of  the  best  agri- 
culturists of  the  land.  In  1858  he  was  appointed 
by  the  United  States  Government  as  General 
Superintendent  of  the  United  States  Fair,  which 
was  held  in  Chicago  in  September  of  that  year. 
The  fair  was  at  that  time  considered  a  great 
event,  and  to  this  day  is  spoken  of  as  a  notable 
success.  He  had  on  exhibition  his  famous  herd 
of  forty-two  Devons  and  a  large  number  of  his 
blooded  horses,  many  of  which  won  first  premiums. 
About  this  time  he  decided  to  make  a  change  of 
home,  and  moved  to  another  farm  near  Peoria, 
Illinois. 

Soon  the  war  broke  out,  and  his  two  eldest  sons 
quickly  enlisted.  Governor  Yates  requested  Gen- 
eral Capron  to  drill  and  prepare  cavalry  troops  for 
the  field,  as  that  branch  of  the  service  was  much 
needed.  He  therefore  raised  and  drilled  three 
cavalry  regiments,  and  in  1862  went  out  him- 
self in  charge  of  the  last  one,  the  Fourteenth 
Illinois  Cavalry.  He  was  soon  promoted  to  the 
command  of  a  brigade. 

After  the  war  General  Capron  was  appointed 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture  by  President  Grant. 
At  this  time  the  department  was  located  in  dark, 
dingy  quarters  in  the  Interior  Department.  Gen- 
eral Capron  felt  that  it  was  a  disgrace  to  the 
great  interests  it  represented,  and  spared  no  efforts 
until  he  had  secured  appropriations  for  a  building. 
He  was  given  full  charge  of  plans,  and  in  due 
time  the  stately  Agricultural  Building,  with  its 
beautiful  grounds,  gave  to  the  department  a  home 
befitting  its  dignity.  In  General  Capron 's  cor- 
respondence is  found  a  letter  from  Secretary  and 


A.  B.   CAPRON. 


453 


Adjutant-General  Dent,  in  which  he  says: 
"When  Sheridan  met  his  beaten,  demoralized 
army  near  Winchester,  Virginia,  and  turned  it 
right  about  and  on  to  victory,  he  did  what  you 
have  done  with  the  Agricultural  Department  of 
the  United  States." 

In  April,  1871,  while  still  at  the  head  of  this 
department,  he  was  waited  upon  by  certain  high 
officials  of  the  Japanese  Government,  who  pre- 
sented to  him  their  plans  and  wishes  in  regard  to 
the  development  of  the  agricultural  and  mineral 
resources  of  the  island  of  Yesso,  a  very  important 
possession  of  Japan,  and  invited  him  to  accept  a 
position  as  Commissioner  and  Adviser  under  their 
Government.  This  he  decided  to  do,  and  his 
resignation  being  accepted  by  the  President,  he 
sailed  in  September,  1871,  for  Japan,  where  he 
entered  upon  this  great  work  with  his  usual 
energy  and  earnestness.  The  island  of  Yesso, 
about  two-thirds  the  size  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
was  turned  over  to  him  as  the  site  of  his  ex- 
perimental farms,  mills  and  railroads.  He  de- 
veloped the  gold  and  coal  mines,  and  did  such  re- 
markable work  and  showed  such  grand  results, 
as  to  win  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  Emperor 
and  his  people.  When  General  Capron  took 
leave  of  the  Emperor  at  his  castle  in  Tokio, 
Japan,  in  1875,  the  Emperor  made  use  of  the  fol- 
lowing language  in  his  parting  address:  "In- 
deed your  services  were  valuable  and  deserve  my 
highest  appreciation,  and  it  is  hardly  a  matter  of 
doubt  that  the  future  progress  of  the  island,  the 
fruit  of  your  labor,  will  much  advance  the  hap- 
piness of  my  whole  empire." 

A  year  after  his  return  to  this  country  the 
Hon.  John  A.  Bingham,  American  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  Japan,  in  a  letter  to  General 
Capron  says:  "Kuroda,  Kido  and  others  of  the 
Ministers  of  State  have  spoken  most  kindly  of  you 
and  said  your  name  would  live  in  the  grateful 
remembrance  of  their  people.  Rely  upon  it,  you 
may  well  commit  your  name  to  the  present  and 
future  generations  of  Japan.  Long  after  you 
shall  have  joined  those  who  have  gone  before 
you,  when  Yesso  shall  be  covered  with  cattle  and 
sheep  and  fields  of  golden  wheat  and  corn,  and 
its  mountains  clothed  to  their  summits  with  the 


purple  vine,  will  it  be  said  of  you,  'This  was  the 
work  of  General  Capron.'  " 

On  January  16,  1884,  General  Capron  was  in- 
formed by  the  Charged'  Affairs  that  His  Majesty, 
the  Emperor  of  Japan,  had  been  pleased  to  confer 
upon  him  the  decoration  of  the  Second  Order  of 
the  Rising  Sun.  This  was  the  first  time  the 
order  had  ever  been  conferred  upon  a  foreigner. 
The  lacquer  box  in  which  the  decoration  is  en- 
closed is  said  to  be  eight  hundred  years  old.  By 
right  of  inheritance  his  son,  Col.  A.  B.  Capron,  is 
now  in  possession  of  the  decoration. 

The  latter,  as  purchasing  agent  of  his  father, 
shipped  to  Japan  machinery,  horses,  cattle,  sheep 
and  seed-grains.  He  sent  over  a  great  variety  of 
fruit  trees,  and  the  Japanese  were  trained  in  the 
art  of  pruning  and  grafting.  The  shipments  in- 
cluded the  best  strains  of  Morgan,  Hambletonian, 
and  Kentucky  thorough-bred  horses  and  all  the 
choicest  varieties  of  domestic  animals.  Every- 
thing flourished  even  beyond  the  most  sanguine 
expectations. 

General  Capron  remained  four  and  one-half 
years  in  Japan,  and  then  took  up  his  residence 
in  Washington,  where  he  enjoyed  nearly  ten  years 
of  peaceful  retirement  from  the  activities  which 
had  engaged  him  beyond  the  allotted  years  of 
man. 

His  son,  Col.  Albert  B.  Capron,  has  a  military 
record  both  unique  and  brilliant.  The  firing  of 
the  first  gun  roused  the  patriotic  blood  of  this 
boy  in  his  quiet  home  on  the  Illinois  farm,  and 
quickly  he  responded  to  the  first  call  of  his  coun- 
try. He  was  soon  after  stationed  at  Benton  Bar- 
racks, Missouri.  His  first  taste  of  battle  was  when 
General  Lyon  ordered  five  hundred  to  cross  over 
and  seize  the  guns  just  unloaded  on  the  opposite 
side  and  intended  for  the  rebels  at  Camp  Jackson, 
numbering  three  thousand  infantry.  It  was  a 
sharp  contest,  but  the  guns  were  secured  and 
General  Lyon's  prompt  and  masterly  action  saved 
St.  I,ouis  to  the  Government. 

Under  Siegel's  command  he  participated  in  the 
severe  battle  of  Wilson  Creek,  August  8,  9  and 
10,  1 86 1,  when  they  were  under  almost  contin- 
uous fire  during  the  three  days. 


454 


A.  B.   CAPRON. 


The  death  of  the  brave  General  Lyon  at  the 
head  of  his  command  made  a  deep  impression  on 
this  young  soldier.  At  this  time  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Thirty-third  Infantry,  where  for 
eighteen  months  he  was  Color-Bearer. 

When,  in  1862,  his  father  went  into  the  field,  it 
was  his  wish  to  be  transferred  to  his  father's  com- 
mand. His  older  brother,  Horace,  was  also 
transferred  from  the  Eighth  Illinois  Cavalry. 
Soon,  too,  his  youngest  brother,  Osmond,  a  mere 
lad,  joined  them,  and  now  father  and  sons  were 
together  united  in  the  one  grand  effort  to  protect 
their  country's  honor. 

His  brother,  Capt.  Horace  Capron,  was  killed 
in  an  engagement  with  the  Cherokee  Indians  at 
Cedar  Cove,  in  North  Carolina,  February  2,  1864. 
He  was  a  gallant  soldier,  and  his  untimely  tak- 
ing-off  was  a  loss  to  the  service  and  to  his  many 
friends.  He  was  buried  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  and 
a  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory  by  his  de- 
voted company.  While  a  Sergeant,  he  received 
a  bronze  medal  for  capturing  a  rebel  flag,  with 
this  inscription: 

THE  CONGRESS 
To  FIRST  SERGEANT  HORACE  CAPRON,    JR., 

COMPANY  G,  EIGHTH  ILLINOIS  CAVALRY, 

FOR  GALLANT  CONDUCT    AT    CHICKAHOMINY 

AND  ASHLAND,  JUNE,  1862. 

Albert  B.  Capron  rode  beside  his  brother  in 
the  last  charge,  and  took  command  of  the 
company  at  his  death.  One  of  the  most  thrill- 
ing of  his  army  experiences  was  his  night 
ride  of  one  hundred  miles  through  the 
enemy's  line,  bearing  dispatches  from  General 
Burnside  in  Knoxville  to  General  Wilcox  at 
Cumberland  Gap.  It  was  a  hazardous  under- 
taking. Twenty  brave  men  had  already  failed 
in  the  attempt.  When  he  returned  General 
Burnside,  overcome  with  emotion,  said,  "You 
have  won  your  spurs, ' '  and  presented  him  with  a 
pair  of  his  own  spurs.  Colonel  Capron  still  guards 
them  sacredly.  He  was  also  one  of  the  cavalry 
brigade,  led  by  his  father,  which  helped  to 
capture  Gen.  John  Morgan  and  his  entire  com- 
mand, after  a  ride  of  nineteen  hundred  miles  in 
thirty-one  days.  He  participated  in  twenty-three 
general  battles,  beside  a  great  many  skirmishes 


and  sharp  cavalry  actions.  Two  horses  were 
shot  under  him  while  in  action.  He  and  his 
command  were  under  fire  for  one  hundred  days 
on  the  march  to  and  siege  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  at 
which  place  he  was  taken  prisoner. 

His  last  service  of  the  war  was  under  General 
Sheridan  on  the  Texas  frontier,  where  he  was 
in  expectation  of  proceeding  to  Mexico  to  help 
in  relieving  the  people  of  that  country  of  the 
pretended  sovereignty  of  Maximilian.  Happily, 
the  Mexicans  were  able  to  drive  out  the  invader, 
and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  continued  to  rule  in 
the  Americas.  Colonel  Capron  was  three  times 
made  a  prisoner,  and  received  three  severe 
wounds  in  the  service  of  his  country. 

He  was  brevetted  Major  at  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War.  A  few  years  since  he  was  appointed 
aida-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  General  Lawler,  Com- 
mander-in- Chief  of  the  Grand  Army,  with  the 
rank  of  Colonel. 

Before  his  employment  as  purchasing  agent 
for  the  Japanese  Government,  he  was  engaged  in 
mercantile  business  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin.  He 
came  to  Chicago  in  1872,  and  has  since  resided 
in  this  city,  on  the  North  Shore.  For  more  than 
twenty  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  carries  on  a  general  grain  commis- 
sion business.  In  business  he  pursues  the  same 
energetic  and  straightforward  course  which  won 
him  distinction  in  military  circles,  and  he  is  held 
in  the  highest  regard  by  his  social  and  commercial 
associates. 

Colonel  Capron  was  married  at  Kenosha,  Wis- 
consin, October  20,  1869,  to  Miss  Amelia  Doo- 
little,  daughter  of  Alfred  W.  and  Ann  Urania 
(Hannahs)  Doolittle,  natives  of  Oneida  County, 
New  York. 

Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  three  chil- 
dren: Horace  Mann,  born  in  Kenosha,  Wiscon- 
sin, August  27,  1872;  Florence,  born  in  Evanston, 
Illinois,  November  18,  1873;  Albert  Snowden, 
born  in  Winnetka,  Illinois,  February  8,  1877. 
Their  home  is  now  in  Winnetka,  Illinois. 

The  head  of  the  family  has  always  been  a 
loyal  and  earnest  supporter  of  Republican  prin- 
ciples, and  he  is  now  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
Comniandery  of  the  I<oyal  Region. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
....VERSITY  OF  ILL!' 


HENRY  WEBER. 


455 


HENRY  WEBER. 


HENRY  WEBER,  one  of  the  most  successful 
manufacturers  of  Chicago,  a  thoroughly 
self-made  man,  is  among  the  large  number 
of  industrious  and  prosperous  citizens  given  to 
Chicago  by  German  ancestors.  His  birth  took 
place  in  that  unfortunate  disputed  territory  which 
has  alternately  belonged  to  France  and  Germany 
— being  now  in  possession  of  the  latter  country. 
September  15,  1822,  when  Mr.  Weber  was  born 
in  the  village  of  Hochweiler,  Canton  Soultz, 
Elsass,  the  locality  was  in  possession  of  the 
French,  and  he  was,  therefore,  by  birth  a  French- 
man, though  his  ancestors  were  among  the  most 
sturdy  Germans.  They  had  long  resided  in  Al- 
sace, and  several  members  of  the  family  were 
soldiers  under  the  first  Napoleon.  Michael  Weber, 
father  of  Henry,  was  a  farmer  of  Hochweiler, 
where  he  reached  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years. 
His  second  wife,  mother  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  Helena  Langenbrunn  (Studi)  Weber,  died 
at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years.  Both  she  and 
her  husband  had  reared  good- sized  families  by 
former  marriages. 

Henry  Weber  received  a  scanty  education  un- 
der the  French  system.  He  was  made  of  the  am- 
bitious stuff  which  peoples  and  develops  nations, 
and  he  early  resolved  to  join  his  fortunes  with 
those  of  the  free  land  across  the  seas,  of  which  he 
had  heard  through  a  friend  who  had  visited  the 
United  States.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  joined  a 
party  of  five  young  men ,  including  the  one  before 
referred  to,  who  had  been  in  America,  and  together 
they  came  to  New  York.  They  sailed  from 
Havre,  France,  on  an  English  sailing-vessel 
commanded  by  Captain  Thompson,  and  after  a 
voyage  of  thirty-three  days  they  arrived  in  the 
harbor  of  New  York,  a  very  speedy  voyage  for 


that  day.  On  the  way  they  maintained  them- 
selves, and  took  turn  about  in  cooking. 

In  New  York  they  separated,  and  Mr.  Weber 
went  to  Lyons,  New  York,  where  he  served  a 
three-years  apprenticeship  at  wagon-making,  be- 
coming a  skillful  workman,  and  able  to  compete 
with  any  man  in  his  line  of  work.  Having  com- 
pleted his  term  of  indenture,  Mr.  Weber  went  to 
Detroit,  Michigan,  and  found  employment.  But 
he  did  not  long  remain  there.  He  determined  to 
locate  in  the  growing  and  enterprising  town  of 
Chicago,  then  beginning  to  attract  notice  through 
its  favorable  location  and  the  enterprising  char- 
acter of  its  citizens.  On  the  26th  of  June,  1844, 
Mr.  Weber  arrived  in  Chicago,  where  he  has 
ever  since  made  his  home,  and  in  the  develop- 
ment of  whose  commercial,  social  and  moral  in- 
terests he  has  borne  no  unimportant  part. 

Like  another  distinguished  German  citizen, 
who  is  now  deceased  (Andrew  Ortmayer,  whose 
biography  appears  in  this  volume) ,  he  at  once 
found  employment  with  the  pioneer  wagonmaker 
of  Chicago,  Mr.  Joseph  O.  Humphrey.  Here  he 
continued  one  and  one-half  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  period,  being  then  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  he  engaged  in  business  for  himself,  having 
as  a  partner  Mr.  Jacob  Gauch.  With  a  capital 
of  $250,  they  built  a  small  shop  on  Randolph 
Street,  near  La  Salle,  and  began  working  up  a 
business,  boarding  themselves  in  the  building 
in  the  mean  time.  Later,  they  boarded  at  the 
New  York  Hotel,  an  hostelry  well  known  to  the 
old  residents  of  the  city.  In  1849  Mr.  Gauch 
was  seized  with  the  gold  fever  and  went  to  Cali- 
fornia. His  partner,  who  was  satisfied  with  the 
slow  but  certain  gains  of  business  in  Chicago, 
purchased  Mr.  Gauch's  interest,  and  continued 


456 


HENRY  WEBER. 


to  manage  the  growing  industry  alone  until  1883, 
when  a  company  was  incorporated  to  continue 
it,  with  his  sons  as  partners.  This  is  known  as 
the  Weber  Wagon  Company,  and  turns  out  an- 
nually twelve  thousand  wagons  and  four  thou- 
sand bob  sleds,  and  employs  a  large  number  of 
men.  Mr.  Weber  was  for  many  years  a  member 
of  the  old  "Number  Two"  volunteer  fire  com- 
pany, which  did  good  service  in  the  early  days, 
when  steam  was  unknown  in  Chicago  as  a  power 
to  be  used  in  subduing  fires. 

In  1852  Mr.  Weber  was  enabled  to  purchase 
land  for  the  location  of  his  works.  At  the  north- 
west corner  of  Lake  and  Union  Streets  he  se- 
cured ground,  ninety  by  one  hundred  and  forty  feet 
in  area,  on  which  he  built  three  frame  buildings. 
These  were  all  two  stories  in  height,  one  being 
occupied  as  a  dwelling  and  the  others  for  a  fac- 
tory. He  was  among  the  first  manufacturers  on 
West  Lake  Street,  and  was  uniformly  success- 
ful, laying  the  foundation  for  a  large  business, 
which  furnished  a  livelihood  to  many  families. 
In  the  spring  of  1871  he  erected  a  fine  four-story 
brick  building  on  this  site,  which  escaped  the 
fury  of  the  great  fire  in  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year,  and  was  at  once  occupied  by  profitable 
tenants. 

In  1886  the  factory  was  removed  to  Eighty- 
first  and  Wallace  Streets,  where  superior  railway 
facilities  were  secured,  and  here  it  is  now  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  Weber's  sons,  who  have  taken 
from  his  hands  and  mind  much  of  the  labor  re- 
quired in  its  management.  The  founder  very 
appropriately  occupies  the  position  of  President 
of  the  company,  with  W.  H.  Weber  as  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer,  and  George  A.  Weber  as 
Superintendent.  The  product  is  shipped  to  nearly 
every  State  of  the  Union,  and  enjoys  a  reputa- 
tion for  reliability  such  as  has  always  been  at- 
tached to  the  name  of  its  worthy  maker  from  the 
beginning. 

On  the  loth  of  August,  1887,  a  fire  destroyed 
nearly  all  the  plant  except  the  lumber-yard,  but 
no  time  was  lost  in  repining,  and,  with  the  in- 
surance which  careful  foresight  had  previously 
provided  as  an  assistance,  its  owners  were  en- 
enabled  to  start  with  an  entirely  new  outfit  of 


machinery,  and  the  business  was  soon  a  greater 
success  than  ever  before.  The  plant  is  now  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  complete  of  its  kind  in 
the  United  States. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  year  1849,  Mr.  Weber 
felt  that  he  was  warranted  in  assuming  the  re- 
sponsibility of  a  householder,  and  on  the  4th  of 
November  in  that  year  he  married  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Schoeneck,  a  German  girl,  who  arrived  in 
Chicago  with  her  parents  the  same  year  as  him- 
self. She  is  a  daughter  of  Adam  and  Elizabeth 
Schoeneck, all  natives  of  Mainz,  Germany,  who  set- 
tled on  a  farm  on  the  North  Branch  of  the  Chicago 
River,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  city.  Mrs. 
Weber  was  in  every  way  fitted  to  be  the  wife  of 
the  sturdy  young  mechanic,  and  proved  a  worthy 
helpmeet  to  her  enterprising  husband.  The  little 
home  on  Fifth  Avenue  was  kept  scrupulously 
neat  and  tidy,  and  Mr.  Weber's  success  is  in  part 
due  to  her  good  management  and  many  good 
traits  of  character.  Six  children  came  to  bless 
their  home,  namely:  Elizabeth,  now  the  wife  of 
T.  Wasserstrass;  Louise,  Mrs.  Albert  Kaempfer; 
William  H.  and  George  A.,  before  mentioned; 
Mary  M.,  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- nine 
years;  and  Emma,  wife  of  Henry  Rietz,  all  of 
Chicago. 

The  family  is  connected  with  the  German  Lu- 
theran Church,  and  in  political  action  its  head  is 
thoroughly  independent,  affiliating  with  the  best 
elements  in  both  parties  in  national  and  local  af- 
fairs. He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, being  one  of  the  oldest  living  members  of 
Germania  Lodge  No.  182,  and  is  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  Harmonia  Lodge  No.  221,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

Mr.  Weber  has  richly  earned  his  success  in 
life,  and  enjoys  his  well-earned  competence  in 
the  comforts  of  home  life  and  the  society  of  his 
many  friends.  His  example  may  afford  a  good 
lesson  to  the  young  man  of  to-day,  who  needs  to 
be  impressed  with  the  value  in  business  of  indus- 
try and  unswerving  integrity. 

In  this  connection,  a  brief  mention  of  the  pres- 
ent managers  of  the  Weber  Wagon  Company  is 
appropriate  and  desirable.  To  them  is  due,  in  a 
great  measure,  the  marvelous  growth  and  pros- 


W.  W.  FARWELL. 


457 


perity  of  the  business.  It  requires  more  than 
ordinary  talent  to  conduct  successfully  a  business 
involving  a  capital  of  nearly  half  a  million  dollars, 
and  yearly  increasing  in  volume.  All  the  de- 
tails are  carefully  watched  by  the  superintendent 
in  the  construction  department,  and  by  the  busi- 
ness manager  in  the  office.  The  continued  sub- 
stantial development  of  the  concern  in  the  face  of 
the  financial  stringency  of  1894  an(i  l895  is  es' 
pecially  worthy  of  note,  and  the  year  1895  is  re- 
corded as  the  most  prosperous  in  its  history. 

The  factory  gives  employment  to  a  large 
number  of  men,  many  of  whom  have  grown 
gray  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Weber  and  his 
sons,  some  of  them  having  been  in  the  con- 
tinuous employ  of  Mr.  Weber  more  than  forty 
years.  The  high  esteem  in  which  the  founder 
and  present  managers  are  held  by  their  employes 
is  a  strong  testimonial  to  their  executive  ability 
and  upright  character,  and  their  course  is  worthy 
the  emulation  of  every  employer  of  labor.  A 
personal  interest  is  shown  in  every  man  on  the 
pay  roll  and  in  those  dependent  upon  him,  and 
no  man  is  ever  discharged  except  for  indolence  or 
inefficiency.  Consequently  a  strike,  with  its  train 
of  misfortune  for  all  concerned,  was  never  known 
in  the  establishment.  The  members  of  the  com- 
pany do  not  enter  into  any  outside  speculations, 
but  confine  themselves  to  their  legitimate  field  of 
operations,  which  fact  is  entitled  to  credit  for 
much  of  their  prosperity. 

George  A.  Weber,  the  superintendent  of  the 
works  of  the  Weber  Wagon  Company,  was  born 


in  Chicago,  and  completed  his  education  in  the 
West  Side  High  School  of  that  city.  He  is  gifted 
with  a  taste  and  talent  for  mechanics,  and  at 
the  early  age  of  sixteen  years  he  entered  the  fac- 
tory of  his  father  to  master  its  mechanical  details. 
Here  he  made  quite  as  rapid  progress  as  he  had 
previously  shown  in  his  studies,  and  he  steadily 
rose  to  the  position  of  superintendent,  which  he 
has  filled  since. 

William  Henry  Weber,  business  manager  of 
the  Weber  Wagon  Company,  was  born  April  21, 
1855,  in  the  city  which  now  numbers  him  among 
its  most  substantial  and  respected  citizens.  He 
was  educated  in  the  Chicago  West  Side  High 
School,  and  took  a  thorough  course  of  business 
training  in  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  College. 
After  one  year's  connection  with  the  wholesale 
dry-goods  firm  of  Stettauer  &  Weiman,  in  1879, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four  years,  he  entered  the 
service  of  his  father,  with  whose  business  he  has 
ever  since  been  identified.  With  his  natural  apt- 
itude, and  as  a  result  of  his  careful  training,  he 
readily  fitted  in  with  the  office  management  oi 
the  concern,  and  soon  came  to  be  its  responsible 
head.  He  attends  strictly  to  business,  his  only 
recreation  being  an  occasional  hunting  trip  of  a 
few  days'  duration,  and  to  him  is  due  much  of 
the  credit  for  the  high  commercial  standing  of 
the  house.  Being  of  a  genial  nature,  he  comes 
naturally  to  possess  the  respect  and  cordial  good- 
will of  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  social  or  busi- 
ness relations. 


WILLIAM  W.  FARWELL. 


WASHINGTON  FARWELL, 
Srace<^  ^e  Bench  of  Cook  County  for 
nine  years,  and  was  an  honored  member  of 
the  Chicago  Bar  forty  years,  was  descended  from 
good  old  English  stock.  His  ancestors  were 
among  the  early  pioneers  in  the  settlement  and 


civilization  of  the  New  World.  Henry  Farwell 
came  from  Somersetshire,  England,  and  located 
in  Connecticut  with  the  founders  of  that  colony, 
and  bore  his  part  in  sweeping  away  the  wilder- 
ness which  then  occupied  all  New  England  and 
in  developing  a  Christian  community.  He  had  a 


458 


W.  W.  FARWELL. 


son  and  grandson  named  Isaac.  Thomas,  son  of 
the  last-named,  was  born  in  Mansfield,  Connecti- 
cut, and  practiced  agriculture  in  that  State.  His 
son,  John  Farwell,  also  born  in  Mansfield,  was 
the  father  of  Judge  William  W.  Farwell. 

John  Farwell  was  possessed  of  the  same  spirit 
which  led  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to  seek  a  home 
under  new  conditions,  in  an  untried  world,  and, 
moved  by  this  pioneer'  instinct,  he  went  to  Mor- 
risville,  New  York,  in  his  young  manhood  and 
opened  up  a  farm  in  that  then  new  region.  He 
was  a  highly  respected  citizen,  and  served  as 
Postmaster  at  Morrisville  for  many  years.  His 
wife,  Elmira  Williams,  was,  like  himself,  a  na- 
tive of  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  and  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Amariah  Williams,  supposed  to  have  been 
of  English  lineage.  The  marriage  of  this  couple 
took  place  in  their  native  town,  and  they  began 
housekeeping  at  the  new  home  of  Mr.  Farwell 
in  Morrisville.  Their  children,  five  in  number, 
were  named  as  follows:  John  William,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  William  Washington,  Thomas  Lyle 
and  Elmira  Jane. 

William  W.  Farwell,  third  child  of  his  parents, 
was  born  in  Morrisville,  New  York,  January  5, 
1817.  His  early  life  did  not  differ  much  from 
that  of  other  farmers'  sons  in  that  day  and  region. 
He  made  the  most,  however,  of  his  educational 
opportunities,  passing  through  the  primary  schools 
and  academy  of  his  native  town,  and  entered 
Hamilton  College,  at  Clinton,  New  York,  in 
1833.  Before  attaining  his  majority,  in  1837,  he 
was  graduated  from  that  old  and  solid  institution 
of  learning  with  credit  to  himself  and  his  Alma 
Mater. 

He  at  once  began  the  study  of  law  in  the 
office  of  Hon.  Otis  P.  Granger,  of  Morrisville, 
whose  daughter  he  subsequently  married.  He 
finished  his  legal  studies  at  Buffalo,  New  York, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  Superior 
Court  at  Rochester,  in  that  State,  in  1841.  After 
practicing  law  with  success  for  seven  years  in  his 
native  village,  he  felt  the  promptings  of  the  an- 
cestral enterprise,  and  determined  to  cast  in  his 
lot  with  those  fearless  and  energetic  spirits  who 
were  just  then  developing  the  nucleus  of  the 
wonderful  city  on  Lake  Michigan,  whose  future 


greatness  was  beyond  the  predictions  of  their 
wildest  fancies.  Arriving  in  Chicago  in  1848, 
he  set  out  the  next  year  for  California,  and  re- 
mained in  that  modern  El  Dorado  one  year,  re-' 
turning  to  the  East  by  way  of  Panama  and  New 
York  City. 

At  Morrisville,  New  York,  on  the  izth  of 
February,  1851,  Mr.  Farwell  led  to  the  marriage 
altar  Miss  Mary  Eliza  Granger,  who  was 
born  in  Morrisville,  November  8,  1829.  Hon. 
Otis  P.  Granger,  father  of  Mrs.  Farwell,  was  a 
native  of  Suffield,  Connecticut,  his  birth  occur- 
ring February  21,  1796,  and  bore  in  his  veins 
the  blood  of  the  early  English  settlers  of  that 
State.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Williams  College, 
Class  of  1816,  and  became  a  noted  lawyer  in  cen- 
tral New  York.  He  studied  for  his  profession  in 
the  office  of  Talcott  &  Maynard,  and  later  with 
John  Bradish,  of  Utica,  New  York,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar  July  21, 1821.  He  practiced  his 
profession  in  Morrisville,  New  York,  until  1827, 
when  he  was  appointed  Surrogate  of  Madison 
County,  New  York,  and  filled  that  position  thir- 
teen years.  He  passed  away  at  Morrisville  at 
the  venerable  age  of  eighty-seven  years.  His 
first  ancestor  in  this  country  was  Launcelot 
Granger,  who  was  born  in  the  West  of  England 
and  was  brought  to  America  when  fourteen  years 
old.  Mr.  Granger's  wife,  Elvira  Gates,  was  a 
native  of  Morrisville,  daughter  of  Abiather  and 
Lois  (Holt)  Gates,  who  were  natives  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Mrs.  Gates  was  a  descendant  of  Nich- 
olas Holt,  who  came  from  England  to  Connecti- 
cut in  the  early  days  of  that  colony. 

Mrs.  Farwell  is  the  eldest  of  the  four  children 
of  her  parents.  Only  one  beside  herself,  Mrs. 
Agnes  Elvira  Groves,  is  now  living.  She  was 
educated  at  a  female  seminary  at  Utica,  New 
York,  and  was  fitted  by  birth  and  breeding  to  be 
the  companion  of  her  husband  during  his  long 
and  useful  career  in  Chicago.  She  is  a  well-pre- 
served lady,  of  much  natural  refinement,  and  her 
charitable  and  kindly  character  has  made  her  dear 
to  all  who  have  been  privileged  to  come  within  her 
influence.  Two  sons  born  to  Judge  and  Mrs. 
Farwell,  Granger  and  John  Williams  Farwell,  are 
well-known  brokers  of  Chicago.  The  elder,  born 


C.  G.  AVARS. 


459 


in  Chicago,  May  25,  1857,  married  Sarah  C. 
Goodrich,  daughter  of  James  G.  Goodrich,  of 
Chicago,  and  has  five  children:  Leslie,  Ruth 
Goodrich,  Olive,  Sarah  Granger  and  Helen.  The 
younger  son  was  born  in  Chicago,  March  30, 
1862,  and  is  the  stay  and  companion  of  his 
mother. 

It  was  in  1854  that  Mr.  Farwell  settled  perma- 
nently in  Chicago.  He  had  been  admitted  to 
the  Bar  of  Illinois  in  1848,  and  he  now  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  the  labors  of  his  profes- 
sion, rapidly  winning  for  himself  a  reputation  for 
soundness  and  ability.  In  the  spring  of  1855  the 
firm  of  Goodrich,  Farwell  &  Scovell  was  formed, 
the  senior  member  being  Grant  Goodrich,  who 
was  subsequently  an  honored  occupant  of  the 
Bench  in  Chicago.  A  year  later  Mr.  Scovell 
withdrew,  and  Mr.  Sidney  Smith  joined  the  firm, 
which  became  Goodrich,  Farwell  &  Smith. 

Mr.  Farwell  was  elected  to  the  Circuit  Bench 
in  1870,  and  was  twice  re-elected,  serving  in  a 


most  impartial  and  efficient  manner  nine  years. 
Upon  his  retirement  from  the  Bench,  he  was  en- 
gaged, in  1880,  as  Lecturer  in  the  Union  College 
of  Law,  which  position  he  continuously  filled  un- 
til failing  health  compelled  his  resignation  in 
1893.  His  practical  experience,  his  ripe  scholar- 
ship and  sound  judgment  made  him  especially 
useful  in  preparing  young  men  for  the  practice  of 
law,  and  his  resignation  was  received  with  regret 
by  faculty  and  students.  He  died  April  30, 
1894. 

Judge  Farwell  was  a  faithful  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  in  which  he  appropri- 
ately and  consistently  filled  the  office  of  Deacon 
for  some  time.  In  every  relation  of  life  he  was 
true,  and  the  history  of  his  life  stands  as  an  in- 
spiration and  encouragement  to  young  men  every- 
where. Especially  are  his  upright  life  and  official 
course  commended  to  the  emulation  of  all  who 
wish  to  win  friends  and  enjoy  the  good  opinion 
and  blessing  of  their  fellows. 


CHARLES  G.  AVARS. 


/TfHARLES  GERRY  AVARS,  a  capable  busi- 
I  (  ness  man  of  Chicago,  and  at  one  time  one  of 
\J  the  most  widely-known  public  officials  of 
Cook  County,  was  born  at  Newton,  New  Jersey, 
December  28,  1831.  His  parents  were  Rev. 
James  Ayars  and  Harriet  Amelia  Reed,  both  na- 
tives of  Bridgeton,  New  Jersey.  The  family  is  of 
Scotch,  Welsh  and  German  ancestry,  and  fur- 
nished some  of  the  Colonial  emigrants  to  the 
present  United  States.  Noah  Ayars,  grandfather 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  attained  the  age  of 
ninety-three  years,  dying  at  Bridgeton,  New 
Jersey,  about  1858. 

Rev.  James  Ayars  was  educated  at  Bridgeton, 
and  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  1827.  He  continued  actively  in 


the  work  of  that  church  for  fifty  years,  holding 
pastorates -in  the  principal  towns  of  New  Jersey. 
In  1856  he  became  Secretary  of  the  American 
Sunday-school  Union.  He  lived  at  Covington, 
Kentucky,  three  years,  and  at  Evanston,  Illinois, 
two  years.  Returning  to  New  Jersey,  he  re- 
entered  the  regular  ministry,  and  died  at  Summit, 
New  Jersey,  in  1880,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five 
years.  He  was  a  man  of  great  public  spirit,  and 
did  much  work  in  the  temperance  cause  and 
in  the  management  of  municipal  affairs  in  the 
towns  where  he  was  located. 

Mrs.  Harriet  A.  Ayars  died  at  Trenton,  New 
Jersey,  in  1870,  at  the  age  of  sixty- four  years. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  John  Reed,  who  was 
born  in  New  Jersey,  where  he  practiced  medi- 


460 


C.  G.  AVARS. 


cine  most  of  his  life.  He  was  also  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  at  Deerfield, 
New  Jersey.  His  father  was  a  native  of 
Ireland. 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  James  Ayars  had  five  sons. 
Enoch  Reed,  the  eldest,  was  a  dentist  in  New 
Jersey,  and  went  to  California  in  1849.  While 
there,  he  joined  Walker's  expedition  to  Nica- 
ragua, was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Rivos, 
and  died  in  hospital.  Charles  G.  Ayars  is  the 
second.  James  was  for  many  years  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Cook  County,  and  is  now  deceased. 
William  Henry  Ayars  was  a  student  of  the  North- 
western University  of  Evanston  when  the  Civil 
War  began,  and  enlisted  and  served  eighteen 
months  in  the  Union  army.  He  became  a  Lieu- 
tenant in  a  colored  regiment,  and  was  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Petersburgh,  Virginia.  Howard  B., 
the  youngest,  died  at  the  age  of  five  years. 

Charles  G.  Ayars,  whose  name  heads  this 
article,  gained  his  primary  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  various  points  where  his  father  was 
stationed  in  the  ministry,  and  finished  at  Rutgers 
College,  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey.  At  the 
age  of  seventeen  years  he  entered  mercantile  life, 
being  employed  as  a  clerk  in  stores  at  various 
places.  He  spent  one  year  with  a  wholesale 
paper  house  in  New  York  City,  and  in  1857 
went  to  Covington,  Kentucky,  where  he  entered 
the  general  western  agency  of  the  Phoenix  Fire 
Insurance  Company,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

In  1859  he  became  a  resident  of  Cook  County, 
and  engaged  in  farming  at  Evanston.  Two  years 
later  he  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  what  is  now 
known  as  Forest  Hill,  at  the  crossing  of  the  Wa- 
bash  and  Pan  Handle  Railroads,  where  he  oper- 
ated a  large  farm,  producing  annually  large 
quantities  of  hay  for  the  Chicago  market.  While 
residing  here,  he  served  six  years  as  Clerk  of 
Lake  Township. 

In  1867  he  was  appointed  a  Deputy  Sheriff  of 
Cook  County,  and  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
filled  this  position  under  successive  Sheriffs  for 
eight  years.  His  duties  brought  him  in  contact 
with  people  of  all  avocations,  and  he  gained  an 
acquaintance  exceeded  by  few  men.  Probably,  not 
a  half-dozen  persons  know  personally  more  people 


in  Cook  County  than  were  included  in  his  list  of 
friends.  About  this  time  there  was  much  litiga- 
tion over  land  titles.  Many  squatters  had  to  be 
dispossessed,  and  Mr.  Ayars'  duties  as  Deputy 
Sheriff  sometimes  brought  him  exciting  experi- 
ences. His  impartiality,  coupled  with  firmness, 
and  his  uniform  kindness  to  the  unfortunate  in- 
spired the  public  with  confidence  in  him,  and 
gained  for  him  a  host  of  true  friends.  In  1874  he 
was  elected  County  Commissioner  for  the  Evans- 
ton  District,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  he 
was  re-elected,  serving  six  years  continuously, 
during  which  period  the  present  court  house 
was  built. 

In  1883  Mr.  Ayars  formed  a  connection  with 
the  Phoenix  Fire  Insurance  Company,  of  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  as  State  Agent  for  Illinois, 
having  general  charge  of  all  its  business  outside 
of  Chicago,  which  relation  still  continues.  In 
this  connection  he  travels  all  over  the  State,  giv- 
ing careful  and  diligent  attention  to  his  duties, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  volume  of  business  trans- 
acted by  the  company  in  his  jurisdiction  has  very 
largely  increased. 

Mr.  Ayars  was  married,  April  25,  1859,  to 
Miss  Margaret,  daughter  of  William  Fredenberg, 
of  New  York  City,  where  her  Knickerbocker  an- 
cestors located  in  the  early  Colonial  period.  Many 
of  the  name  now  reside  there,  and  Mrs.  Ayars  is 
the  first  who  left  that  city.  For  twenty-five  years 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ayars  have  been  connected  with 
the  First  Methodist  Church  of  Evanston.  The 
former  is  a  member  of  Evans  Lodge,  Evanston 
Chapter  and  Commandery  of  the  Masonic  order, 
and  of  the  Evanston  Club  and  Evanston  Boat 
Club,  being  among  the  organizers  of  the  last- 
named  organization. 

Mr.  Ayars  was  among  the  supporters  of  John 
C.  Fremont  for  the  United  States  Presidency  in 
1856,  and  since  that  time  has  consistently  ad- 
hered to  the  Republican  party  from  principle. 
His  varied  business  experience  has  given  him 
a  wide  knowledge  of  many  subjects  and  made 
him  a  capable  judge  of  human  nature,  enabling 
him  to  give  to  his  business  and  social  duties  the 
benefit  of  a  mind  ripened  by  years  of  practical 
training. 


E.  S.  LACEY. 


461 


EDWARD  S.  LACEY. 


["[DWARD  SAMUEL  LACEY,  President  of 
1^  the  Bankers'  National  Bank  of  Chicago, 
I  enjoys  a  national  reputation  as  an  able 
financier,  and  has  won  his  way  to  his  present 
honored  position  in  the  business,  social  and  pol- 
itical world  through  his  pre-eminent  perseverance, 
foresight  and  integrity.  He  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Chili,  Monroe  County,  New  York,  November 
26,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  Edward  DeWitt  and 
Martha  C.  (Pixley)  Lacey. 

Edward  D.  Lacey  was  born  at  Bennington, 
Vermont,  and  died  at  Charlotte,  Michigan, 
November  6,  1862,  aged  nearly  fifty- three  years. 
He  possessed  in  a  notable  degree  those  qualities 
of  integrity,  intelligence  and  tenacity  of  purpose 
for  which  the  people  of  the  Green  Mountain 
State  are  notable.  He  removed,  with  his  par- 
ents to  Monroe  County,  New  York,  when  but 
ten  years  of  age,  and  was  educated  at  Henrietta, 
in  that  State.  He  engaged  in  mercantile  business 
at  Chili,  New  York,  and  in  1842  removed  to 
Michigan,  locating  the  next  year  at  Kalamo, 
Eaton  County,  then  a  comparative  wilderness. 
He  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  that  locality, 
filling  many  positions  of  public  trust  and  respon- 
sibility, and  was  a  leading  spirit  in  the  develop- 
ment and  improvement  of  that  section  of  the  State. 

He  was  a  son  of  Maj.  Samuel  Lacey  and 
grandson  of  Ebenezer  Lacey,  natives  of  Wood- 
bury,  Connecticut.  The  latter  served  in  the 
Connecticut  Line  through  the  Virginia  and  Penn- 
sylvania campaigns  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
under  Generals  Washington  and  La  Fayette,  be- 
coming an  Orderly-Sergeant  in  the  latter' s  com- 
mand. He  was  a  son  of  Thaddeus  Lacey,  who 
moved  to  Connecticut  from  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts. The  first  ancestor  in  America  came  from 


the  vicinity  of  Belfast,  Ireland,  and  located  at 
Boston  in  1704. 

Samuel  Lacey  was  born  at  Woodbury,  Con- 
necticut, and  went  with  his  parents — Ebenezer 
and  Mary  (Hurd)  Lacey — to  Vermont  in  1784. 
He  established  the  second  cloth-dressing  works 
in  the  State  at  Bennington,  and  in  1818  removed 
to  Monroe  County,  New  York,  where  he  was  a 
prosperous  and  influential  citizen.  During  the 
War  of  1812  he  was  Major  of  the  First  Regiment 
of  Vermont  Militia,  which  was  called  into  service 
on  the  northern  frontier.  He  assisted  in  the  first 
organization  of  the  Whig  party  at  Syracuse, 
New  York,  in  1835,  and  was  for  many  years  one 
of  its  ablest  supporters.  He  died  at  Marshall, 
Michigan,  May  9,  1863,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year 
of  his  age.  He  married  Ruth,  eldest  daughter 
of  Anthony  Sigourney,  of  Oxford,  Massachusetts, 
a  Revolutionary  veteran,  who  took  part  in  the 
disastrous  campaign  of  1776,  on  Long  Island  and 
about  New  York  City,  being  twice  wounded  in 
battle  during  that  service.  He  was  the  fourth  in 
line  of  descent  from  Andrew  Sigourney,  a  prom- 
inent Huguenot,  who,  with  his  wife,  escaped 
from  Rochelle,  France,  after  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685,  and  became  one  of 
the  founders  of  Oxford,  Massachusetts.  Mrs. 
L-  H.  Sigourney,  the  famous  writer  and  poet, 
married  a  descendant  of  the  same  family. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  was  about  seven 
years  old  when  the  family  settled  in  Eaton 
County,  Michigan,  where  he  continued  to  reside 
until  1889.  He  was  educated  at  the  public 
schools  and  Olivet  College.  At  the  age  of  eight- 
een years  he  began  his  business  career  as  clerk 
in  a  general  store  at  Kalamazoo,  Michigan. 

In  1857  ne  returned  to  his  home  at  Charlotte, 


462 


E.  S.  LACEY. 


Michigan,  and  in  1862,  in  partnership  with 
Hon.  Joseph  Musgrave,  established  a  private 
bank,  which  became,  in  1871,  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Charlotte.  He  was  the  active  manager 
of  this  institution  from  its  organization,  officiat- 
ing as  Director  and  Cashier,  and  upon  the  death 
of  Mr.  Musgrave  became  its  President.  He  was 
distinguished  for  ability  and  thoroughness  in  his 
methods,  and  became  identified  with  many  im- 
portant business  interests.  He  was  a  Director, 
and  for  many  years  Treasurer,  of  the  Grand  River 
Valley  Railroad  Company,  which  he  helped  to 
organize. 

Early  in  his  career  his  fellow-citizens  began  to 
recognize  his  fitness  for  the  discharge  of  public 
duties,  and  his  opinion  on  financial  questions  has 
always  been  accorded  great  consideration.  His 
first  official  position  was  that  of  Register  of 
Deeds  of  Eaton  County,  which  he  held  four  years, 
beginning  in  1860.  In  1874  the  Governor  of 
Michigan  appointed  him  a  Trustee  of  the  State 
Asylum  for  the  Insane,  and  he  continued  to  fill 
this  position  for  six  years.  In  1876  he  was  a 
delegate  to  the  National  Republican  Convention 
at  Cincinnati,  and  from  1882  to  1884  was  Chair- 
man of  the  Republican  State  Central  Committee 
of  Michigan.  He  also  served  as  the  first  Mayor 
of  the  city  of  Charlotte,  and  assisted  in  inaugu- 
rating its  excellent  system  of  public  improve- 
ments. In  1880  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from 
the  Third  Michigan  District,  and  served  two 
terms.  He  was  nominated  by  acclamation  and 
elected  by  a  vote  far  ahead  of  his  ticket  in  each 
instance.  He  declined  to  accept  the  candidacy 
for  a  third  term,  but  in  1886  became  a  candidate 
for  the  United  States  Senate,  in  which  he  was 
unsuccessful,  though  he  showed  great  strength 
and  popularity. 

In  Congress  he  served  on  the  Committees  on 
Postoffices  and  Post  Roads  and  Coinage,  Weights 
and  Measures.  But  he  was  distinguished  chiefly 
through  the  ability  displayed  in  the  consideration 
of  financial  questions.  In  the  Forty-eighth 
Congress  he  attracted  wide  attention  by  a  mas- 
terly speech  on  the  silver  question.  His  address 
on  the  use  of  silver  as  money,  delivered  before 
the  American  Bankers'  Association  in  Chicago  in 


1885,  was  received  with  marked  attention  and 
increased  his  popularity  among  financiers.  His 
prominence  in  monetary  circles  caused  him  to 
be  recommended  by  friends  in  Michigan,  New 
York,  Boston  and  Chicago  for  the  position  of 
Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  to  which  he  was 
appointed  in  1889. 

This  office,  so  far  as  regards  national  finance,  is 
second  only  to  that  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
His  administration,  extending  from  1889  to  1892, 
covered  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  national  banking  system.  He 
pursued  a  vigorous  and  yet  conservative  policy, 
keeping  in  view  the  protection  of  depositors  and 
creditors,  and  his  conduct  of  the  office  was 
endorsed  by  the  ablest  financiers.  His  integrity 
and  ability  have  always  been  recognized,  and  his 
national  reputation  caused  his  services  to  be 
sought  by  many  of  the  leading  financial  institu- 
tions of  the  country.  Believing  in  the  resources 
and  future  of  Chicago,  he  resigned  in  June,  1892, 
to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  Bankers'  Na- 
tional Bank  of  that  city. 

On  New  Year's  Day,  1861,  Mr.  Lacey  married 
Miss  Annette  C.  Musgrave,  daughter  of  his  busi- 
ness partner,  Hon.  Joseph  Musgrave,  of  Char- 
lotte, Michigan.  Two  daughters  and  a  son, 
named,  respectively,  Jessie  P.,  Edith  M.  and 
Edward  Musgrave,  complete  the  family.  Since 
coming  to  Cook  County,  the  family  has  resided 
at  Evanston,  where  it  is  identified  with  the  First 
Congregational  Church.  Mr.  L,acey  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  Union  League  Club,  Bankers' 
Club  (of  which  he  has  been  President),  Bankers' 
Athletic  Association,  Evanston  Club  and  Evans- 
ton  Country  Club.  He  has  always  been  an 
enthusiastic  Republican,  and  wields  a  strong 
influence  in  the  party  councils. 

Personally,  Mr.  L,acey  is  a  man  of  fine  phys- 
ique, ready  discernment,  and  pleasing  manners. 
All  who  have  occasion  to  approach  him  in  regard 
to  social  or  business  matters  are  certain  of 
receiving  courteous  attention,  notwithstanding 
the  attention  necessarily  bestowed  upon  the 
financial  and  business  matters  of  great  magni- 
tude entrusted  to  his  management. 


". 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
OF  ILLIV 


LOUIS  F.  HAAS 


L.  F.  HAAS. 


463 


LOUIS  F.  HAAS. 


GUIS  FREDERICK  HAAS.  The  fascina- 
tions  of  the  condition  of  the  government 
and  the  people  in  general  of  this  United 
States  appeal  to  the  minds  of  many  natives  of 
foreign  lands  in  such  a  way  as  to  draw  many  of 
them  to  become  inhabitants  of  our  Land  of  the 
Free  and  adopt  a  place  among  the  famous 
American  free  and  equal  associates.  Of  these 
many  become  successful  in  the  marts  of  trade, 
through  the  advantages  offered  those  loyal  to  our 
flag.  Louis  Frederick  Haas  figures  among  the 
men  of  the  last  fifty  years  who  have  emigrated 
from  their  native  land  and  become  followers  of 
our  fortunes. 

He  was  born  in  Otweiler,  Prussia,  October  24, 
1821,  and  came  to  America  with  his  brother  in 
1837.  He  previously  attended  school  in  the  land 
of  his  nativity  and  became  confirmed  in  the 
church,  whose  creed  had  been  followed  and 
whose  laws  had  been  adhered  to  by  his  ancestors 
for  many  generations.  His  first  work  in  America 
was  on  the  old  canal,  but  failing  health  forced 
him  to  abandon  this  occupation.  When  he  had 
recovered  somewhat  his  usual  condition  he 
learned  the  trade  of  a  horse  shoer  with  Frank 
Bush,  and  about  the  year  1842  opened  a  shop  in 
his  own  interest  on  Randolph  Street,  near  Wells 
Street.  He  conducted  a  business  at  this  location 
forty  years  and  was  for  some  time  personally 
known  to  every  citizen  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Haas  was  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a 
politician,  being  independent  of  party  and  voting 
at  proper  times  for  the  man  who  in  his  estimation 


was  best  fitted  to  fill  the  offices  for  the  interest  of 
the  people  at  large.  He  was,  however,  interested 
in  every  enterprise  tending  to  the  uplifting  of  the 
minds  of  his  fellow-men,  and  sanctioned  all  good 
and  noble  work.  He  was  a  prominent,  in- 
fluential citizen,  and  was  honored  and  respected 
by  all  who  knew  him  in  business,  and  beloved  by 
all  friends  and  acquaintances,  as  well  as  his  near 
relatives. 

Mr.  Haas  was  a  member  of  the  old  volunteer 
fire  department,  belonged  to  the  Fireman's  Ben- 
efit Association,  and  was  also  connected  with 
the  Sharpshooters'  Club.  He  was  a  very  broad- 
minded  and  liberal  man.  Mr.  Haas  .was  one  of 
the  first  directors  of  the  Uhlich  Orphans'  Asylum 
and  for  many  years  was  treasurer  of  the  institu- 
tion, being  at  all  times  very  much  interested 
in  it.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
old  St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church, 
having  helped  to  carry  the  boards  on  his  back 
from  the  river  to  the  side  of  the  church,  for  the 
first  structure,  which  was  a  frame  building.  He 
was  prominently  connected  with  the  work  of  the 
church  and  contributed  to  its  support  very 
liberally,  in  a  practical  as  well  as  spiritual  man- 
ner. 

In  1843  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Wolfe,  who 
was  also  born  in  a  foreign  land,  the  place  of  her 
birth  being  near  Strasburg,  France.  She  came 
to  Chicago,  in  1839.  This  couple  became  the 
parents  of  eleven  children,  six  of  whom  are  living 
at  the  present  writing.  Louis  is  a  captain  in 
the  police  department.  Carrie  married  Charles 


464 


C.  R.  LARRABEE. 


Leupold,  of  Chicago,  and  resides  at  No.  1295 
North  Halsted  Street.  Charles,  Philip,  Herman 
and  William  are  the  names  of  those  living. 

Louis  F.  Haas  died  July  23,  1888,  mourned  by 
many  friends  and  leaving  a  vacancy  in  the  family 


circle  which  cannot  be  filled.  Mrs.  Haas  is  still 
living,  surrounded  by  a  host  of  true  and  worthy 
friends  and  residing  near  her  children,  who  have 
turned  out  to  be  of  great  comfort  to  her,  as  well 
as  a  source  of  just  pride. 


CHARLES  R.  LARRABEE. 


EHARLES  ROLLIN  LARRABEE,  who,  in 
his  quiet  and  unobtrusive  way  gave  a  strong 
impelling  force  to  the  moral  and  material 
development  to  the  city  of  Chicago,  entered  into 
rest  at  his  home  on  Dearborn  Avenue,  in  that 
city,  June  3,  1899.  He  was  born  February  17, 
1825,  at  Ticonderoga,  New  York,  then  a  small 
village  adjoining  the  ruins  of  the  Revolutionary 
fort  bearing  the  same  name. 

His  great-grandfather,  John  Larrabee,  who  was 
born  in  1732  at  Plainfield,  Connecticut,  married 
Mary  Spalding,  a  representative  of  one  of  the 
first  and  most  conspicuous  American  families. 
He  removed  to  Pownal,  Vermont,  in  1780, 
being  clerk  to  the  proprietors  of  that  town, 
whose  charter  he  recorded.  He  was  a  valu- 
able man  in  a  new  settlement,  being  well  edu- 
cated for  his  time  and  a  surveyor  by  occupa- 
tion. In  1783  he  purchased  a  farm  at  Row- 
ley's Point,  on  Lake  Champlain,  on  which  he 
settled.  He  established  the  first  regular  ferry 
there,  and  the  place  has  since  been  known  as 
Larrabee's  Point,  its  present  postoffice  title. 

The  youngest  of  his  four  children,  Dr.  William 
H.  Larrabee,  was  born  at  Plainfield,  and  prac- 
ticed medicine  many  years  at  Shoreham,  Ver- 
mont, later  removing  'to  Ticonderoga,  where  he 
died  in  1836.  He  was  a  studious  and  cultivated 
man.  His  wife  was  Lovice  Callender,  of  Scotch 
ancestry.  The  eldest  of  their  three  children, 
Lucius  Callender,  was  carefully  trained  and  be- 
came a  teacher  and  surveyor.  For  many  sum- 


mers he  commanded  the  little  pleasure  steamer 
that  plied  Lake  George.  He  was  born  on  the 
last  day  of  the  year  1799,  and  was  married  at 
Ticonderoga  in  1824,  to  Calista  W.  Bugbee,  of 
an  old  New  England  family.  In  1852  he  came 
to  Chicago,  where  he  died  four  years  later.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  eldest  of  his  four 
children. 

As  a  boy,  Charles  R.  Larrabee  is  described  as 
a  handsome  manly  lad,  of  winning  disposition 
and  obedient  and  gentlemanly  in  deportment. 
Possessing  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  and  being 
fond  of  sports,  he  was  often  a  leader  among  his 
playmates.  His  father  was  a  strong  man,  both 
mentally  and  physically,  and  being  an  educator, 
gave  his  son  a  good  training.  The  mother  was 
many  years  an  invalid,  and  her  deeply  religious 
character  was  impressed  upon  her  son.  The  lat- 
ter attended  the  public  school  and  was  confirmed 
in  the  little  Episcopal  Church  of  his  native  vil- 
lage at  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  It  was  his 
desire  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  for  a  time  he 
kept  up  studies  under  the  tutorship  of  the  rector 
of  the  scattered  flock  at  Ticonderoga,  but  lack  of 
means  compelled  him  to  abandon  this  purpose 
and  before  he  was  seventeen  years  old  he  began 
to  support  himself. 

In  1843  (the  mother  having  died),  the  father 
came  to  Chicago,  with  his  two  eldest  sons,  and 
spent  the  winter  as  guest  of  his  brother, 
William  M.  Larrabee,  then  a  prominent  citizen 
of  the  young  city.  In  the  spring  he  returned  to 


C.  R.  LARRABEE. 


465 


his  eastern  home,  but  the  elder  son  had  found 
employment  here  and  decided  to  remain,  and 
from  that  time  continued  to  make  his  home  in 
this  city. 

His  first  position  was  that  of  librarian  for  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  which  pos- 
sessed then  some  three  thousand  volumes.  After 
acting  one  year  as  bookkeeper  for  Woodworth  & 
Long.millers  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Street  (for  which 
service  he  received  one  hundred  dollars  and  board, 
in  the  family  of  Mr.  Long),  he  entered  the  hard- 
ware store  of  William  F.  Dominick.  His  new 
position  brought  him  a  slight  advance  in  com- 
pensation, the  salary  being  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  dollars,  but  he  found  himself  in 
meals,  sleeping  over  the  store.  Table  board  was 
supplied  in  those  days  by  Mrs.  Haight  at  two 
dollars  per  week.  Her  boarding  house  was  one 
of  a  brick  row  on  the  present  site  of  the  Chicago 
Opera  House. 

In  1851  Mr.  Larrabee  became  a  partner  in  the 
business,  and  it  was  now  conducted  under  the 
name  of  William  F.  Dominick  &  Company.  Five 
years  later,  R.  L.  North  joined  Mr.  Larrabee  in 
purchasing  the  interest  of  the  senior  partner. 
Through  the  panics  of  1857  and  1873,  as  well 
as  through  the  more  terrible  ordeal  of  the  great 
fire,  this  house  continued  in  business  success, 
with  honorable  record,  and  voluntarily  retired 
from  the  field  in  1888. 

In  1877  and  1878  Mr.  Larrabee  held  the  office 
of  city  treasurer.  From  1 888  until  the  year  of  his 
death  he  was  treasurer  of  the  Title  Guarantee  & 
Trust  Company  of  Chicago. 

On  his  coming  to  Chicago  Mr.  Larrabee  be- 
came a  member  of  St.  James'  Church,  which 
then  stood  on  Cass  Street  between  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Streets.  He  transferred  his  connection 
for  a  time  to  Trinity  Church  on  the  South  Side, 
but  in  1849  returned  to  St.  James', where,  in  May, 
1851,  he  was  by  Rev.  Robert  H.  Clarkson,  united 
in  marriage  to  Mary  A.  Wood  of  the  same  parish. 

During  a  period  of  thirty-seven  years,  begin- 
ning with  Easter  day,  1856,  Mr.  Larrabee  served 
this  church  as  vestryman,  junior  warden  and 
senior  warden.  During  this  period  he  was  dele- 


gate to  the  diocesan  convention,  and  served  as 
its  treasurer  from  1870  to  1885.  From  the  early 
history  of  the  Chicago  Nursery  and  Half  Orphan 
Asylum,  he  served  on  the  board  of  directors.  He 
was  many  years  a  trustee  of  Racine  College  and 
of  the  General  Theological  Seminary  of  New 
York.  For  the  twelve  years  prior  to  his  death, 
he  was  treasurer  of  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary  in  Chicago. 

Beside  his  widow,  Mr.  Larrabee  left  eight  chil- 
dren. The  eldest,  Rev.  Edward  Allan  Larrabee, 
was  born  March  31,  1852,  in  Chicago.  He  grad- 
uated from  Racine  College  (Wisconsin),  in  1873, 
and  from  the  General  Theological  Seminary  in 
New  York  in  1876.  Since  June,  1884,  he  has 
been  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  at 
Elm  Street  and  La  Salle  Avenue. 

Annie. D.  Larrabee  married  Cecil  Barnes,  of 
Portland,  Maine,  who  established  a  university 
school  in  Chicago  and  died  within  a  year.  Her 
second  husband  was  John  De  Koven,  of  Chicago. 
Eleanor  L.,  Mary  C.  and  Caroline  Larrabee  reside 
in  the  city.  Emily  W.  is  the  wife  of  John  N.  Til- 
ton,  an  architect  of  Chicago,  and  Rosalind  C.  is 
the  wife  of  Charles  A.  Street,  a  prominent  lum- 
berman of  the  same  city.  RollinN.  Larrabee,  for 
many  years  in  the  service  of  the  Western  Electric 
Company,  is  now  in  the  South. 

The  esteem  in  which  Mr.  Larrabee  was  held 
by  his  associates  is  well  shown  in  the  numerous 
letters  of  condolence  sent  to  the  family  and  by 
resolutions  adopted  by  the  numerous  charitable 
and  religious  bodies  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
The  last  session  of  the  diocese  of  Chicago  was 
held  during  his  fatal  illness,  and  the  expression 
of  regret  at  his  absence  expressed  in  suitable 
resolutions  adopted  by  that  body  were  changed 
to  condolence,  on  account  of  his  death  before  the 
resolutions  could  be  forwarded.  A  part  of  these 
were  as  follows:  '  'The  legacy  he  has  left  you  and 
us  is  a  priceless  one.  It  is  the  legacy  of  a  stain- 
less name,  of  a  spotless  life,  of  a  deep  and  heartfelt 
devotion  to  the  church  of  his  love,  of  a  firm  faith 
in  the  Catholic  creed,  and  of  a  ready  and  self- 
sacrificing  will  wherever  the  interests  of  the 
church  demanded  his  service.  While  deeply 


466 


FREDERICK  KRUEGER. 


lamenting  his  loss,  the  members  of  the  committee 
feel  that  they  must  felicitate  the  members  of  his 
family  on  a  life  well  lived,  on  a  just  and  glorious 
triumph  well  deserved." 

The  trustees  of  the  Western  Theological  Semi- 
nary sent  the  following:  "The  board  of  trustees 
is  sadly  reminded  of  the  decease  of  our  beloved 
colleague,  Charles  R.  Larrabee,  by  his  absence 
from  our  meeting.  His  interest  in  the  seminary 
and  devotion  to  its  welfare  were  manifest  in  his 
gift  of  time  and  labor  in  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  his  most  important  office,  that  of  treas- 
urer, from  the  outset  of  its  career.  These  merits, 
as  a  member  of  our  board  and  as  an  officer  of  the 
institution,  were  built,  as  we  all  know,  upon  the 
most  exalted  Christian  character,  exhibited  in 
every  relation  of  life.  Quiet,  modest,  devout, 
steadfast  in  devotion  to  duty,  able  and  earnest, 
we  miss  the  presence  of  Charles  R.  Larrabee  and 
most  sincerely  mourn  his  loss. ' ' 

The  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Chicago  Nursery  and  Half  Orphan  Asylum  well 
sums  up  his  life.  '  'He  quietly  and  naturally  found 
his  place  with  all  influences  that  make  for  right- 
eousness. In  all  the  years  and  through  all  vicis- 
situdes of  fortune,  in  the  gentleness  of  refinement, 
in  the  blamelessness  of  integrity,  without  ostenta- 
tion, he  kept  himself  unspotted  from  the  world." 


In  the  close  relationship  of  parish  work,  he 
made  himself  best  known,  and  the  following 
tribute  from  his  associates  is  a  fitting  close  to  this 
article:  "Resolved,  By  the  rector,  wardens  and 
vestrymen  of  St.  James'  Church,  Chicago,  that 
there  be  placed  on  record  an  expression  of  our 
appreciation  of  the  long  and  faithful  services 
rendered  to  this  parish  by  Mr.  Larrabee.  For 
upwards  of  half  a  century  he  was  a  constant  wor- 
shipper in  St.  James'  Church,  and  for  a  great 
part  of  that  time  served  as  vestryman  and  church- 
warden. His  demeanor,  experience  and  wisdom 
made  him  an  efficient  servant  of  the  church, 
while  his  beautiful  character  and  consistent 
Christianity  endeared  him  to  the  hearts  of  all  our 
people.  In  him  the  several  rectors  of  St.  James' 
found  a  helper  ever  faithful,  loyal  and  devoted, 
and  his  fellow-vestrymen  a  friend,  one  with  them 
both  in  furthering  the  welfare  of  the  parish  he 
loved  so  unselfishly  and  also  in  gentle,  sympathic 
companionship.  And  now  that  he  has  entered 
into  his  rest,  we  thank  God  for  the  gift  of  such  a 
man  to  the  church,  and  to  his  family  and  house- 
hold, who  miss  and  long  for  his  loving,  helpful 
presence,  we  tender  our  earnest  sympathy.  'The 
righteous  live  forevermore;  their  reward  also  is 
with  the  Lord,  and  the  care  of  them  is  with  the 
Most  High."' 


FREDERICK   KRUEGER. 


|~~  REDERICK   KRUEGER,  the  senior  mem- 
j>)  ber  of  the  firm  of  Fred  Krueger  &  Son,  is 
I  ^    one  of  the  best  known  business  men  in  the 
northwestern  section  of  the  city,  where  he  carries 
on  an  extensive  trade  in  coal  and  wood,  hay, 
grain  and  feed,  at  No.  803  West  Chicago  Avenue. 
As  his  name  implies,  he  is  of  German  ancestry, 
and  he  himself  was  born  at  Brunen,  Mecklenberg- 
Strelitz,  Germany,   August  22,  1844.     His  par- 
ents, John  and  Caroline  Krueger,  determined,  in 


1868,  to  seek  a  new  home  across  the  water,  and 
with  their  five  children  set  out  on  the  long  and 
tiresome  journey  that  ended  at  Chicago.  Mr. 
Krueger  and  two  sisters  are  the  sole  survivors 
of  the  family.  The  latter  are:  Mary,  the  widow 
of  Fred  Krickow,  and  Fredericka,  the  wife  of 
Charles  Koch.  Both  reside  in  Chicago. 

Between  the  time  of  his  leaving  the  parish 
school  and  his  emigration  to  America,  Frederick 
Krueger  worked  as  a  laborer,  and  his  first  em- 


ANTON  'JACOBSEN. 


467 


ployment  after  reaching  this  city  was  as  a  porter 
in  an  ice  house.  He  next  went  to  work  in 
Walker,  Oakley  &  Company's  tannery.  He  re- 
mained with  that  firm  twenty-two  years,  and 
thoroughly  mastered  all  the  arts  and  mysteries  of 
the  tanner's  trade.  He  was  industrious,  econom- 
ical, sober  and  thrifty,  and  little  by  little  he  be- 
gan to  acquire  capital.  His  first  purchase  of 
real  estate  was  on  North  Lincoln  Street,  where 
he  lived  for  more  than  twenty  years.  He  resides 
at  present  with  his  son  and  partner. 

In  March,  1891,  he  started  in  business  on  his 
own  account  at  Nos.  801  and  803  West  Chicago 
Avenue,  in  partnership  with  his  son,  Herman 
Krueger,  the  firm  name  being  Fred  Krueger  & 
Son,  the  latter  owning  the  property.  This  ven- 
ture proved  successful  from  the  beginning,  Mr. 
Krueger  bringing  to  its  conduct  and  management 
that  keen,  sound,  business  sense,  that  unfailing 
energy  and  those  sterling  moral  qualities  which 
have  distinguished  him  through  life.  Not  a  little 


of  their  success  is  also  due  to  the  careful  business 
management  of  the  son .  The  latter  was  born  and 
reared  in  Chicago,  receiving  his  preliminary  busi- 
ness training  at  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  Col- 
lege. For  three  years  before  engaging  in  the  coal 
and  feed  trade  he  was  in  the  real  estate  business. 

In  state  and  national  affairs  Mr.  Krueger  is  af- 
filiated with  the  Republican  party,  although  on 
municipal  questions  he  is  able  to  rise  above  par- 
tisanship. 

August  22,  1869,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Caroline  Koch,  who  was  born  in  Teschendorf, 
Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  Germany.  They  have  two 
sons,  Ernst  and  Herman.  The  elder  is  a  man- 
ufacturer of  copper  and  brass  goods  in  Chicago, 
his  establishment  being  known  as  the  Empire 
Brass  Works.  Mrs.  Krueger  passed  away  Au- 
gust 8,  1897.  She  was  a  member  of  St.  John's 
Lutheran  Church,  having  united  with  that  body 
in  1897.  All  the  members  of  her  family  are  also 
connected  with  the  same  church. 


ANTON  JACOBSEN. 


GlNTON  JACOBSEN  was  born  March  18, 
LJ  1863,  at  Stubbkjobing,  Island  of  Falsted, 
/  I  Denmark.  His  father,  a  butcher,  was 
named  Jacob  Jorgensen;  his  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Sophia  Hansdatter.  The  latter  is  still 
living  at  her  old  home,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty  years,  but  the  father  died  when  fifty- 
seven  years  old.  Mr.  Jacobsen  is  the  fifth  of  the 
eight  children  born  to  his  parents,  and  of  this 
large  family  six  are  still  living. 

After  leaving  school  in  his  fifteenth  year,  young 
Anton  worked  on  a  farm  until  he  was  seventeen, 
and  in  1880  turned  his  face  toward  the  setting 
sun,  to  seek  a  new  home  and  better  fortune  in  a 
strange  land.  His  first  halting  place  in  this 
country  was  Racine,  Wisconsin,  and  there  and  in 


the  adjacent  country  the  first  nine  years  of  his 
life  in  America  were  spent.  In  1889  he  came  to 
Chicago,  and  was  married,  September  10,  of  that 
year,  in  this  city,  to  one  of  his  countrywomen, 
Miss  Annie  Nielsen,  who  had  come  to  the  United 
States  two  years  before. 

For  a  time  he  worked  at  cement  paving  and  in 
1892  Mr.  Jacobsen  was  able  to  set  himself  up  in 
the  milk  business.  His  first  location  was  at 
Wentworth  Avenue  and  Thirty-eighth  Street. 
From  there  he  removed  to  No.  3721  Dearborn 
Street.  In  1895  he  abandoned  the  sale  of  milk 
and  opened  a  saloon  at  the  corner  of  Armour 
Avenue  and  Thirty-eighth  Street.  He  remained 
there  but  a  few  months,  and  in  September  of  that 
year  purchased  his  present  establishment,  The 


468 


C.  G.  BENSON. 


Walhalla,  at  Wentworth  Avenue  and  Thirty- 
seventh  Street.  This  he  refitted  and  equipped  as 
a  first  class  resort. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jacobsen  have  three  children, 
May,  Jacob  and  Olivia.  He  is  a  prominent  and 
active  member  of  Walhalla,  the  members  of  the 
order  holding  him  in  high  esteem.  For  three 
years  he  was  its  president.  He  also  takes  deep 
interest  in  the  Danish  Brotherhood,  to  which  he 
belongs,  and  is  a  Forester  as  well,  being  a  mem- 


ber of  Court  General  Thomas,  Foresters  of  Amer- 
ica. He  is  also  active  in  the  Saloonkeeper's  As- 
sociation. 

While  employed  at  cement  work  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Cement  Paver's  Union,  hold- 
ing, at  different  times,  the  office  of  secretary, 
treasurer  and  president.  He  has  lost  none  of 
his  old  time  sympathy  with  the  working  men, 
whose  welfare  he  always  stands  ready  to  promote 
and  defend. 


CHARLES  G.  BENSON. 


gHARLES  GUSTAVE  BENSON  was  born 
at  Wermland,  Sweden,  June  10,  1853.  He 
comes  of  a  well-known  and  widely  respected 
family.  His  father,  Bengt  Bengtson,  was  a  grain 
dealer,  and  is  still  living,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one 
years.  His  mother,  Anna  Maria  Swanseu,  is 
also  alive,  having  celebrated  her  seventy-ninth 
birthday.  Their  seven  children  are  also  living, 
the  family  circle  having  never  been  broken  by 
the  angel  of  death.  A  brief  mention  of  their 
progeny  will  be  found  of  interest.  John  August 
spent  eighteen  years  in  America,  but  returned  to 
Sweden,  where  he  now  resides;  Mary  Sjoling, 
of  Stockholm;  Per  Adolph  lives  in  Adolphina, 
Sweden;  Andres  Theodor  is  also  in  his  native 
country,  as  is  Johnson;  Emil  is  a  carpenter  in 
Chicago. 

Charles  G.  Benson  was  the  second  child  in 
order  of  birth.  His  early  educational  advantages 
were  of  the  most  limited  sort,  he  having  left 
school  to  go  to  work  upon  a  farm  at  the  age  of 
ten  years.  When  he  was  twenty  he  went  to 
Stockholm,  where  for  nine  years  he  was  em- 
ployed in  a  fish  and  game  emporium.  He  came 
to  America  in  1882,  and,  following  the  example 
of  many  of  his  countrymen,  set  his  face  at  once 
toward  Chicago.  He  remained  in  that  city  only 


three  days.  Going  to  a  place  about  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  miles  distant,  he  hired  out  as  a  farm 
•  hand,  but  returned  to  the  city  after  six  weeks. 
In  the  following  March  he  resumed  farm  labor  at 
Belvidere,  Illinois.  The  employment  lasted  seven 
or  eight  months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he 
once  more  drifted  back  to  Chicago.  During  the 
next  year  he  worked  in  the  packing  house  of 
Libby,  McNiell  &  Libby. 

At  the  end  of  that  time,  hard  work  and 
economy  had  put  a  little  money  in  his  pocket, 
while  his  reputation  was  of  a  sort  to  command 
credit.  The  sum  which  he  could  command  was 
ridiculously  insignificant,  but  he  determined  on 
making  a  plunge.  He  opened  a  grocery  and 
market  at  No.  3200  Armour  Avenue,  on  his  own 
account.  Thanks  to  his  own  unwearied,  personal 
attention  and  to  that  fidelity  to  obligation  which 
has  ever  marked  his  business  career,  he  suc- 
ceeded, even  beyond  his  anticipations. 

At  the  end  of  seven  years  he  sold  out  his  busi- 
ness and  removed  to  Joliet,  where  within  one  year 
he  lost  the  accumulations  of  patient  toil,  through 
unfortunate  speculation.  Coming  back  to  Chi- 
cago, he  once  more  embarked  in  business,  this 
time  at  No.  915  Fifty-ninth  Street,  and  remained 
there  three  years.  From  that  location  he  moved 


A.  C.  SKAFGAARD. 


469 


to  the  corner  of  Fifty-ninth  and  South  Halsted 
Streets,  where  he  continued  until  he  opened  his 
present  place  of  business  (in  1897),  at  No.  5910 
South  Halsted  Street.  Little  by  little  he  gained 
his  first  start  in  a  commercial  life,  and  step  by 
step  he  has  recovered  from  the  disaster  which 
had  well  nigh  swept  away  his  all.  In  both  in- 
stances he  has  had  to  rely  upon  his  own  effort, 
integrity  and  pluck. 


He  was  married,  in  1888,  to  Anna  C.  Free- 
burg,  a  Swedish  maiden,  who  came  to  this  coun- 
try when  a  child  of  seven  years.  The  issue  of  the 
marriage  has  been  four  children,  none  of  whom 
are  living.  Mr.  Benson  comes  of  long  lived  an- 
cestry. Not  only  did  his  parents  attain  extraor- 
dinary age,  but  an  uncle,  at  Stockholm,  has 
passed  the  limit  of  a  century  and  is  still  active 
and  vigorous. 


ANTON  C.  SKAFGAARD. 


Gl  NTON  CHRISTENSEN  SKAFGAARD,  a 
I  I  conspicuous  member  of  the  Danish-Ameri- 
|  |  can  colony  of  Chicago,  is  a  patriotic  citizen 
of  his  adopted  country,  though  he  retains  the 
natural  love  of  all  intelligent  people  for  the  place 
ot  nativity.  Like  most  of  his  compatriots,  he  has 
worked  his  way  to  success  by  patient  labor,  thrift 
and  integrity. 

Born  January  10,  1862,  atVejrumprHolstebro, 
in  the  Province  of  Jutland,  Denmark,  he  is  the 
third  in  a  family  of  nine  children  born  to  his 
parents — N.  C.  Christensen  and  Anna  Nielsen, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  the  same  province. 
His  grandfather,  Charles  Skafgaard,  was  a  veter- 
inary surgeon.  N.  C.  Christensen  was  a  farmer 
and  blacksmith  during  his  active  life,  and  is  still 
living  in  his  native  place,  having  completed  his 
seventy-first  year  in  September,  1899.  On  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  previous  March  he  was 
called  upon  to  mourn  the  death  of  his  faithful 
life  companion  and  helpmate.  She  was  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  three  of  whom  died  in 
infancy.  Another  passed  away  at  the  age  of 
seven  years.  The  eldest  son,  Niels  C.  Skafgaard, 
was  drowned  in  Denmark  in  1887.  Anton  is 
next  in  order  of  birth.  A  daughter,  Karen,  is 
the  wife  of  Jens  Thomasen,  residing  in  Denmark. 


Christ  C.  is  a  blacksmith,  residing  at  Dwight, 
Illinois;  and  Carl  M.  C.,  the  youngest,  resides 
with  Anton. 

The  last-named  was  reared  in  his  native  place, 
where  he  continued  until  he  reached  his  majority. 
From  seven  to  fourteen  years  of  age  he  attended 
the  public  schools,  according  to  the  custom  of 
his  country,  and  then  entered  upon  a  four-years' 
apprenticeship  to  the  trade  of  blacksmith.  He 
had  worked  as  a  journeyman  only  six  months 
when  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Danish  artil- 
lery service,  in  which  he  continued  some  sixteen 
months.  He  was  then  forced  to  leave  the  army 
on  account  of  feeble  health,  and  remained  at 
home  one  year,  being  nursed  to  recovery  from 
threatened  consumption  by  the  domestic  remedies 
prescribed  by  an  old  lady  of  the  neighborhood. 

In  the  spring  of  1884  he  came  to  America  and 
proceeded  direct  to  Morris,  Illinois,  where  he 
found  his  first  employment  in  digging  tile  ditches 
on  a  farm.  He  continued  in  this  line  of  employ- 
ment two  years  or  more,  and  subsequently  spent 
one  year  as  a  bricklayer.  While  residing  at 
Morris,  September  12,  1886,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Annetta  M.  Hansen,  who  is,  like  himself,  a 
native  of  Denmark,  born  April  8,  1864,  in  Sjal- 
land. 


470 


H.  C.  JORGENSEN. 


In  June,  1887,  he  became  a  resident  of  Chi- 
cago, which  city  has  afforded  him  a  home  ever 
since.  After  being  idle  about  six  months  he  se- 
cured employment  in  the  capacity  of  bartender 
for  J.  C.  Hansen,  and  continued  with  the  latter's 
successor  a  period  of  one  and  one-half  years 
altogether.  Near  the  close  of  the  year  1889  he 
began  business  for  himself  at  No.  508  Thirty- 
seventh  Street,  and  continued  it  there  until  Octo- 
ber 4,  1892,  when  he  sold  out  and  was  engaged 
nearly  two  years  as  a  contractor  on  cement  work 
for  sidewalks  and  similar  uses.  August  8,  1894, 
he  repurchased  his  former  business  at  No.  508 
Thirty-seventh  Street,  and  continued  it  there 
until  May  i,  1897,  when  he  removed  to  his  pres- 
ent location,  corner  of  Armour  Avenue  and 
Thirty-seventh  Street. 

Mr.  Skafgaard  stands  high  among  his  neigh- 


bors, both  socially  and  commercially.  His  com- 
panionable nature  has  made  him  successful  in 
business  and  has  led  him  to  associate  himself 
with  many  social  and  fraternal  organizations. 
He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Walhalla  Soci- 
ety and  is  a  director  and  secretary  of  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  Walhalla  Hall  Association. 
Since  January,  1890,  he  has  been  actively  iden- 
tified with  Lodge  No.  35  of  the  Danish  Brother- 
hood, which  was  started  in  1889.  Beside  being 
a  member  of  Heimdahl  Singing  Society  and  Sec- 
tion No.  i  of  the  Socialistic-Labor  party,  he  is 
active  in  the  Liquor  Dealers'  Protective  Associa- 
tion. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Skafgaard  are  the  parents  of  five 
children,  all  of  whom  were  born  in  Chicago, 
named  in  order  of  birth:  Charles  C.  C.,  Andrew 
C.,  John  C.,  Elna  C.  and  Arthur  C. 


HANS  C.  JORGENSEN. 


HANS  CHRIST  JORGENSEN  was  born 
September  14,  1841,  in  Schleswig-Holstein. 
He  calls  himself — and  legitimately — of  Dan- 
ish birth,  the  Duchy  where  he  was  born  being 
then  a  portion  of  the  kingdom  of  Denmark.  He 
is  the  son  of  Peter  Jorgensen,  a  Jutlander,  and 
Marie  Jessen,  who  was  born  in  North  Schleswig. 
His  father  was  a  farmer.  Both  his  parents  are 
dead,  his  father  passing  away  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-five, and  his  mother  at  seventy-four  years. 
He  is  one  of  a  family  of  four  children,  three  of 
whom  are  yet  living  (1899). 

His  boyhood  was  spent  much  after  the  fashion 
of  other  Danish  youths  of  his  station,  partly  at 
school  and  partly  on  a  farm.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-two  years  he  enlisted  in  the  Danish  army, 
serving  six  months  in  the  war  between  Denmark 
and  Germany  (1864),  which  resulted  in  the  ces- 
sion of  Schleswig-Holstein  to  the  country  last 
named. 


In  1867  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  after  a 
brief  period  spent  in  Wisconsin,  made  his  home 
in  Chicago.  Here  he  learned  the  trade  of  brick 
laying,  through  practical  experience,  and  has 
ever  since  followed  that  pursuit.  He  is  not  un- 
naturally proud  of  the  fact  that  his  was  the  first 
marriage  solemnized  after  the  great  fire  of  1871. 
"His  bride  was  Miss  Charlotte  M.  J.  Jensen,  one 
of  his  own  countrywomen. 

Seven  children  have  been  the  fruit  of  this  mar- 
riage, six  of  whom  are  yet  living:  Peter,  Anton 
(who  died  in  infancy),  Tillie,  Andrew,  Mary, 
Henry  and  Charlie.  All  of  the  living  children 
reside  at  home,  and  five  were  born  at  the  present 
residence  of  the  family,  No.  4002  Dearborn 
Street.  Peter  is  married,  and  occupies  separate 
apartments  in  the  same  building  with  his  parents. 

Through  industry,  sobriety  and  prudence  Mr. 
Jorgensen  has  attained  a  competence.  Beside  the 
two-story  frame  building  in  which  he  lives  (with 


J.  J.  McGRATH. 


tenements  in  the  rear)  he  has  a  lot  in  Hyde  Park, 
all  of  which  he  owes  to  his  own  effort  and  pluck. 
He  regards  himself  as  being  an  old  settler;  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  he  has  made  his  home  on  the 
same  corner  where  he  yet  lives. 


Mr.  Jorgensen  and  two  of  his  sons  are  members 
of  the  Danish  Society  Walhalla.  He  was  one  of 
the  directors  of  the  organization  at  the  time  of  the 
building  of  Walhalla  Hall,  and  is  a  stockholder 
in  that  enterprise. 


JAMES  J.  McGRATH. 


(T  AMES  JOSEPH  McGRATH,  for  many  years 

I  alderman  of  the  Fourteenth  Ward,  former 
G)  member  of  the  state  assembly  and  senate, 
and  at  one  time  acting  mayor  of  Chicago,  was  a 
native  of  County  Wexford,  Ireland.  He  was  the 
eldest  of  the  seven  sons  and  three  daughters  of 
John  and  Bridget  (McNamara)  McGrath. 

John,  son  of  Thomas  McGrath,  was  the  owner 
of  what  is  considered  in  Ireland  a  large  farm  at 
Coole,  and  was  a  man  of  influence  in  his  neigh- 
borhood. Bridget,  the  daughter  of  Michael  Mc- 
Namara, a  farmer,  was  born  at  Coole.  Another 
daughter  of  Mr.  McNamara  was  the  wife  of  the 
mayor  of  Waterford,  who  sent  relief  to  the  suf- 
ferers from  the  great  fire  of  1871  in  Chicago. 
Michael  McGrath,  a  brother  of  the  subject  of  this 
notice,  a  prominent  land-leaguer,  former  com- 
missioner and  present  collector  of  his  native  coun- 
ty, now  occupies  the  old  residence  of  the  Mc- 
Namara family,  which  was  built  more  than  five 
centuries  ago. 

When  fourteen  years  of  age,  James  J.  McGrath 
came  to  America  and  lived  with  his  uncle  on  a 
farm  at  Roundstown,  New  York,  where  he  re- 
mained four  years,  working  on  a  farm  in  summer 
and  attending  school  in  winter.  After  leaving 
that  place,  young  McGrath  went  to  Pekin,  Illi- 
nois, where  he  learned  the  cooper's  trade. 

Settling  in  Chicago  in  1860,  he  soon  became 
manager  for  a  large  firm  of  coopers  at  its  factory 
on  Rawson  Street,  which  he  later  purchased  and 
thus  became  one  of  the  largest  operators  in  his 


line  in  the  city.  Mr.  McGrath  associated  with 
himself  his  brother,  John,  who  was  made  man- 
ager, and  the  firm  continued  in  business  until 
l&73>  when  it  was  terminated  on  account  of  the 
financial  disasters  that  visited  the  country  in  that 
year. 

Naturally  gifted  as  a  manager,  Mr.  McGrath 
early  became  connected  with  the  politics  of  Chi- 
cago, in  which  he  took  an  active  part  for  many 
years.  In  1869  he  was  elected  alderman  from 
the  Fourteenth  Ward,  a  position  which  he  filled 
until  1875,  taking  an  active  part  in  the  measures 
of  that  period,  which  had  a  strong  bearing  on  the 
prosperity  of  the  city.  During  the  absence  of 
Mayor  Joseph  Medill  in  Europe,  Mr.  McGrath 
was  presiding,  officer  of  the  council  and  acting 
mayor. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  council  he  was 
connected  with  the  county  clerk's  office  eight 
years,  and  was  for  the  same  period  redemption 
clerk  in  the  recorder's  office.  He  was  elected  to 
the  twenty-seventh  general  assembly  of  Illinois 
and,  following  that,  represented  his  district  in  the 
state  senate  one  term. 

James  J.  McGrath  was  three  times  married. 
His  first  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  Chi- 
cago, was  a  Mary  Gibbons,  a  native  of  Ballina, 
County  Mayo,  Ireland.  The  children  of  this 
marriage  are:  Nellie,  now  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Halliman,  of  Chicago;  John  T.,  president  of  the 
board  of  promotions  in  the  Chicago  postoffice; 
Kittie,  Mrs.  Joseph  Haynes;  Nannie  and  Thomas, 


472 


PETER  ANDRESEN. 


the  latter  a  resident  of  Joliet,  Illinois.  Mrs. 
McGrath  died  on  Thanksgiving  eve,  of  the  year 
1880. 

In  1 88 1  Mr.  McGrath  took  for  his  wife  Mrs. 
Balinda  (Fay)  Kerwin,  daughter  of  John  and 
Ann  Fay,  and  widow  of  Edward  Kerwin.  She 
became  the  mother  of  four  children,  Irene, 
Vernie.  James  J.  and  Madeline,  and  died  in  Oc- 
tober, 1889.  On  the  twenty-first  day  of  October, 
1891,  Mr.  McGrath  was  wedded  to  Miss  Mary 
Lonergan,  a  native  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  and 
daughter  of  Jackson  K.  and  Eliza  (Herbert) 
I,onergan.  J.  K.  L,onergan,  also  a  native  of 
Buffalo,  was  an  expert  bookkeeper  and  did  a 
great  deal  of  special  work  in  Chicago.  He  was 
killed  by  a  train  on  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railroad  in  1897.  Mrs.  McGrath  was  educated 
at  the  Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart  in  Chicago. 
She  is  a  lady  of  fine  appearance,  an  entertaining 
conversationalist,  and  possesses  many  friends. 
There  are  no  children  of  this  marriage. 

Mr.  McGrath  visited  Ireland  in  1866,  and  sub- 
sequently visited  Ireland  and  the  Continent, 
making  the  tour  of  several  of  the  principal 
European  countries.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
Mr.  McGrath  was  sixty-two  years  old,  and  was 


the  owner  of  a  large  amount  of  property  on  the 
Northwest  Side  of  the  city.  Twenty-nine  years 
ago  he  built  the  home  which  he  occupied  at  the 
time  of  his  demise.  This  overlooks  Wicker 
Park,  one  of  the  prettiest  breathing-spots  of  the 
city,  the  corporate  title  to  which  he  caused  to  be 
perfected  while  he  was  an  alderman. 

For  a  period  of  forty-five  years  James  J.  Mc- 
Grath was  a  resident  of  Chicago.  In  that  time 
he  made  a  host  of  friends,  and  was  never  hap- 
pier than  when  bestowing  favors  upon  them. 
He  possessed  a  natural  talent  for  politics,  which 
made  him  successful  in  public  affairs,  and  the 
Republican  party  had  no  more  staunch  supporter 
than  he.  In  religious  faith  a  Roman  Catholic, 
he  was  so  liberal  that  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  In  his  domestic  relations  he 
was  a  kind  husband  and  an  indulgent  father, 
whose  memory  will  long  be  cherished.  With  all 
the  calls  upon  his  time,  he  still  found  opportunity 
to  indulge  his  love  of  study,  and  often  read  until 
two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  is  an 
appropriate  summary  of  his  life  to  say  that  he 
was  an  energetic  and  successful  business  man 
and  politician,  a  student,  a  steadfast  friend,  a 
whole-souled,  genial  Irish  gentleman. 


PETER  ANDRESEN. 


QETER  ANDRESEN.   This  old  resident  of 

yr  Chicago,  now  in  his  sixty-third  year,  was 
[3  born  at  Hoir,  Schleswig,  Denmark,  Decem- 
ber 23,  1837.  His  father,  Karsten  Andresen, 
was  by  occupation  a  laborer,  and  died  in  1844, 
while  yet  a  young  man  of  thirty-five  years.  His 
father,  the  grandfather  of  Peter  Andresen,  was 
also  named  Peter,  an'd  lost  his  life  in  the  war  of 
1813.  Karsten  Andresen 's  wife  was  Margareta 
Ribe.  She  too  has  passed  away,  dying  in  her 


native  country  at  the  extreme  old  age  of  eighty- 
seven  years.  Karsten  Andresen  was  the  parent 
of  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  but  of  this  family 
of  six,  only  Peter  and  one  daughter  are  yet  liv- 
ing. The  latter  is  now  Mrs.  Christina  Wind, 
and  still  resides  in  the  land  of  her  birth. 

Peter  Andreseu  is  the  third  child  in  order  of 
birth.  His  school  days  ended  when  he  was 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  he  was  apprenticed  to 
learn  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith.  He  served  a 


A.  J.  LARSEN. 


473 


term  of  four  years,  and,  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
began  working  as  a  farm  hand,  being  employed 
on  a  large  farm  near  Tonderm  for  six  years.  He 
first  came  to  America  in  1872,  going  to  North 
Manistee,  Michigan,  where  he  remained  four 
years,  and  then  returned  to  his  native  country, 
becoming  foreman  on  the  same  farm  which  he 
had  left  before  emigrating. 

After  four  years  he  again  returned  to  the 
United  States,  to  seek  a  home  and  fortune.  For 
about  four  months  he  worked  in  a  mine  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  then  came  West,  locating  in  Chi- 
cago. His  first  employment  here  was  in  a  stone 
quarry  in  the  West  Division,  and  his  next  in  the 
stockyards.  The  latter  employment  continued 
only  two  years,  when  he  began  to  carry  a  hod, 
which  occupation  he  followed  for  some  time.  For 
two  years  he  worked  for  a  cornice-maker.  He 
bought  a  team,  and  for  a  year  drove  a  bakery 
route,  besides  doing  work  in  connection  with  the 
building  of  sidewalks  and  other  public  works. 
For  about  a  year  he  was  in  the  employment  of 
Mr.  Wells,  on  Michigan  Avenue,  and  in  1897 
he  accepted  the  position  of  janitor  of  the  premises 
at  No.  3249  State  Street,  containing  five  stores 
and  twenty-one  flats.  April  i,  1900,  he  took 
charge  of  Walhalla  Hall  building. 

In  1862,  while  yet  living  in  Denmark,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Dorothea  Mathieson.  Mrs. 


Andreson  is  yet  living  in  Denmark,  as  she  did 
not  accompany  her  husband  to  this  country.  She 
resides  in  the  village  of  Abel,  in  a  home  owned 
by  him.  Two  sons  and  three  daughters  have 
been  born  to  them.  The  sons,  Andreas  P.  and 
Karsten,  live  in  Chicago,  and  have  been  in  the 
employ  of  Marshall  Field  &  Company  for  the 
past  twelve  years.  The  daughters  were  named: 
Caroline,  who  died  in  1889;  Anna  and  Margareta. 
The  two  living  are  residents  of  Denmark. 

Mr.  Andresen  is  vice  president  of  the  Walhalla 
Society,  and  a  stockholder  and  director  in  the 
Walhalla  Hall  Society.  He  is  a  charter  member 
of  the  society,  and  is  an  active  worker  in  both 
organizations.  It  is  unnecessary  to  emphasize 
the  fact  that  the  Walhalla  is  one  of  the  best  and 
strongest  Danish  societies  in  Chicago.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  1883,  and  has  a  present  membership 
of  four  hundred  and  fifty.  In  1898  it  paid  out, 
in  benefits,  the  large  sum  of  twenty  thousand, 
six  hundred  and  eighty-eight  dollars  and  sixty 
cents. 

Mr.  Andresen  is  widely  and  favorably  known 
among  the  Danish-Americans  of  the  city  which 
has  been  his  home  twenty  years.  He  is  unas- 
suming and  affable,  of  generous  impulses  and 
kindly  disposition,  genial,  whole-souled  and  up- 
right, readily  making  friends,  whom  he  retains 
through  the  force  and  worth  of  his  own  character. 


ANDERS  J.  LARSEN. 


Gl NDERS  J.  LARSEN  is  a  native  of  the  City 
LJ  of  Hjorreng,  Jutland,  Denmark,  where  he 
I  I  was  born  August  4,  1861.  Mr.  Larsen  be- 
came a  resident  of  Chicago  in  1889.  In  this 
city  he  has  built  up  a  prosperous  business  as  a 
baker.  His  father,  Lars  Jensen,  was  a  milk 


dealer,  and  still  follows  the  same  avocation  in 
the  old  country,  having  attested  his  loyalty  to  his 
native  land  by  serving  as  a  soldier  through  the 
war  with  Germany  in  1864.  His  mother — whose 
baptismal  name  was  Karren  Jensen — is  also  yet 
living. 


474 


RASMUS  SORENSEN. 


Anders  J.  Larsen  is  one  of  a  family  of  ten 
children,  of  whom  eight  survive.  In  order  of 
birth ,  he  is  at  once  the  second  child  and  the  sec- 
ond son.  Of  the  eight  living  children  born  to 
his  parents  four  have  found  homes  in  America — 
Anders  J.;  Emil,  who  conducts  a  bakery  at  the 
corner  of  Lake  Street  and  Forty-eighth  Avenue, 
Chicago;  Otto,  employed  by  his  brother,  Emil; 
and  Eunice,  the  wife  of  Charles  Johnson,  a 
painter,  of  Harlem,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Larsen  learned  his  trade  in  his  native 
country,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  four  years, 
after  leaving  school.  No  sooner  had  he  qualified 
himself  as  a  journeyman,  however,  than  he  made 
up  his  mind  to  look  for  a  wider  field  and  better 
wages  than  were  afforded  by  the  little  kingdom 
of  Denmark,  dearly  as  he  loved  the  country  in 
which  he  had  been  born  and  bred,  and  tender  as 
were  the  associations  clustering  around  his  home. 

His  first  home  in  what  was  to  him  then  a 
strange  land,  was  at  Racine,  Wisconsin,  where 
he  worked  as  a  journeyman  seven  years,  and  for 
three  years  conducted  business  for  himself.  In 


1889  (as  has  been  already  said),  he  removed  to 
Chicago,  where  he  felt  confident  that  energy  and 
industry  would  find  a  broader  field  and  reap  a 
richer  reward.  He  chose  for  a  location  the 
premises,  No.  502  Thirty-seventh  Street,  and 
there  he  has  remained  until  the  present  day.  He 
early  learned  that  serving  ' '  good  goods  at  honest 
prices"  was  the  only  road  to  success,  and  this 
maxim  has  been  his  watchword;  it  is  to  the  strict 
observance  of  this  rule  that  his  success  is  attrib- 
utable. 

While  he  was  living  at  Racine  he  was  married 
(1887)  to  Miss  Dorothea  Petersen,  a  lady  who 
was  born  in  Denmark  but  brought  to  this  country 
by  her  parents  when  a  child  of  only  two  months. 
Four  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Larsen — Richard,  Ernest,  Esther  and  Eva.  The 
two  older  were  born  at  Racine;  the  younger 
claim  Chicago  as  their  birthplace. 

Mr.  Larsen  stands  high  in  the  counsels  of  the 
Walhalla  Society,  in  which  organization  he  has 
held  several  offices,  and  is  a  valued  member  of 
the  singing  society  known  as  the  ' '  Hamdahl. ' ' 


RASMUS  SORENSEN. 


RASMUS  SORENSEN  was  born  in   Odder, 
Jutland,  Denmark,  January  23,  1848.     His 
father,  Soren  Ottosen.was  a  farmer,  and  died 
at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.     His  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Maren  Nielsen,  and  she  is  yet 
living.     To  this  couple  were  born  four  sons  and 
three  daughters,  and  the  family  circle  remains, 
as  yet,  unbroken,  save  by  the  father's  death. 

Rasmus  was  the  third  son,  and  next  to  the 
youngest  child.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he 
left  school,  to  commence  work  as  a  boy  in  the 
office  of  the  Danish  Collector  of  revenue  and 
taxes,  remaining  in  the  employ  of  that  official 
from  1864  to  1868,  in  which  year  he  was  given 


a  clerkship  in  the  office  of  the  General  Director 
of  the  Government  Railway.  Here  he  was 
attached  to  the  corresponding  bureau.  In  1871 
he  was  made  telegraph  operator  and  ticket  agent, 
and  in  1876,  promoted  to  the  superintendency. 
In  1883  he  resigned  his  office  to  come  to  America. 
He  first  visited  Chicago,  and  from  there  went 
to  Racine,  Wisconsin,  where  he  secured  a  po- 
sition as  shipping  clerk  for  the  Racine  Hard- 
ware Company,  being  assigned  to  duty  in  the 
opera  seats  department.  He  remained  with  this 
concern  until  January  10,  1893. 

While  yet  a  student  in  his  native  land,  Mr. 
Sorensen    attracted    attention    by   the   superior 


W.   M.  MILLER. 


475 


character  of  his  handwriting.  On  one  occasion 
he  was  sent  for  to  write  out  some  railroad  con- 
tracts for  the  King,  who  complimented  his  work 
and  sent  him  a  sum  of  money  out  of  his  private 
purse,  in  addition  to  his  regular  compensation. 
This  work  led  to  his  connection  with  the  Govern- 
ment Railway,  as  before  related. 

Mr.  Sorensen  is  possessed  of  a  rare  musical 
talent  and  a  fine  musical  education,  and  while 
living  at  Racine  he  was  an  active  member  of  a 
Danish  singing  society,  out  of  which  grew  the 
Hamlet  Singing  Society,  which  was  formed  Octo- 
ber i,  1889.  Mr.  Sorensen  was  one  of  the  main 
promoters  and  organizers.  One  of  the  most 
pleasant  memories  of  his  sojourn  in  the  pretty 
little  Wisconsin  city  is  taking  part  in  a  three- 
nights'  musical  festival  in  July,  1887,  at  Battery 
D,  in  Chicago,  in  which  a  chorus  of  sixteen  hun- 
dred voices  was  heard.  Many  oratorios  were 
rendered,  at  various  times,  and  with  such  success 
that  they  were  frequently  repeated,  by  request, 
as  often  as  three  times.  In  1890  the  society  gave 
concerts  in  Minneapolis  on  three  successive  nights, 
the  chorus  again  numbering  sixteen  hundred.  In 


1893  it  sang  at  Festival  Hall  at  the  World's  Fair, 
with  decided  success.  Mr.  Sorensen  was  also  an 
active  member  of  the  Society  Dania  and  still  re- 
tains his  membership  in  the  organization. 

In  1893  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  was 
prominent  in  the  founding  of  the  Hejmdal  Socie- 
ty of  that  city,  and  was  for  several  years  its  treas- 
urer. His  first  employment  here  was  as  driver 
of  a  bakery  wagon.  Later  he  became  the  mana- 
ger of  the  Danish  paper,  "Chicago  Posten," 
discharging  the  duties  of  the  position  with  great 
success.  July  i,  1894,  he  opened  a  store  for  the 
sale  of  confectionery,  cigars,  tobacco,  fancy  goods 
and  toys,  at  No.  4648  Wentworth  Avenue,  which 
he  still  conducts.  In  1898  he  was  made  cashier 
of  the  Danish  People's  Association  "Fremad," 
and  still  holds  that  post. 

Mr.  Sorensen  is  essentially  a  self-made  man. 
He  has  never  owned  a  dollar  which  he  has  not 
earned  through  the  labor  of  either  his  brain  or 
his  hands.  He  is  intelligent,  forceful  and  genial, 
and  these  qualities,  together  with  his  sterling 
honesty,  have  won  him  the  unstinted  esteem  of 
his  many  friends. 


WILLIAM  M.  MILLER. 


MOORE  MILLER  was  born  in 
Coleraine,  County  Londonderry,  Ireland, 
April  12,  1832,  and  is  a  son  of  David  and 
Ann  (Forbis)  Miller.  After  the  death  of  the  fa- 
ther, in  1804,  the  mother,  with  eleven  children, 
came  to  the  United  States,  crossing  the  ocean 
from  Londonderry,  on  the  old  sailing  bark  "Lon- 
donderry." The  voyage  consumed  six  weeks' 
time.  The  family  resided  two  years  at  Oswego, 
New  York,  and  following  that  two  years  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  then  came  to  Chicago.  The 
mother  died  here  in  1 860.  Of  the  eleven  chil- 


dren, nine  sons  and  two  daughters,  only  five  are 
now  living,  namely:  James,  William  M.,  Thomas 
E.,  Brice  A.  and  Nancy,  widow  of  William  Liton. 
All  reside  in  Chicago.  Andrew,  the  eldest  of  the 
family,  was  a  partner  of  Edward  M.  Doolittle, 
ship  builder.  They  built  the  first  floating  docks 
in  the  city.  After  Mr.  Doolittle's  retirement,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  being  a  stockholder,  the 
business  was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  Mil- 
ler Brothers,  which  it  still  remains. 

William  M.  Miller  received  his  primary  educa- 
tion in  Ireland,  and  after  his  arrival  in  the  United 


F.  W.  VASSMER. 


States  he  attended  school  in  Oswego  and  Cleve- 
land. After  leaving  school  he  learned  the  trade 
of  ship  carpenter,  at  which  he  worked  until  1893, 
when  he  retired  from  active  life.  Previous  to  the 
Civil  War  he  went  South  and  lived  at  Mobile, 
spending  fifteen  years  in  the  South.  During  the 
Civil  War  he  was  captain  of  the  fire  company  in 
Mobile,  which  rendered  him  exempt  from  mili- 
tary service.  He  returned  to  Chicago  in  1866, 
and  was  foreman  of  the  ship  yard  and  dry  docks 
of  Miller  Brothers  twenty-six  years.  He  has 
voted  with  the  Republican  party  since  it  was 
organized. 

Subsequent  to  his  return  from  the  South  in 
1866  he  bought  property  on  the  West  Side,  at 
No.  270  West  Huron  Street  and  built  the  first 
house  in  the  block  at  a  time  when  it  was  sur- 
rounded by  prairie. 

He  is  a  charter  member  of  Covenant  Lodge, 
No.  526,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,,  of 
Corinthian  Chapter,  No.  69, Royal  Arch  Masons, 
and  St.  Bernard  Commandery,  No,  35,  Knights 
Templar,  in  all  of  which  he  is  a  life  member.  For 


many   years  he  was  a  member  of  Union  Lodge, 
No.  9,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

In  1853  he  married  Miss  Avis  E.  Enholm,  a 
native  of  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  and  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  Samuel  Enholm,  a  native  of 
the  same  city.  They  are  the  parents  of  eight 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living,  as  follows: 
Ann,  wife  of  Alexander  S.  Gairns;  Louise  B., 
now  Mrs.  T.  W.  Watson;  Fanny  S.;  Avis;  Will 
iam  G. ,  of  Trenton,  Missouri;  and  May. 

This  family  holds  membership  in  Bethany 
Congregational  Church.  Mrs.  Miller  died  Jan- 
uary 6,  1887,  and  her  remains  rest  in  the  cemetery 
of  Rosehill.  She  was  a  lady  possessed  of  many 
virtues,  a  true,  clean  spirit,  and  mourned  by  a 
large  circle  of  friends,  as  well  as  relatives. 

The  lessons  on  fraternity,  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  which  Mr. 
Miller  has  learned  in  the  religious  and  fraternal 
organizations  of  which  he  is  a  member,  have 
borne  fruit,  as  is  evident  from  his  practical  works. 
The  record  of  his  life  shows  that  industry  and 
economy  are  not  without  their  reward. 


FREDERICK  W.  VASSMER. 


|~~REDERICK  WILLIAM  VASSMER  was 
r£)  born  April  23,  1868,  at  Gehlau,  Apenrade, 
|  in  Schleswig-Holstein,  now  a  part  of  Ger- 
many, but  formerly  belonging  to  Denmark.  His 
father  (also  named  Frederick  William)  was  a  car- 
penter and  contractor,  and  a  native  of  the  same 
province.  The  elder  Vassmer,  however,  was 
born  while  Schleswig-Holstein  was  still  a  Danish 
possession,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Danish  army 
in  the  war  of  1864.  He  died  in  Gehlau  in  1889, 
aged  fifty-nine  years.  Mr.  Vassmer' s  mother  was 
eight  years  her  husband's  junior.  She  also  was 
born  in  the  same  place,  but  died  (likewise  at  the 
age  of  fifty -nine)  at  Chicago,  in  1897.  To  this 


couple  were  born  nine  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  yet  living.  F.  William  Vassmer  was  the 
sixth  in  order  of  birth. 

The  first  twenty  years  of  his  life  were  passed 
in  and  around  his  birthplace,  in  attending  school 
and  working  in  various  ways,  and  in  1888  he 
came  to  Chicago.  His  first  employment  here  was 
on  a  farm  in  Michigan,  for  which  his  experience 
at  home  had  in  a  measure  fitted  him.  After 
eight  months  of  this  life  he  returned  to  this  city, 
to  enter  the  service  of  the  Domestic  Sewing  Ma- 
chine Company,  becoming  in  time  a  salesman. 
Leaving  that  concern  he  became  an  employe  of 
Siegel,  Cooper  &  Company,  with  which  firm  he 


JOHN  CHRISTENSEN. 


477 


remained  three  years,  going  from  there  to  A.  M. 
Rothschild  &  Company,  where  he  remained  the 
same  length  of  time.  His  next  venture  was 
to  purchase  the  business  of  J.  C.  Hansen,  dealer 
in  wines  and  liquors,  at  No.  3700  State  Street, 
which  he  has  since  conducted. 

June  21,  1895,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Marie 
De  Lory,  a  native  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  like 
himself,  who  accompanied  her  parents  to  this 


country  when  but  two  years  old.  They  have  two 
children,  a  boy  named  for  his  father,  and  a  girl, 
Olivia. 

Mr.  Vassmer  has  been  for  five  years  secretary 
of  a  Danish  benevolent  society  known  as  Wal- 
halla,  and  is  treasurer  of  the  Walhalla  Hall  As- 
sociation. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Danish 
Brotherhood.  In  politics  he  is  independent  of 
partisan  affiliation. 


JOHN  CHRISTENSEN. 


(IOHN  CHRISTENSEN.  This  well-known 
I  Danish  gentleman,  whom  his  countrymen 
(2)  esteem  and  delight  to  honor,  was  born  May 
16,  1860,  in  Schleswig-Holstein,  while  that 
province  was  still  an  integral  part  of  the  kingdom 
of  Denmark.  His  father,  now  dead,  was  a  man 
of  note  in  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  His 
name  was  Johann  Christeusen,  and  he  was  a  na- 
tive of  Jutland.  He  was  a  maker  of  willow 
ware,  but  also  conducted  a  store  for  the  sale 
of  general  merchandise.  He  was,  moreover,  an 
old  soldier,  having  served  in  the  war  of  1849-51, 
and  in  the  struggle  between  Denmark  and  Ger- 
many. Mr.  Christensen's  mother,  whose  name 
was  Bodil  Skow,  is  still  living  in  Denmark,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  Of  the  three  sons 
and  one  daughter  born  to  this  couple  all  are  liv- 
ing, but  only  the  daughter,  Bothildo,  remains 
with  her  mother  in  the  land  which  gave  them  all 
birth.  The  boys  sought  their  fortunes  in  the  new 
world.  Perhaps,  after  all,  there  may  be  some 
truth  in  the  old  Scotch  couplet  "A  son's  a  son 
till  he  gets  a  wife,  but  a  daughter's  a  daughter 
a'  the  days  o'  her  life." 

Both  of  Mr.  Christensen's  brothers  live  in  Chi- 
cago. He  himself,  at  the  age  of  seven,  went  to 
live  with  an  uncle,  with  whom  he  remained  until 
he  was  twenty  years  old,  attending  school  until 


he  was  fifteen,  his  educational  development  al- 
ternating with  work  on  the  farm.  For  five  years 
after  quitting  school  he  continued  at  farm  work, 
and  then  determined  to  emigrate.  Others  of  his 
countrymen  had  succeeded  in  America,  why 
should  not  he  ? 

It  was  in  1881  that  he  reached  Chicago.  His 
first  employment  was  about  buildings  in  the 
course  of  erection.  Two  summers  he  labored  as 
a  farm  hand  in  Minnesota,  and,  returning  to  Chi- 
cago, turned  his  hand  to  the  first  honest  toil  that 
presented  itself.  At  the  age  of  twenty -four  years 
he  began  brick-laying,  and  his  natural  aptitude 
aided  him.  He  worked  as  a  journeyman  and 
foreman  until  1893,  when  he  began  taking  con- 
tracts in  his  own  name.  This  line  of  business  he 
has  since  continuously  followed,  his  integrity, 
skill  and  executive  capacity  having  insured  him 
success.  Among  other  buildings  which  he  has 
erected  may  be  mentioned  his  own  one  and  one- 
half  story  and  basement  residence,  with  pressed 
brick  front,  at  No.  845  East  Sixty-ninth  Street. 

In  1890  he  married  Jensinia  M.  Jensen,  by 
whom  he  is  the  father  of  three  daughters,  Laura 
B.,  Clara  M.  and  Alice  C.  Mrs.  Christensen 
was  born  in  Jutland,  but  came  to  America  in 
1887,  going  first  to  Detroit  and  settling  at  Chi- 
cago in  1889. 


478 


J.  C.  HANSEN. 


Mr.  Christensen  takes  a  deep  interest  in  all  that 
makes  for  the  welfare  of  the  Danish  colony  in 
Chicago,  and  is  held  in  proportionately  high  re- 
spect. For  the  past  eight  years  he  has  been 
treasurer  of  the  Walhalla  Society,  of  which  he  is 
a  charter  member,  having  previously  held  the 
post  of  secretary,  besides  holding  minor  offices 
in'the  order.  With  the  exception  of  one  term  he 
has  been  a  director  in  the  Walhalla  Hall  Associa- 


tion ever  since  its  organization.  He  is  also  a 
member  and  was  once  president  of  the  South 
Side  Central  Committee  of  the  Danish  Societies 
of  Chicago.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Masons 
and  Builders'  Association. 

In  the  winter  of  1887-88  Mr.  Christensen  paid 
a  visit  of  some  four  months  to  his  native  land,  to 
see  once  more  his  aged  mother,  his  sister  and  the 
friends  and  scenes  of  his  youth. 


JES  C.  HANSEN. 


(TES  CHRISTIAN  HANSEN  has  been  a 
I  resident  of  Chicago'  since  the  year  of  the 
G/  great  fire,  when  he  immigrated  to  this  coun- 
try from  Schleswig,  where  he  was  born  July  2, 
1848.  At  that  time  Schleswig  formed  a  part 
of  the  kingdom  of  Denmark,  and  Mr.  Hansen 
rightly  considers  himself  by  birth  a  Dane,  al- 
though proud  of  his  American  citizenship  and  his 
identification  with  Chicago. 

His  father,  Hans  N.  Hansen,  also  a  native  of 
Schleswig,  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine  years, 
leaving  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  Of  these  Jes 
Christian  Hansen  is  the  youngest  son.  His 
brothers,  Hans  and  Christ,  both  reside  in  the  old 
country,  as  does  also  his  sister,  Cecilie  C. ,  who 
is  the  wife  of  Jens  Jensen. 

After  leaving  school,  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  he  followed  the  life  of  a  farmer  until,  in 
1871,  he  set  sail  for  a  land  of  which  he  then  knew 
but  little,  but  where  he  was  destined  to  attain 
success.  The  ashes  of  the  conflagration  of  Oc- 
tober had  been  covered  by  the  frosts  of  December 
when  he  reached  Chicago  and  began  his  life  here 
as  a  laborer.  Bricklayers  were  in  request  then, 
and  with  his  natural  aptitude  he  soon  acquired 
skill  at  the  craft,  working  at  it  until  1881.  In 
that  year,  having  accumulated  sufficient  capital 
to  embark  in  business  for  himself,  he  began  as  a 


dealer  in  wines  and  liquors  at  the  corner  of 
Armour  Avenue  and  Thirty -seventh  Street,  where 
he  carried  on  a  prosperous  trade  two  years.  He 
then  removed  to  the  corner  of  State  and  Thirty- 
seventh  Streets,  and  there  remained  five  and  one- 
half  years,  going  from  there  to  No.  226  Clark 
Street.  Six  years  later  he  removed  to  No.  249, 
in  the  same  thoroughfare,  and  after  two  years  at 
that  point  to  the  corner  of  Thirty-seventh  and 
Sta.te  Streets  (his  old  stand) ,  where  he  stayed 
until  May  27,  1899.  On  that  date  he  removed  to 
his  present  handsome  quarters,  at  the  corner  of 
Irving  Park  Boulevard  and  Sixty- fourth  Ave- 
nue. Here,  in  addition  to  his  saloon  business, 
he  furnished  both  warm  and  cold  meals  to  the 
visitors  to  the  county  institutions  at  Dunning. 

Besides  being  a  member  of  Court  Logan,  No.  117, 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters  and  Atlas  Lodge, 
No.  26,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Mr. 
Hansen  is  a  director  and  officer  of  Walhalla,  a 
Danish  benevolent  order,  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Danish  Brotherhood  and  a  member  of  the 
Heimdahl  singing  society.  In  national  politics  he 
is  a  Republican,  but  in  local  issues  non-partisan. 

He  was  married  May  3,  1873,  to  Miss  Annie 
M.  Jefsen,  by  whom  he  has  a  daughter,  Ida  K., 
who  lives  at  home,  and  a  son,  Charles,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Northwestern  School  of  Pharmacy. 


COL.  E.  D.  SWAIN 


E.  D.  SWAIN. 


479 


EDGAR  DENMAN  SWAIN,  D.  D.  S. 


P"  DGAR  DENMAN  SWAIN,  D.  D.  S.,  is  en- 
ry  gaged  in  the  practice  of  dentistry  at  the 
^_  corner  of  Randolph  and  State  Streets,  Chi- 
cago, and  is  prominent  in  both  professional  and 
military  circles.  He  was  born  in  Westford,  Vt., 
in  August,  1836,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Marcus  and 
Charlotte  (Woodbury)  Swain.  On  the  paternal 
side  he  is  of  Scotch  lineage,  and  on  the  maternal 
side  is  of  English  descent.  The  father  became  a 
resident  of  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  in  1857,  and  during 
the  war  he  was  appointed  Surgeon  of  the  Wis- 
consin Penitentiary  at  Waupun.  About  1878,  he 
removed  to  Englewood,  111. ,  and  thence  to  Glen- 
coe,  where  his  death  occurred  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-nine. His  wife  died  in  Waupun,  Wis.  In 
their  family  were  four  sons  and  two  daughters: 
Edgar  D.  of  this  sketch;  Dr.  Oliver  D.,  a  resi- 
dent of  Chicago;  Marcus  W.,  who  was  killed  in 
a  railroad  accident  in  1862;  George  A.,  who  died 
of  typhoid  fever  in  the  army  in  the  summer  of 
1863;  and  Alice  M.  and  Charlotte,  both  living. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch 
remained  under  the  parental  roof  until  seventeen 
years  of  age,  and  then  left  home,  going  to  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  where  he  worked  in  a  machine- 
shop.  He  afterward  removed  to  Saratoga  Springs, 
N.  Y.,  where,  in  1855,  he  began  the  study  of  den- 
tistry. Two  years  later  he  became  a  resident  of 
Wisconsin  and  began  practice  in  Oshkosh.  Sub- 
sequently he  was  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  profession  in  Aurora,  111. ,  and  in  Batavia,  111. 
Mr.  Swain  watched  with  interest  the  progress 
of  events  which  preceded  the  Civil  War,  and  after 
the  South  had  attacked  Ft.  Sumter,  he  resolved 
to  strike  a  blow  in  defense  of  the  Union.  He 
raised  a  company,  and  on  the  22d  of  July,  1861, 


became  Captain  of  Company  I,  Forty-second  Illi- 
nois Infantry.  He  was  afterward  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-Colonel,  in  October,  1863,  and 
in  1865  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Second 
Brigade,  Second  Division,  Fourth  Army  Corps. 
He  served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  took 
part  in  many  important  engagements,  including 
the  Fremont  campaign  in  Missouri.  His  was  the 
first  regiment  to  enter  Columbus,  Ky. ,  and  with 
his  company  he  took  part  in  the  siege  of  Island 
No.  10,  being  largely  instrumental  in  its  capture. 
Under  the  command  of  Gen.  Polk,  he  then  went 
to  Hamburg,  Tenn. ,  and  aided  in  the  capture  of 
Corinth.  The  following  summer  he  was  employed 
in  guarding  railroads,  and  in  the  fall  was  ordered 
to  report  to  Gen.  Buell,  of  Nashville,  remaining 
with  the  command  of  Gen.  Negley  in  possession  of 
that  city  during  Bragg  and  Buell' s  Kentucky 
campaign.  After  the  cessation  of  hostilities  his 
regiment  was  ordered  to  Texas  for  duty.  Dr. 
Swain  was  finally  mustered  out  in  Springfield,  111. , 
on  the  1 2th  of  January,  1866.  He  was  wounded 
in  the  left  knee  at  New  Hope  Church,  Ga. ,  and  for 
three  months  his  injury  would  not  permit  him  to 
engage  in  active  service,  but  he  saw  nearly  all  of 
the  important  campaigns  of  the  war  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  and  was  in  twenty-seven 
engagements. 

Dr.  Swain's  connection  with  military  affairs 
has  since  continued,  and  in  army  circles  he  is  a 
leader.  In  1877,  he  became  Major  of  the  First 
Regiment  Illinois  National  Guards,  and  took  part 
in  suppressing  the  railroad  riots  of  that  year.  In 
August  he  was  made  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  in 
December,  1877,  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Colonel,  in  which  capacity  he  served  for  four  years, 


480 


WILLIAM    HAHNE. 


when  he  resigned.  He  has  long  been  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, served  for  three  years  as  Commander  of 
George  H.  Thomas  Post,  and  for  two  years  was 
Commander  of  the  Department  of  Illinois.  He 
has  also  served  as  Senior  Vice-Commander  in 
Chief  of  the  National  Encampment,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  military  order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of 
the  United  States. 

After  the  war,  Dr.  Swain  began  the  practice  of 
dentistry  in  Chicago,  and  for  a  time  was  associated 
with  Dr.  Gushing,  and  afterward  with  Dr.  Noble. 
Since  1870  he  has  been  alone  in  practice,  and 
now  finds  little  time  for  other  pursuits.  He  is  an 
accomplished  microscopist  and  has  given  much 
time  to  the  investigation  of  histology.  He  was 


President  of  the  Chicago  Dental  Society  in  1874, 
and  of  the  Illinois  State  Dental  Society  in  1875. 
He  was  also  Secretary  of  the  latter  for  two  terms, 
and  was  Secretary  of  the  Chicago  Octontological 
Society.  At  present  he  is  Dean  of  the  dental 
department  in  the  Northwestern  University.  The 
degree  of  D.  D.  S.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the 
Ohio  Dental  College  in  March,  1883. 

Dr.  Swain  was  married  in  1869  to  Miss  Clara 
Smith,  who  was  born  in  Kane  County,  111.,  and 
is  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Smith,  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Chicago.  The  Doctor  is  a  close  observer 
and  careful  student,  thorough  and  industrious  in 
all  undertakings,  and  has  steadily  risen  in  his 
profession  until  he  is  numbered  among  the  lead- 
ing dentists  of  the  city. 


WILLIAM   HAHNE. 


HAHNE,  a  well-known  citizen 
and  dealer  in  agricultural  implements  in 
Mattison,  Cook  County,  was  born  in  Han- 
over, Germany,  February  2,  1834,  and  is  one  of 
six  children,  namely:  Emma,  Henry,  Mary, 
Frederick  Diedrich,  William  and  Louis.  Their 
parents,  Diedrich  and  Marie  (Biermann)  Hahne, 
were  also  natives  of  Germany.  The  father  died 
when  our  subject  was  about  seven  years  of  age, 
leaving  quite  an  estate  to  the  eldest  son,  Henry, 
who  was  to  care  for  and  educate  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family.  With  his  younger  brothers 
and  sisters,  therefore,  he  left  his  native  land  and 
set  sail  for  the  New  World,  landing  in  Chicago 
on  the  2d  of  October,  1850. 

William  Hahne  acquired  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  Germany.  At  the  age  of  six- 
teen he  was  apprenticed  for  three  years  to  Will- 
iam Wayman,  a  wagon  and  carriage  maker  of 
Chicago.  After  learning  his  trade,  he  worked 
for  John  Borman  and  Mr.  Whitbeck,  both  of 


Chicago.  In  1858  he  embarked  in  business  for 
himself  in  Elk  Grove,  Cook  County,  where  he 
carried  on  operations  as  a  wagon  and  carriage- 
maker  until  1862.  In  that  year  he  came  to  Mat- 
tison and  continued  in  the  same  business,  to  which 
in  a  short  time  he  added  a  complete  line  of  agri- 
cultural implements  and  farm  machinery.  About 
the  year  1882,  on  account  of  failing  health,  he 
abandoned  wagon  and  carriage  making,  but  still 
carries  on  the  other  lines,  and  is  now  enjoying  a 
prosperous  trade,  which  is  the  sure  reward  of  un- 
tiring energy  and  straightforward  business  prin- 
ciples. 

Mr.  Hahne  was  married  in  the  summer  of  1858 
to  Sophia  L-  Shumacher,  daughter  of  John  Shu- 
macher,  a  native  of  Germany.  She  was  born  in 
the  same  country  in  1836.  Their  children  are: 
John  Frederick  Henry,  who  was  born  in  Elk 
Grove,  Cook  County,  111.,  June  u.-iSsg,  and  died 
January  23,  1865;  Dora  Maria  Berthe,  who  was 
born  in  Elk  Grove,  Cook  County,  111. ,  Septem- 


NORMAN  REXFORD. 


481 


her  21,  1860,  and  is  now  the  wife  of  William  H. 
Depke,  a  grocer  of  Danville,  111. ;  Henrietta  D. 
Marie  Emma,  born  in  Elk  Grove  April  18,  1862, 
the  wife  of  Fred  Utermark,  proprietor  of  the  Mat- 
tison  House,  of  Mattison,  Cook  County,  111.; 
Marie  Caroline,  who  was  born  in  Mattison,  and 
is  the  wife  of  Henry  Tueachman,  a  cigar  manu- 
facturer of  Chicago  Heights;  Willemine  Dorethea 
Mathilda,  who  was  born  in  Mattison,  March  n, 
1866,  and  is  the  wife  of  Frank  Kort,  a  baker  of 
Dalton,  111.;  Diedrich  William  F.,  who  was  born 
in  Mattison,  November  12,  1867,  and  is  a  grocer 
of  Danville,  111. ;  Henry  Carl  George,  who  was 
born  January  18,  1870,  and  died  October  12, 
1880;  H.  Gus  Louis,  who  was  born  January  23, 
1873,  and  died  December  18,  1874;  Caroline 
Marie  Sophia,  born  in  Mattison,  February  3, 
1874;  Anna  Sophia  Dorthe,  born  October  23, 
1876;  and  Amanda  Marie  W.  C.,  born  in  Matti- 
son, January  12,  1883.  The  last  three  are  at 
home. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hahne  are  members  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  Church,  and  have  educated  their 
children  in  that  faith,  and  have  also  given  them  a 
thorough  English  education.  Mr.  Hahne  has 
ever  been  a  liberal  contributor  to  the  support  of 
the  church.  His  education  was  acquired  in  the 
schools  of  the  Fatherland  when  quite  young,  but 


although  he  never  attended  the  public  schools 
after  coming  to  America,  by  observation  and  close 
application,  he  has  acquired  a  good  knowledge  of 
English.  He  is  an  ardent  supporter  of  our  pub- 
lic-school system,  and  his  influence  has  been 
thrown  into  every  educational  movement.  To 
him  more  than  to  any  other  citizen  of  Mattison  is 
the  public  indebted  for  ten  months  school  in  each 
year,  not  only  in  the  public,  but  also  in  the  paro- 
chial schools.  As  Director  or  Township  Treas- 
urer, he  has  served  almost  continuously  since  his 
arrival  in  Rich  Township. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1856,  Mr.  Hahne  re- 
ceived his  naturalization  papers,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing November  he  cast  his  first  vote.  He  has 
always  been  a  stanch  Republican,  holding  firmly 
to  the  principles  upon  which  the  organization  of 
this  party  was  based.  He  has  held  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  long  period  of  twenty- 
five  years,  that  of  Notary  Public  for  twelve  years, 
and  President  of  the  Village  Board  of  Trustees 
for  four  years.  To  the  performance  of  his  duties 
he  has  brought  an  intelligent  mind  and  the  right 
idea  of  the  practicability  of  a  movement.  He 
is  true  to  every  trust,  and  his  public  and  private 
life  are  alike  above  reproach.  Happy  in  a  promis- 
ing family,  he  has  become  the  possessor  of  a  rep- 
utation for  unsullied  integrity  of  character. 


NORMAN  REXFORD. 


IJjORMAN  REXFORD,  deceased,  the  first 
\l  permanent  settler  of  Blue  Island,  and  for 
I  /|)  many  years  one  of  its  most  prominent  citi- 
zens, will  be  long  remembered  among  the  pioneers 
of  northern  Illinois  for  his  hospitality  and  kindly 
manner.  Mr.  Rexford  was  born  in  Charlotte, 
Vt.,  June  4,  1802,  and  died  at  Blue  Island,  March 
28,1883.  He  was  a  son  of  Benajah  and  Zeruia 
(Squire)  Rexford,  who  had  six  children:  Ste- 


phen, Norman,  Isabel  (Mrs.  Fayette  Dickson), 
HeberS.,  Elsie  Ann  (Mrs.  Cooley)  and  Ruth, 
who  died  in  childhood.  Benajah  Rexford  was 
bora  in  Wallingford,  Conn.,  June  23,  1780,  and 
died  at  Westfield,  N.  Y.,  March  25,  1862.  His 
second  wife,  Roxana  Ayer,  of  Stanstead,  Conn., 
bore  him  six  children:  Wilder  A.,  Betsy  L. 
(Mrs.  Daniel  Morse),  Olive  H.  (Mrs.  Isaac 
Relf),  Louisa  A.  (Mrs.  Thaddeus  Ayer),  So- 


482 


NORMAN  REXFORD. 


phronia  H.    (Mrs.   L.    Harmon)   and    Thomas 
Ayer. 

Benajah  Rexford  represented  the  fifth  genera- 
tion of  his  family  in  America,  being  descended 
from  Arthur  Rexford,  an  English  ship-master, 
who  was  married  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1702,  to  Elizabeth  Stevens.  Their  eldest 
son  was  also  named  Arthur,  and  his  first  wife, 
Jemima,  bore  him  eight  children,  one  of  whom, 
named  Benjamin,  served  in  the  Continental  army. 
He  married  Esther  Hall,  and  they  had  eleven 
children,  the  eldest,  Benjamin,  being  also  a  Rev- 
olutionary soldier.  The  latter  married  Catherine 
Rice,  and  Benajah  was  the  eldest  of  their  six 
children. 

Norman  Rexford  removed  while  a  young  man 
to  Ripley,  Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
was  married,  January  10,  1828,  to  Julia  Wattles, 
daughter  of  Chandler  and  Diana  (Murray)  Wat- 
tles. Soon  after  his  marriage,  Mr.  Rexford  re- 
moved to  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  thence,  in  1835,  he 
drove  by  team  to  Chicago,  arriving  on  the  5th 
day  of  June.  He  first  located  at  Bachelor's 
Grove,  Cook  County,  where  his  brother  Stephen 
had  preceded  him  in  1833.  A  few  months  later, 
Norman  Rexford  located  at  Long  Wood,  near  the 
north  end  of  "the  island,"  where  he  kept  tavern 
in  a  log  cabin  of  four  rooms.  In  November,  1836, 
he  removed  to  the  present  village  of  Blue  Island. 
A  small  log  cabin  had  been  erected  the  previous 
year  by  a  man  named  Courtney.  This  was  a  rude 
structure,  only  12x15  feet,  without  floor,  and  was 
the  only  building  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
village.  Mr.  Rexford  proceeded  to  build  a  hewed 
frame  building  for  a  hotel.  This  was  sided  with 
boards  drawn  by  team  from  Pine  Creek,  Ind., 
over  one  hundred  miles  distant,  the  lumber  cost- 
ing $40  per  thousand.  The  building  stood  on  the 
east  side  of  Western  Avenue,  at  the  top  of  the  bluff, 
on  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  post-office.  As 
the  country  was  rapidly  filling  up  with  emigrants, 
this  hotel  was  well  patronized.  It  was  after- 
wards enlarged,  and  continued  to  be  a  landmark 
until  1858,  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  It  was 
known  as  the  Blue  Island  House.  Many  a  social 
gathering  was  held  therein,  and  many  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Chicago  and  other  points  twenty  or  thirty 


miles  distant  often  drove  thither  to  trip  "the  light 
fantastic' '  upon  its  floor.  The  fun  was  frequently 
continued  until  morning,  many  of  the  guests  re- 
maining to  breakfast  before  departing  for  their 
homes.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  the  prairie 
roads  were  often  almost  impassable.  It  was  cus- 
tomary with  Mr.  Rexford  to  hang  beacon  lights 
in  the  upper  windows  of  the  house  on  dark  nights, 
as  a  guide  to  all  belated  travelers  who  might  be 
struggling  through  the  mire  or  the  severe  storms 
of  winter. 

In  1838,  a  postoffice  was  established  at  Blue 
Island,  and  Mr.  Rexford  served  as  Postmaster  for 
a  number  of  years,  during  which  time  his  son 
Fayette  carried  the  mail  on  horseback  from  Chi- 
cago to  Buncombe,  111.,  a  distanee  of  ninety  miles, 
making  weekly  trips.  Letter  postage  was  twen- 
ty-five cents,  and  nearly  every  house  along  the 
sparsely-settled  route  was  a  postoffice.  In  1852, 
Mr.  Rexford  sold  out  the  hotel  and  removed  to  a 
farm  adjoining  the  village,  where  the  balance  of 
his  days  were  spent.  Most  of  the  farm  is  now  in- 
cluded in  the  village,  and  it  has  appreciated  in 
value  to  an  extent  little  dreamed  of  by  him  at  the 
time  of  his  purchase.  Mrs.  Julia  Rexford  still 
resides  at  Blue  Island,  at  the  venerable  age  of 
eighty-four  years.  The  following  is  a  record  of 
their  children:  Fayette  D.  is  proprietor  of  the 
Centralia  House  at  Centralia,  111. ;  Laura  A. ,  who 
became  the  wife  of  A.  B.  Kyle,  of  Englewood,  is 
now  deceased;  Clarissa  C.  is  now  Mrs.  H.  H. 
Massey,  of  Blue  Island;  Norman  B.  is  a  well- 
known  citizen  of  that  place;  Mary  D.  died  in 
childhood;  Julia  married  James  B.  Massey,  and  is 
now  deceased;  Susan  Mary  is  deceased;  Elizabeth 
P.  died  in  childhood;  and  Heber  Squire  became  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Blue  Island,  where  his  death 
occurred  in  1882. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rexford  were  active  members  of 
the  Universalist  Church,  and  were  interested  in 
many  benevolent  and  charitable  works.  Seldom 
was  a  man  turned  away  from  their  door  for  want  of 
food  or  money,  although  their  generosity  was 
sometimes  imposed  upon.  Mr.  Rexford  never 
engaged  in  litigation,  or  wished  to  see  others  do 
so.  It  is  said  that  at  one  time,  after  trying  in 
vain  to  adj  ust  a  quarrel  between  two  of  his  neigh- 


WILLIAM  HAMILTON. 


483 


bors,  he  paid  the  amount  in  dispute  out  of  his  own 
pocket,  rather  than  see  them  engage  in  a  lawsuit. 
In  early  life  he  was  an  active  Democrat,  but  af- 
terwards became  a  Republican.  A  stanch  adher- 


ent of  every  progressive  movement,  it  may  be 
truly  said  that  Blue  Island  owes  much  of  its  pres- 
ent prosperity  to  the  example  of  public  spirit, 
forethought  and  enterprise  set  by  Mr.  Rexford, 


WILLIAM  HAMILTON. 


p  6JILLIAM  HAMILTON,  who  resides  in  Bre- 
\  A/  men  Township,  where  he  is  living  retired, 
V  Y  enjoying  a  rest  which  he  has  truly  earned 
and  richly  deserves,  was  born  in  Ballymolin, 
County  Down,  Ireland,  in  April,  1808,  and  is  a 
son  of  John  and  Mary  Ann  Hamilton,  both  of 
whom  spent  their  entire  lives  on  the  Emerald 
Isle,  reaching  a  very  advanced  age,  the  father 
living  to  be  one  hundred  and  four  years  old,  and 
his  wife  to  be  eighty-six.  The  year  1822  witnessed 
the  arrival  of  William  Hamilton  in  this  country. 
He  lived  for  nine  years  in  New  York  City,  where 
he  learned  the  plasterer's  trade,  and  also  engaged 
in  making  slate  roofs.  In  1838  he  came  West 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  Bremen  Township, 
Cook  County,  then  an  undeveloped  and  unsettled 
region.  The-  Indians  occupied  lands  adjoining, 
and  for  several  years  he  had  only  two  white  neigh- 
bors for  miles  around.  The  family  lived  in  a  log 
cabin,  and  went  through  all  the  experiences  of 
frontier  life.  In  1850  Mr.  Hamilton  built  the 
present  family  homestead,  in  which  he  has  since 
lived.  He  has  been  a  successful  fanner  and  man 
of  business,  and  increased  his  landed  possessions 
from  eighty  to  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres. 
As  an  investment,  he  early  bought  city  lots  in 
Blue  Island,  which  he  subsequently  sold  at  a  fine 
profit,  and  later  made  very  successful  investments 
in  Hyde  Park  property,  which  is  now  owned  by  his 
children.  In  1879  he  retired  from  active  life,  and 
at  that  time  apportioned  his  property  among  his 
children.  He  is  now  spending  his  declining  years 
on  the  old  homestead  with  his  son  John,  and,  al- 


though he  has  reached  the  advanced  age  of  eigh- 
ty-six, he  still  enjoys  excellent  health.  He  is 
one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of  the  county,  and  by 
all  who  know  him  is  held  in  high  regard.  Since 
fourteen  years  of  age  he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  his  life  has  been  in 
harmony  with  his  profession. 

In  1837  William  Hamilton  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Mary  Ann  Kelley,  of  New  York 
City.  Her  death  occurred  in  December,  1887,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  They  were  the 
parents  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  yet  liv- 
ing: William,  a  resident  of  Hyde  Park;  Mary 
Jane,  wife  of  W.  A.  Briggs,  of  Hyde  Park; 
Margaret,  wife  of  John  P.  Roberson,  of  Hyde 
Park;  and  John,  who  owns  the  old  homestead  in 
Bremen  Township.  The  fourth  child,  James  G. , 
lost  a  limb  in  front  of  Richmond,  Va. ,  in  October, 
1864,  while  serving  in  Company  G,  Thirty-ninth 
Illinois  Regiment.  He  died  May  7,  1885,  aged 
forty-one  years. 

John  Hamilton  was  born  on  the  home  farm, 
July  27,  1842.  During  his  boyhood  he  attended 
the  public  schools  and  Hillsdale  (Mich.)  College. 
In  1864,  having  completed  his  education,  he 
returned  home,  and  since  that  time  has  de- 
voted his  energies  to  his  extensive  farming  inter- 
ests. Since  1879  he  has  had  charge  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  acres  of  good  land,  comprising  one 
of  the  most  valuable  farms  in  this  section  of  Illi- 
nois, and  for  the  past  sixteen  years  he  has  made 
a  specialty  of  the  dairy  business.  He  keeps  on 
hand  about  fifty  cows,  and  has  met  with  excellent 


JOHN    McELDOWNEY. 


success  in  that  enterprise.  He  also  raises  some 
fine  horses,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing farmers  and  stock- dealers  of  this  locality. 

On  the  1 6th  of  November,  1882,  Mr.  Hamilton 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Alma  G.  Lucas, 
daughter  of  George  and  Barbara  (Drummond) 
Lucas,  whose  family  numbers  five  children,  the 
others  being  Margaret,  wife  of  W.  Hulet,  of  Bre- 
men Township;  Robert  and  Arthur,  well-known 
farmers;  and  Clara  L.,  wife  of  Dexter  Minard, 
who  is  represented  elsewhere  in  this  work.  The 
father,  George  Lucas,  was  a  native  of  the  Buck- 
eye State,  but  during  his  boyhood  left  his  Ohio 
home,  and  has  since  resided  in  Illinois.  By  oc- 


cupation, he  is  a  farmer.  His  wife  is  a  native  of 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. ,  and  a  daughter  of  James  and 
Margaret  (McMartin)  Drummond. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hamilton  have  been  born  three 
children,  Margaret  Florence,  Emily  Clara  and 
John  Emerson,  and  all  are  still  under  the  parental 
roof.  In  his  political  views,  Mr.  Hamilton  is  a 
stalwart  advocate  of  Republican  principles,' and 
has  served  as  School  Trustee  of  Bremen  Town- 
ship, but  has  never  sought  political  preferment, 
desiring  rather  to  give  his  entire  time  and  atten- 
tion to  his  business  interests,  in  which  he  has 
met  with  good  success. 


JOHN  McELDOWNEY. 


(TOHN  McELDOWNEY,  one  of  the  honored 
I  pioneers  of  Cook  County,  has  for  almost 
G)  sixty  years  resided  on  the  site  of  Chicago 
Heights,  although  it  was  long  years  after  his  ar- 
rival that  the  town  sprang  into  existence.  The 
history  of  Cook  County  as  a  frontier  settlement  is 
well  known  to  him,  and  the  experiences  of  the 
pioneer  form  a  part  of  his  record.  He  was  born 
in  Ireland,  on  the  nth  of  October,  1811.  His 
father,  John  McEldowney,  and  his  grandfather, 
who  also  bore  the  name  of  John,  likewise  were 
natives  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  The  mother,  who  in 
her  maidenhood  was  Martha  Caldwell,  was  born 
in  Ireland,  and  was  a  daughter  of  James  and  Jane 
(Moorhead)  Caldwell.  Mr.  McEldowney,  the 
father,  was  a  farmer,  and  followed  that  occupation 
throughout  his  entire  life.  In  1832,  he  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  Canada,  and  in  1836  came  to  Cook 
County,  111.,  where  he  spent  his  remaining  days, 
his  death  occurring  on  the  2oth  of  January,  1875. 
With  the  Presbyterian  Church  he  held  member- 
ship. His  wife  was  called  to  her  final  rest  March 
5,  1861.  They  were  married  in  1810,  and  became 


the  parents  of  nine  children,  namely:  John  of  this 
sketch;  Jane,  who  was  born  January  21,  1814, 
became  the  wife  of  Robert  Wallace,  and  died 
in  1874;  James,  who  was  born  May  4,  1816,  has 
followed  farming  throughout  his  life,  and  now  re- 
sides in  Chicago  Heights;  Ann,  who  married  John 
Hughes,  and  died  May  4,  1888;  Thomas,  born  De- 
cember i,  1821,  retired,  living  in  Chicago  Heights; 
Rosana,  born  May  28,  1822,  and  who  died  May  17, 
1845,  being  the  first  one  interred  in  Bloom  Ceme- 
tery; Catherine  J.,  born  June  15,  1824,  the  wife  of 
Stewart  B.  Eakem;  Martha,  who  was  born  Jan- 
uary 21,  1827,  became  the  wife  of  John  W.  Mor- 
rison, a  minister  of  Bloom  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  died  on  the  2d  of  May,  1894;  and  Elizabeth, 
born  July  10,  1829,  deceased,  wife  of  john  Miller. 
The  eldest  member  of  the  family,  in  whom  the 
readers  of  this  volume  are  especially  interested, 
well  deserves  representation  in  the  history  of  his 
adopted  county.  He  acquired  his  education  in 
the  public  schools,  and  remained  on  the  Emerald 
Isle  until  1832,  when,  with  his  father,  he  boarded 
a  sailing-vessel  and  became  a  resident  of  Canada. 


EVERITTE   ST.  JOHN. 


485 


There  he  began  working  on  a  farm,  receiving  $7 
per  month  for  his  services.  He  was  thus  em- 
ployed until  1835,  when  he  resolved  to  seek  his 
home  in  Illinois,  and  in  the  spring  of  that  year 
started  for  Chicago.  He  made  the  first  part  of 
the  journey  on  foot  as  far  as  Burlington,  Vt.,  and 
by  way  of  the  Canal  and  Lakes  to  Detroit,  from 
whence  he  came  on  foot  to  his  destination,  a  dis- 
tance of  three  hundred  miles. 

For  two  months  Mr.  McEldowney  worked  in 
the  New  York  Hotel  stable.  He  has  cut  hay 
where  the  court  house  of  Chicago  now  stands,  and 
has  witnessed  almost  the  entire  growth  and  devel- 
opment of  Cook  County.  On  the  ist  of  July,  1835, 
he  took  up  his  residence  at  Thorn  Grove,  now 
Chicago  Heights,  and  made  a  claim  of  four  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  on  sections  28  and  29,  Bloom 
Township,  for  which  he  paid  the  usual  Govern- 
ment price  of  $1.25  per  acre.  His  first  home  was 
a  log  cabin,  built  on  the  site  of  the  present  town, 
and  there  he  lived  in  true  pioneer  style.  His 
farming  was  done  with  crude  machinery,  and  he 
worked  early  and  late  in  order  to  make  a  start. 
His  enterprise,  perseverance  and  industry  were  at 
length  crowned  with  success,  and  at  one  time  he 
was  the  owner  of  a  very  valuable  farm  of  five 
hundred  and  twenty  acres.  He  acquired  a  hand- 
some competence,  which  now  enables  him  to  rest 
from  business  cares. 

On  the  isth  of  July,  1836,  Mr.  EcEldowney 


married  Miss  Ann  Wallace,  daughter  of  William 
and  Elizabeth  Wallace,  and  a  native  of  Ireland, 
born  June  4,  1814.  They  have  eight  children. 
Dorothy,  who  was  born  March  28,  1838,  became 
the  wife  of  James  Hunter,  and  died  June  28, 
1870;  Mary  A.,  born  May  17,  1840,  is  thewifeof 
Samuel  McDowall,  an  attorney  at  law,  engaged  in 
practice  in  Salt  Lake  City;  William  J.,  born  June 
30,  1843,  is  President  of  the  Chicago  Heights 
Bank;  Martha  E.,  born  May  19,  1846,  died  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1867;  James  H.  was  born  May  20,  1848; 
Margaret  J.,  born  May  13,  1850,  died  on  the  6th 
of  July  following;  Rebecca,  born  October  8,  1851, 
is  the  wife  of  William  J.  Campbell,  an  attorney 
at  law;  and  Andrew  W.,  born  February  6,  1854, 
completes  the  family. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  party,  Mr.  Mc- 
Eldowney has  been  a  stanch  Republican  in  poli- 
tics, and  has  been  honored  with  several  local  offi- 
ces. He  has  served  as  Supervisor,  and  for  the 
long  period  of  twenty  years  was  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  proving  a  capable  and  efficient  officer.  In 
1886,  he  was  called  upon  to  mourn  the  loss  of  his 
wife,  who  died  on  the  7th  of  September,  and  was 
laid  to  rest  in  Bloom  Cemetery.  She  was  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which 
Mr.  McEldowney  also  belongs.  His  life  has  been 
well  and  worthily  passed,  and  throughout  the 
community  in  which  he  has  so  long  made  his 
home  he  has  the  high  regard  of  all. 


EVERITTE  ST.  JOHN. 


|"7  VERITTE  ST.  JOHN,  General  Manager  of 
ft)  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Rail- 
Li  road,  was  born  at  Sharon,  Litchfield  County, 
Conn.,  February  4,  1844.  Both  parents  were 
natives  of  that  State  and  of  English  lineage. 
When  four  years  old,  his  father  died,  and  his 
mother,  though  left  with  a  large  family  of  chil- 


dren, managed  to  provide  for  their  physical  com- 
fort and  gave  each  a  public-school  education. 
Ambitious  to  begin  a  career  of  usefulness,  at  an 
early  age  the  subject  of  this  biography  began  to 
earn  his  livelihood  by  becoming  a  clerk  for  his 
elder  brother,  who  filled  the  combined  offices  of 
Postmaster,  station  agent,  Town  Clerk  and  gen- 


486 


EVERITTE  ST.  JOHN. 


eral  store-keeper  of  the  village.  Here,  and  in  his 
mother's  home,  were  imbibed  in  a  large  degree 
those  principles  of  industry,  economy  and  perse- 
verance which  have  characterized  the  man,  and 
which  are  essential  to  the  successful  management 
of  an  extensive  railway  system,  or  other  large  en- 
terprises. 

Through  the  medium  of  the  local  gossip,  which 
had  its  natural  center  at  the  village  postoffice,  he 
heard  much  of  the  success  of  other  young  men 
who  had  left  the  Nutmeg  State  to  seek  their 
fortunes  in  the  great  West,  and  becoming  inocu- 
lated with  the  western  fever,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen years  he  resigned  his  position  as  his  broth- 
er's assistant  and  went  to  Quincy,  111.  Here  he 
became  a  clerk  in  the  general  ticket  office  of  the 
Quincy  &  Toledo  Railroad,  at  a  salary  of  $30  per 
month.  When  that  road  was  consolidated  with 
the  Great  Western  Railroad,  of  Illinois,  he  was 
transferred  to  a  similar  position  at  Springfield, 
with  a  slight  increase  of  salary.  One  year  later, 
having  received  an  offer  of  a  better  position  from 
the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific,  he  came  to 
Chicago,  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  1863,  began  his 
career  with  that  corporation.  His  steady  appli- 
cation and  untiring  energy  soon  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  his  superiors,  and  secured  promotion 
to  a  more  responsible  and  lucrative  position.  Suc- 
cessively he  became  Chief  Ticket  Clerk  and  Gen- 
eral Ticket  Agent,  occupying  the  latter  position  for 
fourteen  years.  At  the  expiration  of  that  period, 
he  was  appointed  General  Ticket  and  Passenger 
Agent  of  the  road,  and  six  months  later  became 
Assistant  General  Manager,  while  still  holding 
the  former  position.  In  July,  1887,  he  was  made 
General  Manager  of  the  lines  east  of  the  Missouri 
River,  and  the  duties  of  that  office  were  supple- 
mented by  those  of  Assistant  General  Manager 
of  the  lines  west  of  the  Missouri  River.  On  the 
ist  of  April,  1889,  he  assumed  the  position  of 
General  Manager  of  the  entire  system,  bringing  to 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  the  ripened  experience 
of  a  quarter-century  of  active  railroad  labors. 

With  the  growth  and  development  of  the  great 
West,  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Rail- 
road system  has  grown,  and  in  many  localities 
has  preceded  the  development  of  its  tributary  terri- 


tory. Mr. St. John  has  constantly  striven  to  improve 
and  perfect  every  department,  and  to  that  end 
has  devoted  much  of  the  time  given  by  others  to 
recreation,  having  often  given,  for  many  years, 
twelve  to  fifteen  hours  per  day  to  his  work.  His 
industry  has  been  something  phenomenal,  and  it 
is  a  source  of  wonder  to  his  acquaintances  that 
he  has  not  given  way  in  physical  vigor  under  the 
assaults  made  by  his  own  ambition  and  industry. 
He  is  remarkably  free  from  all  ostentation  and 
those  assumptions  of  exclusiveness  often  affected 
by  men  in  high  and  responsible  positions,  and  is 
among  the  most  approachable  and  genial  of  men. 
Having  conquered  by  labor  his  own  elevation,  he 
can  sympathize  with  all  who  labor,  and  his  latch- 
string  is  always  out  to  the  humblest  employe  who 
has  a  grievance,  or  a  request  to  make. 

As  Chairman  of  the  General  Managers'  Asso- 
ciation, Mr.  St.  John  bore  no  small  part  of  the  re- 
sponsibility in  overcoming  the  great  sympathetic 
strike  of  1894,  i°  which  the  American  Railway 
Union,  composed  largely  of  switchmen,  and  others 
identified  and  unidentified  with  railroad  opera- 
tions, sought  to  compel  the  railroads  of  the 
country  to  abandon  the  use  of  Pullman  cars,  be- 
cause of  an  alleged  grievance  of  members  of  the 
union  against  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company. 
The  principle  thus  sought  to  be  set  up  being 
wholly  un-American,  and  not  acknowledged  by 
thinking  people,  the  railroads  set  about  carrying 
on  their  own  business  according  to  existing  con- 
tracts with  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company, 
and  for  the  accommodation  of  the  traveling  pub- 
lic. The  false  principle  was  set  up,  and  an  at- 
tempt made  to  force  the  railroads  and  the  public 
to  accept  it,  that  the  strikers  had  a  right  to  pre- 
vent, even  by  force,  anyone  from  operating  the 
roads  by  fulfilling  the  duties  and  service  they  had 
left.  The  General  Managers  met  every  emer- 
gency, and  by  co-operation  soon  secured  men  to 
operate  trains;  and  the  National  Government 
protecting  its  mails  and  inter-state  commerce,  de- 
lays were  averted,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  the 
resumption  of  traffic,  both  passenger  and  freight, 
thereby  secured.  All  this  was  not  accomplished 
until  much  valuable  property,  chiefly  the  cars  of 
the  railroads  and  their  freight,  belonging  to  ship- 


C.  H.  McCORMICK,  JR. 


487 


pers  all  over  the  country,  had  been  destroyed  by 
fires  set  by  strikers  and  their  sympathizers.  By 
their  firm  position  and  prompt  action  in  securing 
the  most  ready  and  valuable  protection,  the  Gen- 
eral Managers  won,  and  received  the  admiration 
and  thanks  of  law-abiding  people  everywhere, 
and  also  made  more  certain  and  intelligible  the 
principle  that  every  American  citizen  has  the 
right  to  undertake  any  honorable  employment 
he  wishes,  and  that  no  class  can  rightfully  cut  off 
the  privileges  of  the  rest  of  the  world  to  secure  its 
own  selfish  ends. 

As  Chairman  of  the  Railway  Finance  Commit- 
tee of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  he  en- 
abled that  association  to  add  nearly  $1,000,000  to 
its  treasury.  He  has  been  for  years  connected 
with  many  important  railway  associations,  as  fol- 


lows: Chairman  of  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Trans-Missouri  Freight  Association;  Chairman 
of  Western  Railroad  Weighing  Association  and 
Inspection  Bureau;  Chairman  of  the  Chicago 
Car  Service  Association,  and  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Western  Freight  As- 
sociation. 

Mr.  St.  John  was  happily  married  in  1869  to  Miss 
Emilina  B.  I<amson,  of  Andover,  Mass.  They 
occupy  a  pleasant  home  on  Rush  Street,  Chicago, 
where  is  stored  his  library  of  over  one  thousand 
choice  volumes.  He  is  a  communicant  of  the 
Episcopal  Church ;  a  member  of  the  Union  league 
Club,  and  of  Waubansee  I^odge  No.  160,  A.  F.  & 
A.  M.;  Past  Eminent  Commander  of  Montjoe 
Commandery,  No.  53,  K.  T.,  and  ex-President 
of  the  Sons  of  Connecticut. 


CYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK,  JR. 


EYRUS  HAU,  McCORMICK,  Jr.,  is  the 
eldest  child  of  the  great  inventor  of  the 
reaper,  Cyrus  H.  McCormick.  His  mother 
is  Nettie  Fowler  McCormick.  He  was  born  on 
the  i6th  of  May,  1859,  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
where  his  parents  lived  for  several  months  while 
his  father  was  securing  patents  on  his  reaper.  At 
an  early  age,  young  McCormick  entered  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Chicago,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
was  graduated  from  the  High  School  at  the  head 
of  his  class.  He  at  once  entered  Princeton  Col- 
lege and  became  a  member  of  the  Class  of  '79. 
In  the  autumn  following,  he  entered  the  business 
of  the  McCormick  Harvesting  Machine  Company, 
and  served  in  several  departments  in  order  that 
he  might  obtain  a  knowledge  of  its  various 
branches.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in  1884,  he 
was  elected  to  succeed  him  as  President  of  the 
company,  and  has  continued  in  that  position  up 
to  the  present  time. 


On  the  5th  of  March,  1889,  Mr.  McCormick  was 
married  at  Monterey,  Cal.,  to  Miss  Harriet  Brad- 
ley Hammond,  a  niece  of  Mrs.  E.  S.  Stickney,  of 
Chicago.  They  have  three  children,  two  sons 
and  a  daughter. 

For  several  years  Mr.  McCormick  has  been  a 
director  of  the  Merchants'  I,oan  &  Trust  Company, 
of  Chicago.  Since  June,  1889,  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Princeton  Uni- 
versity. He  is  also  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  McCormick  Theological  Seminary  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  for  several 
years  the  first  Vice-President  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Chicago.  In  the  summer 
of  1889,  he  spent  some  time  in  Paris  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  company's  exhibits  at  the  International 
Exposition,  and  was  soon  after  decorated  by  the 
President  of  France  '  'Officer  of  the  Merite  Agri- 
cole. ,"  In  speaking  of  this  honor,  the  Courier 
d?  Illinois  said:  '  'This  is  one  of  but  a  few  instances 


ALBERT  WINGATE. 


where  that  decoration  has  been  bestowed  upon  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  it  being  rarely  con- 
ferred upon  a  foreigner." 

Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  who  has  inherited  many 
of  his  father's  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  is  a 
gentleman  whose  education  and  business  training 


have  fitted  him  to  fill  the  responsible  position  to 
which  he  has  been  called.  Under  his  manage- 
ment, the  great  manufacturing  industry  has  de- 
veloped successfully,  and  its  output  of  harvesting 
machines  is  the  largest  in  the  world. 


ALBERT  WINGATE. 


Gl  LBERT  WINGATE,  one  of  the  highly  re- 
LJ  spected  and  prominent  citizens  of  Worth 
/  I  Township,  was  born  in  Hallowell,  Me.,  June 
15,  1817,  and  is  a  son  of  Paine  and  Mary  (Page) 
Wingate,  The  family  is  descended  from  John 
Wingate,  who  was  a  planter  at  Hilton's  Point, 
now  Dover,  N.  H.,  in  1657.  He  was  a  native  of 
England,  and  the  founder  of  the  family  in  Amer- 
ica. One  of  his  ancestors  was  the  Sheriff  who 
committed  the  famous  John  Bunyan,  author  of 
"Pilgrim's  Progress,"  tojail.  The  name  Wingate, 
according  to  a  popular  legend,  originated  with  a 
powerful  warrior,  who  during  the  siege  of  an  an- 
cient castle  tore  its  gate  from  its  fastenings  and 
bore  it  away  on  his  shoulders,  thereby  allowing 
his  comrades  to  obtain  an  entrance.  Members  of 
the  Wingate  family  were  numerous  in  many  parts 
of  England  and  Scotland  as  early  as  the  twelfth 
century,  although  the  name  was  spelled  in  several 
different  ways.  They  occupied  many  leading 
positions,  becoming  prominent  in  various  walks 
of  life.  Descendants  of  the  family  were  living  in 
Bedfordshire,  England,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Descendants  of  John  Win- 
gate  still  own  his  original  homestead  near  Dover, 
N.  H.  He  became  one  of  the  principal  house- 
holders of  that  place,  was  a  leading  and  influen- 
tial citizen,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  service 
during  King  Philip's  War.  His  second  wife, 
Sarah  Wingate,  was  a  daughter  of  Anthony  Tay- 
lor, a  native  of  England. 


One  of  their  sons,  Joshua  Wingate,  was  born 
in  Hampton,  N.  H.,  and  became  Colonel  of  a 
regiment  of  New  Hampshire  militia.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  siege  of  Louisburg  in  1745. 
He  wedded  Mary  Lunt,  and  his  death  occurred 
in  1769,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety  years.  His 
wife  passed  away  three  years  later,  also  at  the 
age  of  ninety.  Their  son  Paine,  the  eldest  in  the 
family  of  eleven  children,  became  a  Congregational 
minister,  and  for  sixty  years  was  pastor  of  the 
Second  Congregational  Church  in  Amesbury, 
Mass.  He  wedded  Mary  Balch,  and  his  death  oc- 
curred in  1786,  aged  eighty -three  years.  His 
wife  also  reached  that  age,  passing  away  in  1789. 
Joseph,  the  youngest  son  of  Rev.  Paine  Wingate, 
was  born  in  Amesbury,  Mass.,  and  about  1800 
removed  to  Hallowell,  Me. ,  where  he  died  in  1826, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  His  wife,  Judith,  was 
a  daughter  of  Elder  James  Carr.  By  their  mar- 
riage they  became  the  parents  of  ten  children,  of 
whom  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
the  fifth  in  order  of  birth.  He  cleared  and  de- 
veloped a  farm  near  Hallowell,  where  he  spent  his 
entire  life,  being  called  to  the  home  beyond  Jan- 
uary 12,  1849,  in  his  sixty-third  year. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  record 
spent  the  days  of  his  boyhood  and  youth  in  Hallo- 
well,  and  in  1842  emigrated  to  Cook  County, 
driving  across  the  country  with  a  team.  The 
journey  was  accomplished  in  six  weeks,  and  he 
settled  on  a  farm  on  section  28,  Worth  Township, 


C.    H.    FBI/TON. 


489 


but  subsequently  removed  to  section  27,  where  he 
now  resides.  For  thirty-four  years  he  lived  on 
the  first  farm,  and  placed  it  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  making  many  excellent  improvements 
upon  it.  He  arrived  in  Cook  County  four  years 
before  the  first  school  districts  were  organized, 
and  for  several  years  he  held  the  three  offices  of 
Township  Treasurer,  Township  Trustee  and 
School  Director.  He  was  one  of  the  leading 
spirits  in  the  development  of  the  educational  in- 
terests of  this  locality,  and  has  ever  taken  a  prom- 
inent part  in  promoting  those  enterprises  calcu- 
lated to  advance  the  general  welfare. 

Mr.  Wingate  was  married,  June  29,  1842,  to 
Rhoda,  daughter  of  Lowell  and  Lois  Mitchell. 
She  was  a  native  of  Chesterville,  Me. ,  and  died 
May  30,  1864,  at  the  age  of  forty -five  years  and 
two  months.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wingate  had  a  fam- 
ily of  five  children:  Levi  Page,  who  died  at  the 
age  of  four  years;  Elizabeth,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  eighteen;  Mary  Caroline,  wife  of  J.  M.  Green, 


of  Blue  Island;  Levi  Albert,  who  is  engaged  with 
the  Piano  Manufacturing  Company  of  West  Pull- 
man; and  Mrs.  Martha  Alice  Trumble,  of  Worth 
Township. 

Mr.  Wingate  cast  his  first  Presidential  vote  for 
William  Henry  Harrison,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  Tippecanoe  Club.  On  the  organization 
of  the  Republican  party  hejoined  its  ranks  and  has 
since  been  one  of  its  stalwart  supporters.  He  has 
also  served  as  Assessor  and  Highway  Commis- 
sioner of  Worth  Township,  in  connection  with  the 
other  offices  before  mentioned.  He  has  never 
failed  to  keep  an  obligation  or  agreement,  and  al- 
though constantly  in  debt  for  thirty-three  years, 
he  was  never  dunned,  sued  nor  refused  a  loan,  a 
fact  which  indicates  the  confidence  and  trust  re- 
posed in  his  personal  integrity.  He  possesses  a 
remarkable  memory,  is  considered  an  authority 
on  matters  of  local  history,  and  his  evidence  is  of- 
ten required  in  court,  especially  on  questions  per- 
taining to  early  surveys  and  titles  to  real  estate. 


CHARLES   HENRY  FELTON. 


/CHARLES  HENRY  FELTON,  one  of  the 
1 1  well-known  business  men  of  Chicago,  now 
vJ  Secretary  and  Manager  of  the  White  Swan 
Laundry  Company  (incorporated),  was  born  in 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  February  18,  1840.  His  ancestors 
were  of  English  origin,  and  the  founders  of  the  fam- 
ily in  America,  who  came  herein  1636,  settled  and 
resided  in  Salem,  Mass.  His  great-grandfather, 
Capt.  Benjamin  Felton,  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was  a  brave  and 
valiant  officer,  as  well  as  a  highly  educated  man, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  appointed  Pro- 
fessor in  a  college,  which  position  he  held  until 
disqualified  by  old  age.  He  was  a  leader  in  Ma- 
sonic circles,  and  was  an  influential  citizen,  who 
was  honored  with  several  public  positions  of  trust. 


He  lived  to  be  eighty  years  of  age,  and  was  the 
father  of  ten  children. 

The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Skelton  Felton, 
of  Brookfield,  Mass. ,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  regu- 
lar army,  receiving  his  commission  from  President 
Madison.  He  served  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  af- 
ter its  close  received  a  pension  for  gallant  services 
rendered.  He  was  also  a  Professor  in  a  college  of 
Massachusetts  for  a  time.  Later  he  removed  to 
Tray,  N.  Y.,  and  died  at  the  age  of  sixty -five 
years.  His  children  were  Ainory,  Benjamin, 
Henry,  Lucinda,  Sarah  and  Amanda.  Only  one 
is  now  living,  who  resides  in  New  York.  The 
mother  of  this  family  bore  the  maiden  name  of 
Hough  ton.  Her  death  occurred  in  the  Empire 
State  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy  years. 


490 


C.    H.    FELTON. 


Amory  Felton,  father  of  Charles  Henry,  was  a 
native  of  Brookfield,  Mass.,  born  in  1813.     From 
his  father  he  received  an  excellent  education,  and 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  years  was  Principal  of  Dud- 
ley Academy,  Brookfield,   Mass.     Later,  he  re- 
moved to  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  established  the  whole- 
sale grocery  house  of  Felton  &  Mathews.    He  af- 
terward went  into  the  iron  business,  purchasing 
the  Empire  Stove  Works.     He  was  very  success- 
ful in  this  enterprise,  and  left  to  his  family  a  for- 
tune.    In  1863,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  years,  he 
was  called  to  his  final  rest.     He  married  Nancy 
Boynton,  a  native  of  the  Bay  State,  and  a  descen- 
dant of  Hughes  De  Boynton,  a  Norman  baron, 
who  went  with  William  the  Conqueror  into  Eng- 
land. The  manor  and  lands  granted  to  DeBoynton 
by  William  the  Conqueror  in  1067,  in  the  old 
Kingdom  of  Wessex,  are  still  in  possession  of  the 
family.  Her  mother  reached  the  very  advanced  age 
of  one  hundred  and  one.  The  children  of  this  mar- 
riage are  William,  Charles,  Herbert  and  Emma 
I,ouise.  William  resides  in  Troy,  N.  Y.    Herbert 
is  Division  Superintendent  of  the  Philadelphia  & 
Reading  Railroad,  and  a  graduate  of  the  Polytech- 
nic Institute  of  Troy,  N.  Y. ;  and  Emma  Louise  is 
the  wife  of  F.  K.  Lyon,of  Dunkirk,  N.Y.  Mrs.  Fel- 
ton is  still  living,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  She 
is  a  remarkable  old  lady,  in  perfect  health,  and  in 
perfect  possession  of  her  faculties;  her  eyesight 
and  hearing  are  good,  and  no  silver  threads  are 
yet  seen  in  her  hair.     Tall  and  straight,  her  step 
is  firm  and  elastic,  and  she  seems  not  to  have 
passed  the  prime  of  life.     She  is  also  a  well-in- 
formed lady,  extensive  reading  having  made  her 
well  informed  on  the  questions  of  the  day. 

Mr.  Felton  whose  name  heads  this  record  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Troy,  N.  Y., 
and  in  Bennington  Seminary,  of  Bennington,  Vt., 
from  which  he  was  graduated  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen. During  his  school  days,  he  manifested  a 
restless  spirit,  longing  to  be  a  locomotive  engineer, 
and  would  often  run  away  from  school,  get  aboard 
a  locomotive,  and  try  to  run  it.  On  completing 
his  education,  he  remained  at  home  for  a  while, 
and  then  went  to  Marion,  Ala.,  where  he  remained 
for  one  year.  Later  we  find  him  in  Selnia, 
Ala.,  where  he  obtained  employment  in  a  jewelry 


store.  About  a  year  later,  as  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion  was  approaching,  and  his  sympathies 
were  with  the  North,  his  residence  in  the  South  be- 
came, in  consequence,  very  unpleasant.  He  there- 
fore decided  to  come  to  Chicago,  and  on  his  ar- 
rival here,  he  entered  the  employ  of  A.  H.  Miller 
&  Co.,  the  leading  jewelry  firm  of  the  city  at  that 
time.  With  them  he  remained  until  February, 
1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  Battery  L  of  the  Second 
Illinois  Light  Artillery,  then  located  at  Camp 
Douglas. 

The  company  was  soon  ordered  to  the  front, 
and  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  it  received  its  equip- 
ment, and  from  there  was  ordered  to  Pittsburg 
Landing,  to  reinforce  Gen.  Grant,  but  arrived  too 
late  to  take  part  in  the  great  battle  which  occurred 
at  that  place.     They  were  actively  engaged  in  the 
campaign  which  soon  followed  under  Gens.  Grant 
and  Halleck,  when  they  advanced  on  Corinth,  and 
in  the  battles  of  the  Grant  campaign,  including 
the  battles   around    Memphis   and  at  Jackson, 
Tenn.,  Bolivar  and  Holly  Springs,  Miss.     After 
re-organizing  at  Memphis  for  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg,  Mr.  Felton' s  company  was  sent  to  Lake 
Providence,  La. ,  and  from  this  point  they  started 
on  their  march  through  the  interior  to   Grand 
Gulf,  where  they  crossed  the  Mississippi  River  be- 
low Vicksburg.     Then  followed  the  battles  of 
Raymond,  Champion  Hills,  Big  Black  River,  and 
the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  in  which  Mr.  Felton  took 
part.     During  the  campaign,  he  received  several 
promotions  for  gallant  services,  until  he  reached 
the  rank  of  Senior  First  Lieutenant,  and  Adjutant 
of  Artillery  of  the  District  of  Vicksburg,  which 
comprised   Vicksburg,    Natchez    and  Milliken's 
Bend;  then  followed  his  promotion  as  First  Assist- 
ant Provost-Marshal  of  the  city  of  Vicksburg. 
About  this  time,  Mr.  Felton  was  recommended  by 
Gen.  Logan,  of  Illinois,  and  Gen.  M.  D.  Legget, 
of  Ohio,  for  the  position  of  Adjutant  of  Artillery  on 
Gen.  Grant's  staff,  the  place  being  then  vacant; 
but  as  the  war  was  now  drawing  to  a  close,  he  de- 
cided to  resign,  but  did  not  do  so  till  all  the  rebel 
armies  had  surrendered,    when  he  returned  to 
Chicago. 

On  the  25th  of  September,  1865,  in  Albany,  N. 
Y.,  Mr.  Felton  married  Miss  Lizzie  R.  Borthwick, 


C.  P.  HUEY. 


491 


who  had  been  his  playmate  in  early  childhood. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
Rachael  (Esm6)  Borthwick,  the  former  a  leading 
and  successful  merchant  of  Albany.  Her  grand- 
father was  a  grandson  of  Lord  Borthwick,  of 
Grands  Hall,  Scotland.  Her  ancestors  were 
Scotch- French,  and  her  maternal  grandfather  was 
an  officer  in  the  French  army  and  came  to  Amer- 
ica with  Gen.  La  Fayette.  Mrs.  Felton  was  born 
in  Albany,  N.  Y. ,  and  there  resided  until  the  age 
of  fourteen.  The  three  succeeding  years  of  her 
life  were  passed  in  a  college  for  young  ladies  in 
Lyons,  Iowa,  and  after  graduating  she  returned  to 
her  native  city.  Mrs.  Felton  is  a  linguist  and  a  vo- 
calist of  some  note,  having  studied  under  the  best 
teachers  in  America  and  Europe. 

In  1865,  soon  after  Mr.  Felton  left  the  army, 
he_  re-entered  the  service  of  A.  H.  Miller  &Co., 
with  whom  he  continued  until  1870,  when  he  en- 
gaged in  the  railroad  business.  He  was  appointed 
contracting  agent  of  the  Empire  Freight  Line, 
which  was  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  system,  and 
to  the  duties  of  that  position  devoted  his  energies 
for  ten  years,  when  he  became  general  agent  of 
the  Merchants'  Dispatch  Dairy  Line  (having 
charge  of  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River)  of  the  New  York  Central  System,  in  which 
capacity  he  served  for  two  years. 

In  1882  Mr.  Felton  purchased  one  of  the  largest 


steam  laundries  in  Chicago,  successfully  conduct- 
ing the  same  until  1884,  when,  accompanied  by 
Mrs.  Felton,  he  went  to  Europe  and  located  in 
London,  England.  He  there  embarked  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  laundry  machinery,  and  did  a  prosper- 
ous business  for  three  years,  when  he  became  a 
financial  agent,  and  dealt  in  all  kinds  of  Ameri- 
can enterprises  and  investment  securities.  With 
this  business  he  was  connected  for  five  years,  and 
was  again  very  successful.  During  this  period, 
in  company  with  his  wife,  he  visited  and  resided 
in  some  of  the  principal  cities  of  Europe.  In  1892, 
he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  soon  after  secured  an 
extensive  interest  in  the  White  Swan  Laundry, 
one  of  the  largest  in  the  city.  This  corporation,  of 
which  he  is  now  Secretary  and  Manager,  is  doing 
a  very  prosperous  business.  Mr.  Felton  is  a  very 
energetic  and  capable  man,  yet  modest  and  unas- 
suming, polite  and  courteous,  intelligent  and  well 
informed.  His  views  are  broad,  his  understand- 
ing having  been  well  developed  by  travel  and  ex- 
perience. He  is  domestic  in  his  tastes,  very  fond 
of  music,  and  an  admirer  of  the  opera  and  art. 
In  religious  belief,  he  is  independent,  and  in  his 
political  views  is  a  Republican.  He  keeps  abreast 
with  the  times  in  all  things,  and  is  well  posted 
on  the  leading  questions  of  the  day.  We  predict 
for  him  the  same  success  in  the  future,  that  has 
crowned  his  efforts  in  the  past. 


CHARLES  P.  HUEY. 


EH ARLES  P.  HUEY,  who  is  successfully  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  law  in  Harvey,  re- 
ceiving a  liberal  patronage,  was  born  in  Cape 
Town,    Cape  Colony,  October  3,  1849.     His  fa- 
ther, Robert  T.   Huey,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  made  his  home 
until  the  age  of  thirty -five,  when  he  entered  the 
British  service  and  became  a  soldier  in  the  Colonial 


army.  He  was  sent  with  his  command  to  South 
Africa,  and  reached  Cape  Town  about  1838.  In 
that  place  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Wil- 
helmina  Thomas.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
discharged  from  the  service  and  returned  to  Cape 
Town,  from  whence  he  afterwards  removed  to 
Port  Elizabeth,  on  the  extreme  southern  coast  of 
Cape  Colony,  where  with  his  family  he  resided 


492 


C.  P.  HUEY. 


for  many  years,  engaged  in  trading  and  in  various 
business  pursuits.  He  finally  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising, and  in  the  interests  of  that  business, 
and  partly  for  recreation,  departed  for  Liver- 
pool in  1860.  He  took  passage  on  a  sailing-ves- 
sel, which  was  never  heard  from  again,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  sunk  in  mid-ocean,  not  a  pas- 
senger escaping  to  tell  the  tale  of  the  disaster. 
He  left  a  wife  and  six  children.  Anna,  the  eldest, 
became  the  wife  of  Samuel  Slaughter,  who  is  now 
serving  as  a  County  Assessor  in  southern  Utah; 
Mary  is  married  and  resides  in  northern  Mon- 
tana; Charles  is  the  next  younger;  Leonard  is  in 
the  railway  service  and  resides  in  southern  Colo- 
rado; Nellie  is  the  wife  of  Ernest  H.  Price,  of 
Fresno,  Cal. ;  and  Walter  resides  in  the  same 
State. 

Charles  P.  Huey  began  his  education  in  the 
private  schools  of  Port  Elizabeth,  which  he  at- 
tended until  nine  years  of  age,  after  which  he 
spent  two  years  in  the  Gray  Institute,  a  large  and 
most  excellent  school.  At  the  age  of  ten  years 
he  began  the  study  of  Latin.  .When  a  child  of 
eleven  summers  he  accompanied  the  family  to 
America,  locating  in  Salt  Lake  City,  where  he 
attended  St.  Mark's  Grammar  School,  an  Epis- 
copal institution  of  learning,  for  two  years.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  entered  a  printing-office 
and  worked  as  a  compositor  until  1872,  becoming 
an  expert  printer.  He  learned  so  rapidly  that  in 
half  the  usual  time  he  had  completed  the  regular 
apprenticeship  and  was  made  a  journeyman.  He 
then,  until  the  fall  of  1873,  was  engaged  in  the 
newspaper  and  publishing  business,  and  during  a 
part  of  the  time  assisted  John  C.  Young,  a  nephew 
of  Brigham  Young,  in  the  publication  of  a  local 
paper,  which  was  opposed  to  the  system  of  polyg- 
amy, and  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  great 
opposition  developed  in  Utah  against  the  system. 
So  bitter  was  the  opposition  of  the  Mormon  lead- 
ers, that  the  printing  establishment  was  once 
broken  up  by  a  mob  and  Mr.  Young  assaulted. 

In  the  fall  of  1873,  Mr.  Huey  became  a  student 
in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan at  Ann  Arbor,  pursuing  a  two-years  course, 
and  graduating  with  honor  in  the  Class  of '75. 
He  at  once  began  practice  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and 


soon  acquired  prominence  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  case  of  the  United  States  against  Rossiter,  a 
prominent  Mormon  in  the  employ  of  Brigham 
Young,  who  was  bound  over  under  the  Poland 
Law  to  keep  the  peace  for  having  threatened  with 
violence  John  C.  Young,  the  old  friend  and  asso- 
ciate of  Mr.  Huey,  and  who  was  then  local  editor  of 
the  Salt  Lake  Tribune,  the  leading  Gentile  paper 
of  the  city.  The  case,  under  the  advice  of  Mr. 
Huey,  was  prosecuted  before  Mr.  Pratt,  United 
States  Commissioner,  who  held  the  accused  under 
bonds.  The  prisoner's  counsel,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing lawyers  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  attorney  for 
the  Mormon  Church,  appealed  to  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  discharge,  under  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  which,  after  an  able  argument  by 
Mr.  Huey  in  opposition  to  the  release,  and  argu- 
ments in  its  behalf  by  the  prisoner's  counsel,  was 
denied  by  the  Chief  Justice,  and  the  prisoner  re- 
manded to  the  custody  of  the  United  States  Mar- 
shal. Mr.  Huey's  maiden  speech  at  the  Bar  won 
the  first  signal  victory  for  the  anti-polygamist  un- 
der the  Poland  Law  and  gained  him  a  well-de- 
served prominence.  He  continued  in  practice  in 
Salt  Lake  City  until  1882. 

In  1878,  Mr.  Huey  wedded  MaryJ.  McFerren, 
of  Hoopeston,  111.,  and  in  1882,  on  account  of  his 
wife's  health,  removed  to  Hoopeston,  where  he 
practiced  law  for  some  time,  but  was  mostly  en- 
gaged in  the  banking  business  for  six  years,  in 
company  with  his  brother-in-law,  J.  S.  McFerren, 
who  is  President  and  chief  owner  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Hoopeston.  Mr.  Huey  served 
as  Assistant  Cashier  until  1889,  when  he  resumed 
law  practice,  and  also  for  a  year  published  the 
Hoopeston  Sentinel.  He  also  founded  and  pub- 
lished the  Danville  Sentinel,  and  in  March,  1892, 
came  to  Harvey,  where  for  a  few  months  he  edited 
the  Harvey  Citizen.  In  the  same  year,  however, 
he  retired  from  the  newspaper  field, and  has  since 
successfully  engaged  in  law  practice. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Huey  is  a  Republican,  but  at 
local  elections  subordinates  party  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  town,  laboring  with  other  promi- 
nent citizens  for  temperance,  good  government, 
and  the  material  interests  of  this  thriving  suburb. 
He  now  holds  the  office  of  City  Attorney.  He  is 


PLEASANT  AMICK. 


a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  an  active 
member  of  Dirigo  Lodge  No.  399,  K.  P.,  which 
he  represented  in  the  State  Grand  Lodge  at  Spring- 
field. He  has  taken  the  highest  degree  in  the 
Odd  Fellows'  fraternity,  and  has  passed  all  the 
chairs  in  the  local  lodge.  He  has  only  one  child, 


493 

James  J.,  who  is  now  nine  years  of  age.  Mr. 
Huey  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  prominent 
and  progressive  citizens  of  Harvey,  and  in  the 
history  of  his  adopted  county  he  well  deserves 
mention. 


PLEASANT  AMICK. 


AMICK,  a  pioneer  of  northern 
LX  Illinois,  now  engaged  in  the  real-estate  busi- 
1$  ness  in  Chicago,  has  for  some  years  been  con- 
nected with  the  business  and  official  interests  of 
this  city,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  its  represen- 
tative men.  He  was  born  near  Diamond  Lake, 
Cass  County,  Mich.,  October  14,  1834,  and  is  a 
son  of  Jacob  and  Rachel  (Corron)  Amick,  natives 
of  Virginia.  They  removed  to  Cass  County, 
Mich. ,  previous  to  1830.  The  Amick  family  is  of 
German  origin,  and  the  ancestors  were  among  the 
pioneer  settlers  of  Pennsylvania.  Members  of 
the  family  afterward  removed  to  the  Old  Domin- 
ion, and  Jacob  Amick  was  born  near  the  Natural 
Bridge  in  Virginia.  The  Corron  family  is  Eng- 
lish, and  its  founders  in  America  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  mother  of  Mrs.  Rachel  Amick  was  a 
daughter  of  James  Pinnell,  Jr.,  who  came  from 
Lambeth,  London.  One  of  his  uncles,  Rev. 
Robert  Pinnell,  served  as  rector  of  a  church  for 
more  than  half  a  century  in  one  of  the  parishes 
near  London. 

In  1835,  Jacob  Amick  removed  with  his  family 
to  Illinois  and  located  on  a  farm  in  Kane  County, 
becoming  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  locality. 
He  was  a  cooper  by  trade,  and  carried  on  that  bus- 
iness in  connection  with  farming.  He  was  the  in- 
ventor of  the  grapevine  cradle-swath.  In  1844, 
he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  scythes  and  grain-cradles  until 


1849,  when  he  went  overland  to  California.  There 
his  death  occurred,  October  25,  1850,  at  the  age  of 
forty-eight  years,  resulting  from  an  attack  of 
cholera.  He  was  an  old-time  Abolitionist,  being 
identified  with  the  movement  from  the  beginning, 
and  left  Virginia  on  account  of  the  slavery  there 
tolerated.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  strong 
convictions  and  devotion  to  principle,  and  had  the 
confidence  of  all  who  knew  him.  He  held  mem- 
bership with  the  Tabernacle  Baptist  Church,  now 
the  Second  Baptist  Church  of  Chicago,  the  house 
of  worship  being  then  located  on  La  Salle,  between 
Washington  and  Randolph  Streets.  His  wife, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  same  church,  passed 
away  in  1878,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  Of  their 
children,  one  died  in  infancy;  Mary  Elizabeth  be- 
came the  wife  of  Alanson  Miller,  and  died  of  chol- 
era in  Chicago  in  1852;  Martha,  deceased,  was  the 
wife  of  Joseph  Shaw;  Pleasant  is  the  next  younger; 
Hiram,  who  is  now  living  in  California,  was  a 
member  of  the  Mercantile  Battery  of  Chicago,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  was  Secretary  of  the  Fire 
Department  of  Chicago;  Myron  J.,  who  for  many 
years  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  army, 
and  did  much  scouting  duty  during  the  Great 
Rebellion,  now  resides  in  New  York  City. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  record 
was  in  his  tenth  year  when  the  family  located  in 
Chicago.  The  house  built  by  his  father  in  1844 
on  Curtis  Street  is  still  standing.  Pleasant  Amick, 


494 


H.  T.  BYFORD. 


his  wife,  and  afterward  two  of  their  children,  at- 
tended the  Scammon  School  on  Madison  Street, 
the  first  free-school  building  in  the  West  Division, 
of  which  Prof.  A.  D.  Sturtevant  was  the  Principal, 
and  Pleasant  was  afterward  a  pupil  in  Gleason's 
Academy.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  became  a 
clerk  in  a  grocery -store  on  Clark  Street  owned  by 
J.  B.  Doggett,  with  whom  he  continued  until 
1855,  when  he  embarked  in  business  for  himself 
as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Leybourn  &  Amick, 
grocers.  In  1859,  they  sold  out,  and  during  the 
war  Mr.  Amick  served  as  enrolling  officer  under 
Col.  William  James,  of  Chicago.  In  1864,  he  was 
elected  Tax  Collector  for  the  West  Division,  on 
the  same  ticket  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  served 
two  years.  In  1866,  he  embarked  in  the  real- 
estate  business,  which  he  has  followed  almost  con- 
tinuously since,  being  considered  one  of  the  best 
judges  of  real-estate  values  in  the  city.  During 
the  three  succeeding  years  he  served  as  City  As- 
sessor, and  in  1880  and  1881  he  was  Assessor  of 
the  Town  of  West  Chicago.  For  fourteen  years 


he  was  in  the  tax  department  of  the  West  Division, 
serving  in  various  capacities. 

On  the  1 5th  of  November,  1854,  Mr.  Amick 
was  joined  in  wedlock  with  Julia  S.  Bishop,  a  na- 
tive of  Lewis,  Essex  County,  N.  Y. ,  and  to  them 
have  been  born  three  children:  Frank  S.,  a  real- 
estate  dealer  of  Chicago;  J.  Stella;  and  Mamie, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  three  and  a-half  years. 

Mr.  Amick  was  reared  in  the  faith  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  but  now  holds  membership  with 
no  religious  organization.  He  is  a  member  of 
Columbian  Lodge  No.  819,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of 
Lawndale,  and  in  politics  he  has  been  a  stalwart 
Republican  since  the  organization  of  the  party. 
He  is  a  gentleman  of  genial  and  pleasant  manner, 
has  an  extensive  acquaintance  among  the  earlier 
settlers  of  Chicago,  and  feels  a  keen  and  abiding 
interest  in  their  early  history.  His  long  residence 
here  makes  him  familiar  with  much  of  its  devel- 
opment, and  in  the  work  of  advancement  he  has 
ever  borne  his  part. 


HENRY  TURMAN  BYFORD,  M.  D. 


HENRY  TURMAN  BYFORD,  M.  D.,  Profes- 
sor of  Gynecology  in  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons  of  Chicago,  and  in  the 
Chicago  Post-Graduate  Medical  School,  and  of 
Clinical  Gyneeology  in    the    Woman's  Medical 
College  of  Chicago,  and  ex-President  of  the  Chi- 
cago Gynecological  Society,  is  a  native  of  Evans- 
ville,  Ind.,  born  on  the  i2th  of  November,  1853. 
He  is  the  second  and  only  surviving  son  of  the 
late  Dr.  William  Heath  Byford,  of  Chicago,  and 
Mary  Ann  Byford,  his  wife,  the  latter  a  daughter 
of  Hezekiah  Holland,  a  physician  of  Mt.  Vernon, 
Ind. ,  and  sister  of  a  physician,  Andrew  Holland. 
Dr.  William  H.  Byford,  the  pioneer  gynecol- 
ogist of  Chicago,  was  a  man  whose  intelligence 


and  culture,  extended  observation  and  experience, 
fitted  him  to  fully  appreciate  the  benefits  of  edu- 
cation, proper  environment  and  morality  upon  the 
young,  and  took  such  measures  as  afforded  his 
sons  ample  opportunity  to  enjoy  them  and  to  pre- 
pare to  enter  one  of  the  learned  professions. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  obtained  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Chicago  his  primary  education,  and 
at  the  age  of  twelve  had  completed  a  large  portion 
of  the  public-school  course.  He  then  accompa- 
nied his  elder  brother  to  Europe,  where  he  spent 
four  years  (1865-1868)  in  travel  and  study.  At 
Berlin,  he  learned  French  and  German,  and  also 
took  a  full  regular  classical  course  including  Lat- 
in and  Greek.  It  would  seem  that  under  the 


H.  T.  BYFORD. 


495 


circumstances  he  would  have  labored  under  in- 
surmountable difficulties  in  competition  with  the 
pupils  of  native  birth,  but  at  graduation  he  took 
prizes  in  divinity  and  also  in  German  composition. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  United  States,  Dr.  By- 
ford  matriculated  in  the  University  of  Chicago, 
where  he  contemplated  taking  higher  honors  in 
the  classics;  but  discovering  a  preference  for  the 
sciences,  he  entered  the  scientific  department  of 
Williston  Seminary  in  East  Hampton,  Mass.,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  the  year  1870.  En- 
tering the  Chicago  Medical  College,  he  took  a 
three-years  course,  which  he  completed  in  1873, 
graduating  as  valedictorian  of  his  class.  It  is  a 
matter  worthy  of  remark  that  the  college  records 
show  that  he  was  marked  one  hundred  per  cent, 
in  all  branches  of  medicine  taught,  except  diseases 
of  the  eye  and  ear,  which  at  that  time  did  not  re- 
ceive so  much  attention  as  at  the  present  date. 
During  his  second  year  he  attended  the  lectures 
and  demonstrations  given  to  the  senior  class,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  year  passed  a  successful  exami- 
nation in  all  branches  and  fairly  won  the  position 
of  interne  in  Mercy  Hospital. 

The  serious  illness  of  his  brother  in  Louisiana 
requiring  Dr.  Byford's  presence  there,  interrupted 
his  hospital  course,  and  prevented  his  delivering 
the  valedictory  address  to  his  class  at  graduation. 
Although  absent  from  the  commencement  exer- 
cises, his  extraordinary  proficiency  and  excep- 
tional standing  were  distinctly  recognized  by  the 
faculty,  which  granted  him  his  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  without  examination,  a  very  unusual 
act,  but  one  which  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
fully  j  ustified.  One  condition  was  attached  to  the 
granting  of  the  degree,  and  that  was  that  the 
young  graduate,  then  hardly  twenty  years  of  age, 
should  not  enter  the  active  practice  of  medicine  un- 
til he  had  attained  his  majority.  This  was  done 
out  of  regard  for  the  ethics  of  the  profession, 
which  does  not  encourage  the  practice  of  medicine 
by  minors,  however  proficient. 

The  interim  between  graduation  and  the  attain- 
ment of  his  majority  was  spent  by  Dr.  Byford  in  at- 
tendance upon  his  brother  in  Colorado,  where  he 
had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  recover.  Declin- 
ing his  father's  proffered  partnership,  the  young 


physician  thought  it  best  to  begin  professional  life 
independently,  and  associated  himself  with  his  col- 
lege friend,  Dr.  J.  A.  St.  John,  opening  an  office 
in  one  of  the  less  fashionable  districts  of  the  city. 
The  brilliant  promise  of  future  success  which  had 
appeared  in  the  student  was  fully  realized  in  the 
practitioner.  He  was  energetic,  competent,  pop- 
ular, and  successful  from  the  first.  In  1879, 
he  visited  Europe  a  second  time,  and  for  a  year 
and  a-half  devoted  his  time  about  equally  to  study 
in  the  hospitals  and  travel  for  pleasure. 

On  his  return  to  Chicago,  Dr.  Byford  associated 
himself  with  his  father,  and  directed  his  attention 
principally  to  obstetrics  and  the  diseases  of  women 
and  ehildren,  working  steadily  toward  his  life  ob- 
ject— the  diseases  of  women  and  abdominal  sur- 
gery. Although  busy  with  his  private  practice 
he  has  not  spent  his  whole  time  therein.  He  has 
been  Curator  in  the  museum  of  the  Chicago  Medi- 
cal College,  lecturer  on  diseases  of  children  in  the 
Chicago  Medical  College,  and  lecturer  on  obstet- 
rics in  Rush  Medical  College.  These  positions, 
however,  were  relinquished  on  account  of  their 
requiring  time  that  he  could  not  spare  from  his 
favorite  study  and  specialty.  In  December,  1888, 
he  received  the  appointment  to  the  chair  of 
Gynecology  in  the  Chicago  Post-Graduate  Medi- 
cal School,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  founders;  and 
the  following  year  he  was  chosen  Professor  of 
Clinical  Gynecology  in  the  Woman's  Medical 
College,  and  upon  the  death  of  A.  Reeves  Jack- 
son, in  1892,  was  elected  Professor  of  Gynecology 
in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  Chi- 
cago. He  has  also  been  Gynecologist  to  St. 
Luke's  Hospital  for  several  years  past  and  surgeon 
to  the  Woman's  Hospital.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  Illinois  State 
Medical  Association,  of  the  American  Gynecolog- 
ical Society,  of  the  Chicago  Medical  Society,  the 
Chicago  Gynecological  Society  (of  which  he  was 
President  in  1887),  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of 
Medicine,  and  the  Chicago  Medico-Legal  Society. 

Dr.  Byford  is  known  throughout  the  United 
States  as  one  of  the  most  original  and  progressive 
men  in  his  specialties,  and  has  originated  a  num- 
ber of  operations  which  have  been  approved  and 
adopted  by  medical  practitioners  generally. 


496 


J.  A.  MACK. 


Among  these  are  inguinal  suspension  of  the  blad- 
der, shortening  of  the  sacro-uterine  ligaments,  bi- 
lateral anterior  elytroirhaphy,  subcutaneous  peri- 
neal  tenotomy  and  the  vaginal  fixation  and  vaginal 
drainage  of  the  stump  in  abdominal  hysterectomy. 
Not  only  surgical  operations,  but  also  surgical 
instruments,  have  been  the  objects  of  Dr.  Byford's 
study,  and  of  these  latter  he  has  originated  many 
new  forms  of  greater  utility  than  their  predeces- 
sors that  are  in  daily  use  and  called  by  his  name. 
As  a  clinical  and  didactic  lecturer  he  has  been 
very  successful,  and  as  a  writer  on  medical  topics 
is  able  and  voluminous.  He  was  one  of  the  edi- 
tors of  "Byford's  Diseases  of  Women,"  a  treatise 
originally  by  his  father,  one  of  the  authors  of  the 


'  'American  Text  Book  of  Gynecology,' '  and  also 
of  '  'A  Treatise  on  Diseases  of  Women,  by  Emi- 
nent American  Teachers. ' ' 

While  in  Paris,  Dr.  Byford  was  a  student  at  the 
school  of  Julian,  where  he  studied  drawing  of  the 
human  figure.  From  other  artists  of  Europe  he 
learned  landscape-painting  from  nature,  and  now 
seeks  recreation  in  the  study  of  art  and  the  treas- 
ures of  literature. 

On  the  gth  of  November,  1882,  Dr.  Byford 
married  Mrs.  Lucy  L.  Richard,  a  daughter  of 
Frederick  Larned,  who  was  a  near  relative  of  N. 
P.  Willis.  They  have  four  children,  Genevieve, 
Mary,  Heath  Turman  and  William  Holland. 


REV.  JOSIAH  AUGUSTUS  MACK. 


REV.  JOSIAH  AUGUSTUS  MACK,  Gen- 
eral Secretary  and  Manager  of  the  Chicago 
Bible  Society,  was  born  in  Gilead,  Tolland, 
County,  Conn.,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1828,  and  is  a 
son  of  Ela  Augustus  and  Esther  (Cone)  Mack, 
who  were  also  natives  of  Gilead,  and  came  of  old 
New  England  families.  The  father  was  adopted 
in  his  infancy  by  a  man  bearing  the  name  of 
Mack,  which  became  his  surname,  although  his 
own  father  was  named  Gillette.  The  father  of 
Mrs.  Esther  Mack,  John  Cone,  was  killed,  dur- 
ing her  childhood,  by  the  accidental  explosion  of 
a  cannon  on  one  of  the  training  days  of  the  Con- 
necticut militia.  E.  A.  Mack  served  as  Captain 
of  a  company  of  militia,  and  made  farming  his  oc- 
cupation through  life.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
forty-six  years,  and  his  wife  passed  away  in  Chi- 
cago at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven.  They 
came  to  Illinois  in  1836,  and  the  journey  by  way 
of  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  Great  Lakes  covered  a 
period  of  six  weeks.  The  family  settled  on  a 
claim  near  the  Fox  River,  in  Kane  County,  after- 


ward purchasing  the  land  of  the  United  States 
Government,  and  for  several  years  they  lived  the 
typical  frontier  life.  Later  they  removed  to  Ba- 
tavia,  111. 

Josiah  A.  Mack  acquired  his  early  education  in 
the  district  schools,  then  the  only  educational  in- 
stitutions. Afterward  he  attended  a  boarding- 
school  in  Batavia  for  several  terms.  At  the  age 
of  eighteen  he  began  clerking  in  a  general  store 
in  Batavia,  and  three  years  later  entered  into  part- 
nership with  his  uncle  in  the  same  business. 
After  two  years  he  yielded  to  the  desire  for 
Christian  work  and  became  agent  for  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society,  and  in  that  capacity  labored  in 
northern  Illinois  for  three  years.  This  occupa- 
tion gave  him  experience  and  training  for  public 
speaking  and  determined  him  to  enter  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.  A  college  course  being  out  of  the 
question,  he  took  up  the  study  of  theology  with 
Dr.  William  E.  Merriman,  who  afterward  became 
President  of  Ripon  College,  at  Ripon,  Wis. 

After  studying  for  one  year,   Mr.   Mack  was 


REUBEN  LUDLAM. 


497 


licensed  to  preach  by  the  Elgin  Association  of 
Congregational  Churches,  and  in  1839  he  ac- 
cepted his  first  pastorate  at  Udina,  111.,  where  he 
was  ordained  by  a  special  council,  Rev.  N.  C. 
Clark  preaching  the  sermon.  He  was  later  called 
to  Plainfield,  where  he  labored  with  growing  suc- 
cess for  four  years.  When  the  war  broke  out  he 
took  an  active  interest  in  organizing  troops  for  the 
service,  and  during  the  struggle  was  sent  to 
Helena,  Ark. ,  as  a  representative  of  the  Christian 
Commission.  There  he  engaged  in  Christian 
work  among  the  soldiers  and  colored  people.  He 
spent  some  further  time  in  the  South  for  the  ben- 
efit of  his  health,  which  had  broken  down  under 
his  labors  at  Peoria,  in  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  that  city.  He  held  pastorates  also  at 
Moline  and  other  points  in  Illinois,  and  in  1876 
was  called  to  his  native  town  in  Connecticut,  where 
he  served  as  pastor  of  the  church  for  over  six 
years. 

In  1883  Rev.  Mr.  Mack  returned  to  Illinois  and 
became  General  Secretary  and  Agent  for  the  Chi- 
cago Bible  Society,  in  which  service  he  continues. 
Under  his  management  the  receipts  of  the  society 
have  increased  from  $2,000  to  $14,000  per  annum. 
In  1889  the  society  was  reorganized  and  special 
provision  made  for  a  Bible-work  department,  in 
which  fifteen  to  twenty  young  women  have  been 


employed,  and  the  force  is  increased  as  fast  as 
means  justify.  This  work  is  undenominational, 
and  the  society  is  supported  by  benevolent  con- 
tributions. It  has  been  in  existence  for  over  fifty 
years,  and  is  managed  on  the  broad  basis  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

Mr.  Mack  was  united  in  marriage  in  1850  with 
Eliza  Sophia  Towne,  a  native  of  Troy,  N.  Y., 
and  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Silvanus  Towne,  of 
Batavia,  111.  To  them  were  born  six  children 
who  grew  to  maturity.  Emily  Eliza,  wife  of 
George  C.  Clark,  of  Peoria,  111.;  Charles  Augus- 
tus, pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Ran- 
toul,  111.;  Mary  I,.,  wife  of  Charles  Alden  Smith, 
Principal  of  the  preparatory  school  at  Lake  Forest 
University;  William  Howard,  of  Philadelphia, 
Pa. ;  Fannie  Cone  and  Rose  C. 

Mr.  Mack  has  always  taken  an  intelligent  in- 
terest in  political  and  other  public  interests,  though 
he  is  not  a  partisan  politician.  Growing  up  among 
the  people,  and  earnestly  sympathizing  with  what- 
ever makes  for  good  government  and  mutual  con- 
fidence, he  has  cast  his  vote  and  given  his  influ- 
ence in  ways  promotive  of  these  ends.  His  good 
judgment  and  conscientious  labors  have  been  of 
inestimable  value  to  the  cause  with  which  he  is 
identified,  while  his  genial,  pleasant  manner  has 
won  him  many  warm  personal  friends. 


REUBEN  LUDLAM,  M.  D. 


REUBEN  LUDLAM,  M.  D.,  one  of  the  fore- 
most   physicians,    surgeons    and    medical 
writers  in  the  Northwest,  was  born  in  Camden, 
N.  J.,  on  the  yth  of  October,  1831.     His  parents, 
natives   of    New    Jersey,    were   descended  from 
early  Colonial  immigrants.     His  father,  Dr.  Jacob 
W.    Ludlam,   an  eminent  physician,    spent  his 
earlier  years  in  the  East,  but  removed  with  his 
family  to  Illinois  in  1856,  and  died  in  Evanston 


in  1858,  after  a  long  life  spent  in  alleviating  the 
sufferings  of  humanity.  His  widow,  Mrs.  Mary 
Ludlam,  now  eighty-six  years  of  age,  still  resides 
in  Evanston. 

Reuben  Ludlam's  inherited  tendencies  and  early 
training  led  him  to  follow  in  the  professional  foot- 
steps of  his  father.  In  his  childhood  he  was  ac- 
customed to  accompany  his  father  in  his  daily 
round  of  visits,  and  took  great  interest  in  the  cases 


498 


RKTJBEN  LU.DLAM. 


he  saw.  His  studious  habits  and  thoughtful  na- 
ture caused  his  rapid  advancement  at  school,  and 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  graduated  from  the 
old  academy  at  Bridgeton,  N.  J.,  with  the  highest 
honors  of  his  class.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine  in  his  father's  office, 
and  when  qualified  matriculated  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  (where  his  father  had  received 
his  medical  education) ,  finished  the  curriculum, 
and  was  graduated  therein  in  1852.  He  had  spent 
six  years  in  preparation  for  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession. 

Soon  after  receiving  his  diploma,  Dr.  Ludlam 
came  to  Chicago.  He  was  a  young  man  fresh 
from  the  influences  of  the  regular  or  allopathic 
school  of  teachers,  but  he  did  not  allow  his  train- 
ing or  environment  to  overbalance  his  judgment, 
and  after  weighing  the  doctrines  of  Hahnemann, 
the  great  founder  of  homeopathy,  with  care  and 
conscientious  attention,  he  decided  they  were 
largely  true  and  should  be  adopted.  To  renounce 
the  teachings  of  those  he  had  learned  to  re- 
spect for  their  great  knowledge  of  the  healing  art 
was  a  matter  that  required  a  great  effort,  but, 
his  mind  once  made  up,  he  was  equal  to  the  effort, 
embraced  the  new  theory  of  medicine  and  became 
a  practitioner  of  the  new  school.  In  1859,  tne 
Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Chicago  was  or- 
ganized, and  he  was  chosen  to  fill  the  chair  of 
physiology,  pathology  and  clinical  medicine 
therein.  On  account  of  the  high  degree  of  skill  he 
showed  in  those  branches,  he  was  transferred,  four 
years  later,  to  the  chair  of  obstetrics  and  the  dis- 
eases of  women  and  children.  He  was  made 
Professor  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Diseases  of 
Women  a  few  years  later,  and  elected  Dean  of  the 
college  faculty.  In  each  of  these  capacities 
he  rendered  inestimable  service,  and  his  cheerful 
and  attentive  manner  endeared  him  to  all  who 
came  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance.  For 
twenty-five  years  he  was  Dean  of  the  faculty,  and 
resigned  that  place  to  become  President  of  the 
college  and  hospital  in  1891,  which  office  he  still 
holds. 

From  the  first  Dr.  Ludlam  gave  very  close  at- 
tention to  gynecology,  and  after  exhausting  the 
opportunities  of  this  country  he  made  four  medi- 


cal journeys  to  Enrope,  where  he  spent  some  years 
in  hard  study  and  painstaking  labor  in  order  to 
make  himself  complete  master  of  the  subject.  As 
might  be  expected  from  the  man  and  from  the  ef- 
fort, his  success  was  abundant  and  almost  beyond 
belief.  In  the  department  of  uterine  surgery,  his 
services  in  difficult  operations  are  constantly  in 
demand  throughout  the  Northwest,  and  as  a  con- 
sulting authority  his  ability  is  recognized  wherever 
he  is  known. 

Dr.  I,udlam  was  chosen  President  of  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Homeopathy,  the  oldest  National 
Medical  Society  in  America,  in  1869,  and  presided 
over  its  deliberations  at  Boston,  and  delivered 
the  annual  oration,  entitled  "The  Relation  of  Wo- 
man to  Homeopathy."  He  was  also  elected 
President  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of  Medicine,  of 
the  Illinois  Homeopathic  Medical  Society,  and  the 
Western  Institute  of  Homeopathy.  In  1870,  he 
was  offered,  but  declined,  the  position  of  Physician 
in  Chief  of  the  Woman's  Homeopathic  Infirmary 
of  New  York  City,  and  that  of  Professor  of  Obstet- 
rics and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children  in  the 
New  York  Homeopathic  Medical  College. 

The  confusion  and  almost  total  disorganization 
of  mercantile  and  social  functions  that  succeeded 
the  great  fire  of  1871,  made  it  necessary  to  or- 
ganize a  Relief  and  Aid  Society  for  attending 
the  sick  and  homeless,  who  otherwise  would 
have  been  left  to  suffer,  and  in  many  cases  to 
die,  for  want  of  medical  attention.  Dr.  lyudlam 
was  one  of  the  physicans  who  with  tireless  gener- 
osity devoted  their  best  efforts  toward  the  relief  of 
suffering  without  pay  or  hope  of  reward.  In 
1877  the  State  Board  of  Health  was  organized, 
and  Gov.  Cullom,  recognizing  Dr.  lyudlam's  fit- 
ness for  the  place,  appointed  him  a  member  of  the 
Board.  He  was  twice  re-appointed  and  his  service 
extended  over  a  period  of  fifteen  consecutive  years. 

Although  Dr.  Indiana  is  so  well  known  as  a 
physician  and  surgeon,  it  seems  probable  that  he 
is  best  known,  to  the  reading  and  professional 
world  at  least,  as  a  writer.  For  six  years,  begin- 
ning in  1860,  he  was  editorially  connected  with  the 
North  American  Journal  of  Homeopathy,  publish- 
ed in  New  York,  and  for  nine  years  with  the 
United  States  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  pub- 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

«.VERSITY  OF  ILLir 


STEPHEN  D.  JONES 


S.  D.  JONES 


499 


lished  in  Chicago.  Since  1879,  he  has  been  edi- 
tor of  the  Clinique,  a  monthly  abstract  of  the 
work  of  the  Clinical  Society  and  the  Hahnemann 
Hospital.  His  paper  entitled  "Clinical  Observa- 
tions Based  on  Five  Hundred  Abdominal  Sec- 
tions, ' '  was  one  the  most  important  contributions 
to  this  paper.  In  1871  his  great  work  entitled 
"Clinical  and  Didactic  Lectures  on  Diseases  of 
Women' '  was  published,  and  is  now  in  its  seven- 
teenth edition.  It  is  an  octavo  of  over  one  thous- 
and pages,  employed  as  a  text -book  in  all  home- 
opathic colleges,  and  is  an  acknowledged  author- 
ity among  homeopathic  physicians  both  in  Amer- 
ica and  Europe.  This  work  has  been  trans- 
lated into  French,  and  has  equally  as  high  a 
standing  among  the  physicians  of  continental 
Europe  as  among  the  English-speaking  med- 
ical practitioners.  In  1863,  Dr.  Ludlara 
brought  out  a  volume  entitled  "A  Course  of 
Clinical  Lectures  on  Diphtheria, ' '  which  was  the 
first  work  of  a  purely  medical  character  ever  pub- 
lished in  Chicago  and  the  Northwest.  In  1880, 


in  return  for  the  compliment  paid  him  by  the 
translation  of  one  of  his  volumes  into  French,  Dr. 
Ludlam  rendered  into  English  a  valuable  work 
by  Dr.  Jousset,  of  Paris,  entitled  "A  Volume  of 
Lectures  on  Clinical  Medicine." 

Dr.  Ludlam  has  been  twice  married.  His  first 
wife  was  Anna  M.  Porter,  of  Greenwich,  N.  J., 
who  died  three  years  after  her  marriage.  His 
second  wife  was  Harriet  G.  Parvin.  They  have 
one  son,  Dr.  Reuben  Ludlam,  Jr.,  a  young  man  of 
ability,  whose  education  and  habits  have  enabled 
him  to  be  of  assistance  to  his  father  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  multifarious  labors,  as  well  as  to  estab- 
lish for  himself  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  prac- 
titioner. Dr.  Ludlam  is  an  untiring  worker,  an 
enthusiastic  student  and  an  accomplished  linguist. 
He  is  social  and  a  very  entertaining  conversa- 
tionalist, whose  fund  of  humor  and  anecdote  en- 
riches his  instructive  familiar  discourse.  As  a 
writer  he  is  forceful,  graceful  and  lucid,  and  as  a 
physician  he  stands  in  the  front  rank. 


STEPHEN  DECATUR  JONES. 


ITEPHEN  DECATUR  JONES,  a  worthy 

representative  of  one  of  the  pioneer  families 
of  Cook  County,  now  resides  in  Blue  Island, 
where  he  is  engaged  in  business  as  a  dealer  in  con- 
fectionery, stationery,  etc.  This  is  the  place  of 
his  nativity,  for  his  birth  here  occurred  on  the 
23d  of  October,  1846.  His  parents  were  Stephen 
and  Martha  (Crandall)  Jones.  His  father,  who 
was  a  native  of  Broome  County,  N.  Y.,  born  No- 
vembers, 1806,  died  in  Blue  Island,  June  14,  1851. 
His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  the  Empire 
State,  and  took  part  in  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. Mrs.  Jones  was  born  in  Westford,  Chit- 
tenden  County,  Vt.,  on  the  ist  of  November, 
1808,  and  died  in  Blue  Island  on  the  5th  of  Au- 


gust, 1890.  Stephen  Jones  came  to  Blue  Island 
in  1836,  being  one  of  three  who  in  that  year  lo- 
cated there.  He  opened  a  wagon-shop,  and  car- 
ried on  that  line  of  business  most  of  the  time  un- 
til his  death.  His  wife  came  to  Cook  County  in 
1836,  and  the  following  year  they  were  married. 
Three  children  of  the  six  who  were  born  of  their 
union  survived  the  period  of  infancy:  Eda  Ann, 
who  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  the  village 
which  is  now  her  home;  Stephen  D.  of  this  sketch; 
and  Alice  A.,  now  the  wife  of  C.  'A.  Roberts,  of 
Pasadena,  Cal.  The  mother  was  one  of  the  orig- 
inal members  of  the  Universalist  Church  of  Blue 
Island,  and  in  many  other  waysthe  family  was  con- 
nected with  the  early  history  of  this  community. 


500 


J.  P.  YOUNG. 


The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  record 
was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  town,  and 
at  the  early  age  of  sixteen  years  started  out  in  life 
for  himself.  He  began  to  earn  his  livelihood  by 
working  at  the  carpenter's  trade,  which  he  fol- 
lowed in  this  locality  until  1868,  when  he  went 
to  Brushton,  Franklin  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming.  In  1872,  he  returned  to 
Blue  Island,  and  followed  his  trade  until  1880, 
when  he  embarked  in  his  present  line  of  business. 
He  earnestly  desires  to  please  his  customers,  and 
his  courteous  treatment  and  straightforward  deal- 
ing have  won  him  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
all. 

On  the  1 2th  of  September,  1871,  Mr.  Jones  was 
joined  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Martha  Slate,  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  P.  and  Ann  (McElwain)  Slate,  of 
Bangor,  N.  Y.  The  lady,  who  was  born  in  Ft. 
Covington,  N.  Y. ,  April  24,  1849,  was  a  member  of 
the  Universalist  Church,  and  died  in  Blue  Island, 


December  17,  1893,  at  the  age  of  forty-four  years. 
In  the  family  were  five  children,  but  two  died  in 
infancy.  Those  still  living  are  Emma  Alice,  Asa 
Charles  and  Martha  Lillian. 

Mr.  Jones  was  one  of  the  original  members  of 
the  Universalist  Church  of  Blue  Island,  and  has 
ever  identified  himself  with  those  interests  calcu- 
lated to  improve  the  community  and  promote  the 
general  welfare.  Socially,  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  the 
Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  In  politics,  he  was 
formerly  a  supporter  of  the  Republican  party,  but 
now  affiliates  with  the  Democracy.  For  two  terms 
he  served  as  Clerk  of  Worth  Township.  He  is  a 
man  of  upright  character,  of  a  pleasant  and  accom- 
modating spirit  and  manner,  and  has  the  high  re- 
gard of  all  who  know  him.  He  can  recall  many 
interesting  reminiscences  of  the  early  days  in  Blue 
Island,  and  may  well  be  numbered  among  her 
pioneer  settlers. 


JOSHUA  PALMER  YOUNG. 


(JOSHUA  PALMER  YOUNG,  an  honored 
I  pioneer  of  Chicago  and  Blue  Island,  was  born 
Q)  in  Brockport,  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.,  on  the 
1 8th  of  March,  1818,  and  is  a  son  of  Eli  M.  and 
Temperance  (Palmer)  Young.  Their  family  num- 
bered four  children:  Eli,  a  resident  farmer  of 
Brockport,  N.  Y. ;  William,  who  died  in  Morgan- 
ville,  N.  Y.;  Joshua  P.  of  this  sketch;  and  Reu- 
ben, who  died  in  Williamston,  Mich.  The  father 
of  this  family  was  killed  by  a  falling  tree,  when 
Joshua  was  about  six  years  old,  and  his  wife  died 
several  years  later. 

Soon  after  the  father's  death  the  family  became 
scattered.  Joshua  was  adopted  by  a  Mr.  Staples, 
a  farmer  residing  near  Brockport,  who  treated 
him  kindly  and  gave  him  fair  educational  ad- 
vantages. When  he  had  attained  his  majority  he 


began  life  for  himself  as  clerk  in  a  store  in  his  na- 
tive town,  and  later  engaged  in  teaching  school. 
On  the  isth  of  January,  1845,  Mr.  Young  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Louisa  J.  Spencer, 
daughter  of  Oliver  and  Electa  Spencer,  of  Sweden, 
N.  Y.  The  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  and  the  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Young  were 
Revolutionary  soldiers,  and  were  quartered  at  New 
London,  Conn.,  at  the  time  that  place  was  sacked 
by  Gen.  Arnold;  but  having  been  sent  out  on  an 
expedition  some  distance  from  the  town,  they  es- 
caped capture.  The  young  couple  began  their 
domestic  life  upon  a  farm  near  Sweden,  N.  Y., 
where  they  resided  until  1848,  which  year  wit- 
nessed their  removal  westward.  Taking  up  their 
residence  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Young  here  embarked 
in  business.  He  built  the  first  house  on  the  West 


H.  H.   MASSEY. 


501 


Side,  south  of  Polk  Street,  and  in  1856  he  pur- 
chased eighty  acres  of  land,  comprising  a  part  of 
the  present  site  of  Blue  Island,  which  tract  lay 
between  Western  and  Maple  Avenues,  and  in- 
cluded the  most  valuable  portions  of  the  present 
village,  extending  from  Vermont  to  Burr  Oak 
Streets.  During  the  next  four  years  he  made  his 
home  thereon,  devoting  his  time  and  attention  to 
the  improvement  of  his  purchase,  after  which  he 
returned  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  the  produce 
commission  business  at  Market  and  Lake  Streets, 
being  thus  employed  until  after  the  death  of  his 
wife. 

Mrs.  Young  passed  away  in  Chicago  in  Oc- 
tober, 1863.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Congre 
gational  Church,  and  was  highly  esteemed  for  her 
many  excellencies  of  character.  She  left  two  chil- 
dren, and  one  had  died  in  infancy.  The  surviv- 
ing sons,  Charles  S.  and  Frank  O.,  are  both 
prominent  residents  of  Blue  Island. 

On  the  yth  of  February,  1866,  Mr.  Young  was 
again  married,  his  second  union  being  with  Min- 
erva P.,  daughter  of  Sweet  and  Eliza  Brayton, 
of  Blue  Island.  The  lady  was  born  in  Marion, 
Wayne  County,  N.  Y.,  and  still  resides  in  Blue 
Island.  She  has  one  son,  Chauncey  Brayton 
Young. 

In  1866,  Joshua  P.  Young  returned  to  Blue 
Island,  erected  a  fine  residence  and  began  dealing 


in  real  estate  in  Chicago,  handling  both  city  and 
suburban  property.  In  company  with  John  K. 
Rowley,  he  laid  out  the  south  part  of  Englewood, 
between  Sixty-third  and  Sixty-eighth  Streets, 
and  subsequently  they  platted  the  town  of  South 
I*awn,  now  Harvey.  Mr.  Young  continued  to 
engage  in  the  real-estate  business  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  on  the  26th  of  May,  1889.  From 
the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  was  identified  with 
the  Congregational  Church.  In  Blue  Island  he 
organized  the  society,  and  contributed  liberally 
toward  the  erection  of  the  house  of  worship.  He 
served  as  Deacon  of  that  church  until  called  to 
the  home  beyond,  and  was  ever  one  of  its  most 
faithful  members.  He  cast  his  first  Presidential 
vote  for  William  Henry  Harrison,  and  his  last 
vote  for  Benjamin  Harrison.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Tippecanoe  Club,  and  filled  several  local 
oiEces,  discharging  his  duties  with  promptness 
and  fidelity.  He  was  a  man  of  unquestioned  in- 
tegrity and  lofty,  noble-minded  principles.  He 
was  not  partisan  or  sectarian,  but  advocated 
human  rights  in  politics,  righteousness  and  tem- 
perance in  society,  and  Christianity  in  the  church. 
He  was  ever  progressive,  and  gave  much  thought 
to  social  and  theological  questions,  though  con- 
stantly engaged  in  active  business.  The  influence 
of  his  exemplary  life  will  be  long  felt  wherever  he 
was  known. 


HENRY  HART  MASSEY. 


HENRY  HART  MASSEY,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  northern  Illinois,  now  living  in  Blue  Is- 
land, has  since  an  early  day  witnessed  the 
growth  and  development  of  this  part  of  the  State, 
and  has  borne  his  part  in  its  progress  and  ad- 
vancement.    A  native  of  New  York,  he  was  born 


in  Watertown,  February  25,  1828,  and  is  a  son 
of  Hart  and  Nancy  (Matteson)  Massey.  His 
mother,  who  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  an  earnest  Christian  lady, 
died  in  Watertown  October  u,  1845,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-nine.  The  father  afterward  married 


502 


H.   H.   MASSEY. 


Emeline  Utley,  and  about  1855  removed  to  Jack- 
sonville, 111.,  where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber 
business  for  a  few  years.  He  then  came  to  Blue 
Island  and  carried  on  a  fire  and  life  insurance 
agency.  He,  too,  was  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  was  a  highly  respected  citi- 
zen. His  death  occurred  on  the  3ist  of  January, 
1882,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-nine. 

To  Hart  and  Nancy  Massey  were  born  eight 
children:  Harriet  Amelia,  who  died  December 
14,  1846;  Henry  H.  of  this  sketch;  Julia  Jane, 
who  became  the  wife  of  A.  B.  Safford,  of  Cairo, 
111.,  and  died  January  31,  1862;  Heman  Whelpley, 
who  died  in  Santa  Rosa,  Cal.,  November  25,  1891; 
James  Bates,  who  is  living  in  Oakland,  Cal. ;  Emily 
Elizabeth,  who  died  in  Blue  Island,  April  18, 
1894;  Ann  Eliza,  widow  of  A.  H.  Irvin,  and  a 
resident  of  Blue  Island;  and  Charles  M.,  who 
died  in  Blue  Island,  August  15,  1864. 

The  children  of  the  second  marriage  are:  Ella 
Amelia,  wife  of  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Dickenson,  now 
of  Grand  Junction,  Colo. ;  and  Harriet  Holmes, 
wife  of  George  T.  Hughes,  of  Downer's  Grove, 
111.  The  mother  died  in  Blue  Island  April  20, 
1876. 

H.  H.  Massey  of  this  sketch  was  reared  to 
manhood  on  his  father's  farm,  and  in  1847  re- 
moved to  Joliet,  111. ,  where  he  was  employed  as 
clerk  in  a  general  store  for  two  years.  He  then 
went  to  Chicago  and  secured  a  position  in  the 
dry-goods  store  of  O.  Sherman  &  Co.,  at  No.  104 
Lake  Street,  then  one  of  the  leading  dry-goods 
establishments  of  the  city.  Nearly  all  of  the  bus- 
iness was  done  on  I/ake  Street,  while  the  present 
commercial  center  of  the  city  was  a  residence  dis- 
trict. In  the  fall  of  1851,  Mr.  Massey  went  to 
Blue  Island  as  clerk  for  the  contractor  who  graded 
the  Rock  Island  Railroad.  The  following  yeai 
he  became  Treasurer  of  the  southern  division  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  with  headquarters  at 
Jonesboro,  until  the  road  was  completed  to  Cen- 
tralia,  when  his  office  was  removed  thither.  He 
also  acted  as  pay-master  between  Wapello  and 
Cairo,  111.,  until  1855,  when  he  resigned  and  re- 
turned to  Blue  Island.  Soon  after  he  bought  an 
interest  in  a  general  merchandise  store,  and  carried 
on  business  along  that  line  for  twelve  years. 


Mr.  Massey  has  since  been  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  business  of  this  locality.  In  1868 
he  engaged  in  the  grain  and  commission  business 
on  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  with  which  he 
was  connected  until  1871.  From  that  time  until 
1876  he  dealt  in  real  estate  in  the  city  and  in 
Blue  Island,  after  which  he  was  appointed  Cash- 
ier in  the  County  Recorder's  office,  and  served 
for  five  years.  During  the  succeeding  year  he 
was  employed  in  the  real-estate  department  of  the 
Chicago  &  Western  Indiana  Railroad  Company, 
and  was  then  in  the  grain  commission  business 
until  1892,  when  he  retired  to  private  life.  He 
now  occupies  his  time  and  attention  with  improv- 
ing his  grounds  and  looking  after  his  real-estate 
interests  in  Blue  Island.  He  has  added  a  num- 
ber of  subdivisions  to  the  village  at  various  times. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1853,  in  Blue  Island, 
was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Massey  and 
Miss  Clarissa  C.  Rexford,  daughter  of  Norman 
Rexford.  They  have  become  the  parents  of  five 
children:  Willie  R.,  who  died  at  the  age  of  six 
years;  Mary  S.,  now  the  wife  of  Charles  R. 
Clark,  of  Chicago;  Julia  R.,  wife  of  W.  N.  Rudd, 
of  Blue  Island;  Harry  A.;  and  Fred  F.,  who  is 
now  a  clerk  in  the  Continental  National  Bank  of 
Chicago. 

The  members  of  the  family  are  all  communi- 
cants of  the  Universalist  Church  of  Blue  Island, 
and  Mr.  Massey  has  served  as  one  of  its  Trustees 
and  as  Treasurer  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  since  its  organization.  Socially,  he  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  is  Treas- 
urer of  the  Illinois  Universalist  State  Convention, 
of  which  organization  he  was  a  charter  member. 
In  politics,  he  is  a  stalwart  Republican,  and  never 
fails  to  vote  in  support  of  the  men  and  measures  of 
his  party,  although  he  has  never  sought  office  for 
himself.  With  the  educational  interests  of  the 
community  he  has  long  been  identified,  serving 
as  School  Treasurer  of  Worth  Township  for 
twenty  years.  He  has  also  been  Notary  Public 
since  1856.  He  takes  a  commendable  interest  in 
all  questions  of  public  concern,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  esteemed  citizens  of  Blue  Island.  Mr.  Mas- 
sey remembers  when  there  was  only  one  house  at 
Washington  Heights  and  one  at  Auburn  Park. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
.iVERSITY  OF  ILL!' 


ORRINGTON  UJNT. 


503 


ORRINGTON  LUNT. 


PjRRINGTON  LUNT  is  one  of  the  founders 
K)\  of  Evanston,  and  of  the  Northwestern  Uni- 
^J  versity,  and  has  been  one  of  the  important 
factors  in  the  upbuilding  of  Chicago.  In  the  days 
of  the  infancy  of  the  city,  he  cast  in  his  lot  with 
its  settlers,  and  his  interests  have  since  been  con- 
nected with  theirs.  Many  monuments  to  his 
handiwork  still  stand,  and  the  history  of  Cook 
County  would  be  an  incomplete  volume  without 
the  record  of  his  life.  He  was  born  December  24, 
1815,  in  Bowdoinham,  Me.  His  father,  William 
I<unt,  was  a  leading  merchant  of  that  place,  and 
represented  his  district  in  the  State  legislature. 
He  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Henry  Lunt,  of 
Newburyport,  Mass. ,  who  emigrated  to  the  United 
States  from  England  in  1635.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  died  when  he  was  ten  years  old,  and  his 
father  afterwards  married  again.  He  lived  to  a 
ripe  old  age,  and  both  he  and  his  second  wife 
died  December  31,  1863. 

Mr.  I,unt  of  this  sketch  attended  the  public 
and  private  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  in  his 
fourteenth  year  entered  his  father's  store,  serving 
as  clerk  until  he  attained  his  majority,  when  he 
was  admitted  to  partnership.  They  safely  passed 
through  the  financial  panic  of  1837,  for  their  busi- 
ness had  been  prudently  managed,  and  they  could 
thus  meet  the  crisis.  Soon  after,  the  father  re- 
tired, and  a  partnership  was  formed  between  Or- 
rington  and  his  brother  W.  H.  They  did  a  good 
business,  and  besides  dealing  in  dry  goods  traded 
largely  and  shipped  hay  and  produce  to  the  South. 
In  1842,  Mr.  L,unt  sold  out,  preparatory yto  mov- 
ing westward.  He  believed  that  better  advant- 
ages were  furnished  by  the  new  and  rapidly  grow- 
ing West,  and  the  then  young  town  of  Chicago 
attracted  him.  He  left  home  on  the  ist  of  No- 
vember, and  on  the  nth  reached  his  destination. 
This  western  town  had  then  not  a  single  railroad, 
and  its  business  at  that  time  was  very  slack,  not 


much  being  done  through  the  winter  season. 
Mr.  Lunt  hoped  for  better  opportunities  in  the 
spring,  but  his  wife's  health  at  that  time  forced 
him  to  return  to  Maine.  The  many  discourage- 
ments which  he  met  disheartened  him,  but  he 
would  not  give  up,  and  in  the  later  part  of  July 
we  again  find  him  in  Chicago.  He  had  no  capi- 
tal, but  was  furnished  with  letters  of  recommen- 
dation from  leading  merchants  in  the  East.  He 
began  business  as  a  commission  merchant,  and 
soon  had  built  up  a  flourishing  trade.  In  the 
summer  of  1844  he  began  dealing  in  grain,  and 
in  the  following  winter  packed  pork  to  a  limited 
extent.  Both  of  these  ventures  proved  profitable, 
and  he  then  leased  one  hundred  feet  of  ground  on 
the  river  front  for  ten  years,  erecting  thereon  a 
grain  house.  With  the  growth  of  the  city  his 
business  increased,  and  in  those  .early  days  he 
made  one  sale  of  fifty  thousand  bushels,  which 
was  considered  a  large  transaction.  He  had  now 
made  about  $10,000,  but  trade  the  following  spring 
proved  disastrous,  and  he  lost  all  he  had.  He 
never  shipped  grain  East,  Chicago  being  his  only 
market,  and  through  the  experience  gained  by 
his  losses  he  became  a  prudent  and  careful  busi- 
ness man.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  since  the  beginning,  but  the  business 
done  there  in  early  years  was  little,  as  the  organi- 
zation had  to  struggle  for  existence  for  some 
time,  notwithstanding  a  lunch  of  crackers  and 
cheese  served  as  an  attraction.  In  1853  he  aban- 
doned the  grain  trade,  and  retired  for  a  time  from 
commercial  life. 

Mr.  Lunt  has  been  connected  to  a  considerable 
extent  with  official  positions.  He  was  first  called 
to  office  when  in  his  twenty-second  year,  being 
elected  Clerk  and  Treasurer  of  his  town,  and  also 
appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace.  In  1855  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  Water  Commissioner  for 
three  years  for  the  south  division  of  the  city. 


504 


ORRINGTON'JAJNT. 


On  the  expiration  of  his  first  term  he  was  re-elect- 
ed, and  during  the  last  three  years  he  served  as 
Treasurer  and  President  of  the  Board.  At  the 
end  of  the  six  years  the  city  departments  were  con- 
solidated in  the  Board  of  Public  Works.  He  was 
made  a  Director  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union 
Railroad  in  1855,  and  continued  as  such  until  the 
consolidation  of  the  road  with  the  Northwestern. 
For  several  years  he  was  one  of  the  Auditors  of 
the  Board  of  Directors,  and  his  time  was  largely 
given  to  the  business  of  the  office.  During  his 
last  two  years  with  the  road  he  served  as  its  Vice- 
President.  In  1877  Mr.  Lunt  was  elected  by  the 
lot  owners  of  Rose  Hill  Cemetery  Company  as 
one  of  the  three  trustees  for  the  care  of  the  lot 
owners'  fund.  He  was  President  of  the  Board, 
and  for  the  last  few  years  its  Treasurer.  It  has 
been  well  managed,  and  a  fund  of  $100,000  col- 
lected and  now  in  their  hands  has  been  invested 
in  Cook  County  and  city  bonds. 

Mr.  Lunt  had  previously  leased  his  warehouse, 
but  the  parties  failed  after  the  panic  of  1857,  and 
he  took  possession  of  it  in  1859.  Forming  a 
partnership  with  his  brother,  S.  P.  I,unt,  they 
used  the  warehouse  as  a  canal  elevator,  and  did  a 
large  business,  sometimes  handling  three  and  a- 
half  million  bushels  annually.  Impaired  health, 
however,  forced  him  to  abandon  the  grain  trade 
in  1862,  and  in  1865  he  started  for  the  Old  World 
with  his  family,  spending  two  years  abroad,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  visited  many  of  the  famous 
cities  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

Mr.  Lunt  was  united  in  marriage,  on  the  i6th 
of  January,  1842,  to  Cornelia  A.  Gray.  Her  father, 
Hon.  Samuel  Gray,  was  a  prominent  attorney  of 
Bowdoinham,  his  native  town,  and  was  Repre- 
sentative, Senator  and  a  member  of  the  Gover- 
nor's Council  of  the  State.  He  was  also  promi- 
nent in  commercial  circles.  Four  children  were 
born  unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lunt,  three  sons  and  a 
daughter,  but  one  son  died  in  infancy.  Horace, 
who  graduated  from  Harvard  University,  is  a 
leading  attorney;  and  George  is  a  sturdy  busi- 
ness man.  Cornelia  G.,  the  accomplished  daugh- 
ter, seems  to  have  inherited  her  father's  philan- 
thropic nature,  and  takes  a  most  active  part  in 
charitable  and  benevolent  work. 


During  the  late  war  the  Union  found  in  Mr. 
I<unt  a  faithful  friend.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety  and  War  Finance,  appointed 
at  the  first  meeting,  which  convened  April  13, 
1 86 1.  The  Sunday  after  the  fall  of  Sumter  he 
spent  in  raising  supplies  and  in  preparing  the  first 
regiment  to  start  from  this  city  to  Cairo.  His 
labors  in  behalf  of  the  army  and  the  Union  then 
continued  until  victory  perched  on  the  banners  of 
the  North.  Four  years  after  the  commencement 
of  the  struggle  he  had  the  pleasure  of  being 
present  when  the  Old  Flag  was  again  flung  to  the 
breeze  from  the  battlements  of  the  fort,  attending 
the  Grand  Review  of  the  victorious  army,  and 
visiting  the  principal  cities  of  the  late  Confed- 
eracy. 

When  about  twenty  years  of  age,  Mr.  Lunt 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  his 
name  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  history  of 
its  growth  in  this  locality.  For  about  twenty 
years  he  was  Trustee  of  the  Clark  Street  Method- 
ist Church,  and  during  much  of  that  time  was 
Secretary  of  the  Board.  He  bought  several  lots 
on  the  corner  of  State  and  Harrison  Streets  in 
1848,  and  five  years  later  sold  them  on  three 
years'  time  to  the  church  at  cost  price.  That 
ground  was  afterwards  exchanged  for  the  site  of 
the  Wabash  Avenue  Methodist  Church,  to  which 
he  transferred  his  membership  in  1858.  He  has 
always  given  most  liberally  for  the  erection  of 
church  edifices,  both  of  his  own  and  other  denom- 
inations in  the  city,  and  struggling  churches  in 
the  West.  Of  the  Clark  Seminary  at  Aurora,  he 
was  one  of  the  first  Trustees.  This  was  built  by 
a  private  company,  but  subsequently  turned  over 
to  the  church  without  •  compensation.  He  was 
one  of  the  charter  members,  and  has  been  Secre- 
tary, Treasurer  and  General  Business  Agent  of 
the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute  from  its  organiza- 
tion in  1853.  IQ  company  with  a  few  others,  he 
procured  the  charter  for  and  incorporated  the 
Northwestern  University  of  Evanston.  The  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  secure  a  site.  They 
wished  to  get  land  on  the  lake  front,  but  could 
find  none  which  they  thought  near  enough  to  the 
city,  and  were  almost  closing  a  deal  for  property 
in  Jefferson.  Through  the  instrumentality  of 


MATERNUS  SCHAEFER. 


505 


Mr.  Lunt,  however,  who,  in  riding  one  day,  vis- 
ited the  present  site  of  Evanston,  the  business  was 
deferred,  and  his  judgment  led  to  the  selection  of 
the  spot  where  now  stands  the  University.  To 
this  institution  he  has  contributed  in  time,  energy 
and  money,  and  while  he  was  in  Europe  the  board 
set  aside  land,  now  valued  at  $100,000,  which  he 
had  given,  as  the  Orrington  I,unt  library  Fund. 
Desirous,  also,  to  render  possible  the  erection  of 
a  suitable  library  building,  he  has  given  $50,000 
toward  the  one  now  in  process  of  completion. 
This  splendid  building  is  of  Bedford  stone,  beau- 
tiful in  style,  graceful  and  enduring.  The  finest 
structure  on  the  campus,  it  is  a  fitting  memorial 
of  the  man  whose  name  it  perpetuates  in  the  let- 
ters carved  upon  its  noble  entrance:  THE  OR- 
RINGTON LUNT  LIBRARY.  He  has  always  been 
on  the  executive  committee  of  the  school,  and 
has  been  largely  instrumental  in  the  success  of 
the  institution.  He  was  early  connected  with  the 
Chicago  Orphan  Asylum,  and  raised  nearly  $20,- 
ooo  to  complete  the  edifice,  while  a  member  of 
the  building  committee  in  the  summer  of  1854. 

The  Chicago  fire  consumed  the  home  of  Mr. 
Lunt  and  all  of  the  buildings  from  which  he  de- 
rived an  income.  The  winter  following  he  served 
on  the  Special  Fire  Relief  Committee.  Many 
Methodist  Churches  and  the  Garrett  Biblical  In- 
stitute also  suffered  great  losses,  and  a  committee 
to  devise  means  for  their  relief  was  appointed  by 
the  Rock  River  Conference.  Arrangements  were 
made  to  solicit  funds,  and  Mr.  Lunt  became  Sec- 


retary and  Treasurer.  For  eighteen  months  he 
was  actively  engaged  in  the  disbursement  and 
collection  of  the  money  raised,  about  $150,000. 
By  this  means  he  was  enabled  to  rebuild  the  Gar- 
rett building,  the  structure  being  finer  than  the 
former  one.  When  he  could  find  time  for  his  own 
work  he  built  the  fine  banking-house  occupied  by 
Preston,  Kean  &  Co.  He  has  truly  borne  his 
part  in  the  upbuilding  of  Chicago. 

On  the  i6th  of  January,  1842,  was  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lunt,  and  a  half- 
century  later  was  celebrated  their  golden  wedding. 
Two  hundred  friends  met  to  extend  to  this  worthy 
couple  their  congratulations  for  the  happy  years 
that  had  passed,  to  review  the  lives  so  well  spent, 
and  to  wish  them  the  return  of  many  more  such 
pleasant  occasions.  The  co-workers  of  Mr.  Lunt 
in  church,  in  business  and  in  his  university  labors 
all  bore  their  testimony,  not  only  to  his  pleasant 
companionship,  but  to  his  honorable,  upright  life 
and  exemplary  character.  Many  beautiful  gifts 
attested  the  esteem  and  love  of  guests,  which 
could  not  be  expressed  in  words  alone.  Al- 
though Mr.  Lunt  has  led  a  very  prominent  life, 
he  is  yet  retiring  and  very  unassuming  in  man- 
ner. He  has  followed  the  Golden  Rule,  has 
walked  in  the  light  as  he  saw  it,  has  been  un- 
wearied in  well-doing,  and  when  he  shall  have 
been  called  to  the  home  beyond  he  will  leave  to 
his  family  what  Solomon  says  is  better  than  great 
riches,  ' '  a  good  name. ' ' 


MATERNUS  SCHAEFER. 


I ATERNUS  SCHAEFER,  a  retired  farmer 
residing  in  Gross  Point,  has,  as  {the  result 
of  his  enterprise  and  industry  in  former 
years,  acquired  a  competency  that  now  enables 
him  to  lay  aside  business  cares.  Reclaims  Prus- 
sia as  the  land  of  his  birth,  which  occurred  on 
the  26th  of  August,  1833.  He  is  the  eldest  in  the 
family  of  thirteen  children  born  to  Peter  and 


Lena  (Bleser)  Schaefer.  In  1843  the  parents 
bade  adieu  to  the  Fatherland,  and,  having  crossed 
the  briny  deep  to  the  New  World,  took  up  their 
residence  in  New  Trier  Township,  Cook  County, 
where  they  continued  to  make  their  home  until 
called  to  their  final  rest.  The  father  died  June 
12,  1894,  in  his  ninetieth  year,  and  his  wife  passed 
away  in  1891,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine.  They 


506 


GEORGE  WEIMER. 


were  well-known  and  highly-respected  people, 
and  further  mention  of  them  and  their  children  is 
made  in  connection  with  the  sketch  of  John 
Schaefer,  on  another  page  of  this  work. 

The  gentleman  of  whom  we  write  became  fa- 
miliar with  farming  in  all  its  details  at  an  early 
age.  He  was  married  on  the  26th  of  August, 
1854,  to  Miss  Mary  Schaefer,  daughter  of  John 
Schaefer,  a  tanner.  She  was  born  in  Prussia, 
November  4,  1835,  and  died  May  21,  1891,  the 
last  of  her  family  to  pass  away.  Fourteen  chil- 
dren were  born  of  this  union,  seven  sons  and 
seven  daughters,  of  whom  two  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters are  yet  living,  namely:  Katrina,  who  was 
born  March  4,  1856,  and  is  the  wife  of  Louis  A. 
Brucks,  a  real-estate  dealer  and  insurance  agent 
of  Englewood;  Christina,  who  was  born  Decem- 
ber 19,  1857,  and  is  the  wife  of  Mathias  Wagner, 
a  carpenter  and  contractor  of  Englewood;  Anna 
Maria,  who  was  born  March  26,  1861,  and  is  the 
wife  of  Gerhard  StefFens,  a  liquor  dealer  of  Gross 
Point;  Peter  Joseph,  who  was  born  December  29, 
1862,  and  is  a  contractor  and  builder  of  Wilmette; 
Frank,  who  was  born  October  18,  1864,  and  fol- 
lows farming  at  Gross  Point;  Helena,  who  was 
born  February  21,  1867,  and  is  the  wife  of  Peter 


Sesterhenn,  an  agriculturist  of  the  same  locality. 
Margarite,  born  November  24,  1868,  wife  of  Max 
Engels,  who  is  engaged  in  the  beer-bottling  busi- 
ness at  Gross  Point;  and  Eva,  who  was  born  No- 
vember 13,  1870,  and  is  the  wife  of  William  Wer- 
ner, a  teamster  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Schaefer  and  his  family  are  Catholics  in 
religious  faith,  belonging  to  St.  Joseph's  Church 
in  Gross  Point.  He  cast  his  first  Presidential 
vote  for  Buchanan,  then  supported  Lincoln,  and 
has  since  been  a  stanch  Republican.  He  has 
filled  the  offices  of  Town  Collector,  was  President 
of  the  Village  Board  for  thirteen  years,  and  has 
been  School  Director  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
He  is  a  member  of  St.  Joseph's  Library  and  Sick 
Benefit  Association,  and  is  a  loyal  citizen,  devoted 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  community.  He  now 
owns  thirty-five  acres  of  valuable  land  on  section 
33,  New  Trier  Township,  besides  a  number  of 
residences  in  Wilmette.  He  is  a  worthy  repre- 
sentative of  an  honored  pioneer  family,  and  is  a 
highly-respected  citizen,  whose  excellencies  of 
character  have  gained  for  him  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  brought  in 
contact. 


GEORGE  WEIMER. 


WEIMER  is  one  among  the  repre- 
|_  sentative  citizens  of  Lemont.  He  was  born 
^_J  in  Nassau,  Germany,  on  the  23d  of  Septem- 
ber, 1835,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Margaret 
(Weis)  Weimer.  The  father  was  a  blacksmith, 
and  died  when  George  was  only  five  years  old. 
Three  years  later,  Mrs.  Weimer  became  the  wife 
of  John  Noll. 

Our  subject  was  the  third  in  a  family  of  four 


children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  At  the 
age  of  five  years,  he  began  to  attend  the  public 
schools,  and  finished  the  course  at  the  age  of 
twelve.  During  the  next  two  years  he  attended 
the  high  school  and  also  took  lessons  as  a  private 
student,  acquiring  a  good  practical  education.  In 
1853,  he  left  Germany  for  the  United  States,  and 
landed  at  New  York  on  the  23d  of  August  of  that 
year.  In  New  York  City  and  Raritan,  New  Jer- 


GEORGE  WEIMER. 


507 


sey,  during  the  succeeding  two  years,  he  learned 
the  cabinet-maker's  trade,  after  which  he  started 
westward,  arriving  in  Chicago  August  23,  1855. 
There  he  learned  carpentering  and  made  the  city 
his  home  until  the  latter  part  of  1857,  a  portion 
of  the  time  being  engaged  as  a  carpenter  and 
builder.  In  November  of  that  year  he  went  to 
Europe  and  returned  with  his  parents  and  their 
family  the  following  spring.  They  settled  near 
Downer's  Grove,  Du  Page  County,  and  Mr. 
Weimer  resided  in  Chicago,  where  he  did  business 
as  a  contractor.  He  erected  many  buildings  in 
various  parts  of  Cook  County.  In  1860,  became 
to  Lemont. 

On  the  23d  of  June,  1861,  Mr.  Weimer  and 
Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Hein  were  united  in  marriage 
in  this  place.  The  lady  is  a  native  of  the  same 
town  as  her  husband  and  came  to  America  with 
her  parents  in  1856. 

After  two  or  three  years'  residence  in  Lemont, 
Mr.  Weimer  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  merchandising  until  1865,  at  which 
time  he  went  to  New  Buffalo,  Michigan,  and  car- 
ried on  contracting  and  building,  erecting  more 
than  a  hundred  buildings  during  his  stay  there. 
For  years  he  devoted  his  time  and  attention  to 
merchandising,  and  also  held  the  offices  of  Asses- 
sor and  Supervisor  from  1867  until  1877.  For 
ten  years  he  was  also  Justice  of  the  Peace.  In 
1877,  he  returned  to  Lemont,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  For  a  short  time,  in  company  with  his 
brother,  Andrew  Weimer,  he  conducted  a  wagon 
and  blacksmith  shop,  but  during  the  greater  part 
of  the  time  he  has  been  a  contractor  and  builder.  In 
1879,  he  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  held 
that  office  for  four  years.  In  1893,  he  was  again 
elected  to  that  position,  and  is  kept  busy  during  ' 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  the  discharge  of 
his  official  duties. 

Mr.  and  Mrs  Weimer  have  become  the^parents 
of  seven  children,  namely:  George  A.;  Rosa,  wife 
of  Peter  Meilinger,  of  Chicago;  Mary  Ann,  Joseph 
M.,  Maria  Elizabeth,  Frank  Joseph  and  Benjamin 
Franklin. 

George  A.  Weimer,  of  Lemont,  is  a  son  of 
George  and  Elizabeth  C.  Weimer,  whose  sketch  is 


given  above.  He  was  born  at  this  place  on  the 
5th  of  June,  1862,  and  obtained  a  good  education 
in  the  schools  of  the  town,  where  he  spent  his 
early  life,  attending  until  nineteen  years  of  age. 
In  1882,  he  began  to  learn  the  drug  business,  and 
continued  in  that  line  until  May,  1893,  becoming 
in  the  mean  time  a  very  proficient  pharmacist. 
His  first  employer  was  G.  A.  Bodenschatz,  with 
whom  he  remained  six  years,  when  J.  G.  Boden- 
schatz succeeded  to  the  business,  and  Mr.  Weimer 
spent  the  remaining  years  in  his  employ.  His 
genial  disposition  and  good  character  made  him 
a  favorite  with  Lemont  people,  and  when  but 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  to  office, 
and  from  that  time  to  the  present  he  has  filled 
some  public  position.  In  1883,  he  was  elected 
Town  Clerk  and  filled  that  office  until  1888,  when 
he  was  appointed  City  Clerk,  thus  serving  until 
the  next  election,  when  he  was  elected.  In  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  that  position  his  time  was 
passed  until  April,  1893,  he  being  annually  re- 
elected.  At  the  last-mentioned  date,  he  was 
elected  Township  Supervisor,  and  was  again  the 
people's  choice  in  1894.  In  1893,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  place  in  the  County  Treasurer's  office, 
which  he  held  until  February,  1894,  when  he  was 
made  deputy  in  the  office  of  the  Recorder  of  Deeds 
in  Cook  County,  in  which  capacity  he  is  now 
serving.  In  the  fall  of  the  present  year  (1894) 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Democracy  as  the  can- 
didate of  that  party  for  State  Senator  from  the 
Seventh  Senatorial  District. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1883,  Mr.  Weimer  was 
joined  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Lizzie  V.  Hettingei, 
daughter  of  George  Hettinger,  who  came  to  Le- 
nient about  1863.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first 
volunteer  fire  company  of  Chicago.  To  them 
four  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  were 
born,  all  of  whom  died  of  diphtheria  in  less  than 
two  weeks'  time,  in  May.  1893.  The  death  of  his 
children  destroyed  Mr.  Weimer's  faith  in  the  ef- 
ficacy of  medicines  and  caused  him  to  abandon 
pharmacy.  He  is  an  ardent  and  influential  sup- 
porter of  Democracy  and  a  member  of  several  fra- 
ternal societies. 


508 


W.  S.  WHITE. 


WILLIAM  S.  WHITE,  M.  D. 


SEYMOUR  WHITE,  M.  D.,  is  a 
native  of  Greenwood,  McHenry  County, 
Illinois,  and  was  born  on  the  sotli  of  De- 
cember, 1864.  The  records  show,  and  the  Doc- 
tor modestly  admits,  that  he  is  descended  on  the 
maternal  side  from  Francis  Capet  (Coquilette) , 
the  Huguenot  half-brother  of  L,ouis  XIV.,  King 
of  France,  who,  on  account  of  the  persecutions  to 
which  that  sect  was  subjected,  fled  to  America, 
and,  changing  his  name  to  Coquilette,  became  the 
progenitor  of  a  numerous  family  in  Westchester 
County,  New  York,  and  later  removed  with  his 
family  to  Rockland  County,  New  York.  His  de- 
scendant, William  Coquilette,  the  great-grand- 
father of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  died  in  Rock- 
land  County,  New  York,  at  an  early  age.  Maria 
(Garrison)  Coquilette,  his  wife,  died  at  the  age 
of  eighty-eight  years.  Peter  Cook,  Dr.  White's 
maternal  grandfather,  a  native  of  New  York  and 
a  descendant  of  the  Knickerbockers,  married 
Eletta,  daughter  of  William  and  Maria  Coquilette. 
Capt.  William  White,  the  paternal  grandfather 
of  Dr.  White,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Gottenburg, 
Sweden,  in  1813,  and  at  an  early  age  became  a 
sailor.  In  his  voyages,  Capt.  White  carried 
troops  to  Mexico  while  the  United  States  was  at 
war  with  that  country,  transported  the  first  ship- 
load of  stone  for  the  construction  of  Ft.  Moultrie, 
and  twice  circumnavigated  the  globe.  His  wife, 
who  still  survives  him,  was  Mary  Ehrhardt,  of 
Philadelphia. 

William  R.  White,  the  father  of  the  subject  ol 
this  sketch,  and  the  son  of  Capt.  William  and 
Mary  White,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  in 
1841,  and  has  been  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits all  his  life.  He  married  Emily  A.  Cook, 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Eletta  Cook,  two  children, 


William  S.  and  Wilomene  T.,  being  the  result 
of  this  union. 

William  S.  White  came  to  Chicago  with  his 
parents  in  1865.  He  received  his  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  Chicago.  His  first  work 
was  in  the  grocery  store  of  John  A.  Tolman  &  Co. , 
where  he  remained  a  year.  He  later  entered  the 
employ  of  D.  S.  Munger  &  Co.  as  office  boy,  and 
in  three  years  worked  his  way  upward  to  the 
position  of  cashier.  In  1884  he  entered  the  Chi- 
cago Homeopathic  Medical  College.  At  that  time 
the  course  required  only  two  years,  but  he  at- 
tended three  years,  and  during  the  season  of 
1886-87  demonstrated  anatomy  to  the  class  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  and  also  a  part  of  that 
time  to  the  senior  class.  He  graduated  in  1888. 
Following  his  graduation,  he  was  successful  in 
winning  honors  in  a  competitive  examination,  and 
during  the  years  1888  and  1889  was  interne  in 
the  Cook  County  Hospital  for  eighteen  months. 
Subsequently  he  was  called  to  Rochester,  New 
York,  where  he  opened  and  put  in  practical  oper- 
ation the  Rochester  Homeopathic  Hospital,  com- 
monly known  as  the  Monroe  Avenue  Hospital. 

Returning  to  Chicago,  Dr.  White  entered  into 
the  general  practice  of  medicine  and  dermatology, 
..in  which  he  has  since  been  engaged,  with  office 
at  No.  70  State  Street.  In  the  fall  of  1889  he  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  Demonstrator  of  An- 
atomy in  the  Chicago  Homeopathic  College.  In 
1890  he  was  made  clinical  assistant  in  the  depart- 
ment of  dermatology,  and  in  1893  was  appointed 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  same  insti- 
tution. In  January,  1893,  he  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  Dermatologist  in  the  homeopathic 
department  of  the  Cook  County  Hospital,  and 
still  fills  all  of  these  positions.  He  is  a  member 


JEROME  BEECHER. 


509 


of  the  Illinois  Homeopathic  Medical  Association 
and  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homeopathy. 
He  holds  membership  in  two  fraternal  organiza- 
tions, being  medical  examiner  in  the  Improved 
Order  of  Heptasophs. 

On  the  sth  of  October,  1892,  Dr.  White  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Isabelle  Stone,  of 
Charlotte,  Vermont,  daughter  of  Luther  D.  and 
Phoebe  (Rogers)  Stone. 

To  judge  the  future  from  the  past,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  predict  for  Dr.  White  success  in  a  much 


greater  measure  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of 
the  medical  practitioner.  His  mind  is  active,  his 
memory  retentive,  his  habits  studious,  his  com- 
prehension of  the  science  of  medicine  rapid,  intui- 
tive and  thorough.  His  manner  is  easy,  affable 
and  vivacious,  with  a  dash  of  bonhomie,  which, 
no  doubt,  is  inherited  from  his  Gallic  ancestors. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  mental  attrition 
with  Dr.  White  would  brighten  many  preten- 
tious members  of  the  medical  profession. 


JEROME   BEECHER. 


HERO  ME  BEECHER,  among  the  early,  sub- 
I  stantial  and  most  exemplary  citizens  of  Chi- 
O  cago,  was  a  scion  of  old  and  well-known  New 
England  stock.  His  father,  Mather  Beecher  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  Central  New  York,  going 
thither  from  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  He  was 
a  tanner  by  occupation,  and  gave  to  his  family 
the  training  which  has  developed  so  much  of 
thrift,  enterprise  and  morality  among  the  sons  of 
New  England,  and  has  made  an  indelible  impres- 
sion upon  the  religious,  educational  and  mercan- 
.  tile  conditions  of  the  United  States,  and  particul- 
arly the  northern  half  of  the  country.  Wherever 
a  leaven  of  Yankee  blood  is  found  in  a  community, 
there  are  sure  to  be  found  churches,  schools,  fac- 
tories and  sound  business  men,  Chicago  was  es- 
pecially fortunate' in  that  the  major  portion  of  her 
pioneers  came  from  the  land  of  industrious  habits 
and  careful  economy,  and  to  this  cause  alone 
may  be  attributed  her  wonderful  progress  in  busi- 
ness supremacy,  as  well  as  in  social  and  moral 
culture. 

Jerome  Beecher  was  born  in  the  town  of  Rem- 
sen,  Oneida  County,  New  York,  January  4,  1818. 
His  first  implement  for  self-help  was  the  intellect- 


ual training  afforded  by  the  village  school,  and 
he  was  early  made  familiar  with  the  occupation 
of  his  father,  mastering  all  that  pertained  to  the 
manufacture  of  leather  and  its  uses.  His  natural 
sagacity  and  shrewdness,  with  these  helps,  en- 
abled him  to  conduct  the  large  business  which  he 
built  up  in  later  years,  and  to  manage  intricate 
financial  trusts  which  were  placed  in  his  care. 

The  year  1838  found  him  in  Chicago,  whither 
his  father  sent  him  to  look  after  a  stock  of 
leather,  boots,  shoes  and  findings  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  an  incompetent  or  unfaithful  agent. 
He  managed  this  undertaking  with  such  success 
and  found  such  glowing  prospects  in  the  young 
city  that  he  decided  to  remain  here  and  engage  in 
business  permanently.  At  that  time  the  center 
of  business  clustered  about  the  corner  of  I/ake  and 
LaSalle  streets,  and  his  pioneer  store  was  among 
those  forming  the  group.  He  shortly  set  up  a 
tannery,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  about  1858. 
During  these  years,  he  had  grown  in  wealth  with 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  city  and  surrounding 
country,  his  industry  and  integrity  bringing  him 
a  large  trade,  which  he  retained  until  he  de- 
cided to  retire  and  give  attention  to  his  invest- 


510 


JEROME  BEECHER. 


ments.  His  accumulations  had  been  invested  in 
land  and  improved  real  estate.  With  other  care- 
ful investments,  these  had  grown  in  value  beyond 
his  fondest  anticipations,  and  he  found  himself 
while  yet  in  vigorous  middle  life  a  man  of  in- 
dependent means,  and  at  the  time  of  his  demise, 
after  more  than  half  a  century's  residence  here, 
his  estate  had  become  very  valuable. 

He  became  interested  in  the  gas  business  as 
early  as  1850,  and  was  made  a  director  in  the  Chi- 
cago Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company.  He  was  in- 
terested in  the  Merchants'  Savings,  Loan  & 
Trust  Company,  and  was  one  of  the  purchasers  of 
the  Chicago  West  Division  Railroad,  of  which  he 
was  many  years  a  director,  in  1863.  A  recent 
writer  says:  "Among  the  enterprises  of  his 
earlier  years,  for  which  he  should  be  remembered 
with  grateful  regard  by  those  who  survive,  was 
his  connection  as  trustee  and  treasurer  with  the 
Graceland  Cemetery  Improvement  Company,  in 
whose  peaceful  grounds  so  many  once  active  in  the 
brisk  life  of  Chicago  have  found  their  last  resting 
place." 

Mr.  Beecher  had  in  his  youth  attended  the 
worship  of  the  Unitarian  society  near  his  home  in 
New  York,  and  he  adhered  to  the  faith  which 
he  there  imbibed  throughout  his  long  and  useful 
life.  The  First  Unitarian  Society  of  Chicago 
was  a  feeble  band,  in  the  third  year  of  its  exist- 
ence, when  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  to  his  zealous 
aid  much  of  its  subsequent  strength  is  due.  At 
his  decease,  after  completing  more  than  the 
allotted  years  of  the  scripture,  the  church  pre- 
pared and  had  engraved  a  most  beautiful  and 
touching  memorial,  which  was  presented  to  his 
widow.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Calumet  Club, 
whose  meetings  of  old  settlers  in  annual  reunion 
gave  him  great  pleasure.  The  Old  Settlers'  As- 
sociation embraced  most  of  his  business  and  social 
companions,  and  he  was  prominent  in  its  con- 
duct. Mr.  Beecher  always  endeavored  to  fulfill 
the  duties  of  citizenship,  but  was  conspicious  in 
politics  only  once  in  his  life.  This  was  in  the 
memorable  campaign  of  1840,  when  the  Demo- 
cratic party  was  overthrown  and  William  Henry 
Harrison,  the  Whig  candidate,  elected  to  the 
Presidency.  Mr.  Beecher  was  a  delegate  in  the 


convention  which  nominated  Harrison,  and  took 
part  in  the  political  meetings  held  in  a  log  cabin 
on  the  north  side,  near  Rush  Street  bridge. 

In  his  business  relations,  Mr.  Beecher  was  a 
man  of  unspotted  integrity,  careful  and  quiet  in 
action,  and  reticent  in  speaking  of  himself  or  his 
affairs.  One  of  his  favorite  methods  of  benevolent 
action  was  the  assistance  of  some  worthy  man  in 
starting  in  business,  realizing  that  the  truest  way 
to  help  others  is  to  teach  and  aid  them  to  help 
themselves.  He  loved  to  gather  children  and 
young  people  about  him,  and  a  number  were 
taken  into  his  family  and  educated.  He  was  es- 
pecially fond  of  music,  and  to  his  own  family  con- 
nections and  friends  he  was  ever  generous.  His 
style  of  living  was  unostentatious,  and  his  hab- 
its were  simple  and  domestic.  In  bearing,  he 
was  affable  and  considerate,  and  he  always  spoke 
charitably  of  men,  making  it  a  rule  never  to  speak 
ill  of  any  person. 

Four  years  after  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  Mr. 
Beecher  took  a  helpmeet  in  the  person  of  Miss 
Mary  Warren,  daughter  of  Daniel  Warren,  whose 
biography  will  be  found  on  another  page  of  this 
book,  and  she  proved  in  every  way  a  companion 
to  him.  Mrs.  Beecher's  twin  sister  married 
Silas  B.  Cobb,  another  pioneer  leather  merchant 
(see  skeech  in  this  work).  The  sisters  so  closely 
resembled  each  other  as  to  be  often  mistaken,  one 
for  the  other. 

The  first  housekeeping  experience  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Beecher  was  in  a  modest  rented  house  at  the 
corner  of  Lake  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue,  and 
they  afterwards  built  a  home  on  Michigan  Ave- 
nue. The  advance  of  business  drove  them  to 
several  removals  until  thi  family  homestead  at 
No.  241  Michigan  Avenue  was  constructed.  This 
is  one  of  two  or  three  which  escaped  the  flames  in 
the  great  fire  of  187 1 ,  and  is  almost  the  sole  repre- 
sentative on  the  lake  front  of '  'old  Chicago. ' '  Here 
they  dwelt  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  here 
Mrs.  Beecher  continues  to  reside.  She  is  greatly  in- 
terested in  benevolent  work,  and  has  been  active  in 
promoting  several  of  the  most  important  charities 
of  the  city,  regarding  a  fortune  as  a  blessing  only 
in  the  proportion  it  is  devoted  to  doing  good. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
DIVERSITY  OF  ILL!' 


WILLIAM  METZGER 


(From  Photo  by  W.  J.  ROOT.) 


WILLIAM    METZGER. 


WILLIAM   METZGER, 


P  GJlLLIAM  METZGER.     For  more  than  half 
\  A  I    a  century  this  worthy  pioneer  has  resided 

V  V  in  Chicago,  and  in  that  long  interval  he 
has  drawn  to  himself  many  true  friends.  He 
was  born  May  30,  1825,  inLangau,  near  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  Province  of  Hesse- Darmstadt, 
Germany.  Both  his  parents,  Henry  and  Margaret 
Metzger,  were  natives  of  the  same  place  and  were 
members  of  old  and  highly-respected  German 
families.  Henry  Metzger  kept  a  meat  market 
and  also  conducted  an  inn.  The  parents  died 
when  William  was  yet  a  mere  boy,  leaving  a 
large  family,  five  of  whose  members  became 
residents  of  the  United  States. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  enterprising 
one  who  first  left  his  native  land  and  settled  in 
America.  The  next  year  he  was  followed  by  his 
sisters,  Mary  and  Katharine,  both  of  whom  are 
now  deceased.  Hermann  arrived  in  1850,  settled 
in  Burlington,  Iowa,  and  died  there  many  years 
ago.  Adolph  resides  in  Chicago,  whither  he 
came  in  1853. 

William  Metzger  attended  the  parish  school 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  when 
he  was  obliged  to  become  self-supporting,  as  the 
large  family  was  not  well  provided  for,  on  ac- 
count of  the  premature  death  of  the  parents. 
Immediately  on  leaving  school  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  a  butcher  to  learn  the  trade,  and  served 
three  and  one-half  years,  after  which  he  con- 
tinued to  work  at  his  trade  in  Frankfort  until 

1847. 


In  May  of  that  year  he  left  home  and  kindred 
behind  him  to  seek  a  fortune  in  a  new  and 
strange  land.  The  native  American  can  realize 
little  of  the  sorrow  and  loneliness  that  beset  the 
foreigner  when  he  first  sets  foot  in  a  country 
whose  language  and  customs  are  nearly  altogether 
new  and  uncongenial  to  him.  Proceeding  down 
the  River  Rhine,  young  Metzger  went  to  Lon- 
don, England,  where  he  took  passage  on  a  sail- 
ing vessel  bound  for  New  York,  and  spent  six 
tedious  weeks  on  the  ocean.  The  prospect  might 
well  daunt  a  stout  heart,  but  he  was  determined 
to  make  his  way,  and  went  first  to  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin,  where  he  might  hear  a  familiar  word 
and  become  somewhat  accustomed  to  the  ways 
and  language  of  the  country.  He  arrived  there 
in  time  to  witness  the  celebration  of  the  nation's 
birthday,  which  took  place  the  next  day.  In 
October  he  went  to  Buffalo,  New  York,  and  was 
employed  at  his  trade  there  until  September  of 
the  following  year,  when  he  carried  out  his  pur- 
pose to  cast  his  lot  with  the  growing  city  of 
Chicago. 

Here  he  toiled  two  years  in  the  service  of  Ellis 
&  Clybourn,  the  well-known  early  meat  dealers, 
and  then  set  up  a  market  of  his  own,  on  West 
Randolph  Street,  having  a  partner  in  the  person 
of  Frederick  Steigele.  A  short  time  later,  in 
1852,  they  bought  out  Peter  Beygeh,  on  Market 
Street,  and  continued  there  two  years.  Mr. 
Metzger  then  purchased  ground  on  Canal  Street, 
between  Polk  and  Mather  Streets,  where  he  es- 


512 


A.  B.  KIRCHHOFF. 


tablished  himself  alone  as  soon  as  he  could  erect 
a  building  for  the  purpose.  Here  he  conducted 
a  profitable  business  until  1860,  when  he  re- 
moved to  the  corner  of  Fifteenth  and  Canal 
Streets  and  continued  there  eight  years.  This 
property  he  rented  and  established  himself  in  a 
small  packing  house  on  Lumber  Street,  near 
Halsted.  This  he  carried  on  until  1876.  In  that 
year  he  moved  his  residence  to  the  corner  of 
Lumber  and  Halsted  Streets,  where  he  continued 
to  reside  until  1883.  At  this  time  he  built  a 
house  at  the  corner  of  Fifty-sixth  Street  and 
Kimbark  Avenue,  and  lived  in  retirement  from 
business  six  years. 

In  1889  he  was  active  in  organizing  the  Chi- 
cago Brewing  Company,  and  was  one  of  the  di- 
rectors and  its  president  and  treasurer  five  years. 
At  the  end  of  this  period  he  sold  his  stock  in  the 
concern.  In  1893  the  Valentine  Mueller  Pack- 
ing Company  was  organized  at  Nos.  502  and  504 
Larrabee  Street,  and  Mr.  Metzger  has  been  a 
stockholder  in  that  concern  ever  since. 

He  has  ever  been  a  shrewd  and  energetic  busi- 
ness man,  and  success  has  amply  rewarded  his 
efforts.  Though  never  a  politician  in  the  sense 
of  seeking  office,  he  has  frequently  made  his  in- 
fluence felt  in  political  contests.  He  is  a  Re- 


publican from  principle,  and  supports  a  partisan 
ticket  in  national  affairs,  but  is  independent  of 
any  organization  in  local  contests.  He  is  a 
charter  member  of  Herder  Lodge,  No.  669,  An- 
cient Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  was  several 
years  its  treasurer. 

September  22,  1852,  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Katharine  Teutsch,  a  native 
of  Bavaria,  having  been  born  February  26,  1836, 
at  Sieferstadt,  in  the  Rhein-Pfalz.  Six  of  their 
children  are  living,  namely:  Mary,  wife  of  Valen- 
tine Mueller;  Anna,  now  Mrs.  W.  H.  Wallace; 
Augusta,  wife  of  John  W.  Popp;  Margaret,  Mrs. 
Frederick  Handtmann;  Charles  W.  and  Emma, 
still  residing  with  their  parents.  The  family  is 
identified  with  St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church. 

Mr.  Metzger  is  a  thorough  American  in  prin- 
ciple and  has  always  done  his  full  duty  in  promot- 
ing the  best  interests  of  the  city  and  state.  His 
business  cares  have  not  dulled  his  nature,  and  he 
is  still  hale  and  hearty.  A  man  of  large  stature, 
of  kind  heart  and  genial  manners,  with  well- 
preserved  body  and  mind,  he  still  holds  the 
friendship  of  a  long  and  busy  business  life,  and 
enjoys  the  respect  and  kind  wishes  of  all  who 
have  been  privileged  to  know  him. 


AUGUST  B.  KIRCHHOFF. 


Gl  UGUST  BERNARD  KIRCHHOFF  is  the 
Jl  son  of  Henry  Kirchhoff,  whose  biography 
/  |  appears  on  another  page  of  this  volume, 
and  to  which  the  reader  is  referred  for  informa- 
tion. 

He  has  born  May  13,  1863,  and  passed  the 
first  twenty- two  years  of  his  life  at  his  father's 
home.  He  then  started  out  to  make  his  own 
way  in  life,  bringing  to  bear  the  same  energy  and 
industry  that  have  marked  his  subsequent  career. 
His  first  employment  was  as  a  station  agent  for 


the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  Saint  Paul  Railway 
Company  at  Pingree  Grove,  Illinois.  For  five 
years  he  discharged  the  duties  of  this  responsible 
post  with  scrupulous  fidelity,  and  for  three  and 
one-half  years  thereafter  was  at  Franklin  Park. 
His  next  business  undertaking  was  the  operation 
of  a  printing  office  on  Peoria  Street,  in  partner- 
ship with  D.  L.  Gill,  the  firm  name  being  Kirch- 
hoff &  Gill.  This  venture  he  abandoned  after  a 
year,  to  accept  a  clerical  position  with  Morgan  & 
Wright.  For  twelve  months  he  remained  with 


JOHN  HARLEV. 


513 


this  firm,  at  the  expiration  of  which  period  he 
entered  the  office  of  the  auditor  of  the  Milwaukee 
and  Saint  Paul  Railway  Company  as  clerk,  and 
has  continued  in  the  service  of  that  corporation 
ever  since. 

He  was  married  January  24, 1887,  to  Elizabeth 
Ellen  Scoffern,  a  daughter  of  Richard  Scoffern, 
of  Allen,  Michigan.  She  is  a  native  of  England, 
where  she  was  born  March  26,  1866. 


Mr.  Kirchhoff  became  a  member  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America  in  1888,  and  is  also  a 
member  of  Franklin  Park  Council,  No.  107, 
Royal  League,  of  Franklin  Park.  He  is  scribe 
of  that  body,  and  has  held  the  office  ever  since 
its  institution. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  and  has  been 
treasurer  of  Franklin  Park  ever  since  the  organ- 
ization of  that  village. 


JOHN  HARLEV. 


(JOHN  HARLEV.  "The  profession  of  dent- 
I  istry,"  as  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  has  beau- 
Q)  tifully  and  truthfully  said,  "has  established 
and  prolonged  the  reign  of  beauty;  it  has  added 
to  the  charms  of  social  intercourse  and  lent  per- 
fection to  the  accents  of  eloquence;  it  has  taken 
from  old  age  its  most  unwelcome  feature,  and 
lengthened  human  life  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  years  when  the  toothless  and  purblind  patri- 
arch might  well  exclaim,  'I  have  no  pleasure  in 
them.'  " 

It  is  of  this  noble  profession  that  Dr.  John 
Harlev  is  a  distinguished  member.  He  is  de- 
scended from  a  prominent  family  of  Denmark,  in 
which  country  he  was  born  June  14,  1858.  His 
grandfather,  Jens  Harlev,  was  a  teacher  and  dea- 
con and  director  of  church  music,  and  was  the 
father  of  six  sons,  of  whom  five  were  dragoons 
and  one  a  musician. 

Dr.  Harlev's  father,  Niels  Henning  Harlev, 
served  as  a  soldier  in  three  wars — those  of  1848, 
1851  and  1864.  By  occupation  he  was  a  building 
contractor,  and  he  erected  many  mills,  as  well  as 
numerous  churches.  He  still  lives  (1900)  in  the 
land  which  he  has  served  so  well,  in  retirement 
upon  a  farm;  and  although  eighty  years  old  he 
yet  retains  every  physical  and  mental  power. 


Mrs.  Harlev,  Senior,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Marie  Raven,  is  also  living,  in  hale  and  hearty 
form,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years. 

The  doctor's  boyhood  and  youth  were  passed 
in  his  native  country.  Until  he  reached  the  age 
of  fourteen  years  he  attended  the  common 
schools,  and  for  three  years  afterward  he  worked 
upon  a  farm.  The  military  blood  of  his  ances- 
tors, however,  coursed  through  his  veins,  and  he 
abandoned  the  plowshare  for  the  accoutrements 
of  a  soldier.  For  two  years  he  was  a  corporal, 
and  then,  trying  the  examination  for  promotion 
to  a  lieutenancy,  he  failed  to  pass.  It  was  this 
circumstance  that  led  to  his  voluntary  withdrawal 
from  the  service,  and  ultimately  to  the  dental 
profession  gaining  an  honored  member  and  the 
United  States  a  valued  citizen. 

On  quitting  the  army  he  went  to  Copenhagen, 
where  for  six  years  he  was  connected  with  the 
police  force,  and  during  half  that  time  held  a 
high  position  in  the  service.  One  of  his  most 
valued  possessions  is  the  written  testimonial 
given  him  by  the  department  on  the  occasion  of 
his  retirement. 

It  was  at  Copenhagen  that  he  studied  his  pro- 
fession; attending  a  dental  school  there  two 
years,  and  subsequently  practicing  in  that  city 


PETER  HORSLEV. 


one  year.  In  1890  he  came  to  America,  and  has 
since  been  a  resident  of  Chicago.  His  first  loca- 
tion here  was  at  the  corner  of  Wallace  and  Thir- 
ty-fifth Streets,  but  after  remaining  there  one 
year  he  removed  to  his  present  suite  of  offices  at 
the  corner  of  Halsted  and  Thirty-fifth  Streets. 

Since  coming  to  this  city  he  has  supplemented 
his  studies  in  Denmark  by  eighteen  months'  at- 
tendance at  lectures  at  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  and  by  obtaining  a  degree  from  the 
Northwestern  Dental  College. 


Before  crossing  the  ocean  he  had  taken  to  him- 
self a  wife  in  the  person  of  Miss  Anna  Benson, 
who  was  born  in  Norway,  and  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  1883.  Four  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  only  one  of  whom — Odette — is  still  living. 

Dr.  Harlev  was  formerly  a  member  of 
"Walhalla,"  but  has  severed  his  connection  with 
that  body.  He  is,  however,  a  Free  Mason,  an 
Odd  Fellow  and  a  member  of  the  American  Fra- 
ternal League,  Danish  Brotherhood  and  Sister- 
hood in  America  and  Royal  Arcanum. 


PETER  HORSLEV. 


|~^ETER  HORSLEV,  a  resident  of  Chicago  for 
LX  fifteen  years,  was  born  in  Jutland,  Den- 
K)  mark,  June  4,  1858.  His  father,  Jens  Hors- 
lev,  was  a  native  of  Germany,  but  removed  to 
Denmark  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  There 
he  married  a  Danish  lady,  Marie  Petersen,  and 
reared  a  family  of  six  children,  of  whom  the  sub- 
ject of  this  brief  sketch  is  the  youngest.  The 
paternal  Horslev  was  by  trade  a  butcher,  and 
died  in  1867,  in  the  land  of  his  adoption.  His 
widow  survived  him  thirty  years,  passing  away 
in  1897. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  Peter  Horslev 
left  school  to  enter  upon  a  three  years'  apprentice- 
ship at  the  carpenter's  trade;  and  on  becoming  a 
journeyman,  resolved  to  see  the  world.  He 
started  out  when  but  a  youth  of  seventeen  and 
traveled  over  Germany,  Austria,  Servia,  Bulgaria 
and  Roumania,  visiting  also  Silesia  and  Sweden. 
His  journeyings  extended  over  a  period  of  five  and 
one-half  years,  he  working  at  his  trade  in  the 
many  lands  through  which  he  passed.  Returning 
to  his  native  country,  he  remained  two  years, 
still  working  at  the  bench,  and  in  1883  he  led  to 
the  altar  his  countrywoman,  Miss  Minnie  Ras- 
mussen.  The  following  year  he  concluded  to  try 


his  fortunes  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and  in 
1884  sailed  for  America.  He  left  his  wife  and 
infant  child  behind,  and  sent  for  them  the  next 
year. 

He  first  went  to  Detroit,  where  he  worked  as  a 
journeyman  for  some  four  months;  but,  not  feel- 
ing satisfied,  he  came  to  Chicago.  For  six  years 
he  was  an  employe,  but  in  1890  he  started  in 
business  for  himself  as  a  contractor.  Seven  years 
later  he  gave  up  this  pursuit  to  engage  in  the 
sale  of  tea  and  coffee,  which  he  still  conducts. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  Mr.  Horslev's  mar- 
riage in  Denmark.  His  wife  bore  him  five  chil- 
dren, of  whom  one  died  in  infancy.  The  names 
of  those  living  are:  Astria,  Sorena,  Olga  and 
Alma.  After  twelve  years  of  happy  wedded  life 
the  mother  passed  away,  and  for  four  years  Mr. 
Horslev  remained  a  widower.  In  1899  he  took 
a  second  wife  in  the  person  of  Mrs.  Emma  Bjorn, 
whose  husband,  Charles  Bjorn,  had  died  eight 
years  before.  The  second  Mrs.  Horslev  was  the 
mother  of  four  children,  Jennie,  Amy,  Celia  and 
Alvin  Bjorn,  all  of  whom  live  with  their  mother 
and  step-father. 

Mr.  Horslev  is  an  active  member  of  the  Wal- 
halla Society,  in  which  he  takes  an  ardent  inter- 


W.  S.  SCHROEDER. 


est.  He  is  at  present  serving  his  third  term  as 
president  of  the  order,  having  previously  been 
vice-president,  fie  has  also  been  prominently 
identified  with  organized  labor  in  Chicago  since 
the  first  movement  to  secure  an  eight-hour  day, 
in  1886.  For  three  years  he  was  an  officer  in 
Carpenters'  Union  No.  23,  for  a  year  and  one- 


half  a  delegate  to  the  Carpenters'  Council,  and  a 
delegate  to  the  Trade  and  Labor  Assembly  for 
about  twelve  months.  In  politics  he  is  affiliated 
with  the  Socialist-Labor  party,  and  is  president 
of  the  company  publishing  the  Arbcjderen,  a  Dan- 
ish weekly  paper  published  at  Chicago  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  working  people. 


WILLIAM  S.  SCHROEDER. 


STEENBERG  SCHROEDER, 
f°reman  i°  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railway  Shops,  was  born  in  Middeferry, 
Denmark,  September  23,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of 
Frederick  William  and  Elizabeth  Schroeder,  both 
of  whom  died  recently  in  Denmark.  Frederick 
W.  Schroeder  died  in  1894,  aged  seventy-six 
years,  and  his  wife  in  1898,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven  years.  They  were  the  parents  of  three 
sons  and  two  daughters.  The  sons  all  came  to 
America.  Noble,  who  reached  America  in  1866, 
is  a  druggist  at  No.  229  Jackson  Park  Terrace; 
William  came  to  America  in  1868,  and  J.  C., 
who  came  several  years  later,  died  in  Chicago  in 
1886. 

William  S.  Schroeder  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  his  native  place.  He  learned  the  trade 
of  ship  carpenter  and  made  voyages  for  thirteen 
years,  a  part  of  that  time  as  ship's  carpenter,  and 
the  remainder  as  mate,  having  passed  an  exami- 
nation and  secured  his  license  for  that  purpose. 
His  voyages  took  in  nearly  all  of  the  world.  He 
sailed  three  times  around  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
visited  the  Indies,  Mediterranean  Sea,  California, 
Iceland  and  many  other  places  and  was  once 
ship-wrecked  off  the  coast  of  Finland.  In  1868 
he  shipped  at  Liverpool,  England,  as  mate  in  an 
American  sailing  vessel,  and  after  landing  in 
New  York  decided  to  come  to  Chicago,  where 
one  of  his  brothers  resided. 


After  sailing  on  the  lakes  one  summer  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railway  Company  in  the  shops  at  Chicago.  In 
a  few  years  he  was  promoted  to  be  assistant  fore- 
man, and  later  was  made  foreman  in  the  car- 
building  department,  which  position  he  has  held 
about  twenty-five  years.  His  long  term  of  serv- 
ice is  the  best  evidence  of  his  skill  as  a  mechanic 
and  his  fidelity  to  duty. 

Mr.  Schroeder  has  a  reputation  as  an  inventor, 
and  has  patented  a  number  of  useful  devices. 
One  of  the  most  important  is  the  Chicago  car- 
coupler,  patented  in  1889,  and  which  is  in  use  all 
over  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  system,  as  well 
as  on  several  other  roads.  Another  invention  of 
his  is  the  grain  car  door,  now  used  on  the  Chi- 
cago &  North  western  system,  and  on  other  roads. 

Mr.  Schroeder  is  interested  in  fraternity  and 
the  teachings  of  secret  societies,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  National  Union, 
and  also  of  the  Mutual  Aid  Association  of  the 
company  in  whose  employ  he  is  at  the  present 
time.  In  1874  he  married  Annie  Melkild,  a  na- 
tive of  Norway,  who  came  to  the  United  States 
while  yet  a  child.  Of  this  union  two  children, 
Elenor  and  Charles,  have  been  born.  Mrs. 
Schroeder  passed  from  this  life  in  1883,  sincerely 
mourned  by  a  host  of  friends  and  relatives. 

While  not  taking  an  active  part  in  politics,  Mr. 
Schroeder  has  always  been  sufficiently  interested 


516 


JOHN  ESCH. 


in  public  affairs  to  exercise  his  frauchise  in  the 
interest  of  good  government,  and  though  oc- 
casionally voting  for  a  man  of  the  opposite  party, 
he  has  generally  supported  the  Republican  ticket. 
He  is  not  a  member  of  any  church,  but  is  a  man 
of  exemplary  habits  and  exerts  is  influence  in 
the  interests  of  morality. 

His  life  has  been  spent  during  the  past  quarter 


of  a  century,  largely,  in  devising  ways  and  means 
by  which  the  life  and  limbs  of  his  fellow-men 
might  be  preserved,  and  their  usefulness  aug- 
mented through  the  use  of  his  inventions.  Truly, 
of  one  whose  efforts  have  been  crowned  with  such 
a  measure  of  success  it  may  be  said  that  he  has 
not  lived  in  vain,  and  that  the  world  is  happier 
through  him. 


JOHN  ESCH. 


HOHN  ESCH,  who  has  played  an  important 
I  part  in  developing  the  agricultural  resources 
G)  of  Cook  County,  but  is  now  retired,  was 
born  September  n,  1836,  in  the  village  of 
Schale,  province  of  Westphalia,  Germany.  His 
parents  were  Gerhardt  Lambert  and  Marie  (Von 
Haar)  Esch.  The  father  was  a  prominent  citi- 
zen of  the  village  of  Schale,  his  native  place,  and 
carried  on  an  extensive  business  as  a  building 
contractor  in  that  and  the  neighboring  villages. 
He  also  owned  a  farm  of  forty  acres.  Of  tall 
stature,  weighing  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
pounds,  he  possessed  considerable  education  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church.  He  died  in  the  spring  of  1845,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-five  years,  and  his  body  lies  buried 
in  his  native  village.  He  had  one  brother,  John 
Esch,  who  was  also  a  carpenter.  Mrs.  Marie 
Esch  was  a  native  of  Schale,  where  she  died  in 
1839,  aged  about  sixty  years.  Following  is  the 
record  of  her  children : 

Gerhardt  Lambert  Esch,  born  February  14, 
1814,  died  in  Leyden,  Illinois,  December  18, 
1891.  He  was  a  wagon  maker  in  Germany,  re- 
moved to  Illinois  in  1842  and  settled  at  Bensen- 
ville,  where  he  built  one  of  the  first  wagons  made 
there.  He  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  on  sec- 
tion 16,  in  Ley  den  Township,  for  which  he  paid 
the  Government  price  of  one  and  one-fourth  dol- 


lars per  acre.  Here  he  built  a  house,  which  is 
still  standing.  He  subsequently  purchased  twenty 
acres  in  section  10,  and  continued  farming  until 
1889,  after  which  he  lived  with  his  brother,  John 
Esch.  He  was  married  about  the  time  he  pur- 
chased his  first  land  to  Mrs.  Mary  Lageschulte, 
who  was  born  in  Germany  and  died  in  Ley  den  in 
1877. 

Annie  Esch,  born  about  1816,  married  a  man 
named  Meier  and  became  the  mother  of  seven 
daughters.  She  afterward  came  to  America  and 
died  about  1889,  being  then  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Kluender.  Mary  Esch  also  came  to  this  coun- 
try, married  John  Kirk,  had  two  children,  and 
lived  at  Quincy,  Illinois,  where  she  died  about 
the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  Elsebine  Esch 
remained  in  Germany,  where  she  married  Henry 
Kuhlenbusch  and  had  three  children.  Gerhardt 
Esch  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  and  left  home 
for  America  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  after 
which  his  relatives  never  heard  of  him.  Katharine 
emigrated  to  Quincy,  Illinois,  where  she  married 
and  had  two  children.  Both  she  and  her  hus- 
band are  dead.  Henry  Francis  Esch  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty  years,  and  one  other  child  of  his 
parents  died  in  infancy. 

John  Esch  is  the  youngest  of  the  family.  He 
received  the  benefit  of  the  educational  advantages 
afforded  by  his  native  village  and  at  the  early  age 


A.  C.  RICHELSEN. 


of  fifteen  years  resolved  to  emigrate  to  America, 
where  his  elder  brother  had  already  established 
himself.  The  latter,  being  without  children, 
desired  his  younger  brother  to  join  him  in  his 
American  home.  In  company  with  a  friend, 
Frederick  Frei,  John  Esch  left  Germany  in 
March,  1852,  and  finished  a  long  ocean  voyage 
at  New  Orleans  May  15  following.  Proceeding 
direct  to  Leyden  he  made  his  home  with  his 
brother  until  1859,  when  he  married  and  settled 
on  a  farm  of  forty  acres.  From  1857  to  1870  he 
operated  a  threshing  machine,  with  considerable 
profit.  By  gradual  purchases  he  acquired  a 
valuable  farming  property,  comprising  ninety 
acres  in  section  35,  twenty-four  acres  in  section 
36  and  sixty  acres  at  Manheim,  all  in  the  town 
of  Leyden.  He  built  a  house  on  section  35  in 
1854,  the  work  being  done  by  Christoph  Weiss. 
This  was  repaired  and  enlarged  from  time  to 
time,  and  in  1885  a  new  residence  was  erected. 

Mr.  Esch  carried  on  extensive  farming  opera- 
tions until  1895,  when  he  gave  the  responsibilities 
and  labors  into  younger  hands  and  purchased 
a  handsome  residence  at  No.  215  Chicago  Ave- 
nue, Oak  Park,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He 
has  ever  been  a  valued  member  of  the  Evangelical 
Church,  and  has  always  enjoyed  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  has  taken  a 
deep  interest  in  education,  and  was  school  trustee 
for  a  period  of  nine  years.  In  political  questions 
he  adheres  to  the  principles  promulgated  by  the 
Republican  party. 

March  9,  1859,  Mr.  Esch  was  married  to  Miss 
Loretta  Ernestine  Weiss,  who  was  born  Novem- 


ber 4,  1840,  in  Goldlauder,  Germany,  and  died 
February  21,  1876,  in  Leyden.  Her  body  was 
first  buried  at  Elgin,  but  was  later  removed  to 
Forest  Home  Cemetery.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Christoph  and  Mary  Weiss,  who  emigrated  to 
America  about  1853. 

To  John  and  Loretta  Esch  were  born  the  fol- 
lowing children:  February  29,  1860,  Amelia, 
now  Mrs.  Frank  Robinson,  residing  at  the  corner 
of  Chicago  and  Sixty-fourth  Avenues,  Oak  Park; 
September  8,  1861,  Henry  Samuel,  who  died  Oc. 
tober  9,  1879;  November  17,  1863,  John  William, 
who  married  Emily  Bessler  and  resides  on  the 
family  homestead  in  Leyden;  March  16,  1866, 
George  Frederick,  who  died  March  17,  1895; 
July  6,  1868,  Louis  Franklin,  now  a  farmer  in 
Clay  County,  Nebraska,  who  married  Ida  May 
Newmann  and  has  a  son,  Forest  C.  Esch;  Octo- 
ber 19,  1872,  Heinrich  Herman,  now  residing 
with  his  brother  on  the  old  farm;  August  4, 
1875,  Loretta  Marie,  who  died  October  2,  1876. 

Mr.  Esch  was  wedded  a  second  time  August 
15,  1876,  to  Mary  Rech,  daughter  of  William 
and  Elizabeth  (Schlierbach)  Rech.  Mrs.  Esch 
was  born  October  4,  1854,  in  the  village  of  Bie- 
ber,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany.  She  came  to 
America  in  1864,  with  her  parents,  who  now  re- 
side in  Elgin,  Illinois.  Six  children  have  been 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Esch,  as  follows:  Hattie 
Lillian,  September  21,  1877;  Edna  Winona,  Jan- 
uary 19,  1879;  Bertha  Elizabeth  Amelia,  No- 
vember 12,  1880;  Willis  Carl,  August  13,  1882; 
Frank  Rech,  November  23,  1883;  and  Emil  Ed- 
ward, June  6,  1887. 


ANTON   C    RICHELSEN. 


Gl  NTON  CARL  RICHELSEN  is  one  of  those 
LJ  yet  in  the  flush  of  early  manhood,  who  have 
/  I  blazed  their  own  path  through  the  woods 
with  the  axe  whetted  by  industry,  integrity  and 


perseverance.  He  was  born  April  19,  1868,  at 
Jyndevadt,  in  the  Province  of  Schleswig,  Ger- 
many, where  the  language,  antecedents  and 
character  of  the  people  are  still  essentially  Dan- 


E.  C.    BUNCK. 


ish.  His  parents — Peter  and  Johanna  M.  (Jo- 
hanseu)  Richelsen — are  still  living,  the  father 
being  engaged  in  farming  and  also  doing  a  mer- 
cantile business. 

A.  C.  Richelsen  is  the  second  in  a  family  of 
nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are  still  living.  He 
remained  at  home  until  he  was  eleven  years  of 
age,  and  then  continued  to  work  for  neighboring 
farmers  until  he  attained  his  majority.  He  re- 
ceived instruction  in  a  parochial  school  until  six- 
teen years  old,  and  entered  the  army,  in  accord- 
ance with  German  usage,  November  7,  1890. 
He  was  called  to  Altona,  Hamburg,  to  join  the 
Third  Company,  First  Thyringschen  Infantry 
Regiment,  No.  31,  in  which  he  served  two 
years. 

During  the  second  year  of  his  service  a  cholera 
epidemic  raged  at  Hamburg,  and  the  troops 
were  sent  to  the  barracks  at  Lokstadtlaga.  Here 
they  were  drilled  two  weeks,  when  they  were  ov- 
ertaken by  the  epidemic,  which  swept  away  one 
and  one-half  regiments.  They  were  then  moved 
to  Mecklenburg,  where  they  remained  seven 
weeks.  Soon  after  this  time  Mr.  Richelsen, 
with  twenty-one  others,  was  discharged  from  the 
service  with  honor,  having  reduced  their  term 
from  three  to  two  years  by  good  behavior.  Mr. 
Richelsen  beat  the  company  snare  drum  during 


his  term,  receiving  the  distinctions  belonging  to 
that  function.  He  left  the  army  September  15, 
1892,  and  remained  at  home  with  his  parents 
about  three  months,  meantime  working  on  the 
farm. 

In  the  early  part  of  January,  1893,  he  bade 
adieu  to  home  and  friends  and  set  out  for  Chi- 
cago. Here  he  worked  about  two  years  at  vari- 
ous occupations  and  then  went  to  Grundy  Coun- 
ty, Illinois,  where  he  continued  two  years  in  the 
service  of  a  farmer  named  Frank  Holroyd.  Re- 
turning to  Chicago  about  the  first  of  December, 
1896,  he  was  married  here  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
that  month  to  Miss  Sorine  M.  Jensen,  a  Danish 
lady  by  birth,  who  has  since  performed  the  part 
of  a  faithful  wife  and  helpmeet.  In  the  following 
spring  he  went  to  work  as  a  teamster  and  contin- 
ued four  months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he 
purchased  a  team  and  began  business  on  his  own 
account.  Two  years  later  he  added  another  team 
and  wagon,  and  is  doing  a  successful  and  grow- 
ing teaming  business,  with  headquarters  at  his 
residence,  No.  2623  Shields  Avenue. 

Mr.  Richelsen  has  been  a  member  of  the  Wal- 
halla  Society  since  coming  to  this  city.  He  has 
a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances  and  is  esteemed  as 
a  faithful  friend,  an  honest  man  and  an  upright 
citizen. 


EDWARD  C    BUNCK. 


IT  DWARD    CHRISTIAN    BUNCK   first  op- 
ry   ened  his  eyes  in  the  northern  part  of  Den- 
L_    mark,   at  a  place  called  Thisted,   May  18, 
1871.      His  father  was  a  keeper  of  a  restaurant 
and   was   widely    known  and  highly  respected. 
He  had  served  in  the  war  with  Germany  in  1864, 
and  the  veterans  of  that  memorable  struggle  were 
held  in  reverence.     Mr.  Bunck's  mother  was,  be- 
fore   marriage,  Helene   Petersen.     She   died    in 


1876.  He  has  a  sister  older  and  a  brother 
younger  than  himself,  and  these  three  comprise 
the  family. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  Edward  C.  Bunck 
had  completed  the  course  of  training  prescribed 
in  the  Danish  common  schools,  and  was  appren- 
ticed to  learn  the  trade  of  a  painter.  The  three 
years  of  his  service  having  been  completed,  he  at 
once  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  coming  di- 


G.  W.    HANNIS. 


rectly  to  Chicago.  He  reached  this  city  June  5, 
1891.  His  trade,  his  industry,  his  ambition  and 
his  grit  constituted  by  far  the  greater  part  of  his 
available  capital.  He  also  had  seven  dollars  in 
cash.  He  immediately  sought  and  obtained  work 
as  a  journeyman. 

Four  years  were  enough  for  him  to  acquire 
sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  language,  cus- 
toms and  business  methods  of  the  people  of  a 
strange  land  to  enable  him  to  go  into  business 
with  a  slender  capital,  which  temperance  and 
thrift  had  enabled  him  to  slightly  augment.  In 
1895  he  struck  out  on  his  own  account  and  has 
since  then  been  constantly  prosperous,  each  year 
seeing  his  efforts  rewarded  by  fresh  success.  In 
busy  seasons  he  employs  about  ten  men. 

He  opened  his  first  shop  at  No.  449  Monticello 
Avenue.  Some  eighteen  mouths  later  he  re- 


moved to  the  corner  of  Forty-seventh  Street  and 
Calumet  Avenue.  There  he  remained  until 
1899,  when  he  established  himself  at  his  present 
location,  No.  4648  Calumet  Avenue. 

Mr.  Bunck  is  an  active  and  prominent  member 
of  the  Danish  Brotherhood,  having  held,  at  vari- 
ous times,  the  offices  of  recording  secretary,  fi- 
nancial secretary,  vice-president  and  president. 
In  politics  he  is  a  socialist,  having  been  president 
of  the  Danish  Section  No.  i,  for  a  year.  He  was 
also,  for  a  time,  manager  of  the  "Arbejderen,"  a 
journal  published  in  the  interest  of  the  socialist- 
labor  party,  and  is  now  one  of  the  directors  of 
the  company  publishing  it. 

His  tastes  are  refined,  his  disposition  genial, 
and  his  nature  candid.  He  is  a  musician  of  no 
mean  skill,  and  his  company  is  always  in  request 
among  his  very  wide  circle  of  friends. 


GEORGE  W.  HANNIS. 


gEORGE  WASHINGTON  HANNIS,  an 
early  resident  of  Chicago  and  one  of  the  old- 
est firemen  in  its  service,  is  a  native  of 
Bridgeton,  New  Jersey,  where  he  was  born 
May  30,  1832,  being  a  son  of  Thomas  W.  and 
Mary  Ann  (Stow)  Hannis.  His  ancestors  lo- 
cated in  Pennsylvania  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  engaged  in  farming  on  the  present 
site  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  objects  to  be  observed  in  that  city 
during  the  Centennial  Exposition  was  the  old 
brick  farmhouse  erected  by  the  Hannis  family 
before  the  city  was  built.  This  family  has  fur- 
nished many  prominent  in  the  military  affairs  of 
the  nation. 

Andrew  Hannis,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  served  in  the  war  for  independence 
and  Thomas  W.  Hannis  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Mexican,  Blackhawk  and  Civil  wars.  In  the 


last  named  struggle  the  latter  also  had  a  son, 
Alonzo  Hannis,  who  was  a  member  of  Company 
C,  First  Ohio  Cavalry. 

Thomas  W.  Hannis  was  a  tanner  and  currier 
by  trade.  In  1840  he  moved  from  New  Jersey  to 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  whence  he  came,  in  1854,  with 
the  son  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  to  Chi- 
cago, where  some  other  members  of  the  family 
had  previously  located.  The  next  spring  G.  W. 
Hannis  returned  to  Cincinnati  and  brought  his 
mother.  The  father,  born  in  1801,  died  here  in 
1 88 1,  and  the  mother  survived  him  several  years, 
passing  away  August  18,  1898,  at  the  ripe  old 
age  of  ninety -one  years  and  seven  months.  They 
had  a  family  of  eight  children,  only  three  of 
whom  are  living  at  this  writing — George  W. , 
Martha  (Mrs.  William  Hunt)  and  Alonzo — all  of 
Chicago. 

George  W.  Hannis  received  his  education  in  the 


520 


H.  W.  MARTENS. 


city  schools  of  Cincinnati,  and  learned  the  ma- 
chinist's trade  with  Abel  Shock.  He  assisted  in 
making  the  first  steam  fire  engine  built  in  the 
United  States,  and  was  a  member  of  a  fire  com- 
pany in  Cincinnati.  On  his  arrival  in  Chicago 
he  established  a  machine  repairing  shop,  and 
readily  secured  the  city  work.  He  did  all  the 
repairing  of  fire  engines  and  built  all  the  trucks 
and  hose  carts  used  before  the  great  fire  of  1871. 
After  that  disaster  he  started  anew  and  later  sold 
out  his  business.  For  a  period  of  ten  years  he 
was  general  superintendent  and  manager  for 
E.  B.  Preston,  manufacturer  of  fire  apparatus. 
He  then  formed  a  partnership  with  Eaton  &  Prince 
and  re-opened  his  old  shop  on  Michigan  Street, 
where  they  continued  in  business  one  year.  At 
the  end  of  this  time  Mr.  Hannis  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  city,  in  its  repair  shops,  where  he  is 
still  engaged.  In  ^855  he  became  a  member  of 
the  old  volunteer  fire  department  and  continued 
with  it  until  the  establishment  of  a  paid  depart- 
ment. He  is  a  member  of  the  Volunteer  Fire- 
men's Benevolent  Association,  in  which  he  has 
been  a  trustee  many  years.  Beside  being  a  mem- 


ber of  the  Masonic  Order,  being  affiliated  with 
Waubansia  Lodge  No.  160,  he  is  a  member  of 
Union  Lodge  No.  9,  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  Cosmopolitan  Lodge  No.  6,  Knights 
of  Pythias.  He  is  a  consistent  Republican  in 
political  matters,  but  has  never  been  an  eager  as- 
pirant for  political  position.  At  one  time  he 
served  the  city  two  years  as  deputy  sealer. 

October  n,  1863,  Mr.  Hannis  was  married  to 
Miss  Delarah  Chessman,  a  native  of  Bridgeton, 
New  Jersey,  where  she  was  born  October  10, 
1845.  Four  children  came  to  bless  his  home,  two 
of  whom  are  now  deceased.  Frank  Hannis,  the 
eldest  of  the  living,  is  a  jeweler  located  at  York, 
York  County,  Nebraska;  and  the  other,  Pearl,  is 
the  wife  of  T.  F.  Lawrence,  of  Nebraska  City,  in 
the  same  state. 

Mr.  Hannis  has  always  taken  an  intelligent  in- 
terest in  public  affairs,  and  has  cheerfully  done 
his  share  in  promoting  the  interests  of  his  home 
city.  A  pleasant  conversationalist  and  a  genial 
gentleman,  he  has  endeared  himself  alike  to  fam- 
ily and  friends,  and  enjoys  the  esteem  of  a  wide 
circle  of  acquaintances. 


HENRY  W.  MARTENS. 


HENRY   WILLIAM   MARTENS  was  born 
in  a  rude  log  house  standing  on  section  27 
of   Leyden  Township,   October   18,    1854. 
His  father  was  Charles  Martens,  a  brief  sketch  of 
whose  life  may  be  found  on  another  page,  where 
Henry's  parentage  and  ancestry  are  more  fully 
set  forth. 

He  received  his  education  at  the  common  and 
parochial  schools,  and  worked  upon  a  farm  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  thirty-six  years.  Then  for 
two  years  he  was  in  the  employ  of  his  brother, 
John,  as  clerk  in  the  latter's  store  and  in  the 
postoffice,  which  the  latter  was  the  head  of.  He 


also  learned  the  trade  of  watch  repairing,  for 
which  he  had  a  natural  inclination,  from  an  old 
German  watch-maker  named  Wechendorf,  but 
never  carried  it  on  as  a  means  of  earning  a  liveli- 
hood. Of  late  years  he  has  devoted  his  attention 
wholly  to  house  painting  and  decorating,  doing 
business  as  a  contractor,  and  having  in  connec- 
tion with  his  cousin,  Henry  G.  Martens,  built  up 
a  large  and  profitable  trade.  Mr.  Martens  owns 
a  two-story  and  basement  brick  dwelling  house 
at  No.  560  Wells  Street,  Chicago,  but  resides 
with  his  father  at  River  Grove. 

He  was  married  to  Miss  Meta  Katerbau,  Sep- 


MARTIN  LOYCE. 


521 


tember  12,  1893.  She  was  born  in  the  west 
division  of  Chicago,  September  3,  1872,  and  is 
the  daughter  of  Karl  Katerbau  and  Frederika 
Schultz.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martens  have  been 
blessed  with  one  child,  Harold  Henry,  who  came 
into  the  world  June  14,  1895. 

In  politics  Mr.  Martens  is  a  Republican,  and 


has  served  for  two  years  as  school  director  in 
Franklin  Park.  He  was  in  the  German  Lutheran 
faith,  but  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  River  Park.  He  was  a 
charter  member  of  Franklin  Park  Lodge  of  the 
Royal  League,  and  also  belongs  to  the  German 
Benevolent  Association  of  River  Grove. 


MARTIN    LOYCE. 


I ARTIN  LOYCE.  More  than  half  a  cen- 
tury has  passed  away  since  Martin  Loyce 
first  set  foot  in  Chicago,  a  young  (German 
emigrant,  without  acquaintances  to  lend  him  aid; 
but  with  a  firm  determination  to  do  for  himself. 
He  has  witnessed  wondrous  changes,  and  has 
seen  the  city  grow  from  the  unimportant  place 
which  it  was  in  the  fourth  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  to  the  stately  metropolis  of  nine- 
teen hundred,  and  in  all  these  stupendous  trans- 
formations he  has  borne  the  part  of  a  patriotic 
citizen. 

He  was  born  in  June,  1830,  in  Schweikof,  in 
the  upper  part  of  Baden,  Germany,  where  he  was 
educated,  and  worked  at  farming  until  he  ac- 
companied his  mother  and  step-father,  G.  Laiger, 
in  their  emigration  from  Germany  in  1847.  The 
family  at  first  took  up  a  residence  in  Buffalo, 
where  they  remained  until  1849.  With  the 
opening  of  navigation  in  the  spring  of  that  year 
they  came  to  Chicago,  taking  the  first  boat  that 
passed  through  the  lakes.  In  the  autumn  of  1849 
young  Loyce  was  apprenticed  to  one  James  Ward, 
to  learn  the  trade  of  harness-making.  He  served 
a  term  of  three  years,  and  then  began  working  as 
a  journeyman. 

For  some  months  he  was  employed  in  a  shop 
in  Aurora,  but  with  this  brief  exception  he  has 
resided  in  Chicago  continuously  since  his  arrival 
from  Buffalo.  After  several  years  spent  in  work- 


ing at  his  trade  he  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  in  1857. 
Such  was  his  capability  and  fidelity  to  duty  that 
he  remained  in  the  service  of  that  company 
thirty-five  years.  During  the  last  fifteen  years 
of  this  time  he  was  station  policeman.  In  his 
early  youth  he  joined  the  old  Volunteer  Fire 
Company.,  and  continued  in  the  service  until  the 
inauguration  of  the  new  system.  He  is  still, 
however,  a  member  of  the  Firemen's  Benevolent 
Association. 

In  1891,  having  passed  the  age  of  three  score 
years,  and  having,  through  his  own  efforts,  his 
patient  industry  and  judicious  investments  of 
his  earnings,  acquired  a  competence  for  his  de- 
clining years,  Mr.  Loyce  retired  from  active  work 
and  is  at  present  enjoying  a  serene  old  age.  His 
physical  and  mental  powers  remain  unimpaired, 
and  he  is  keenly  alive  to  the  events  and  interests 
of  the  day  as  when,  fifty  years  ago,  he  first 
walked  the  muddy  highways  of  Chicago  in  1849. 

He  is  not  a  strong  partisan  in  politics,  though 
he  has  usually  supported  the  Democratic  ticket. 
May  26,  1860,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret 
Smith,  a  daughter  of  Nicholas  Smith,  whose 
biography  appears  upon  another  page.  Mrs. 
Loyce's  family  is  an  old  and  prominent  one  in 
Germany.  She  herself  was  born  in  that  country 
but  came  to  America  with  her  parents  in  1842. 
The  voyage  from  Antwerp  to  New  York  occupied 


522 


CARL   STAADE. 


forty-two  days,  and  from  thence  the  journey  to 
Chicago  was  made  by  canal  boat  through  the 
Hudson  River  and  Erie  Canal  to  Buffalo,  and 
from  that  point  by  the  steamer  ' '  Great  Western. " 
Mrs.  Loyce's  father  was  a  scholarly  man,  and  by 
profession  a  surveyor.  On  reaching  Chicago  he 
opened  a  private  school,  and  had  for  a  pupil  at 
one  time  Mr.  Van  Horn,  who  had  just  been 
elected  county  surveyor  and  who,  being  entirely 
ignorant  of  surveying,  came  to  Professor  Smith 
to  be  instructed  in  its  arts  and  mysteries.  Mr. 
Smith  continued  to  conduct  his  school  with 
marked  success  until  about  fifteen  years  before 
his  death,  when  he  retired  to  enjoy  a  well-earned 
rest.  He  died  in  the  autumn  of  1870,  his  wife, 


Margaret,  having  passed  away  seventeen  years 
before.  He  was  the  father  of  seven  children, 
only  two  of  whom  survive — Mrs.  Loyce  and  her 
brother,  Peter,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  firm 
of  Peter  Smith  &  Company,  manufacturers  of 
wagons. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Loyce  have  been  born  seven 
sons:  Martin,  residing  on  Twenty-seventh  Street; 
Fred,  motorman  on  the  Chicago  City  Railway; 
Edward,  a  railroad  .man;  Robert,  a  decorator; 
John,  an  engineer  on  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road; William,  a  painter;  and  George,  residing 
with  his  parents.  The  family  is  Catholic  and 
attends  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Angels  on  Oak- 
wood  Boulevard. 


CARL  STAADE. 


EARL  STAADE,  who  is  a  well-known  busi- 
ness man  of  Turner  Park,  was  born  Febru- 
ary 2,  1835,  in  Raeritz,  Mecklenburg,  Ger- 
many, a  son  of  Carl  and  Dorothea  _  (Consoer) 
Staade.  Carl  Staade,  Senior,  was  a  workingman 
and  sou  of  another  Carl.  The  last  named  was 
father  of  the  following  children:  Carl,  Christian, 
Joachim,  Francis  and  Sophia.  The  name  was 
originally  Stade.  Carl  Staade,  the  second,  mar- 
ried an  only  child.  Their  children  were:  Sophia, 
Fredericka,  Carl,  John,  Mary,  Christopher,  Caro- 
line, and  two  who  died  young.  The  mother  died 
at  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  the  father  in  1840, 
aged  forty-eight. 

Thus  the  son  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early 
age,  with  several  younger  brothers  and  sisters. 
He  was  obliged  to  earn  his  daily  bread  and  assist 
in  caring  for  others,  thus  developing  traits  of 
self-dependence.  He  remained  in  the  Father- 
land until  he  reached  the  age  of  thirty-one  years, 
when  he  resolved  to  better  himself  by  going  to 
America,  the  land  of  opportunity.  With  his 


wife  and  one  child  he  took  passage  on  the  ship 
"John  Bertram"  and  landed  in  New  York  after 
a  voyage  lasting  thirty- three  days.  He  continued 
his  journey  to  Chicago,  and  entered  the  employ 
of  Henry  Hochmeister,  a  farmer.  He  continued 
as  a  laborer  one  year,  and  then  rented  a  farm  of 
Frederick  Brooks,  in  the  town  of  Maine.  This 
arrangement  was  so  satisfactory  that  it  was  con- 
tinued thirteen  years.  In  1880  Mr.  Staade  re- 
moved to  Turner  Park,  where  he  bought  property 
of  his  brother,  John  Staade,  and  opened  a  saloon, 
which  he  conducted  successfully  up  to  this  time. 

October  20,  1862,  occurred  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Staade  to  Sophie  Raemer,  daughter  of  Joa- 
chim and  Sophie  (Tage)  Raemer,  who  was  born 
June  i,  1834.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Raemer  were  the 
parents  of  the  following  children:  Frederick, 
Sophie,  Johann,  Fredricka,  Carl,  Mina,  Ida  and 
Hannah.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Staade  have  been 
born  four  children. 

Louisa,  the  first  of  these,  born  February  25, 
1859,  married  Charles  Foss  and  lives  in  Niles, 


L.  A.  KELLER. 


523 


Illinois.  Their  children  are:  Ida,  Charles,  Ed- 
ward, Etnil  and  Albert,  the  last  two  being  twins, 
Hannah  and  Gottfried  (twins) ,  Theodore,  Eliza- 
beth, Katy  and  Minnie.  Annie,  the  second  of 
the  children  of  Carl  Staade,  was  born  May  29, 
1867,  married  Mathias  Schaefer,  and  also  resides 
in  Niles  Their  children  are,  Philip,  Charles, 
Frank  and  Annie.  Bertha,  born  September  29, 


1868,  married  Frank  Wiemerslage,  October  17, 
1888,  and  resides  in  River  Park.  Their  children 
are:  Arnold,  born  November  5,  1891,  died  Octo- 
ber 20,  1895;  Frank,  born  Nsvember  28,  1893; 
William,  January  25,  1896;  and  Clarence,  April 
18,  1898.  Johanna,  born  August  26,  1871,  is 
the  wife  of  William  Boesenberg,  of  whom  suitable 
mention  is  made  in  another  place  in  this  book. 


LOUIS  A.  KELLER. 


I  GUIS  ALEXANDER  KELLER  has  nearly 
It  reached  the  limit  of  four  score  years  which 
|_y  was  allotted  by  the  Psalmist  as  attainable, 
only  by  reason  of  strength.  Conscious  of  a  well 
spent  life,  and  serenely  awaiting  life's  sunset,  in 
the  sublime  hope  which  Christianity  affords,  he 
lives  in  quiet  ease  at  his  home,  No.  432  Wells 
Street.  He  was  born  November  12,  1821,  near 
the  classic  village  of  "Bingen  on  the  Rhine," 
which  name  has  become  a  household  word 
throughout  the  United  States,  through  the  charm- 
ing poem  which  bears  that  title. 

Leaving  school  when  fourteen  years  old,  he 
was  apprenticed  for  three  years  to  the  hard,  yet 
manly  trade  of  a  ropemaker.  After  becoming  a 
journeyman  he  followed  the  customs  of  his  coun- 
try, traveling  from  city  to  city,  working  at  his 
trade  here  and  there  and  acquiring  a  broader 
knowledge  of  the  world.  A  considerable  part  of 
his  life  during  this  migratory  period  was  passed 
in  Switzerland;  and  it  was  in  that  country  of 
skilled  artisans,  with  its  lofty  mountain  peaks 
and  perpetual  snows,  the  very  cradle  of  enlight- 
ened democracy,  that  he  married,  in  1848,  Mar- 
garet Moench,  who  was  born  at  Wurtemberg, 
Germany.  Immediately  after  their  union  the 
newly  wedded  pair  set  sail  for  America,  coming 
directly  to  Chicago.  Having  a  little  capital  they 
decided  to  invest  it  in  a  site  where  Mr.  Keller 


might  open  a  shop  for  the  conduct  of  his  trade. 
The  location  settled  on  was  on  Wells  Street. 
(It  had  been  previously  occupied  by  one  Fitzgerald 
as  a  trunk  factory,  in  a  small  way. 

Here  Mr.  Keller  started  the  manufacture  of 
rope  and  the  constantly  growing  commerce 
through  the  lakes  greatly  favored  him.  Nor  was 
he  less  benefited  by  his  own  mechanical  skill 
and  his  sound  business  sense.  He  gradually  in- 
creased the  number  of  his  workmen,  and  the 
world  was  looking  bright  when  the  sweeping, 
devastating,  death- dealing  flames  of  1871  con- 
sumed ten  thousand  dollars  worth  of  his  accumu- 
lations. He  did  not  attempt  to  resume  business 
in  the  general  confusion  which  followed  the  holo- 
caust, but,  disposing  of  his  shop,  bought  proper- 
ty at  No.  432  Wells  Street,  where  he  erected  the 
residence  which  he  still  occupies.  Since  then  he 
has  not  been  engaged  in  active  business. 

Mr.  Keller  has  been  twice  married.  His  first 
union  has  been  already  noticed.  Its  fruit  was 
three  daughters:  Mary,  Mrs.  Frank  Senger; 
Katherine,  widow  of  John  Low,  residing  on  Wol- 
fram Street;  and  Anna,  Mrs.  Hermann  Marquerdt. 

The  first  Mrs.  Keller  died  in  1879,  and  March 
24,  1 88 1,  he  married  his  present  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Julia  L.  Holtzmann,  and  who 
was  born  at  Kempen,  Province  of  Posen,  and 
reared  by  an  aunt  in  Berlin,  German}'.  She  is  a 


524 


W.  H.  DRECHSLER. 


lady  of  rare  intelligence,  broad  experience  and 
high  education.  Her  father  was  a  barrister  and 
at  one  time  a  member  of  the  celebrated  regiment 
of  Black  Hussars.  Her  nephew  is  mayor  of  the 
city  of  Zinten  and  is  a  man  of  fortune.  Her  uncle 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  an  institution  at  Ber- 
lin for  the  care  of  aged  merchants  and  their 
widows.  Nearly  thirty  years  of  her  life  was 
spent  in  England  as  an  instructor  in  German  and 
as  nursery  governess,  alternating  these  pursuits 
with  the  vocation  of  chaperon  and  traveling  com- 
panion to  many  prominent  people,  among  whom 
may  be  mentioned  Lady  Young,  Lady  Astley, 
Lady  Ashburton  and  Ambassador  Mohrenheim, 
of  Russia,  visiting  Saint  Petersburg  with  his 
family. 

While  living  in  the  household  of  Major  Riley, 
as  nursery  governess,  she  almost  daily  visited 
Windsor  Castle,  and  was  personally  known  to 


every  member  of  the  royal  family,  not  excluding 
Her  Majesty,  the  Queen.  She  cherishes  many 
relics,  curios  and  articles  of  virtu  gathered  dur- 
ing her  travels  through  Great  Britain  and  the 
continent  of  Europe,  most  of  which  were  the  gifts 
of  distinguished  members  of  the  aristocracies. 

In  1885  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keller  went  abroad, 
traveling  extensively  on  the  continent.  Lady 
Young,  learning  that  Mrs.  Keller  was  at  Meisen- 
heim,  Germany,  telegraphed  her  to  come  to  Lon- 
don, at  the  same  time  sending  her  money  to  de- 
fray the  expense  of  the  journey,  and  requesting 
her  to  take  charge  of  her  town  house. 

Mrs.  Keller  is  also  an  authoress,  having  pub- 
lished a  work  entitled  "The  Lost  Rib,"  which 
has  met  with  wide  success.  In  religious  faith 
the  family  is  divided,  Mr.  Keller  being  a  Luther- 
an and  his  wife  a  communicant  of  the  Church  of 
England. 


WILLIAM  H.  DRECHSLER. 


[DCJILLIAM  HENRY  DRECHSLER,  who 
\  A  I  is  living  in  retirement  in  the  village  of 
Y  V  Harlem,  was  born  November  20,  1836,  in 
the  village  of  Lodeman,  Hanover,  Germany. 
His  parents,  Henry  and  Wilhelmina  (Koch) 
Drechsler,  left  Germany  in  1847,  and  landing 
in  Baltimore,  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  Du  Page  County,  Illinois, 
where  they  had  acquaintances.  They  remained 
there  until  the  fall  of  1849,  when  Mr.  Drechsler 
purchased  eighty  acres  in  section  33,  Leyden 
Township,  the  price  being  two  hundred  dollars. 
He  erected  a  story  and  one-half  house  the  same 
fall.  In  1851  he  purchased  forty  acres  more  in 
the  same  section  and  later  ten  acres  in  section  26. 
On  this  farm  he  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits 
until  the  time  of  his  death.  In  his  native  land 
he  was  a  cooper  and  conducted  a  shop  of  his  own 


besides  attending  to  his  small  farm.  He  was 
a  Republican  in  politics  and  a  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 

Mrs.  Wilhelmina  Drechsler  was  born  in  the 
village  of  Asaback,  Hanover,  and  was  the 
daughter  of  Christ  Koch,  a  shepherd.  The 
latter  came  to  America  with  his  daughter  and 
her  family  and  died  about  1850,  being  buried  at 
Addison,  Illinois.  Beside  the  daughter  he  had  a 
son,  Henry,  who  came  to  America  at  the  same 
time.  He  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Civil  War, 
and  after  its  close  joined  the  regular  army.  He 
was  stationed  in  the  west  for  some  time,  but 
later  secured  his  discharge  and  made  his  home  in 
Indiana,  where  he  died.  The  children  of  Henry 
and  Wilhelmina  Drechsler  were  Ernst,  deceased, 
whose  widow  resides  at  the  corner  of  Wood 
Street  and  Carroll  Avenue,  Chicago;  William  H., 


F.  E.  NIELSEN. 


525 


whose  name  heads  this  article;  Henrietta,  Mrs. 
Frederick  Kuhlman,  of  whom  mention  is  made 
elsewhere  in  this  work;  Henry,  born  in  1842, 
married  Elizabeth  Biermann,  and  resides  at  Fort 
Dodge,  Iowa;  and  Charles,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years. 

An  uncle  of  Henry  Drechsler,  August  Drechs- 
ler,  died  in  Germany.  His  widow,  with  her  two 
children,  came  to  Indiana,  where  she  married  a 
Mr.  Honsinger.  Her  children  were  named  Will- 
iam and  Henrietta.  The  latter  married  a  carpen- 
ter, Henry  Stosen,  and  lives  at  Green  Garden, 
Illinois. 

William  H.  Drechsler,  of  whom  this  sketch  is 
written,  came  to  America  with  his  parents  at  the 
age  of  eleven  years.  Thus  his  education  was 
completed  in  this  country.  He  grew  up  under  the 
toils  and  hardships  such  as  were  common  to  pio- 
neer life  everywhere  in  the  west,  doing  his  share 
in  the  improvement  of  his  father's  farm.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-four  years  he  took  charge  of  the 
same  and  carried  on  farming  there  until  1873, 
when  he  concluded  he  had  borne  his  full  share  of 
hard  work  and  responsibility  and  resolved  to  take 
life  more  easily.  He  removed  to  No.  132  North 
Elgin  Street,  Harlem,  where  he  remained  until 
1889,  when  he  erected  his  present  modern  resi- 
dence at  No.  129  in  the  same  street.  He  re- 
tained the  ownership  of  his  farm  until  1891,  when 
he  sold  it  to  Henry  Weiss.  For  some  time  after 
coming  to  Harlem  he  carried  on  a  teaming  busi- 
ness, and  for  thirteen  years  drove  the  hearse  for 
William  Senne,  then  a  prominent  undertaker  of 
Oak  Park.  Since  then  he  has  retired  entirely 


from  active  work.  In  politics  Mr.  Drechsler  has 
ever  been  a  staunch  Republican,  but  has  never 
been  desirous  of  holding  office. 

In  1857  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  married 
to  Louisa,  daughter  of  Henry  Pflug,  who  died 
in  October,  1864.  Her  children  were:  Henrietta, 
born  February  13,  1861,  who  married  Fred  Mes- 
enbink,  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  work; 
Minnie,  born  September  7,  1862,  married  August 
Hillmer,  a  carpenter  of  Harlem;  Henry,  born 
February  5,  1864,  a  carpenter  in  Marengo  Street, 
Oak  Park;  and  Ernst,  born  October  n,  1857, 
died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 

Mr.  Drechsler  was  married  a  second  time  Jan- 
uary 5,  1866,  to  Miss  Annie  Margarita  Adelaide 
Heitmann,  daughter  of  Herman  Heitmann,  who 
resides  in  section  4,  Proviso  Township,  Illinois. 
Mrs.  Drechsler  was  born  in  Germany.  Her 
children  are:  Ida  Dorothea  Henrietta  Adelaide, 
born  January  19,  1868;  Annie  Elizabeth  Margaret 
Henrietta  (Mrs.  August  Lehmkuhl),  born  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1870;  Carl  Frederick,  born  April  9, 1872, 
is  an  undertaker  in  Oak  Park;  Martin  Henry 
Herman,  clerk  in  Carson  &  Pirie's,  born  February 
24,  1874;  William  Heinrich,  born  February  13, 
1876,  a  jeweler  in  Oak  Park,  Illinois;  Herman 
Frederick,  music  teacher  in  Oak  Park,  born 
March  i,  1878;  Martha  Herminie  Emma  Doro- 
thea, born  July  26,  1880;  Adolph  August  George, 
born  August  21,  1882;  Matilda  Albertina  Eliza- 
beth, born  February  24,  1885;  Clara  Louisa 
Amelia,  born  August  17,  1888,  passed  away  on 
the  1 7th  of  February,  1889,  and  is  buried  at  Con- 
cordia  Cemetery. 


FRITZ  E.  NIELSEN. 


P"  RITZ  EMIL  NIELSEN  has  been  a  valued 
to  resident  of  Chicago  since  1887,  when  he  em- 
I  igrated  from  Denmark,  in  which  country  he 
was  born  July  25,  1853,  at  Slugelse  Sjelland. 


His  father,  Anders  Nielsen,  who  died  in 
1868,  at  the  extraordinary  age  of  seventy-nine 
years,  was  a  stone  mason  and  contractor.  For 
three  years  he  served  his  king  as  a  soldier,  being 


526 


H.   F.  J.   P.   HANN. 


engaged  in  the  war  of  1848  with  Germany,  and 
returning  home  with  the  rank  of  sergeant.  He 
was  the  husband  of  Maria  Phillipsen,  who  sur- 
vives him,  a  hale  old  lady  of  eighty-three  years, 
who  has  never  left  her  native  land .  Of  their  six 
children,  one  died  in  infancy,  and  one  after 
reaching  the  age  of  thirty-five  years.  Fritz  E. 
is  the  third  son  and  third  child,  and  the  only  one 
of  the  family  residing  in  America. 

He  enjoyed  the  usual  advantages  extended  to 
Danish  boys,  of  a  rudimentary  education  in  the 
public  schools.  He  served  an  apprenticeship  at 
the  mason's  trade,  and  subsequently  was  a  con- 
tractor at  Copenhagen  for  ten  years.  As  has 
been  already  said,  he  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1887,  and  at  once  settled  in  Chicago.  For  a 
few  years  he  worked  at  his  trade  as  a  journey- 
man, in  various  American  cities.  He  spent  six 
years  in  Utah,  where  he  took  some  large  con- 
tracts. He  constructed  at  Logan  City,  Utah,  the 
Agricultural  College,  established  jointly  by  the 
United  States  Government  and  the  Territory. 
This  building  contains  one  and  one-half  millions 
of  brick. 

Returning  to  Chicago  in  1894,  he  began  doing 


business  as  a  contractor.  Since  then  his  shrewd 
business  sense,  sound  judgment,  unwearying 
industry  and  unquestionable  honesty  have  all 
contributed  to  his  success.  Among  both  busi- 
ness men  and  contractors  he  is  well  known  and 
regarded  as  both  intelligent  and  upright.  He 
has  erected  many  large  buildings  in  the  city, 
among  them  being  one  at  No.  5815  Jackson 
Avenue,  and  another  at  the  corner  of  Powell 
Avenue  and  Placer  Place,  and  others  the  recount- 
ing of  which  would  prove  tiresome. 

He  was  married,  in  1893,  *°  Marie  Hansen, 
who  was  born  in  Aaborg,  Denmark,  and  came  to 
Chicago  five  years  before  her  marriage.  Three 
children  have  been  born  to  them — Victor,  Rosa, 
and  Clara.  Their  home  is  at  No.  3510  Went- 
worth  Avenue. 

Mr.  Nielsen  is  prominently  identified  with  the 
Walhalla  Society,  and  an  active  worker  in  pro- 
moting its  interests.  He  was  for  several  years  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows. In  religious  faith  he  adheres  to  the 
teachings  of  his  fathers,  as  promulgated  by  the 
Lutheran  Church.  His  political  principles  are 
those  of  the  Republican  party. 


HENRY  F.  J.  P.    HANN. 


HENRY  FREDERICK  JOHN  PHILIP 
HANN  was  born  April  7,  1866,  on  the  old 
homestead,  in  the  township  of  Leyden.  He 
is  one  of  the  sons  of  Ludwig  D.  Hann,  whose 
biographical  sketch  appears  on  another  page,  and 
to  which  the  reader  is  referred  for  a  fuller  account 
of  the  family  genealogy  and  history.  Such  edu- 
cational training  as  he  received  was  obtained  at 
the  public  school  of  Oak  Park,  and  the  first 
thirty -two  years  of  his  life  were  spent  upon  the 
farm,  he  having  rented  the  old  homestead  from 
his  father  during  the  last  five  years  of  his  resi- 
dence there.  December  16,  1898,  he  removed  to 
Harlem,  where  he  opened  a  flour  and  feed  store, 
March  i,  1899. 

He   was   married  January    12,    1893,  to  Miss 


Sophia  Wille,  a  daughter  of  Frederick  S.  Wille. 
Mrs.  Hann  was  born  at  Crete,  Will  County, 
Illinois,  February  20,  1869.  The  issue  of  the 
marriage  has  been  three  children:  Herbert 
Dietrich  Frederick,  born  December  24,  1894; 
Henry  Edmund,  April  9,  1897;  and  Frederick 
John,  born  March  12,  1899.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hann  are  members  of  the  German  Lutheran 
Church.  He  is  a  Republican. 

Mr.  Hann  is  one  of  the  solid  and  respected 
citizens  of  Harlem.  He  owns  the  property 
where  his  store  is  located,  and  his  business 
prospects  are  bright.  Throughout  life  he  has 
been  industrious,  progressive  and  upright,  and 
he  enjoys  the  full  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
community  in  which  he  resides. 


O.  D.  RANNEY. 


527 


ORRIN  D.  RANNEY. 


0RRIN  DATUS  RANNEY  was  born  at  East 
Granville  (on  Holden  Hill),  Massachusetts, 
March  6,  1812,  unto  Orrin  and  Betsy  Ran- 
ney,  {nee  Gibbons.)  He  had  one  brother  and  three 
sisters,  all  of  good  attainments.  The  brother, 
Timothy  Pickering  Ranney  (now  deceased),  was 
long  a  prominent  laywer  at  Newark,  New  Jersey. 
His  sisters,  Nancy  Deborah  and  Sarah  Sheppard 
Ranney,  were  both  graduates  of  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary,  Massachusetts.  The  former  (now  de- 
parted) for  many  years  had  a  private  ladies' 
seminary  at  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey.  Sarah  mar- 
ried Mr.  J.  Austin  Scott,  a  capitalist,  of  Toledo, 
Ohio.  Sarah  Sheppard  Ranney  Scott  and  hus- 
band are  now  both.  dead. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  on  account  of  ill 
health  was  obliged  to  forego  youthful  aspirations 
for  becoming  a  clergyman.  After  finishing  his 
common  school  education,  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  he  began  clerking  in  Westfield,  Massachu- 
setts. Upon  his  marriage,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  he  began  to  conduct  his  own  store  at  L,ee, 
Massachusetts,  whence  he  removed  to  Adrian, 
Michigan.  Thence  he  went  to  Maumee  City, 
Ohio,  where  he  remained  for  a  period  of  about 
ten  years;  thence  to  Toledo,  Ohio.  In  all  of 
these  places  he  continued,  with  varying  fortunes, 
in  the  mercantile  business. 

Removing  from  Toledo,  Ohio,  he  came  to  the 
final  destination  of  his  earthly  life,  arriving  in 
Chicago  in  1856.  He  went  directly  into  the  pro- 
vision commission  business,  on  South  Water 
Street,  where  he  was  long  associated  with  the 
still  surviving  veteran  Sherman  Hall.  Later  he 
was  for  some  years  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  in  which  we  need  not  add  he  was  deeply 
interested,  and  at  whose  marvelous  growth  he  was, 
with  his  compeers  of  earlier  days,  obliged  to  mar- 
vel greatly. 

In  May,  1872,  he  became  attached  to  the  force 


of  the  First  National  Bank,  serving  that  corpora- 
tion most  faithfully  in  the  capacity  of  Manager  ol 
the  Safety  Deposit  Vaults,  for  upwards  of  a  score 
of  years,  unto  the  very  time  of  his  death,  March 

4,  i894- 

By  political  faith,  he  was  a  staunch  Republi- 
can, following  the  progressive  career  of  that  su- 
premely American  party  in  every  election  with 
his  unvarying  support  at  the  ballot  box.  The 
uplifting  force  of  his  long  and  good  life  is  found 
in  the  Presbyterian  dogma,  to  which  he  sub- 
scribed by  actions  which  "speak  louder  than 
words."  At  the  time  of  his  coming  to  our  city, 
he  identified  himself  with  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  which  he  was  ever  honorably  promi- 
nent, acting  as  an  Elder  for  long  years,  up  to 
within  about  two  years  of  the  time  of  his  decease. 
He  was  also  warmly  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
the  Foster  Mission,  a  time-honored  school  of  that 
denomination.  The  Rev.  Herrick  Johnson  offici- 
ated at  his  funeral,  and  he  was  laid  at  rest  in 
Albion,  Michigan. 

Our  departed  friend  belonged  to  no  clubs,  he 
was  no  society  man;  he  belonged  to  his  home;  he 
was  a  man  for  the  fireside  and  his  tried,  true 
friends.  Said  one  of  those  high  in  position,  with 
whom  business  associations  for  a  lengthy  period 
had  brought  the  subject  of  this  sketch  into  close 
relations  of  importance, ' '  I  would  as  soon  have 
thought  of  our  bank  suddenly  becoming  bankrupt 
for  some  inexplicable  reason,  as  to  know  that 
anything  had  gone  wrong  with  our  Deposit  De- 
partment while  it  was  under  Mr.  Ranney's  super- 
vision." Another,  standing  under  the  shadow 
of  his  tomb,  said,  "He  was  an  honest  man  in 
every  way,  church,  business,  social  and  domestic 
life;  none  could  come  nearer  perfection  than  Orrin 
Datus  Ranney.  All  knew  him  only  to  respect 
and  love,  as  one  of  God's  noblemen." 

As  the  Creator  does  not  finish  the  lives  of  any, 


528 


M.  N.  KIMBELL. 


no  matter  how  saintly,  upon  this  lower  earth,  so 
we  cannot  record  in  worthy  fulness  what  is  most 
deserving  of  historic  remembrance  and  emulation 
on  the  part  of  succeeding  generations  of  business 
men,  about  to  enter  upon  important  duties  in  our 
vast  and  rapidly  growing  metropolis.  Surely,  we 
may  trustfully  believe,  as  he  was  without  fear, 
he  passed  to  fields  of  Paradise  without  punish- 
ment; as  he  submissively  wore  the  cross,  the 
crown  of  eternal  bliss  is  already  encircling  his  be- 
loved brow. 

Mr.  Ranney  was  twice  married,  having  and 
leaving  children  only  by  the  former  marriage. 
The  first  union  was  with  Miss  Phoebe  Eldredge, 
the  ceremony  being  performed  by  the  Rev.  Isaac 
Knapp,  at  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  April  15, 
1833.  Three  children  came  to  them,  as  follows: 
Charles  Luce  Ranney,  born  January  14,  1834  in 
Westfield,  Massachusetts;  went  through  the  Civil 
War,  and  died  in  a  hospital  in  Portland,  Oregon, 
in  1890,  unmarried.  Ellen  Maria  Ranney,  born 
July  5,  1839,  in  Lee,  Berkshire  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, died  in  childhood  at  Maumee  City;  Alice 
Maria  Ranney,  born  July  5,  1849  at  Maumee 
City,  Ohio;  educated  at  Miss  Ranney's  Private 
School  in  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  and  later  a 
graduate  of  the  Chicago  Dearborn  Seminary. 
She  married  December  10,  1868,  Walter  Weeks 
Hilton,  a  banker  of  early  Chicago,  by  whon  she 
has  two  children:  Myra  Fisk  Hilton,  born  Sep- 
tember 27  1869,  educated  at  the  Chicago  Dear- 
born Seminary;  and  married  June  26,  1889,  to 
Mr.  William  Z.  Mead,  formerly  of  Virginia,  now 


of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  where  he  is  engaged 
in  the  insurance  business.  John  Ranney  Hilton, 
born  September  5,  1873,  educated  in  the  Chicago 
High  School,  unmarried. 

On  the  i  gth  of  January,  1881,  Mr.  Ranney  was 
married  to  Mrs.  Adeline  S.  Peabody,  (neeGrosve- 
ner)  a  prominent  family  of  Albion,  Michigan,  by 
the  Rev.  Daniel  M.  Cooper,  of  Detroit,  Michigan. 
Their  more  than  half  a  score  of  happy  years  of 
wedded  life  were  not  blessed  by  offspring.  She 
still  survives  him,  living  at  Albion,  and  visiting 
his  last  resting  place  on  frequent  occasions,  feel- 
ing honored  in  being  the  associate  of  one  in  every 
way  so  worthy  of  the  best  of  womankind. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Ranney  leaves  no  male 
child  to  bear  his  name  throughout  the  coming 
years;  therefore,  although  the  good  traits  of  fe- 
male descendants  will  loudly  voice  themselves  in 
his  behalf,  it  is  especially  appropriate  that  at  this 
time  and  in  this  place  and  manner,  in  dignified 
setting,  surrounded  by  the  best  of  his  contempo- 
raries, a  lasting  memorial  be  created,  befitting 
in  some  degree  the  superlative  characteristics  of 
manhood  possessed  by  him  of  whom  this  is  written. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  some  fuller  record  of 
Mr.  Ranney's  lineal  ancestry  is  not  available;  for 
the  present  it  is  known  that  his  maternal  grand- 
parents were  Timothy  and  Elizabeth  Gibbons, 
and  that  the  preceding  in  the  male  line  was  Peter 
Gibbons.  It  is  unnecessary  to  call  attention  to 
those  prominent  in  this  family,  a  Cardinal  being 
in  the  mouths  of  us  all,  at  first  mention.  The  pa- 
ternal grandfather  was  Jonathan  Ranney. 


MARTIN  N.  KIMBELL, 


I ARTIN  NELSON  KIMBELL,  one  of  the 
most  public-spirited  of  Cook  County's  pio- 
neers, who  ably  bore  his  part  in  promoting 
its  moral  and  intellectual  progress,  as  well  as  aid- 


ing in  its  material  prosperity,  was  born  in  Still- 
water  Township,  Saratoga  County,  New  York, 
January  24,  1812.  He  was  the  eldest  r-hild  of 
Abel  Kimbeli  and  Maria  Powell.  The  former 


M.  N.  KIMBEU,. 


529 


was  born  at  Pownal,  Bennington,  County,  Ver- 
mont, and  was  a  son  of  Noah  Kimbell,  a  native 
of  Rhode  Island,  who  removed  to  Vermont  while 
a  young  man.  The  last-named  was  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  and  a  farmer  and  miller  by  occu- 
pation. He  joined  the  Continental  forces  and 
took  part  in  the  battle  of  Bennington.  Abel 
Kimbell,  in  early  life,  removed  to  Saratoga 
County,  New  York,  where  his  death  occurred  in 
1833  at  the  age  of  forty-two  years.  He  was  a 
veteran  of  the  War  of  1812. 

Mrs.  Maria  Kimbell  died  in  Saratoga  County, 
New  York,  in  1830.  Her  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Nelson,  was  of  Dutch  descent,  and  her 
father's  name  was  Frost  Powell.  He  was  of 
English-Welsh  extraction,  son  of  Obadiah  Powell, 
a  Quaker,  who  died  in  Saratoga  County  at  the 
age  of  nearly  one  hundred  years.  Some  time 
previous  to  the  Revolutionary  War  he  removed 
thither  from  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  with 
his  wife  Betsy,  bringing  all  their  belongings  on  a 
pack  pony.  They  became  the  parents  of  three 
sons  and  eight  daughters,  all  of  whom  lived  to 
extreme  old  age.  During  the  Revolutionary 
struggle,  Obadiah  Powell  was  much  censured  by 
his  neighbors  on  account  of  his  non-combatant 
principles,  and  most  of  his  personal  property  was 
confiscated.  He  was  steadfast  in  his  convictions, 
however,  and  lived  to  become  one  of  the  leading 
farmers  of  the  county.  At  the  age  of  ninety-eight 
years  he  husked  several  baskets  of  corn  and  car- 
ried them  to  the  loft  of  his  carriage  house.  His 
house  was  a  favorite  gathering-place  of  his  nu- 
merous descendants,  including  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  who  was  the  recipient  of  considerable  at- 
tention from  the  old  gentleman  on  account  of  his 
being  the  first  great-grandchild.  T  About  1840 
Frost  Powell  moved  to  Wisconsin,  settling  near 
Waterford,  in  Racine  County,  where  he  died  a 
few  years  later. 

Martin  N.  Kimbell  was  but  six  years  old  when 
the  family  moved  to  Windham,  Bradford  County, 
Pennsylvania,  and  a  few  years  later  another  remov- 
al was  made  to  Tioga  County,  New  York.  Though 
his  parents  were  able  to  equip  him  with  little 
other  education,  they  implanted  in  his  mind  those 
upright  and  honorable  principles  which,  with  the 


habits  of  industry,  frugality  and  sobriety  acquired 
in  early  youth,  admirably  fitted  him  for  the  battle 
of  life.  At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  began 
working  out  among  the  neighboring  farmers,  his 
first  wages  being  $4  per  month.  The  money 
earned  in  this  way  was  spent  for  schooling — most 
of  his  education  being  obtained  after  he  had 
passed  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  he  returned  to  Saratoga  County,  New 
York,  where  he  was  employed  as  foreman  upon  a 
large  farm  at  the  extraordinary  salary  of  $i  i  per 
month,  the  other  help  receiving  from  $6  to  $8. 
So  satisfactory  were  his  services  that  he  was 
offered  still  farther  advance  in  salary,  but  after  a 
few  years  he  again  went  to  Tioga  County  and 
taught  school  for  several  terms  at  a  salary  of  $15 
per  month,  "  boarding  around. "  Having  heard 
wonderful  tales  of  the  great  West,  in  1836  he 
came  to  Chicago.  His  first  employment  here  was 
at  farm  work  and  teaming.  In  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  he  made  a  claim  to  a  quarter-section  of  land 
in  Jefferson  Township,  now  inside  of  the  city 
limits,  and  in  the  spring  of  1837  built  a  shanty  of 
hay  on  his  claim.  In  1838  he  purchased  this 
land,  paying  to  the  middle  man  who  secured  the 
title  from  the  Government,  the  sum  of  $2.50  per 
acre  in  annual  installments  of  $100.  The  same 
year  he  built  a  frame  house  near  the  location  of 
his  late  residence,  and  engaged  in  active  farming 
operations.  Four  years  later  he  rented  a  hotel 
on  Milwaukee  Avenue,  at  the  corner  of  the  thor- 
oughfare now  known  as  Warner  Avenue.  This 
house  was  at  that  time  known  as  ' '  The  Prairie 
Grocery,"  but  he  changed  its  name  to  "Live  and 
I^et  Live."  Although  this  enterprise  was  quite 
successful,  he  resolved  to  abandon  it  because  it 
did  not  provide  satisfactory  environment  for  his 
growing  family,  and  two  years  later  he  returned 
to  his  farm,  which  was  his  home  during  the  rest 
of  his  life.  At  one  time  his  farm  comprised  two 
hundred  and  seventeen  acres,  most  of  which  has 
been  subdivided  in  city  lots.  In  addition  to  his 
fanning  operations  he  engaged  for  some  years  in 
jobbing  and  general  'contracting.  In  1849  ne 
began  to  grade  and  plank  the  highway  known  as 
Milwaukee  Avenue,  and  built  about  three  miles 
thereof,  and  was  afterward  employed  for  five 


530 


M.  N.  KIMBELL. 


years  as  superintendent  of  the  Northwestern 
Plank  Road  Company.  His  winters  were  spent 
in  getting  out  oak  plank  for  this  purpose  in  the 
Desplaines  woods,  and  some  of  the  timber  is  still 
found  in  the  grade  of  that  thoroughfare.  Mr. 
Kimbell  was  also  interested  in  several  other  en- 
terprises, and  was  for  eleven  years  a  director  of 
the  National  Bank  of  Illinois.  He  was  always  a 
firm  friend  of  the  cause  of  education.  Two  terms 
of  school  were  kept  in  his  house,  during  which 
time  he  boarded  the  teacher  gratuitously,  and 
he  often  contributed  money  in  excess  of  his 
school  tax  for  the  purpose  of  securing  capable 
teachers.  The  first  schoolhouse  in  his  district 
was  built  by  himself  and  two  neighbors  at  their 
own  expense.  He  was  a  school  officer  for  thirty 
years,  giving  of  his  time  and  labor  for  the  benefit 
of  the  public  schools  without  hope  of  reward. 

In  early  life  he  was  a  Democrat,  but  upon  the 
passage  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  he  renounced 
that  party,  and  during  the  agitation  which  fol- 
lowed that  act,  he  several  times  sheltered  runaway 
negroes  in  his  house,  and  rendered  them  other 
assistance  in  escaping  from  their  pursuers.  He 
made  no  secret  of  these  acts,  but  such  was  the 
respect  with  which  he  was  held  in  the  community 
that  no  one  interfered  with  this  practical  demon- 
stration of  his  principles.  Upon  the  organization 
of  the  Republican  party,  he  became  one  of  its 
strongest  supporters,  and  consistently  held  to  that 
course  ever  after.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first 
Board  of  Supervisors  of  Cook  County,  and  served 
as  Deputy  Sheriff  at  one  time.  Three  of  his  sons 
served  in  the  Union  Army  during  the  Civil  War, 
in  Battery  A,  First  Illinois  Light  Artillery,  and 
Mr.  Kimbell  spent  most  of  his  time  for  three 
years  in  sanitary  and  benevolent  work  for  the 
soldiers.  The  first  contribution  of  $300  which  he 
raised,  was  the  proceeds  of  a  ball  at  the  Jefferson 
Town  Hall.  In  this  and  other  ways  he  subse- 
quently contributed  largely  to  the  funds  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission. 

Mr.  Kimbell  was  married  on  the  3ist  of  Au- 
gust, 1837,  to  Sarah  Ann  Smalley.  Her  father, 
Nehemiah  Smalley,  died  in  1836,  soon  after  com- 
ing to  Chicago  with  his  family.  Mrs.  Kimbell  was 
born  in  Madison  County,  New  York,  April  16, 


1816,  and  has  been  an  able  helpmeet  of  her  hus- 
band during  their  long  and  laborious  career.  Of 
their  children,  Charles  B.  is  now  living  retired 
at  Hinsdale,  Illinois;  Julius  W.  is  their  second 
son;  Spencer  S.  is  the  third;  Anne  Maria  (now 
deceased)  was  the  wife  of  Jacob  Stryker;  Frank 
A.  is  a  resident  of  Missouri;  Angeline,  Mrs.  E. 
H.  Smalley,  resides  at  Caledonia,  Minnesota; 
Martin  N.,  the  fifth  son,  resides  on  part  of  the 
old  homestead;  and  Edward  C.  is  a  resident  of 
Los  Angeles,  California.  Three  of  the  sons  still 
reside  near  the  old  homestead.  All  are  well- 
known  business  men,  and  the  firms  with  which 
they  are  connected  and  manage,  have  furnished 
more  stone  and  brick  for  Chicago  buildings  than 
any  other  firm  in  existence.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kimbell  had  twenty-eight  grandchildren  and  nine 
great-grandchildren,  beside  seventeen  children 
and  grandchildren  by  marriage,  at  the  time  of 
his  demise.  When  congregated  at  the  old  home- 
stead, this  family  exceeds  in  number  the  gather- 
ings which  took  place  at  the  house  of  Obadiah 
Powell  in  Mr.  Kimbell' s  childhood. 

Mr.  Kimbell  was  a  Universalist  for  fifty-seven 
years.  He  contributed  toward  the  building  of 
five  churches  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer.  All 
the  members  of  the  family  cherish  the  same  faith. 

Endowed  by  nature  with  a  strong  and  vigorous 
constitution,  he  always  enjoyed  good  health  until 
about  the  year  1890,  when  he  began  to  have 
trouble  with  his  feet,  which  gradually  developed 
into  gangrene.  This  continued  to  increase  stead- 
ily until,  in  January,  1895,  it  was  decided  by  a 
council  of  physicians  that  in  order  to  save,  or 
even  prolong  his  life  and  relieve  the  intense  suf- 
fering he  was  enduring,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
amputate  his  left  leg  above  the  knee.  This  was 
accordingly  done,  with  his  full  consent,  and  with 
the  hope  on  the  part  of  the  family  that  his  other- 
wise robust  constitution  would  enable  him  to 
rally  from  the  operation.  But  his  advanced  age 
of  eighty-three  years  was  against  him,  and  he 
sank  gradually  until  the  end,  which  came  Febru- 
ary 13,  1895.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were 
spent  in  quiet  retirement,  surrounded  by  his 
numerous  family,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  a  life  of 


A.  J.  GALLOWAY. 


hard  and  honest  labor,  combined  with  temperance, 
benevolence  and  frugality,  a  useful  and  exem- 


plary life  well  worthy  of  emulation  by  rising 
generations. 


ANDREW  J.  GALLOWAY. 


NDREW  JACKSON  GALLOWAY,   one  of 

Hthe  pioneer  railroad  builders  of  Illinois,  has 
witnessed  the  growth  of  the  State  from  a  few 
scattered  hamlets  to  one  of  the  most  populous  and 
wealthy  commonwealths  of  the  Union,  and  is  still 
vigorous  of  mind  and  hale  in  body.  He  inherits 
from  his  Scotch  ancestry  those  subtle  qualities  of 
mind  which  make  the  successful  business  man 
and  the  vigorous  constitution  which  enables  men 
to  carry  on  continuous  and  fatiguing  enterprises. 
His  father,  Andrew  Galloway,  was  born  in  Done- 
gal, Ireland,  and  emigrated  to  Fayette  County, 
Pennsylvania,  during  the  first  year  of  the  present 
century.  His  ancestors  were  among  those  who 
fled  from  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in 
Scotland  to  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  their 
descendants  are  now  numerous  in  America,  in- 
cluding many  enterprising  and  successful  business 
men.  Several  brothers  of  Andrew  Galloway  set- 
tled in  America.  Robert  G.  also  located  in  Fay- 
ette County,  Pennsylvania.  John  settled  at  Bal- 
timore, Maryland,  and  Samuel  went  to  New 
York,  whence  he  removed,  in  1836,  to  La  Salle 
County,  Illinois. 

Andrew  Galloway's  wife  (the  mother  of  the 
subject  of  this  biography)  was  Isabel,  daughter 
of  Hugh  Wilson,  who  came  from  Ireland  to  Vir- 
ginia with  his  father,  John  Wilson.  The  family 
moved  from  Virginia  to  Pennsylvania,  where 
Hugh  became  a  lieutenant  of  militia  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution.  He  married  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  Joseph  Pierce,  who  was,  doubtless,  of  Eng- 
lish extraction.  He  moved  from  New  Jersey  to 
Westmoreland  (now  Allegheny)  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1772,  making  the  journey  on  horse- 


back, as  there  were  then  no  roads  over  the  moun^ 
tains.  The  Pierce  family  was  very  early  identi- 
fied with  the  colony  of  New  Jersey. 

Of  Andrew  Galloway's  ten  children,  two  died 
in  infancy;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  fourth, 
and  beside  him,  but  three  are  li/ing,  namely: 
Julia,  widow  of  Francis  S.  Galloway,  Sarah  J., 
widow  of  William  Bedford,  both  residing  in  Chi- 
cago; and  George,  now  of  Jackson  County,  Ore- 
gon. 

Andrew  J.  Galloway  was  born  near  Butler,  the 
seat  of  Butler  County,  Pennsylvania,  December 
21,  1814.  Before  he  was  six  years  old,  his  father 
moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Corydon,  then  the  capi- 
tal of  Indiana,  and  in  1823  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Clark  County,  same  State,  where  he  remained 
ten  years.  He  died  in  Marseilles,  La  Salle  Coun- 
ty, Illinois,  in  October,  1843,  of  congestive  fever 
contracted  while  making  preliminary  improve- 
ments on  a  farm  which  he  had  just  located.  His 
age  was  sixty-six  years. 

While  a  boy,  A.  J.  Galloway  spent  his  sum- 
mers in  doing  such  work  upon  the  farm  as  he 
was  able  to  perform,  getting  a  little  insight  into 
the  mysteries  of  letters  during  the  winter  months. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  found  an  opportunity  to 
earn  his  board  by  working  evenings  and  Satur- 
days, while  attending  a  grammar  school  at  Camp 
Creek,  some  miles  distant  from  his  home.  In 
1834,  he  entered  the  preparatory  department  of 
Hanover  College,  Indiana.  He  had  intended  to 
study  the  classics,  with  a  view  to  taking  up  the 
science  of  medicine,  but  his  attention  was  turned 
to  engineering  by  the  great  demand  made  by 
canal  and  railroad  construction,  and  the  liberal 


532 


A.  J.  GALLOWAY. 


compensation  offered  to  competent  engineers. 
Under  the  instructions  of  Professors  Harney  and 
Thompson,  he  made  special  studies  in  mathemat- 
ics and  engineering,  and  received  his  diploma  as 
civil  engineer  in  April,  1837. 

Proceeding  to  Evansville,  he  hoped  to  obtain  a 
position  on  the  Indiana  Central  canal,  but  was  of- 
fered the  charge  of  the  Mount  Carmel  Academy 
at  Mount  Carmel,  Illinois,  soon  after,  and  accepted 
for  one  year.  Among  his  pupils  were  many 
young  men  who  have  since  become  distinguished 
men  of  business,  law  and  letters.  At  the  close  of 
his  school  year,  he  accepted  an  appointment  as 
assistant  engineer  in  the  service  of  the  State,  and 
was  actively  employed  in  the  location  and  con- 
struction of  railways  in  that  section  of  the  State. 

In  the  fall  of  1840,  he  went  to  Springfield,  and 
was  employed  during  a  part  of  the  following  win- 
ter as  assistant  enrolling  clerk  of  the  Senate.  In 
the  following  July,  he  received  an  appointment 
from  the  Canal  Commissioners  as  engineer  on  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  under  Chief  Engineer 
William  Gooding  and  his  assistant,  Edward  B. 
Talcott.  He  continued  in  this  work  until  the 
suspension  of  operations  in  the  winter  of  1843-4, 
when  he  retired  to  the  farm  which  he  had  pur- 
chased in  1842,  on  the  Big  Vermillion  river  in 
La  Salle  County.  In  1845,  he  resumed  his  posi- 
tion and  employment  on  the  canal,  with  head- 
quarters at  Marseilles,  and  continued  until  De- 
cember, 1846,  when  the  work  was  about  com- 
pleted and  he  was  relieved.  Within  a  few  days, 
he  was  elected  enrolling  and  engrossing  clerk  of 
the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature,  to  which  posi- 
tion he  was  also  elected  in  1848.  At  the  close  of 
the  session  in  1849,  he  was  appointed  Secretary 
to  the  State  Trustee  of  the  Canal  Board,  with  of- 
fice in  Chicago.  He  moved  his  family  to  the 
city,  and  for  over  two  years  filled  this  position, 
until  he  resigned  to  accept  the  office  of  assistant 
engineer  under  Col.  Roswell  B.  Mason,  on  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad. 

Mr.  Galloway  located  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  of  the  line  of  this  road,  and  superin- 
tended the  construction  of  the  twelfth  division 
until  near  completion,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  the  land  department  of  the  same  road,  with  an 


increase  of  $  1,000  per  annum  in  salary.  He 
superintended  the  survey  of  more  than  a  million 
acres  of  the  company's  lands,  and  made  sketches 
for  maps  of  the  same,  with  descriptions  of  the 
character  and  quality  of  every  tract  surveyed. 

He  retired  from  the  railroad  service  in  July, 
1855,  and  formed  a  company,  with  two  others, 
to  deal  in  real  estate  and  lands,  under  the  title  of 
A.  J.  Galloway  &  Company.  Before  the  close  of 
that  year,  they  bought  sixty  thousand  acres  of 
Illinois  Central  lands,  all  of  which  eventually 
passed  into  the  individual  possession  of  Mr.  Gal- 
loway. For  some  years  he  was  occupied  in  dis- 
posing of  these  holdings,  together  with  sales  on 
commission  for  the  company  and  other  owners, 
and  has  done  his  share  in  securing  the  location 
of  desirable  citizens  in  the  State. 

Mr.  Galloway  cast  his  first  Presidential  vote 
for  Martin  Van  Buren,  in  1836,  and  has  voted 
in  every  national  contest  since.  He  adhered  to 
the  Democratic  party  until  the  organization  of 
the  Republican  in  1856,  since  which  he  has  af- 
filiated with  the  latter  party.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Twenty-seventh  General  Assembly  of  Illi- 
nois, and  chairman  of  the  committee  on  canal  and 
river  improvements  in  the  house.  This  was  the 
first  Legislature  under  the  present  State  Consti- 
tution, and  held  four  sessions,  two  of  them  being 
called  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  and  one  of 
which  was  made  necessary  by  the  fearful  conflagra- 
tion which  destroyed  some  two  hundred  million 
dollars'  worth  of  property  in  Chicago  in  the  brief 
space  of  twenty  hours.  He  was  elected  to  fill  a  va- 
cancy in  the  Cook  County  Board  of  Commissioners 
in  November,  1872,  by  some  eight  thousand  major- 
ity, but  was  beaten  on  the  "law  and  order"  ticket 
in  the  following  year  for  the  same  office,  by  some 
ten  thousand  majority  given  for  the  candidate  on 
the  "people's  ticket."  In  1882,  he  was  a  candi- 
date on  the  Republican  ticket  for  County  Clerk, 
and  though  elected  by  the  legal  votes  cast,  was 
counted  out.  While  at  Springfield,  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  their 
mutual  friendship  continued  with  the  life  of  the 
latter. 

As  chairman  of  the  committee  on  taxation  of 
the  Citizens'  Association,  he  has  rendered  valu- 


JAMES   TOMPKINS. 


533 


able  aid  to  that  very  useful  organization,  and  at 
various  times,  through  the  medium  of  the  press, 
has  given  to  the  public  useful  hints,  facts  and 
statistics  which  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 

In  November,  1838,  Mr.  Galloway  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Rebecca  Buchanan,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Victor  Buchanan,  senior,  of  Law- 
rence County,  Illinois,  a  well-known  and  highly 
esteemed  farmer,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
died  and  was  buried  on  his  farm  in  the  year  1843, 


having  reached  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-one  years. 
Following  are  the  names  of  Mr.  Galloway's 
children:  Rebecca  Elizabeth,  wife  of  George  G. 
Gunther,  now  residing  in  California;  Robert  Wil- 
son, an  amateur  artist  and  member  of  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty -seven 
years;  Margaret,  widow  of  Samuel  ~L,.  Fogg,  and 
James  Buchanan,  a  prominent  business  man,  re- 
side in  Chicago.  Jessie  died  in  1870,  aged 
twenty  years. 


REV.  JAMES  TOMPKINS,  D.  D. 


REV.  JAMES  TOMPKINS,  D.  D.,  for  seven- 
teen years  Superintendent  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Home  Missionary  Society  of  Illinois, 
is  not  only  an  able  preacher  but  a  superior  busi- 
ness man  as  well.  His  practical  ideas  and  genial, 
sunny  disposition  inspire  confidence  and  interest 
in  all  with  whom  he  conies  in  contact,  and  secure 
ready  co-operation  in  his  work.  He  was  born  in 
Galesburg,  Illinois,  on  the  6th  of  April,  1840. 
His  father,  Deacon  Samuel  Tompkins,  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  that  city,  being  a  member  of 
the  committee  that  came  from  New  York,  in 
1835,  to  select  the  site  of  an  institution  of  learning 
and,  incidentally,  of  a  town  in  the  "wild  West." 
The  committee  entered  a  township  of  Govern- 
ment land  and  platted  a  village  in  its  center,  in 
the  name  of  Knox  College.  Tompkins  Street, 
on  which  is  located  Knox  Female  Seminary,  is 
named  in  honor  of  this  pioneer.  Samuel  Tomp- 
kins was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island,  and  his  wife, 
Mary  Grinnell,  was  born  at  Paris  Hill,  Oneida 
County,  New  York. 

James  Tompkins  spent  his  early  years  in  his 
native  place,  studying  in  the  public  schools,  until 
1854,  when  he  entered  the  preparatory  depart- 


ment of  Knox  College.  He  graduated  from  that 
institution  in  1862,  taking  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Science.  In  1865,  having  pursued  special 
lines  of  study,  he  received  the  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts.  In  1867,  he  graduated  from  Chicago 
Theological  Seminary,  and  in  1888  he  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from 
Illinois  College. 

During  his  preparatory  and  college  course,  he 
maintained  himself  by  teaching  school,  and  the 
same  year  of  his  graduation — at  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-two— he  took  charge  of  Elrnwood  Academy,  at 
Elmwood,  Illinois.  He  continued  here  two  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  period  a  regular  system  of 
graded  schools  was  established  by  the  town  and 
the  trustees  of  the  academy  decided  to  merge 
that  institution  in  the  public  high  school.  The 
formation  of  the  grades  and  establishment  of  the 
high  school  was  a  task  assigned  to  Mr.  Tomp- 
kins, and  faithfully  carried  out. 

While  he  was  in  college,  the  call  of  President 

Lincoln  was  issued  for  seventy-five  thousand  men 

.to  put  down  the  rebellion,   and  a  company  was 

enlisted  at  Knox  College,   Mr.  Tompkins  being 

among  the  first.     So  many  men  were  enlisting 


534 


JAMES  TOMPKINS. 


throughout  the  State  that  it  was  feared  the  com- 
pany of  students  would  not  be  accepted,  and  its 
captain  was  sent  to  Springfield  to  urge  the  matter 
upon  Governor  Yates,  but  the  mission  was  vain, 
and  thus  several  good  soldiers  were  spoiled  in  the 
making  of  some  good  ministers. 

After  graduating,  Mr.  Tompkins  aided  in  re- 
cruiting some  companies  of  volunteers  under  a 
later  call.  These  went  into  the  Seventy-seventh 
and  Eighty-fifth  Regiments  of  Illinois  Volunteers. 
Through  much  open  air  speaking  in  recruiting, 
Mr.  Tompkins  was  suffering  from  a  slight  inflam- 
mation on  the  lungs  at  this  time,  and  the  exam- 
ining surgeon  refused  to  pass  him  for  military 
duty.  As  he  was  anxious  to  go  out  with  the 
men  he  had  enlisted,  he  endeavored  to  persuade 
the  surgeon  that  his  ailment  was  temporary,  but 
the  official  was  inexorable  and  he  was  compelled 
to  remain  behind.  After  resigning  his  position 
at  Elmwood,  however,  in  June,  1864,  he  was  en- 
abled to  give  his  services  to  the  country  by  join- 
ing the  United  States  Christian  Commission, 
which  did  such  valuable  work  for  the  "boys  in 
blue"  in  camp  and  hospital  and  on  the  battle- 
field. In  this  service,  he  remained  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  was  first  sent  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  in  company  with  Rev.  W.  G.  Peirce, 
the  beloved  and  heroic  chaplain  of  the  Seventy- 
seventh  Illinois.  When  they  reached  City  Point, 
Virginia — General  Grant's  headquarters — they 
responded  to  a  call  for  volunteers  to  go  to  the 
front,  and  were  assigned  to  duty  at  Point  of  Rocks, 
on  the  Appomatox  river.  Here  Mr.  Tompkins 
met  with  an  accident  which  nearly  proved  fatal. 
After  hovering  between  life  and  death  for  a  week, 
he  rallied  sufficiently  to  be  taken  in  an  ambulance 
to  City  Point,  and  was  placed  on  a  steamer  bound 
for  Baltimore. 

On  his  recovery,  he  was  engaged  for  several 
weeks  in  lecturing  throughout  Central  Illinois  on 
the  work  of  the  Christian  Commission,  and  col- 
lected several  thousand  dollars  for  its  use.  He 
then  visited  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  and 
followed  General  Thomas  as  he  drove  the  Con- 
federate army,  commanded  by  General  Hood,  out 
of  Tennessee.  He  cared  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
of  both  armies,  took  the  last  message  of  the  dy- 


ing for  the  loved  ones  at  home,  and  aided  in  giv- 
ing a  decent  burial  to  the  remains  of  those  who 
had  given  up  their  lives  for  their  country. 

Mr.  Tompkins  was  ordained  to  the  work  of  the 
Gospel  Ministry  April  24,  1867,  immediately  after 
graduating  from  Chicago  Theological  Seminary, 
in  the  Congregational  Church  at  Prospect  Park 
(now  called  Glen  Ellyn),  and  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  the  Congregational  pastorate,  serving 
jointly  this  church  and  the  First  Church  of  Christ 
in  the  neighboring  village  of  Lombard,  Illinois. 
On  visiting  Minnesota  for  rest  and  recuperation, 
he  was  engaged  as  stated  supply  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  at  St.  Cloud.  From  there,  he 
was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Minneapolis.  Three  years'  resi- 
dence in  Minnesota  made  it  apparent  that  a 
milder  climate  was  necessary  to  the  health  of  both 
himself  and  wife,  and  he  resigned  his  charge  in 
Minneapolis.  He  soon  after  accepted  a  call  from 
the  Congregational  Church  at  Kewanee,  Illinois, 
which  he  served  as  pastor  for  over  six  years. 

In  May,  1878,  the  General  Congregational  As- 
sociation of  Illinois  voted  to  appoint  a  Superin- 
tendent of  its  work  in  the  State.  A  number  of 
prominent  clergymen  were  candidates  for  the 
position,  and  after  several  ballotings,  Mr.  Tomp- 
kins received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  and  was 
declared  elected.  He  entered  upon  his  new  duties 
in  the  succeeding  July,  with  headquarters  in 
Chicago,  and  is  still  occupying  that  position.  He 
has  introduced  several  new  methods  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  work,  and  awakened  a  deeper  inter- 
est and  more  hearty  co-operation  in  all  the 
churches.  The  most  important  of  the  new  in-' 
strumentalities  was  the  employment  of  able  men 
as  State  Evangelists.  This  gave  new  impetus, 
strength  and  enlargement  to  the  work. 

In  1869,  on  the  8th  of  September,  Mr.  Tomp- 
kins married  Miss  Ella  A.  Kelley,  a  native  of 
Rutland,  Vermont,  daughter  of  J.  Seeley  Kelley 
and  MaryE.  Hall.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tompkins 
have  been  given  four  children,  namely:  Roy 
James,  born  in  Minneapolis,  Mabel  Ella,  William 
C.,  born  at  Kewanee,  Illinois,  and  Seeley  Kelley, 
born  at  Oak  Park,  Illinois. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
-iVERSITY  OF  /LL!,' 


KASPAR  G.  SCHMIDT 


K.  G.  SCHMIDT. 


535 


KASPAR  G.  SCHMIDT. 


RASPAR  G.  SCHMIDT  was  born  in  Vocken- 
hausen,  near  Wiesbaden,  Nassau,  Germany, 
February  20,  1833.  His  parents'  names 
were  John  and  Elizabeth  (Dinges)  Schmidt. 
John  Schmidt  was  a  tailor  by  trade  and,  in  later 
life,  became  foreman  of  a  tannery.  He  served  in 
the  German  army  as  a  sergeant-major  under 
General  Blucher.  After  participating  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Waterloo,  he  accompanied  the  victorious 
army  to  Paris.  His  death  occurred  in  1854,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Schmidt  survived  until  1882,  attaining  the  vener- 
able age  of  eighty-two  years. 

Kaspar  G.  Schmidt  is  one  of  a  family  of  nine 
children,  of  whom  but  one  beside  himself  came 
to  America.  This  was  a  brother,  named  Nicholas, 
who  now  resides  in  Chicago.  Kaspar  received  a 
common-school  education  and,  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen years,  began  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  machinist. 
After  serving  a  four  years'  apprenticeship  at 
Mines,  he  followed  the  same  occupation  for  some 
time  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  In  April,  1854, 
he  set  sail  for  America.  After  a  tempestuous 
voyage  lasting  fifty-six  days,  he  landed  in  New 
York.  Thence  he  came  direct  to  Chicago,  where 
he  soon  obtained  employment  at  his  trade.  His 
enterprising  spirit  was  not  destined  to  be  confined 
to  mere  mechanical  labor,  however,  and  he  began 
saving  his  surplus  earnings  with  a  view  to  mak- 
ing a  permanent  investment.  He  did  not  have 
to  wait  long  for  an  opportunity,  and  when,  in 
1857,  several  large  Milwaukee  brewers  became 
bankrupt,  he  purchased  a  stock  of  beer  at  an  ad- 
vantageous figure  and  began  doing  a  small  whole- 
sale business  in  that  product.  This  enterprise 
continued  to  prosper  until  1860,  when  he  was  en- 
abled to  start  a  small  brewery,  at  the  corner  of 
Superior  and  Clark  Streets.  Two  years  later,  he 
removed  to  Grant  Place,  which  has  ever  since 


been  the  scene  of  his  operations.  His  extensive 
buildings  were  totally  destroyed  in  the  great  fire 
of  1871.  His  loss  at  that  time,  including  his 
residence,  amounted  to  one-fourth  of  a  million 
dollars.  He  was  able  to  recover  but  a  small  per- 
centage of  his  insurance,  and  the  entire  business 
had  to  be  built  up  anew.  Rebuilding  upon  a 
small  scale,  he  enlarged  the  establishment  at  in- 
tervals until  it  attained  a  capacity  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  barrels  per  day  and  furnished  employ- 
ment to  one  hundred  men.  Having  more  than 
recovered  his  loss  by  the  great  fire,  and  being  re- 
solved to  retire  from  active  life,  he  sold  out  his 
plant  in  1890,  and  is  practically  retired  from 
business. 

Mr.  Schmidt  was  married  in  1856  to  Barbara 
Wagner,  who  was  born  in  Rhodt,  Rheinpfalz, 
Bavaria.  She  died  on  the  2ist  of  September, 
1894,  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  Of  the  eight 
children  born  to  this  union,  five  reached  mature 
years.  Barbara  Elizabeth  is  now  the  wife  of 
George  W.  Kellner,  of  Chicago;  Katie  Emma  is 
Mrs.  Martin  Herbert,  of  Chicago;  August  died  in 
1889,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years;  George 
K.  and  Edna  complete  the  list  of  the  survivors. 
Ten  living  grandchildren  make  glad  the  heart  of 
Mr.  Schmidt. 

Mr.  Schmidt  was  a  charter  member  of  Mithia 
Lodge  No.  410,  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  which  body  he 
has  filled  all  the  chairs,  and  served  as  Master  for 
five  years.  He  helped  to  organize  the  Germania 
Club,  with  which  he  has  since  been  identified, 
and  is  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Sonue- 
felter — a  German  singing  society.  Ever  since  he 
became  a  citizen,  he  has  given  faithful  allegiance 
to  the  Republican  party,  because  its  principles 
embodied  his  ideas  of  progress  and  good  govern- 
ment. In  1868,  he  was  elected  Alderman  of  the 
Thirteenth  Ward,  serving  four  and  one-half  years 


536 


G.  M.  DEARLOVE. 


in  that  capacity.  The  time  of  election  was 
changed  during  his  term  from  fall  to  spring,  thus 
prolonging  his  term  six  months.  From  1874  to 
1877,  he  served  as  County  Commissioner,  during 
which  time  he  was  chairman  of  the  Building 
Committee  of  that  body,  and  had  charge  of  the 
construction  of  the  present  court  house.  His  ex- 
perience in  the  repeated  construction  of  his  own 
ample  buildings  was  especially  useful  to  him  in 
the  discharge  of  this  duty,  and  was  of  great 


benefit  to  the  county,  and  the  city  of  Chicago. 
He  owns  a  fine  stock  farm  at  Twin  Lakes,  Wis- 
consin, where  he  has  spent  considerable  time  in 
recent  years,  and  where  he  finds  enjoyment  and 
recreation.  Though  sixty-two  years  of  age  at 
this  writing,  Mr.  Schmidt  is  still  hale  and  hearty. 
His  interest  in  the  growth  and  development  of 
Chicago  is  unabated,  and  he  views  with  pride  and 
satisfaction  the  continuous  progress  in  which  he 
was  for  many  years  an  active  participant. 


GEORGE  M.  DEARLOVE. 


EEORGE  M.  DEARLOVE,  B.  L.(  a  young 
man  of  pronounced  judgment  and  business 
ability,  who  makes  his  home  in  Chicago, 
though  spending  much  of  his  time  in  travel,  is 
a  native  of  Cook  County.  He  was  born  in 
Northfield  Township,  in  1873,  and  is  a  son 
of  George  and  Mary  A.  Dearlove,  the  his- 
tory of  whose  lives  may  be  found  elsewhere 
in  this  volume.  In  his  early  years  he  attend- 
ed the  public  schools  of  Chicago,  and  later, 
as  a  youth,  the  Morgan  Park  Military  Academy. 
After  graduating  from  the  last-mentioned  institu- 
tion, he  attended  the  North- Western  Military 
Academy  at  Highland  Park,  from  which,  after 
passing  the  Government  examination  in  an  able 
manner,  he  received  his  commission  of  Second 
Lieutenant  in  the  State  Militia,  subsequently  at- 
taining to  the  rank  of  Senior  Captain  and  Ad- 
jutant. While  attending  the  academy  he  was 
President  of  the  Class  of  1891. 

Not  satisfied  with  his  attainments  thus  far,  Mr. 
Dearlove  then  attended  Lake  Forest  University, 
completing  the  entire  course  with  the  exception 
of  the  senior  year.  Thence  he  went  to  Monmouth 
College  at  Monmouth,  Illinois,  where  he  took  a 
course  in  Liberal  Arts,  graduating  June  6,  1893, 
with  the  degree  of  B.  L-  While  a  student  of 


Lake  Forest  University,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Zeta  Episiton,  and  of  the  Eccritian  Society  while 
attending  the  college  at  Monmouth.  In  the  lat- 
ter institution,  as  well  as  at  Lake  Forest,  he 
made  a  special  study  of  Economics  and  of  Finan- 
ciering. 

Possessed  of  strong  human  interests  and  a  live- 
ly intelligence,  it  is  not  strange  that  Mr.  Dear- 
love  should  find  one  of  his  keenest  delights  in 
traveling,  especially  as  he  is  financially  able  to  do 
so.  Since  1887  he  has  spent  most  of  his  vaca- 
tions in  traveling,  chiefly  through  the  South  and 
West.  In  these  journeys  he  has  happily  com- 
bined pleasure  and  business,  for,  being  possessed 
of  considerable  foresight  and  discernment,  his 
travels  have  given  him  abundant  opportunities 
for  investment  in  promising  enterprises.  He  was 
one  of  the  promoters  and  constructors  of  the  As- 
toria &  Columbia  River  Railroad,  and  is  still  one 
of  the  Directors  of  the  company  which  operates 
the  same — a  corporation  which  pays  the  largest 
dividends  of  any  railroad  company  in  the  United 
States.  He  was  also  one  of  the  original  incor- 
porators,  and  is  now  Vice-President  of  the  Florida, 
Ocean  &  Gulf  Railroad;  Director  of  the  Florida 
Central  &  Peninsular  Railroad;  and  Director  and 
Vice-President  of  the  Florida  Engineering  and 


E.  C.  LONG. 


537 


Construction  Company,  which  owns  about  two 
million  acres  of  land  in  Florida.  In  addition  to 
these  numerous  offices,  Mr.  Dearlove  is  a  Direc- 
tor of  the  Florida  Development  Company,  which 
has  extensive  fruit  lands  in  Florida,  with  offices 
at  Jacksonville,  Florida  and  Chicago;  and  a  Di- 
rector of  the  Avon  Park  National  Bank  at  Avon 
Park,  Florida. 


With  the  foregoing  record  of  his  business  con- 
nections before  one,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  re- 
mark that  Mr.  Dearlove  is  a  young  man  of  keen 
perception  and  ready  decision,  who  never  loses  a 
business  opportunity  for  lack  of  promptitude  in 
action.  In  address  he  is  pleasing  and  intelligent, 
showing  a  great  general  knowledge  of  men  and 
affairs,  remarkable  in  one  so  young. 


EUGENE  C.  LONG. 


IT  UGENE  CONANT  LONG  was  born  in  Bran- 
Yy  don,  Vermont,  October  31,  1834,  and  is  a* 
I  son  of  James  and  Cerusa  (Conant)  Long, 
who  were  among  the  early  pioneers  of  Cook 
County.  James  Long  was  born  in  Washington, 
District  of  Columbia,  and  was  a  son  of  Andrew 
and  Alice  Long,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland.  An- 
drew Long  was  killed  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  during  the  War  of  1812.  The  family  of 
Long  (or  Laing,  as  it  was  originally  spelled)  is 
of  Scotch  extraction,  and  was  founded  in  America 
by  four  brothers  who  settled  at  Baltimore  about 
1660.  Commodore  Long,  who  was  in  the  United 
States  naval  service  during  the  Revolution,  was 
descended  from  one  of  these. 

While  a  young  man,  James  Long  went  to  New 
York  City,  where  he  became  a  partner  with  Sam- 
uel Hoard,  afterwards  Postmaster  of  Chicago,  in 
the  publishing  business.  A  few  years  later,  the 
firm  removed  to  Brandon,  Vermont,  where  they 
published  a  newspaper  for  some  years.  In  1835 
James  Long  moved,  with  his  family,  to  Cook 
County  and  engaged  in  farming  in  Jefferson  town- 
ship, near  the  present  village  of  that  name,  now 
within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Not  find- 
ing agriculture  very  profitable,  after  three  years' 
experience,  he  sold  out  and  moved  to  Chicago 
and  built  a  steam  grist  mill  on  Michigan  Avenue, 
at  the  corner  of  Lake  Street.  This  he  operated 


for  several  years.  The  engine  in  this  mill  was 
employed  in  pumping  the  water  which  was  first 
supplied  by  the  city  to  the  people  of  Chicago. 
This  contract  continued  some  years,  the  water 
being  forced,  through  hollow  logs  laid  in  a  few 
streets  near  the  river.  Those  outside  the  service 
were  wont  to  keep  barrels  for  storing  a  supply, 
and  these  barrels  were  filled  by  private  enterprise, 
at  ten  cents  per  barrel. 

After  disposing  of  the  mill,  Mr.  Long  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Polk  as  Keeper  of  the  light- 
house, which  stood  near  the  site  of  the  present 
Rush  Street  bridge.  He  subsequently  served  as 
County  Treasurer,  and  for  a  number  of  years  filled 
the  office  of  Alderman  of  the  First  Ward.  After  re- 
tiring from  business  and  public  life,  he  spent  con- 
siderable time  in  travel,  and  his  death  occurred 
in  Paris,  France,  on  the  loth  of  April,  1876,  at 
the  age.  of  seventy-four  years. 

Mrs.  Cerusa  Long  died  in  Chicago  in  1874,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven  years.  She  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  Conant  and  Chara  Broughton,  of 
Brandon,  Vermont.  John  Conant  was  descended 
from  one  of  the  earliest  American  families.  His 
grandfather,  Ebenezer  Conant,  served  in  the  Con- 
tinental army,  as  Captain  of  a  Massachusetts  com- 
pany. Roger  Conant,  father  of  the  last-named, 
was  among  the  Colonial  Governors  of  Massachu- 
setts— preceding  Governor  Endicott. 


538 


FRANCIS  HUTCHISON. 


Bugene  C.  Long  was  still  in  his  infancy  when 
the  family  came  to  Cook  County,  Chicago  being 
at  that  time  a  village  of  three  or  four  thousand  in- 
habitants. While  a  boy,  he  was  accustomed  to 
do  the  family  marketing.  The  chief  produce 
market  was  on  State  Street  near  Randolph,  and 
its  wares  were  brought  by  farmers  from  long  dis- 
tances and  displayed  in  wagons  and  other  vehi- 
cles, much  after  the  present  fashion  of  the  Hay- 
market  of  the  West  Side.  The  pioneers  of  that 
day  did  not  lack  for  the  substantials,  though  there 
was  little  cash  in  circulation,  and  they  were  largely 
ignorant  of  the  present  style  of  living  in  the  city. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  Eugene  C.  Long 
graduated  from  the  Beardsly  Seminary,  and  soon 
after  became  a  clerk  and  teller  in  the  Marine 
Bank.  His  connection  with  that  institution  con- 
tinued for  twenty- two  years,  during  the  last  twelve 
of  which  he  served  as  Cashier.  In  1874  he  re- 
signed this  position  and  engaged  in  the  stock  and 
brokerage  business,  continuing  that  occupation 


five  years.  He  then  entered  the  office  of  the  late 
Judge  Van  H.  Higgins.  Since  1880  he  has  been 
a  stockholder  and  Secretary  of  the  Rose  Hill  Cem- 
etery Company,  and  since  1893  has  also  been 
Treasurer  of  the  corporation. 

He  was  married  in  October,  1858,  to  Harriet 
Alexander,  step-daughter  of  Van  H.  Higgins, 
and  daughter  of  the  first  Mrs.  Higgins — Elizabeth 
(Morse)  Alexander.  Mrs.  Long  was  born  in 
Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and  is  the  mother  of  two 
daughters,  Eugenie  and  Harriet,  the  first  being 
now  the  wife  of  Edward  L-  Frasher,  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Long  and  his  family  are  members  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  he  has  been  a 
life-long  Republican  in  principle  and  practice. 
The  record  of  his  business  career  shows  him  to 
be  capable  and  upright,  for  only  through  these 
qualities  could  any  one  hold  the  positions  he  has 
filled.  In  manner,  he  is  courteous  and  easy,  show- 
ing long  familiarity  with  the  best  men  and  methods 
of  the  day. 


FRANCIS  HUTCHISON. 


r"RANCIS  HUTCHISON,  a  successful  Chi- 
1M  cagoan  now  living  in  practical  retirement, 
|  is  a  Scotchman  by  nativity  and  spent  his 
youth  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  Leven,  the 
outlet  of  Loch  Lomond,  a  locality  which  has  been 
rendered  famous  in  song  and  story,  and  abounds 
with  historic  interest  and  romantic  scenery.  His 
birth  occurred  on  the  3oth  day  of  April,  1828,  in 
the  village  of  Alexandria,  Dumbartonshire.  His 
parents,  James  and  Janet  (Weir)  Hutchison, 
were  in  humble  circumstances  and,  though  able 
to  afford  their  offspring  but  a  rudimentary  intel- 
lectual training,  endowed  them  with  habits  and 


principles  which  fitted  them  for  filling  responsible 
and  useful  positions  in  life. 

James  Hutchison  was  born  at  Abernathy,  near 
Perth,  Scotland,  but  removed  during  his  youth 
to  Dumbartonshire  where  his  later  life  was  spent. 
Mrs.  Janet  Hutchison  was  a  daughter  of  Donald 
Weir,  a  well-to-do  farmer  and  herdsman  of  Argyle- 
shire.  But  three  of  their  nine  children  are  now 
living,  and  Francis  is  the  only  resident  of  the 
United  States.  The  other  survivors  are  Rev. 
John  Hutchison,  an  Independent  (Congrega- 
tional) minister  at  Ashton-under-line,  England, 
who  has  filled  his  present  pastorate  for  upwards 


FRANCIS  HUTCHISON. 


539 


of  forty  years,  and  Donald  Hutchison,  who  is 
the  chief  engineer  of  a  steamship  company,  which 
operates  a  line  of  vessels  plying  between  Liver- 
pool and  the  La  Plata  river  in  South  America. 

At  the  age  of  eight  years,  Francis  Hutchison 
began  to  earn  his  daily  bread  by  laboring  in  the 
print  and  dye  works  which  abound  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  his  birthplace.  At  fourteen  he  was  set  to 
learn  the  carpenter  trade  serving  five  years  ap- 
prenticeship at  that  industry.  He  was  afterwards 
employed  as  a  ship-carpenter  and  acquired  a  de- 
gree of  skill  and  proficiency  which  has  since 
served  him  in  good  stead. 

Having  heard  fabulous-sounding  stories  of  the 
great  land  beyond  the  Atlantic  ocean,  he  deter- 
mined to  see  and  investigate  its  wonderful  re- 
sources by  a  personal  visit  and,  not  without  con- 
siderable misgivings  as  to  the  duration  of  his 
sojourn,  in  1858  he  took  passage  upon  the  steamer 
"Kangaroo"  for  New  York,  arriving  in  that  city 
on  the  ninth  day  of  June.  He  went  from  there 
to  Rochester,  New  York,  and  after  spending  a 
few  months  at  that  place,  took  passage  by  way  of 
the  lakes  for  Chicago  whither  he  arrived  in  due 
time,  landing  upon  a  temporary  pier  at  Clark 
Street.  His  destination  was  the  home  of  his  uncle, 
Donald  Weir,  who  lived  on  the  Des  Plaines  river 
near  "the  Sag,"  but  as  the  address  which  had 
been  furnished  him  was  rather  vague,  he  spent 
several  days  in  unnecessary  travel  before  reach- 
ing the  place,  a  delay  which  was  amply  atoned 
for  by  the  hearty  welcome  accorded  him  upon  his 
arrival.  As  a  number  of  farm  houses  were  being 
erected  in  that  neighborhood,  he  found  a  ready 
demand  for  his  services,  and  his  first  season's 
earnings  so  far  exceeded  any  sum  he  had  ever 
received  for  a  corresponding  period  of  time  that 
all  doubts  concerning  the  superior  advantages  of 
this  country  as  a  permanent  place  of  residence 
were  dispelled  from  his  mind  and  he  determined 
to  become  an  American  citizen. 

In  the  fall  of  1860  he  went  to  Helena,  Arkan- 
sas, where  he  was  employed  at  his  trade  until  the 
following  spring,  when,  owing  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  rebellion  and  not  wishing  to  be  pressed  into 
the  Confederate  service,  he  returned  to  the  North 
without  being  able  to  collect  the  money  he  had 


earned  there.  His  brief  residence  at  the  South 
had  given  him  a  good  understanding  of  the  con- 
ditions which  prevailed  there,  however,  and  en- 
abled him  to  take  a  more  conservative  view  of 
the  questions  which  divided  the  union  than  pre- 
vailed among  the  more  enthusiastic  partisans  of 
the  North. 

The  prevailing  wages  for  house-builders  in 
Chicago  at  this  time  ranged  from  seventy-five 
cents  to  one  dollar  per  day,  and  Mr.  Hutchison 
found  it  more  profitable  to  engage  in  ship  car- 
pentry. He  was  subsequently  employed  in  build- 
ing gun-boats  for  the  United  States  Government 
at  St.  Louis,  and  at  Cairo,  Illinois.  In  1863  he 
purchased  an  interest  in  a  distillery  at  Joliet,  but 
as  some  features  of  the  business  became  distaste- 
ful to  him,  he  sold  out  the  following  year  and  in- 
vested his  profits  in  vessels  plying  between  Chi- 
cago and  the  lower  lake  ports.  He  continued 
the  carrying  trade  for  the  next  nine  or  ten  years, 
and  in  the  meantime  purchased  several  lots  and 
a  residence  at  the  corner  of  Van  Buren  and 
Throop  Streets.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  city 
soon  created  a  demand  for  this  location  for  com- 
mercial purposes  and  he  replaced  his  residence 
with  several  substantial  business  blocks.  He  has 
since  bought  and  improved  other  valuable  west- 
side  property,  and  of  recent  years  the  care  and 
renting  of  these  buildings  has  absorbed  most  of 
his  time  and  attention. 

Mr.  Hutchison  was  married  in  1864  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  Jones,  daughter  of  Thomas  Jones,  who 
died  in  Chicago  in  1882,  at  the  age  of  more  than 
eighty  years.  The  lady  was  born  in  Denbigh- 
shire, Wales,  and  came  to  America  in  1856.  She 
has  been  an  able  helpmeet  and  counsellor  of  her 
husband,  and  their  union  has  been  blessed  with 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  still  under  the  par- 
ental roof,  namely:  Elizabeth  Agnes,  Catherine 
Jane,  wife  of  S.  B.  Foster,  James  Francis  and  Jean- 
nette  Weir.  All  the  members  of  this  family  are 
identified  with  the  Jefferson  Park  Presbyterian 
Church. 

Mr.  Hutchison  is  a  man  of  simple  tastes,  and 
leads  a  quiet  and  unostentatious  life,  though  he 
does  not  think  it  out  of  place  to  crack  an  occa- 
sional joke  among  his  old-time  friends.  Since  the 


540 


W.  B.  SNOW. 


war  he  has  been  a  pronounced  Republican,  but 
sometimes  ignores  party  lines  concerning  ques- 
tions of  local  import.  When  he  first  arrived  in 
Chicago  his  total  cash  assets  were  comprised  in 
a  gold  quarter  eagle.  This  he  carefully  hoarded 
for  some  time  and  when  obliged  to  spend  a  por- 


tion of  it  for  repairing  his  shoes,  he  received  in 
change  a  one-dollar  bill  of  "wild-cat"  currency, 
which  proved  to  be  worthless.  His  subsequent 
prosperity,  therefore,  may  be  attributed  solely  to 
his  frugal,  industrious  habits,  correct  judgment 
and  integrity  of  character. 


WILLIAM   B.  SNOW. 


P  QlLLlAM  BLAKE  SNOW,  who  put  on  track 
\  A/  tne  nrst  railway  passenger  coach  built  in 
V  Y  Chicago,  is  descended  from  an  old  Ameri- 
can family.  The  environment  of  the  New  Eng- 
land fathers  was  calculated  to  develop  all  that  was 
sturdy  in  mind  and  body,  and  in  many  of  their 
descendants  are  found  the  qualities  which  enabled 
them  to  survive  the  hardships  they  were  com- 
pelled to  endure  and  caused  them  to  prosper  in 
the  midst  of  most  forbidding  conditions.  The 
spirit  of  adventure  and  progress  which  led  to  the 
colonization  of  New  England,  still  lives  in  the 
posterity  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  has  raised  up  sim- 
ultaneously throughout  the  northern  half  of  the 
United  States  churches,  school  houses  and  fac- 
tories. 

William  B.  Snow  was  born  in  Bellows  Falls, 
Vermont,  February  13,  1821,  and  is  a  son  of  Sol- 
omon and  Lucina  Snow.  His  ancestors  were, 
doubtless,  English,  and  early  located  in  America. 
His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  chocolate  manu- 
facturer near  Boston,  and  his  maternal  grand- 
father, "Bill"  Blake,  established  the  Bellows 
Falls  Gazette,  one  of  the  first  newspapers  in  Ver- 
mont. His  wife  was  Polly  Wait,  of  Milbury, 
Massachusetts. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  passed  his  boy- 
hood in  his  native  village,  receiving  his  education 
in  the  schools  there  existing.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen years,  he  began  working  in  his  father's 
wagon  and  carriage  shop,  becoming  expert  in  the 


use  of  woodworking  implements.  For  some  years 
he  was  employed  by  his  uncles  in  a  paper  mill. 
When  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  set  out  to  make 
his  fortune,  going  to  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  took  contracts  for  carpenter  work.  From 
there  he  went  to  Seymour  (then  called  Hum- 
phreysville),  Connecticut,  where  he  was  employed 
by  the  American  Car  Company,  and  moved  with 
that  establishment  to  Chicago  in  1852.  At  this 
time  he  had  a  contract  with  the  company  for 
building  coaches,  and  set  up  the  first  one  ever 
constructed  in  this  city.  This  was  purchased  by 
the  Chicago  &  Galena  Union  Railroad,  then  in 
its  infancy.  An  account  of  the  origin  of  that  en- 
terprise will  be  found  in  this  work,  in  the  sketch 
of  John  B.  Turner,  who  was  its  founder.  When 
the  American  Car  Company  sold  out  to  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad  Company,  Mr.  Snow  was 
employed  by  the  new  proprietor,  with  whom  he 
continued  from  1857  to  1872.  His  integrity  and  ex- 
ecutive ability  had  meantime  become  known  to 
many  Chicago  citizens,  and  he  was  offered  a  lucra- 
tive position  by  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company, 
for  which  he  traveled  three  years.  At  the  end  of 
this  period,  he  again  took  employment  with  the 
Illinois  Central  Company,  and  so  continued  until 
he  retired  from  active  business  in  October,  1891. 
Mr.  Snow  has  always  been  a  quiet  citizen,  giv- 
ing his  undivided  attention  to  business,  and  leav- 
ing others  to  manage  their  concerns  in  their  own 
way.  He  has  been  a  faithful  attendant  of  the 


A.  G.  LULL. 


Reformed  Episcopal  Church,  with  which  his  fam- 
ily is  affiliated,  being  identified  with  Bishop  Che- 
ney's congregation.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  a  demitted 
Freemason.  His  early  political  associations  were 
with  the  Whig  party,  and  he  has  adhered  to  the 
Republican  organization  since  it  came  into  exist- 
ence. He  has  never  sought  political  preferment, 


but  has  fulfilled  that  imperative  duty — as  well  as 
privilege — of  the  good  American  citizen,  a  vote 
in  every  important  contest.  In  1 843  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Orra  L.  Dyke,  of  American  parentage, 
and  two  children  have  blessed  this  union.  The 
eldest,  Frank  Austin  Snow,  resides  in  Chicago, 
as  does  also  the  other,  Lottie,  wife  of  A.  G.  Farr, 
of  the  firm  of  N.  W.  Harris  &  Company. 


ALBERT  G.  LULL. 


Gl  LBERT  GALLATIN  LULL  was  bom  in 

r  I  Windsor,  Vermont,  February  20,  1827,  and 
/I  died  in  Chicago,  February  13,  1892.  His 
parents,  Joel  and  Celia  (Smith)  Lull,  were  na- 
tives of  the  Green  Mountain  State,  the  Lull  fam- 
ily being  one  of  the  oldest  in  that  commonwealth. 
Mrs.  Celia  "Lull  died  in  Windsor,  and  her  hus- 
band afterwards  came  to  Chicago,  where  he 
served  as  constable  for  several  years.  His  death 
occurred  in  1880,  at  North  Attleboro,  Massachu- 
setts. 

After  leaving  the  public  schools,  Albert  G.  Lull 
became  a  student  for  a  time  at  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. At  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  he  took  up 
the  study  of  gunsmithing  and  mechanics.  In 
1849,  he  came  to  Chicago  and  obtained  employ- 
ment in  the  machine  shop  of  H.  P.  Moses.  While 
thus  engaged,  he  assisted  in  the  construction  of 
the  first  water  works  in  the  city.  He  was  subse- 
quently employed  by  Foss  Brothers,  in  a  large  plan- 
ing mill  on  Canal  Street,  near  Monroe,  the  site  of 
which  is  now  occupied  by  the  Union  Passenger 
Station  and  railroad  tracks.  When  this  mill  was 
torn  down,  preparatory  to  the  construction  of  the 
depot,  he  purchased  the  machinery,  in  company 
with  his  brother-in-law,  Isaac  Holmes,  and  built 
a  new  mill  on  the  west  side  of  Canal  Street,  be- 
tween Jackson  and  Van  Buren  Streets.  The  firm 
dealt  in  lumber  and  carried  on  the  manufacture 
of  packing  boxes,  doing  an  extensive  business 
until  1871,  when  the  entire  plant  was  consumed 


in  the  fire,  which  occurred  on  Saturday  night,  the 
8th  of  October,  preceding  by  one  day  the  memor- 
able '  'great  fire. ' '  The  disaster  which  destroyed 
the  mills  of  Lull  &  Holmes  made  a  gap  which 
saved  the  West  Side  from  the  ravages  of  the  suc- 
ceeding fire.  The  firm  rescued  the  safe  contain- 
ing their  books  from  the  ruins  and  placed  them  in 
the  office  of  a  friend,  on  the  south  side  of  Van  Buren 
Street,  only  to  be  lost  in  the  greater  conflagration 
of  the  following  day.  This  alone  inflicted  a  serious 
loss  on  Mr.  Lull,  who  never  recovered  his  fortunes 
and  suffered  a  permanent  loss  of  health  from  the 
shock  and  exertions  in  trying  to  rescue  his  prop- 
erty. He  retired  a  few  years  later  from  all  busi- 
ness activities. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1855,  he  was  married  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Sammons,  daughter  of  John  and  Ellen 
Holmes,  widow  of  Elijah  H.  Sammons.  Mrs. 
Lull  was  born  at  Bradford,  England,  and  came  to 
America  with  her  parents  in  1835,  arriving  in 
Chicago  in  April  of  that  year.  She  is  still  active 
in  mind  and  body,  and  relates  many  incidents  of 
pioneer  life  in  Chicago.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Cathedral  Church  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  in 
which  Mr.  Lull  was  also  a  communicant.  Two 
children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lull — Rich- 
ard H.,  who  is  a  physician  now  practicing  in 
Chicago,  and  Mary  C. ,  who  is  the  wife  of  Mark 
R.  Sherman,  an  attorney  of  the  same  city. 

Mr.  Lull  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  and  likewise,  of  the  Independent 


542 


E.  F.   DANIELS. 


Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  last  fraternity  he 
had  taken  all  the  degrees  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States.  From  the 
first  organization  of  the  Republican  party,  he  was 


one  of  its  most  steadfast  and  consistent  suppor- 
ters, and  as  a  man  and  citizen,  he  ever  sought  to 
promote  the  material,  moral  and  intellectual 
growth  of  the  community  in  which  he  lived. 


EDWIN  F.  DANIELS. 


IT  DWIN  F.  DANIELS,  an  enterprising  busi- 
Ya  ness  man  of  Chicago,  was  born  at  Concord. 
L  Jackson  County,  Michigan,  January  23, 
1848.  He  is  a  son  of  George  and  Delzina  (John- 
ston) Daniels,  both  of  whom  died  before  he  was 
five  years  old.  George  Daniels  was  born  at  Hull, 
England,  and  was  one  of  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren who  came  to  America  with  their  parents  in 
1832.  They  settled  at  Dearborn,  Michigan,  near 
Detroit.  George  Daniels  afterwards  moved  to 
Jackson  County,  where  his  death  occurred  in 
1854,  at  the  age  of  thirty -two  years.  His  wife 
was  of  Irish  descent. 

Edwin  F.  Daniels  lived  with  his  paternal 
grandparents  and  attended  school  at  Hudson, 
Michigan.  Before  completing  his  education,  how- 
ever, he  went  to  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  to  as- 
sist his  uncle,  Capt.  William  H.  Johnston,  who 
was  a  commissary  officer  in  charge  of  forage  for 
the  army.  He  continued  in  that  employment 
until  Sherman's  army  started  on  its  famous  "march 
to  the  sea,"  when  he  became  a  messenger  in 
charge  of  forage  on  the  railroad  from  Chattanoo- 
ga to  Atlanta.  At  the  time  when  the  rebels 
tore  up  the  track,  at  Big  Shanty,  Georgia,  the 
train  on  which  he  was  serving  returned  to  Al- 
toona,  just  in  time  to  escape  capture.  After  the 
battle  between  Hood  and  Corse,  in  which  the  for- 
mer was  defeated,  Mr.  Daniels  returned  to  Chatta- 
nooga and  soon  afterwards  left  the  service  and 
returned  to  his  boyhood  home  in  Michigan.  He 
then,  for  some  years,  engaged  in  the  manufac- 


ture of  woodenware  and  also  operated  a  planing 
mill. 

In  February,  1876,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and 
was  employed  for  four  years  as  Clerk  in  the 
County  Treasurer's  office.  In  1881,  he  began 
dealing  in  coal,  an  occupation  which  he  has  con- 
tinuously and  successfully  followed  until  the 
present  time.  The  original  firm  of  Weaver, 
Daniels  &  Co. ,  was  succeeded  in  turn  by  Pea- 
body,  Daniels  &  Co. ,  and  Edwin  F.  Daniels  & 
Co.  Since  1890,  Mr.  Daniels  has  been  sole  pro- 
prietor, and  the  business,  which  was  inaugurated 
on  a  rather  limited  scale,  has  grown  to  immense 
.proportions  and  is  now  one  of  the  most  extensive 
in  its  line  in  the  city. 

He  was  married  in  1880,  to  Miss  Kate  Elkins, 
daughter  of  Henry  K.  Elkins,  whose  biography 
appears  elsewhere  in  this  work.  Mrs.  Daniels 
was  born  in  Chicago,  and  has  presented  her  hus- 
band with  two  sons,  Henry  Elkins  and  Raymond 
Elkins  Daniels.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daniels  are  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Unitarian  Church  of  Chicago, 
and  the  former  is  identified  with  the  Union 
League,  Kenwood,  Chicago  Athletic  and  Tolles- 
ton  Shooting  Clubs,  and  the  Chicago  Board  of 
Trade.  During  the  hunting  season,  he  finds 
recreation  by  making  weekly  trips  to  Tolleston 
for  shooting  water  fowl.  He  is  an  advocate  of 
Republican  principles,  but  ignores  party  lines  in 
voting  upon  local  issues.  His  success  may  be  at- 
tributed to  his  enterprising  business  methods, 
ready  decision  and  integrity  of  character. 


I,.  C.    CLARK. 


543 


LYMAN  C.  CLARK. 


I  YMAN  C.  CLARK  is  one  of  the  leading  and 
I  C  prominent  business  men  of  Turner,  where 
l~)  he  has  made  his  home  since  1870.  During 
the  years  which  have  since  passed,  he  has  con- 
tinuously engaged  in  the  insurance  business.  He 
was  born  June  10,  1833,  in  Darien,  Genesee 
County,  N.  Y. ,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  S.  and  Deb- 
orah R.  (Carpenter)  Clark.  The  paternal  grand- 
father, Joshua  Clark,  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier 
and  served  under  Gens.  Washington  and  Green. 
He  was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island,  and  after  his  re- 
moval to  New  York  he  took  up  several  hundred 
acres  of  land.  Throughout  his  life  he  followed 
farming  as  a  livelihood.  A  prominent  and  influ- 
ential citizen,  he  was  honored  with  the  office 
of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  over  forty  years.  His 
death  occurred  in  the  Empire  State  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-seven.  In  his  family  were 
thirteen  children,  twelve  of  whom  grew  to  mature 
years.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
James  Carpenter,  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and 
his  entire  life  was  spent  in  that  State,  where  he 
died  at  an  advanced  age. 

Henry  S.  Clark  was  born  in  Rhode  Island,  and 
became  a  contractor  and  builder  of  New  York. 
He  also  engaged  in  painting,  and  his  death  was 
the  result  of  his  being  poisoned  by  paint,  in  1855, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  His  wife,  who 
was  born  in  Connecticut,  died  in  the  Empire 
State  in  1 88 1 ,  at  the  age  of  eighty- four.  Both 
were  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  the 
father  was  a  local  preacher  of  that  denomina- 
tion. He  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812, 
and  his  widow  received  a  pension  on  that  account. 
In  their  family  were  four  sons  and  five  daughters, 
of  whom  the  following  are  now  living:  Henry  H. ; 
Lyman  C. ;  Loriuda  E. ,  wife  of  William  Waldron, 


of  Trenton,  Canada;  and  Susan  M.,  wife  of  Albert 
Blackman,  of  Erie  County,  N.  Y.  Two  brothers 
lost  their  lives  during  the  late  war.  Jerome  was 
killed  at  Bentonville,  N.  C. ,  and  Dennis  died  at 
home  from  injuries  received  in  the  service. 

We  now  take  up  the  personal  history  of  our 
subject,  who  was  reared  in  the  State  of  his  nativ- 
ity, and  in  the  common  schools  of  the  neighbor- 
hood acquired  a  good  English  education.  When 
about  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  began  learning 
the  trade  of  carriage- maker,  which  he  followed 
continuously  until  1865.  The  following  year  he 
emigrated  westward  and  took  up  his  residence  in 
Davenport,  Iowa,  where  he  embarked  in  the  life- 
insurance  business.  In  1870  he  came  to  Turner, 
where  he  has  since  devoted  his  time  and  energies 
to  the  same  pursuit  with  good  success. 

On  the  i8th  of  September,  1855,  Mr.  Clark  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Laura  E.  Babcock, 
daughter  of  Rev.  R.  and  Lucinda  (Gilbert)  Bab- 
cock,  the  former  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and 
the  latter  of  New  York.  Seven  children  have 
been  born  of  this  union,  two  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters. Altie  Florence  is  the  wife  of  C.  E.  Norris,  of 
Turner,  by  whom  she  has  four  children:  Charles 
H.,  Carroll  W.,  Ernest  L.  and  Florence.  Clar- 
ence Henry,  deceased,  was  a  twin  brother  of  Altie 
Florence.  Clara  Louise,  Henrietta  and  Charles 
Herbert  are  all  deceased.  Ella  Laura  is  the  wife 
of  E.  B.  Holmes,  of  Turner;  and  Lulu  Pauline 
completes  the  family. 

The  parents  are  both  members  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  and  take  a  most  active  part 
in  church  and  benevolent  work.  Mr.  Clark  has 
been  Steward  of  the  church  for  thirty -seven  con- 
secutive years,  and  has  also  served  as  Trustee 
and  Class-leader  for  many  years.  He  is  now  Su- 


544 


E.  H.  CASTLE. 


perintendent  of  the  Sunday-school,  which  is  mak- 
ing good  progress  under  his  able  management. 
He  has  also  been  prominently  identified  with  tem- 
perance work.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican, 
and  socially  is  connected  with  Amity  Lodge  No. 
472,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.;  Doric  Chapter  No.  166,  R. 
A.  M.;  and  Siloam  Commandery  No.  54,  of  Oak 
Park.  He  and  his  wife  are  both  members  of  the 
Order  of  the  Eastern  Star.  Mr.  Clark  has  a  good 


home  and  other  town  property  in  Turner,  and  is 
numbered  among  the  valued  and  representative 
citizens  of  this  community.  He  has  lived  an  up- 
right, honorable  life,  and  his  career  is  one  well 
worthy  of  emulation.  He  has  the  confidence  and 
high  regard  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  brought 
in  contact,  and  it  is  with  pleasure  that  we  present 
to  our  readers  this  record  of  his  life. 


EDWARD  HERRICK  CASTLE. 


j~DWARD  HERRICK  CASTLE.  To  the 
fp  student  of  human  progress,  or  the  youth  who 
seeks  an  example  worthy  of  his  emulation, 
•  the  history  of  this  successful  man  offers  especially 
interesting  features.  His  career  has  been  full  of 
adventure  and  excitement,  and  yet  the  experi- 
ences of  his  life  have  made  his  mind  philosophical 
and  his  heart  sympathetic.  When  he  was  born, 
the  nation  was  young  and  still  almost  an  experi- 
ment, so  that  men  were  not  encouraged  to  ven- 
ture into  strange  fields  of  action.  He  has  lived  to 
see  the  American  nation  become  one  of  the  great- 
est of  the  earth;  and  now,  in  his  old  age,  he  re- 
joices that  he  has  been  permitted  to  witness  the 
triumph  of  the  institutions  of  liberty. 

E.  H.  Castle  was  born  in  Amenia,  Dutchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  on  the  5th  of  August,  1811,  and 
is  now  nearing  the  completion  of  his  eighty-third 
year.  His  great-grandfather,  Gideon  Castle,  was 
one  of  the  early  Colonists  who  came  from  Eng- 
land. A  brother  went  to  Virginia,  while  another 
accompanied  him  to  New  York.  Gideon,  son  of 
Gideon  Castle,  who  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety- 
six  years,  occupied  an  honorable  place  in  his- 
tory as  a  member  of  Gen.  Washington's  per- 
sonal staff.  He  was  with  the  immortal  com- 
mander through  the  Revolutionary  War  as  Com- 
missary of  Subsistence.  He  owned  a  mill  in 


Dutchess  County,  which  manufactured  flour  for 
the  Continental  army.  After  the  treaty  of  peace  he 
removed  to  Amenia,  where  his  son,  William 
Castle,  father  of  the  subject  of  this  biography, 
passed  his  life.  His  farm  was  situated  about  two 
miles  from  the  village  of  Amenia,  and  here  Ed- 
ward H.  Castle  grew  up  to  be  a  strong  and  hearty 
youth,  full  of  ambition.  He  longed  to  go  to  sea 
and  visit  strange  lands,  and  to  make  his  fortune 
in  the  world.  However,  he  remained  upon  his 
father's  farm  until  about  ten  years  of  age,  attend- 
ing the  small  school  in  the  vicinity.  He  after- 
ward attended  Dr.  Taylor's  academy  in  Cortland 
County,  but  his  restless  disposition  soon  drove 
him  to  sea,  and  he  shipped  on  a  bark  bound  for  a 
distant  port.  After  a  voyage  of  many  months, 
he  returned  to  find  his  mother  dead  and  the  house- 
hold in  mourning. 

This  seems  to  have  been  a  turning-point  in  Mr. 
Castle's  life.  The  death  of  his  dear  mother  af- 
fected him  deeply.  He  had  started  out  into  the 
world  full  of  youth's  bright  hopes,  and  this  sud- 
den bereavement  was  a  severe  blow.  He'had  not 
been  permitted  to  close  the  dying  eyes  of  his  best 
friend  on  earth,  or  receive  her  last  blessing.  He 
determined  to  honor  her  memory  by  making 
something  of  himself.  In  deference  to  his  father' s 
earnest  wish,  he  consented  to  enter  the  office  of 


E.  H.  CASTLE. 


545 


his  father's  attorney,  Samuel  Perkins,  and  take 
up  the  study  of  law.  He  studied  faithfully  two 
years,  until  an  attack  of  measles  resulted  in  a 
partial  loss  of  his  eyesight.  He  had  long  been 
convinced  that  he  was  not  calculated  to  make  a 
lawyer,  and  on  being  relieved  from  his  studies, 
he  began  to  look  about  for  an  opportunity  to  enter 
a  business  life,  much  to  his  father's  disappoint- 
ment. His  subsequent  fortune  shows  the  wisdom 
of  his  choice. 

Soon  after  attaining  his  majority,  on  the  ist  of 
September,  1832,  Mr.  Castle  started  out  from  his 
father's  home  in  Freetown,  Cortland  County, 
whither  he  had  moved  from  Dutchess  County. 
He  traveled  on  foot  over  a  lonely  road  to  Carbon- 
dale,  Pa. ,  one  hundred  miles  distant.  At  Car- 
bondale,  Deacon  Hodgden  had  a  force  of  men  and 
horses  employed  in  hauling  coal  from  the  mines 
to  the  canal.  Young  Castle  applied  to  him  for 
employment,  and  was  offered  $14  per  month  and 
board.  He  stipulated,  however,  for  what  he 
proved  to  be  worth  at  the  end  of  three  months,  a 
unique  plan,  which  was  accepted  by  the  Deacon 
with  alacrity.  Before  the  day  of  settlement  came 
around,  Castle  was  foreman  and  was  paid  $40  per 
month.  By  gradual  increase  his  salary  soon  rose 
to  $100  per  month,  and  he  shortly  bought  out  his 
employer,  giving  in  payment  his  personal  note, 
which  was  promptly  paid  when  due. 

After  three  years  of  business,  Mr.  Castle  en- 
tered into  partnership  with  Stephen  Clark, 
and  the  firm  carried  on  a  large  lumber  trade  and 
opened  a  general  store.  They  also  secured  through 
attorneys  the  lease  of  the  Fall  Brook  coal  mines 
for  ninety-nine  years,  and  added  mining  to  their 
lumbering  and  mercantile  business.  Mr.  Castle 
finally  became  sole  owner  by  purchasing  his  part- 
ner's interest,  and  continued  to  prosper  until  his 
store  and  stock  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1838. 

The  year  previous  to  that  last  above  mentioned 
had  brought  reports  to  Mr.  Castle's  Pennsyl- 
vania home  of  the  wonderful  village  on  the  shore 
of  Lake  Michigan,  under  the  shadow  of  Ft.  Dear- 
born. During  that  year  this  village  began  to  be 
a  thriving  business  center,  and  streets  were  opened 
&?,  far  west  along  the  main  river  as  the  north  and 
sourb  branches.  A  paper  was  established  by 


John  Calhoun,  of  New  York,  and  was  making 
the  prospective  advantages  of  the  town  known. 
Although  he  had  been  very  successful  in  Carbon- 
dale,  Mr.  Castle  felt  that  the  growing  West  of- 
fered him  greater  advantages  than  he  had  hith- 
erto enjoyed.  He  purchased  a  stock  of  goods  in 
Philadelphia,  which  was  transported  by  the  only 
method  then  known — by  wagon — over  the  moun- 
tains to  Pittsburgh.  Here  he  added  iron,  nails, 
and  the  heavy  goods  manufactured  at  Pittsburgh, 
and  chartered  a  steamer  to  carry  his  stock,  with 
which  he  proceeded  down  the  Ohio  and  up  the 
Mississippi  and  Illinois  Rivers  to  Peru.  Here  he 
decided  to  open  business,  and  soon  after  started 
another  store  at  Joliet,  having  added  to  his  stock 
at  St.  Louis  on  the  way  up.  In  a  short  time, 
Mr.  Castle  went  into  partnership  with  Gov.  Mat- 
terson  and  Hiram  Blanchard,  in  a  contract  for 
excavating  a  part  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal. 

In  the  spring  of  1839,  Mr.  Castle  became  a 
resident  of  Chicago,  arriving  on  the  ist  of  May, 
having  previously  disposed  of  his  mercantile  bus- 
iness at  Peru  and  Joliet.  He  opened  a  store  in  an 
unfinished  building  at  the  corner  of  Lake  and 
Wells  Streets,  so  far  out  of  the  then  business  cen- 
tre that  his  venture  was  considered  risky  by  many. 
The  business  soon  grew  to  be  profitable,  however, 
and  Mr.  Castle  shortly  became  a  pioneer  in  what 
has  since  proved  one  of  the  greatest  glories  of  the 
western  metropolis — the  grain  trade.  Although 
the  modern  grain  elevator  was  then  unknown,  he 
handled  in  one  year  100,000  bushels,  shipping  by 
lake  and  canal  to  New  York. 

With  his  usual  business  foresight,  Mr.  Castle 
early  secured  large  tracts  of  land,  entering  one 
tract  of  swamp  lands  in  the  Illinois  Valley,  em- 
bracing six  hundred  acres,  at  ten  cents  per  acre. 
Many  derided  him  for  buying  this  worthless  land, 
but  he,  with  others,  secured  the  passage  of  a 
drainage  act  by  the  State  Legislature,  and  within 
ten  years  after  its  purchase  he  sold  portions  of  it 
for  $50  per  acre.  Mr.  Castle  also  opened  a  dairy 
farm  at  Wheeling,  and  found  a  ready  market  for 
the  product  of  his  fifty  cows  in  the  city. 

Navigation  seemed  natural  to  Mr.  Castle,  and 
we  find  him  engaged  in  the  Mississippi  River 


546 


E.  H.  CASTLE. 


trade  for  seven  winters,  exchanging  the  products 
of  the  St.  Louis  markets  for  those  of  New  Or- 
leans. At  one  time  he  sailed  the  fine  steamer 
' '  Alonzo  Child. ' '  He  secured  a  tract  of  two  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  in  Washington  County,  Tex. , 
and  several  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  making 
a  beautiful  plantation  of  this  land. 

In  November,  1849,  Capt.  Castle  bade  farewell 
to  his  Chicago  friends  and  set  out  for  the  newly- 
discovered  gold  fields  of  California.  Proceeding 
down  the  Mississippi  River  to  New  Orleans,  he 
accepted  the  position  of  mate  on  the  "Florida," 
and  set  sail  for  Chagres.  Crossing  the  Isthmus, 
he  found  at  Panama  the  good  ship  '  'Unicorn, ' ' 
of  the  Aspinwall  Line,  and  was  tendered  its  com- 
mand by  the  owner.  On  account  of  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  port,  it  was  found  impossible  to 
carry  all  who  wished  to  go,  and  a  plot  was  made 
by  some  of  the  disappointed  ones  to  murder  Capt. 
Stout,  but  the  plot  was  overheard  by  Capt.  Castle 
and  a  friend,  and  was  frustrated.  With  a  crew 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  men  and  seven  hun- 
dred passengers,  Capt.  Castle  set  sail  for  San 
Francisco,  stopping  on  the  way  at  Acapulco  to 
secure  as  much  provisions,  cattle  and  coal  as 
could  be  procured.  January  5,  1850,  found  them 
in  San  Francisco  without  accident.  Among  all 
the  hordes  found  there,  one  desire  seemed  para- 
mount— gold.  Fabulous  prices  were  paid  for  all 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  the  most  fortunate 
were  those  who  discreetly  remained  in  town  and 
sold  merchandise.  Capt.  Castle  was  one  of  these. 
He  plied  a  small  steamer,  the  "Eldorado,"  be- 
tween San  Francisco  and  Sacramento,  and  opened 
a  store  in  the  latter  city.  On  the  5th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1850,  he  opened  a  hotel,  called  the  Illinois 
House,  in  San  Francisco,  which  at  once  did  a 
thriving  business.  He  also  purchased,  or  secured 
the  consignment  of,  over  four  hundred  cargoes, 
and  operated  a  very  extensive  warehouse  trade. 

Being  admonished  by  failing  health  to  return 
home,  Capt.  Castle  sailed  on  the  steamer  "Col- 
umbus" for  Panama  in  the  fall  of  1851.  The  sea 
voyage  and  careful  nursing  which  he  received 
from  the  ship's  matron  soon  made  him  compara- 
tively well.  During  the  voyage,  he  was  sent  for 
by  a  Mr.  Saltpaugh,  who  had  noticed  that  Capt. 


Castle  was  a  Mason.  Mr.  Saltpaugh  was  dying 
with  cholera,  and  confided  to  Capt.  Castle's  care 
his  money  ($1,200)  to  be  delivered  to  Mrs.  Salt- 
paugh at  Port  Gibson,  N.  Y.  The  captain  of 
the  vessel  claimed  the  custody  of  this  money  un' 
der  a  United  States  law,  but  Capt.  Castle  said: 
"I  promised  that  man,  who  was  a  brother  Mason, 
to  deliver  the  money  to  his  widow,  and  you  can 
only  secure  it  from  my  dead  body."  The  matter 
was  not  pressed  any  further,  and  Capt.  Castle 
subsequently  had  the  pleasure  of  delivering  the 
money  to  its  rightful  owner.  By  steamer  "Fal- 
con" to  Cuba,  and  "Ohio"  to  New  York,  Capt. 
Castle  was  once  more  united  with  his  wife  and 
daughter,  who  met  him  in  New  York,  and  the 
meeting  was  a  joyful  one. 

Soon  after  his  return  to  Chicago,  Capt.  Castle 
was  appointed  Western  Agent  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
road, and  administered  its  affairs  for  four  years, 
largely  increasing  its  traffic,  and  at  the  same  time 
he  dealt  more  or  less  in  city  property,  with  profit 
to  himself.  During  most  of  this  period  he  acted 
as  General  Agent  for  the  entire  Mississippi  Val- 
ley. After  retiring  from  the  railroad  agency,  Mr. 
Castle  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business  on  a 
large  scale,  in  partnership  with  Lewis  W. 
Clark,  which  continued  until  the  death  of  Mr. 
Clark,  after  which  Mr.  Castle  continued  alone. 

In  1858,  Mr.  Castle  turned  his  attention  to  rail- 
road construction,  and  secured,  after  much  ef- 
fort, a  charter  from  the  State  of  Missouri  for 
a  road  from  Canton  to  the  Missouri  River,  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  miles.  The  people  along 
the  line  promptly  subscribed  for  double  the  stock, 
and  he  had  completed  about  fifty  miles  of  track 
when  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  stopped  all 
operations  and  caused  him  a  lieavy  loss.  The 
rebel,  Gen.  Greene,  drove  Capi.  Castle  and  his 
men  from  the  State  and  seized  all  the  stores,  iron 
and  cars,  valued  at  about  $2, 000,000.  Nearly  all 
of  Capt.  Castle's  force  was  composed  of  single 
men,  who  were  loyal  to  the  Union,  and  when  he 
asked  them  to  join  the  Union  army  they  responded 
almost  to  a  man.  Chartering  a  steamer,  he  took 
them  to  St.  Louis,  where  they  were  accepted  by 
Maj.-Gen.  Fremont,  and  Mr.  Castle  was  made  a 
colonel  on  Fremont's  staff.  Col.  Castle  was  made 


E   H.   CASTLE. 


547 


Sttj^rrintendent  of  Railroads  for  the  Western  De- 
partment, comprising  twenty-seven  lines,  with 
headquarters  at  St.  Louis.  By  his  arrangement, 
various  lines  centering  there  were  connected,  and 
a  vast  amount  of  delay  and  expense  thus  saved  to 
the  Government.  He  prepared  a  uniform  scale 
of  freight  rates,  which  was  accepted  by  Congress 
and  known  as  the  Castle  Rates.  He  and  his  faith- 
ful men  were  kept  busy  in  repairing  the  damage 
to  bridges  and  grades  by  the  rebels,  who  well 
knew  that  the  success  of  the  Union  troops  was 
much  enhanced  by  rapid  transportation. 

A  warm  friendship  sprang  up  between  Col. 
Castle  and  his  brave  commander,  which  contin- 
ued as  long  as  both  of  them  were  permitted  to 
live.  When  Gen.  Fremont  was  ordered  to  Vir- 
ginia, Col.  Castle  accompanied  him  and  was  em- 
ployed in  bridge-building.  He  had  bridges  and 
wagons  for  their  transportation  built  in  Pitts- 
burgh, and  because  of  his  presence  everywhere  in 
preparing  a  way  to  cross  rivers  on  pontoon  bridges, 
the  soldiers  dubbed  him  "Col.  Pontoon." 

After  Sheridan's  famous  raid  up  the  Shenan- 
doah  River,  Col.  Castle  was  summoned  to  Wash- 
ington by  President  Lincoln,  for  whom  he  per- 
formed some  special  services,  and  received  the 
thanks  of  the  President  and  Congress.  After  the 
surrender  of  Vicksburg,  Col.  Castle  contracted  to 
furnish  Gen.  Grant's  army  with  twenty-eight 
thousand  tons  of  ice,  which  was  done  with  con- 
siderable difficulty  on  account  of  the  fall  of  water 
in  the  Mississippi,  necessitating  the  employment 
of  railroad  transportation  a  part  of  the  way,  and 
re-shipment  by  boat  at  Cairo.  When  the  ice  was 
delivered  at  Vicksburg,  Gen.  Grant  thanked  Col. 
Castle  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  and  the  town  was 
illuminated.  Col.  Castle  was  sent  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  confer  with  Gen.  Banks  at  New  Orleans 
concerning  the  contemplated  Red  River  expedi- 
tion, but  Banks  spurned  the  advice  of  Col.  Castle, 
who  showed  him  the  disaster  that  was  sure  to  re- 
sult from  his  plans,  and  the  result  proved  the  wis- 
dom of  Col.  Castle's  conclusions,  based  upon  his 
long  experience  in  travel  and  navigation.  In  the 
spring  of  1865,  he  again  entered  the  real-estate 
business,  with  office  on  La  Salle  Street,  in  which 
he  continued  to  be  successful.  About  two  years 


later  he  experienced  religion,  and  devoted  much 
of  his  time  to  the  cause  of  the  Master,  with  tell- 
ing effect  among  his  neighbors  and  friends. 

Col.  Castle's  first  wife,  Miss  Caroline  E.  John- 
son, of  Norwich,  Conn.,  was  a  woman  of  deep 
piety  and  many  beautiful  graces.  He  first  met 
her  in  Carbondale,  Pa. ,  and  after  a  married  life 
of  thirteen  years  she  was  called  to  her  reward  in 
heaven.  His  present  wife,  Mrs.  Emeline  Castle, 
was  born  in  Pittston,  Luzerne  County,  Pa.,  in 
1818.  She  is  descended  from  Quaker  ancestors, 
and  married  Wells  Bennett,  of  Wilkes  Barre,  Pa. , 
for  her  first  husband,  with  whom  she  came  to 
Illinois  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  She  was  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Methodism  in  northern  Illi- 
nois. 

Col.  Castle  has  been  for  over  fifty  years  a  Free 
Mason,  and  more  than  forty  years  a  Master 
Mason.  He  believes  the  society  has  led  him  to 
high  and  noble  resolves,  and  has  contributed  more 
than  $25,000  to  the  benefit  of  the  order.  He  is 
the  only  surviving  charter  member  of  Cambrian 
Lodge  No.  58,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  Carbondale,  to 
which  he  has  been  a  liberal  contributor. 

As  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Union  Veteran 
Club,  he  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  old  soldiers.  His  great  pleasure  now,  how- 
ever, is  the  Mission  on  West  Lake  Street,  near 
Garfield  Park,  which  is  now  known  as  the  Garfield 
Park  Methodist  Church.  It  was  his  interest  in 
this  mission  which  led  him  to  sever  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Park  Avenue  Methodist  Church  two 
years  ago,  in  order  to  devote  more  time  to  mis- 
sion work.  He  is  one  of  the  supporting  mem- 
bers of  the  Lake  Street  Mission. 

At  the  present  time,  Col.  Castle  is  actively  en- 
gaged in  business,  and  attends  to  his  large  inter- 
ests with  a  regularity  remarkable  for  one  of  his 
great  age.  His  large  hall  at  the  corner  of  Lake 
and  Paulina  Streets  is  occupied  by  the  Salvation 
Army,  and  a  good  work  is  being  accomplished  by 
this,  the  greatest  corps  in  the  world. 

And  now,  as  the  long  and  eventful  career  draws 
to  a  close,  Col.  Castle  looks  back  over  the  many 
years  of  struggle  and  strife  with  a  tranquil  mind. 
Having  done  the  best  that  he  could,  he  leaves  the 
rest  with  his  God.  His  life  is  well  worth  the 


E,  D.  PARMELEE. 


study  of  any  young  man.  His  is  a  character  of 
true  nobility,  formed  by  years  of  honest  labor  and 
honorable  dealings  with  his  fellow-men.  No  dif- 
ficulty was  so  great  that  it  could  not  be  overcome, 
and  no  path  so  rough  that  could  not  be  made 
smooth.  He  can  well  say  to  the  young,  with 
Bryant: 


"  So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  that  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night, 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon;  but  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 


EDWARD  DAVID  PARMELEE. 


[""  DWARD  DAVID  PARMELEE,  city  ticket 
1^  agent  at  Chicago  of  the  Chicago  &  North- 
I  western  Railroad,  claims  New  York  as  the 
State  of  his  nativity,  his  birth  having  occurred  in 
Aurora,  Cayuga  County,  August  27,  1859.  His 
parents  were  David  I,,  and  Jeannette  Brown 
(Kimball)  Parmelee.  His  father  was  born  in 
Middlefield  Centre,  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
was  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College,  of  Clinton, 
N.  Y.  Later  he  served  as  Principal  of  the  Cay- 
uga Lake  Academy,  and  subsequently  carried  on 
a  private  bank  in  Aurora,  N.  Y. ,  where  he  made 
his  home  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1866, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  years.  In  politics,  he 
was  a  Republican,  and  was  connected  with  a  num- 
ber of  college  societies.  In  religious  belief,  he 
was  a  Presbyterian,  and  lived  an  honorable,  up- 
right life,  which  won  him  high  regard.  His  wife 
was  born  in  Chicago,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Mark 
Kimball,  who  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this  city. 
Her  birth  occurred  on  Monroe  Street,  near  the 
present  office  of  the  Adams  Express  Company, 
which  locality  was  then  one  of  the  chief  residence 
portions  of  the  metropolis.  The  lake  then  ex- 
tended to  Michigan  Avenue. 

In  the  Parmelee  family  were  four  children,  but 
our  subject  is  the  only  survivor.  He  had  one 
sister,  Fannie,  who  died  in  Canton,  N.  Y.,  about 
six  years  since,  and  the  other  two  died  in  infancy. 
He  was  a  lad  of  seven  years  when  the  family  re- 
moved to  Orange,  N.  J.  Subsequently  they  took 


up  their  residence  in  Adams,  N.  Y. ,  where  hf  At- 
tended Hungerford's  Collegiate  Institute,  piqu- 
ing a  classical  course  of  study.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen,  just  before  completing  the  course,  he 
came  to  Chicago,  to  accept  a  position  as  clerk  in  the 
General  Baggage  Agent's  office  of  the  Chicago 
&  Northwestern  Railroad.  Since  that  time  he 
has  been  with  the  same  company,  and  has  won 
promotion  from  time  to  time,  until  he  has  attained 
his  present  responsible  position.  He  was  first 
made  assistant  depot  ticket  agent,  and  in  1884 
was  made  assistant  city  ticket  agent  at  the  old  of- 
fice in  the  Sherman  House.  Since  1887  he  has 
filled  his  present  position,  and  a  large  volume  of 
business  is  transacted  under  his  supervision  and 
management. 

Mr.  Parmelee  supports  the  principles  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  was  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  Marquette  Club.  He  served  for 
several  years  on  its  board  of  directors,  during 
which  time  it  first  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison 
for  the  Presidency.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  Athletic  Association,  and  is  a  cultured 
and  accomplished  gentleman,  who  has  gradually 
risen  to  his  present  responsible  position  by  fidel- 
ity and  strict  attention  to  business.  He  merits 
and  receives  the  confidence  and  good-will  of  the 
traveling  public  as  well  as  that  of  his  superior 
officers.  A  courteous  aud  genial  gentleman,  he  is 
well  fitted  for  his  positk-fl,  which  he  is  acceptably 
and  creditably  filling. 


CHARLES  ADAMS. 


549 


CHARLES  ADAMS,  M.  D. 


fTjHARLES  ADAMS,  M.  D.,  one  of  the  physi- 
I  C  cians  of  Chicago  who  have  risen  by  their  own 
U  unaided  efforts  to  a  conspicuous  place  among 
the  medical  practitioners  of  the  city,  is  of  English 
birth.  He  was  born  in  Northamptonshire,  Eng- 
land, on  the  29th  of  May,  1847.  His  father,  John 
Adams,  was  of  a  yeoman  family,  which  for  gen- 
erations had  been  engaged  in  agricultural  pur- 
suits and  stock-raising.  His  mother,  Elizabeth 
(Clarke)  Adams,  was  a  daughter  of  a  gentleman 
farmer  of  the  same  country. 

At  an  early  age  the  Doctor  began  his  studies, 
and  when  a  youth  of  ten  he  had  completed  the 
course  in  the  grammar  school  at  Wellingborough, 
in  his  native  county.  In  1856,  his  father  bade 
adieu  to  Old  England,  and  the  fair  fields,  pretty 
leas  and  spreading  elms  that  cause  its  scenery  to 
be  so  long  remembered,  and,  accompanied  by  his 
family,  sailed  for  the  United  States.  He  settled 
in  the  then  new  and  crude  West,  which  years  of 
patient  effort  are  making  to  resemble,  in  its  phys- 
ical features  and  in  many  of  its  institutions,  the 
land  of  our  forefathers.  The  Adams  family  first 
located  in  Milwaukee,  where  they  remained  until 
1 86 1,  when  they  came  to  Chicago. 

During  that  period,  the  Doctor  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  in  school,  but  on  moving  to  Chica- 
go he  became  book-keeper  for  his  father,  who  was 
engaged  in  the  live-stock  business.  There  he 
continued  until  1868.  Much  of  his  leisure  time 
was  devoted  to  study,  and  in  this  way  he  obtained 
a  wide  and  varied  knowledge.  In  connection 
with  his  general  reading,  he  also  took  up  the 
study  of  medicine,  mastered  various  works  011  that 
science,  and  resolved  to  make  the  practice  of  the 
healing  art  his  life  work.  He  finally  entered  the 
office  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Mitchell,  and,  after  spending 


some  time  there  as  a  student,  he  entered  Hahne- 
mann  Medical  College  of  this  city,  from  which  in- 
stitution, on  the  completion  of  a  three-years  course, 
he  was  graduated  in  1872.  The  year  after  his 
graduation  he  spent  as  house  surgeon  in  Scammon 
Hospital,  of  Chicago.  The  greater  part  of  the 
year  1873  he  passed  in  Europe,  taking  a  special 
course  of  surgery  in  I,ondon.  On  his  return  to  the 
United  States,  he  took  up  the  practice  of  medicine 
in  Chicago,  where  his  thorough  training  and  fit- 
ness for  the  profession  soon  brought  him  a  profit- 
able practice  among  the  upper  classes  of  Chicago's 
citizens. 

In  1875,  Dr.  Adams  again  crossed  the  Atlantic 
and  visited  the  land  of  his  nativity.  He  went  to 
Wellingborough,  and  was  there  wedded  to  Miss 
Mary  Curtis,  daughter  of  Thomas  S.  Curtis,  a  mer- 
chant of  that  place.  By  their  union  were  born  two 
children,  one  of  whom,  Cuthbert,  a  young  man  of 
eighteen,  is  still  living.  Mrs.  Adams  died  in  1888, 
and  the  following  year  the  Doctor  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Mitchell)  Gaylord, 
of  Chicago,  widow  of  Henry  Gaylord,  and  a 
daughter  of  W.  H.  Mitchell,  the  well-known  Vice- 
President  of  the  Illinois  Trust  and  Savings  Bank. 

When  he  again  came  to  the  United  States,  in 
1873,  Dr.  Adams  accepted  the  chair  of  surgical 
pathology  in  Hahnemann  College  and  thus  served 
until  1875,  when,  on  the  organization  of  the  Chi- 
cago Homeopathic  College,  he  accepted  the  chair 
of  principles  and  practice  of  surgery,  which  he 
filled  for  some  years.  Now,  after  an  absence  of 
considerable  length,  he  again  occupies  that  posi- 
tion. The  Doctor  is  also  surgeon  of  the  Chicago 
Homeopathic  Hospital,  the  Chicago  Nursery,  the 
Half  Orphan  Asylum  and  the  First  Regiment, 
Illinois  National  Guards.  He  is  a  member  of  the 


550 


HENRY  BUDDE. 


Association  of  Military  Surgeons  of  the  United 
States,  of  the  Illinois  Homeopathic  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, the  Chicago  Medical  Association,  belongs 
to  the  Academy  of  Science  of  Chicago,  and  is  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Microscopical  Society  of 
London. 

Dr.  Adams  possesses  a  large  library  of  profession- 
al works  and  also  of  general  literature,  the  charac- 
ter of  which  shows  his  wide  knowledge  of  books, 


and  splendid  ability  to  select  the  best,  and  none 
other.  He  not  only  possesses  a  library,  but  has  a 
knowledge  of  the  contents  of  almost  every  volume 
in  it,  whether  English,  French  or  German.  His 
success  is  a  fitting  reward  of  his  labors.  He  has 
been,  and  still  is,  a  hard  student,  an  earnest,  pains- 
taking and  successful  practitioner,  a  faithful  friend 
and  a  cultured,  genial  gentleman. 


HENRY  BUDDE. 


HENRY  BUDDE,  a  well-known  farmer  of 
Niles  Township,  Cook  County,  residing  on 
section  17,  is  the  youngest  in  a  family  of 
three  sons,  whose  parents  were  Conrad  and  Leo- 
nore  (Baesner)  Budde.  He  was  born  December 
5,  1815,  in  Messenkomp,  Hanover,  Germany, 
and  his  brothers  were  William  and  Christian 
Budde.  His  parents  died  when  he  was  only  two 
years  of  age.  Losing  the  entire  estate  which 
came  to  them  from  their  father,  the  three  brothers 
separated,  and  Henry,  when  only  a  child,  was 
thrown  upon  the  mercies  of  a  cold,  and  often  pit- 
iless, world.  In  July,  1845,  he  left  his  native 
land  and  sailed  for  America,  landing  in  New 
York  after  a  voyage  of  five  weeks.  He  at  once 
came  to  Cook  County,  arriving  July  20,  1845. 
Here,  during  the  following  winter,  he  chopped 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  cords  of  wood,  re- 
ceiving in  compensation  for  his  hard  labor  three 
shillings  per  cord.  The  next  year  he  became  the 
possessor  of  sixty  acres  of  land  on  section  17, 
Niles  Township,  where  he  now  resides. 

In  1846,  when  war's  cruel  tongue  was  calling 
for  brave  men  to  do  battle  against  the  Mexicans, 
Mr.  Budde  believed  it  his  duty  to  enlist  in  de- 
fense of  his  country,  for  although  he  was  not 
an  American  born,  he  was  now  an  American  cit- 
izen. In  June  he  became  a  member  of  Company 


K,  First  Illinois  Infantty,  under  Capt.  Mowers, 
and  was  honorably  discharged  in  1847.  At  the 
battle  of  Buena  Vista,  on  the.  22d  of  February  of 
that  year,  he  was  wounded  in  the  left  leg. 

Returning  from  the  scene  of  strife,  he  laid  aside 
the  weapons  of  war  for  Cupid's  bow  and  arrow, 
and  wooed  and  won  Miss  Marie  Linaman,  who 
became  his  wife  April  8,  1848.  They  had  four 
children:  Henry,  born  October  4,  1850;  Marie, 
May  20,  1852;  John,  born  in  1854;  and  Louis, 
January  21,  1859.  After  the  death  of  his  first 
wife,  Mr.  Budde,  in  July,  1882,  married  Mrs. 
Marie  Ludwig,  who  was  called  to  the  home  be- 
yond December  5,  1887,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years. 
He  was  again  married,  for  the  third  time,  August 
23,  1894,  to  Mrs.  Sophia  Uhrscheller,  widow  ot 
Charles  Uhrscheller,  of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Budde' s 
first  husband,  Henry  Schmidt,  served  many 
years  on  board  of  a  United  States  man-of-war. 
From  New  York  he  removed  to  Chicago  about 
1864,  and  died  there  in  1878. 

Mr.  Budde  has  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his 
time  and  attention  through  life  to  agricultural 
pursuits.  He  received  from  the  Government  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  in  return  for  his 
services  as  a  Mexican  soldier,  and  this  he  traded 
for  the  farm  upon  which  he  now  resides.  It  is  a 
valuable  place,  highly  cultivated  and  well  im- 


JOHN  UNOLD. 


proved,  and  its  neat  and  thrifty  appearance  indi- 
cates the  careful  supervision  of  the  owner.  He 
has  erected  thereon  a  fine  brick  residence,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  homes  in  this  locality. 

Mr.  Budde  holds  membership  with  the  Luth- 
eran Church,  in  which  he  is  now  serving  as 
Trustee.  For  several  years  he  has  served  as 
School  Director,  and  the  cause  of  education  finds 
in  him  a  warm  friend.  He  cast  his  first  Presi- 
dential vote  in  1848.  He  said,  "I  went  so  far 


astray  as  to  vote  for  Buchanan,  but  since  that 
time  I  have  been  a  Republican,"  and  he  is  true 
to  the  party  of  his  choice  to  this  day.  In  Mr. 
Budde  is  seen  a  self-made  man,  who  began  life 
without  capital,  but  success  crowned  his  efforts 
and  he  has  won  a  handsome  competence.  He  is 
now  recognized  as  one  of  the  substantial  agricul- 
turists of  this  community,  as  well  as  one  of  its 
highly  respected  citizens. 


CAPT.  JOHN  UNOLD. 


EAPT.  JOHN  UNOLD,  who  is  now  living  a 
retired  life  in  La  Grange,  is  one  of  the  hon- 
ored veterans  of  the  late  war,  who  followed 
the  Old  Flag  in  defense  of  the  Union  for  about 
three  years  and  faithfully  aided  in  securing  the 
victory  that  made  the  United  States  inseparable. 
He  was  born  in  Germany  on  the  2gth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1829,  and  is  a  son  of  George  and  Elizabeth 
(Brechiesen)  Unold.  The  family  numbered  six 
children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  as  follows: 
George  and  David,  both  now  deceased;  Chris- 
topher, who  is  the  owner  of  a  factory  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  wooden- ware  in  Germany;  Elizabeth, 
who  is  still  living  in  the  Fatherland;  and  Mary, 
now  deceased.  George  Unold  was  a  millwright 
by  trade,  and  in  Germany  he  spent  his  entire  life, 
as  did  the  mother  of  our  subject. 

The  Captain  was  born  and  reared  in  his  native 
village,  and  attended  the  public  schools  of  Ger- 
many until  thirteen  years  of  age,  when  he  was 
bound  out  for  a  three-years  apprenticeship  to  the 
harness-maker's  trade.  He  then  traveled  through 
Germany  for  three  years,  working  at  that  occupa- 
tion, and  in  1849,  when  a  young  man  of  twenty 
years,  he  crossed  the  broad  Atlantic  to  America 
on  a  sailing-vessel,  which  after  six  weeks  upon 
the  bosom  of  the  Atlantic  dropped  anchor  in  the 
harbor  of  New  York  City.  He  made  his  first  lo- 


cation in  Newark,  N.  J.,  where  he  worked  at  his 
trade  for  two  years.  He  then  went  to  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  where  he  spent  the  four  succeed- 
ing years  of  his  life,  and  in  1855  removed  to  Chi- 
cago. For  two  years  he  was  there  employed  as  a 
harness-maker,  after  which  he  went  to  Fullers- 
burg,  DuPage  County,  where  he  started  a  shop 
of  his  own  and  engaged  in  business  until  1861. 
He  also  carried  on  a  general  store  at  that  place, 
and  was  Postmaster  of  Fullersburg  for  a  time, 
but  in  1862  he  disposed  of  his  business  interests 
in  order  to  enter  the  service  of  his  adoped  coun- 
try. 

Mr.  Unold  had  watched  with  interest  the  prog- 
ress of  events  and  saw  that  the  war  was  to  be  no 
holiday  affair;  so,  prompted  by  patriotic  impulses, 
on  the  1 5th  of  August,  1862,  he  became  a  private 
of  Company  D,  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  Illinois 
Infantry.  Before  he  was  mustered  into  service, 
which  event  took  place  at  Dixon,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  Company  I,  and  became  Second  Sergeant. 
The  first  active  engagement  in  which  he  partici- 
pated was  at  Frankfort,  Ky.  He  afterwards  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  Resaca,  New  Hope  Church, 
Cassville,  Kennesaw  Mountain,  Peach  Tree  Creek 
and  Clintonville.  He  was  wounded  in  the  left 
ankle  by  a  shell  at  the  battle  of  New  Hope 
Church,  but  did  not  go  to  the  hospital.  At  At- 


552 


L.  P.  HASKELL. 


lanta,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  First  Lieu- 
tenant, and  was  mustered  out  as  Captain.  He  re- 
ceived his  discharge  June  15,  1865,  for  the  war 
was  then  practically  over,  and  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  an  assured  fact. 

Capt.  Unold  at  once  returned  to  his  home  in 
Fullersburg,  where  he  established  another  har- 
ness shop,  which  he  carried  on  until  1868,  when  he 
came  to  La  Grange,  and  opened  a  general  store. 
He  carried  on  business  along  that  line  until  1887, 
when  he  sold  out  and  has  since  lived  retired.  He 
was  successful  in  his  business  dealings  and  there- 
by acquired  a  comfortable  competence, which  now 
enables  him  to  enjoy  the  rest  which  he  has  so 
truly  earned  and  richly  deserves.  He  now  owns 
considerable  real  estate  in  La  Grange. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1852,  Capt.  Unold  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Martha  Hoppach. 
Unto  them  have  been  born  nine  children,  namely: 
Willemanie,  now  deceased;  Lewis,  who  holds 
the  position  of  book-keeper  in  his  brother's 


store  in  La  Grange;  George,  who  carries  on  a 
large  general  merchandise  establishment  in  La- 
Grange;  Julia,  deceased;  Amelia,  wife  of  Ed- 
ward Tillotson,  who  is  living  in  Michigan;  Ottil- 
da,  widow  of  Samuel  Clifford;  and  Amanda,  Lou- 
isa and  Sherman,  all  of  whom  have  now  passed 
away. 

In  politics,  Capt.  Unold  is  a  supporter  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  from  1869  until  1875  he 
served  as  Postmaster  of  La  Grange.  He  was  for 
seventeen  years  one  of  its  School  Directors,  and 
did  effective  sendee  in  the  cause  of  education, 
proving  a  capable  officer.  Socially,  he  is  con- 
nected with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
He  came  to  this  country  a  poor  boy  and  has  made 
all  that  he  possesses  by  his  own  careful  business 
management,  his  thrift  and  enterprise.  His  life 
has  been  well  and  worthily  spent,  and  he  has 
achieved  a  success  which  now  enables  him  to 
spend  his  declining  years  surrounded  by  all  the 
comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life. 


LOOMIS  POMROY  HASKELL, 


I  OOMIS  POMROY  HASKELL,  who  has  for 
1C  thirty-seven  years  been  successfully  engaged 
\  J  in  the  practice  of  dentistry  in  Chicago,  has 
won  a  reputation  for  skill  and  ability  that  has 
made  him  known  not  only  in  this  city  but  through- 
out the  world.  His  prominence  in  professional 
circles  makes  him  well  worthy  of  representation 
among  the  leading  citizens  of  Cook  County. 

Dr.  Haskell  was  born  in  Bangor,  Me.,  April 
25,  1826,  and  is  a  son  of  Benjamin  and  Mary 
(Fuller)  Haskell,  who  were  natives  of  Gloucester, 
Mass.  The  Haskell  family  in  America  was 
founded  by  three  brothers,  who  in  an  early  day 
emigrated  from  England,  their  native  land,  to  the 
New  World,  and  became  early  settlers  in  the  Mass- 
achusetts Colony.  About  1823,  the  father  of  our 


subject  removed  to  Bangor,  Me. ,  and  five  years 
later  went  to  Marblehead,  Mass. ,  where  his  last 
days  were  passed,  his  death  occurring  in  1830. 
He  was  a  shoe-maker  by  trade,  and  opened  the 
first  shoe-store  in  Bangor,  Me.  His  wife,  who 
survived  him  thirty  years,  died  in  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  in  1860.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Fuller,  a  Congregational  minister  of 
Gloucester,  Mass.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Haskell 
were  members  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and, 
socially,  he  was  connected  with  the  Masonic 
order. 

After  the  death  of  the  father  the  family  removed 
to  Salem,  Mass.,  where  the  Doctor  attended  school 
until  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  then  went  to  Bos- 
ton and  entered  a  printing-office,  where  he  was 


J.  O.  HUTCHINSON. 


553 


employed  for  four  years.  His  experience  there 
formed  an  excellent  supplement  to  the  limited  ed- 
ucational privileges  he  had  previously  received. 
On  leaving  the  printing-office,  he  took  up  the 
study  of  dentistry  in  the  office  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  Dr.  M.  P.  Hanson,  of  Chelsea,  Mass.,  and 
in  connection  with  the  latter  he  gave  considerable 
attention  to  the  manufacture  of  carved  block 
teeth.  It  was  through  this  means  that  he  became 
widely  known  among  his  professional  brethren  in 
New  Kngland. 

Ere  leaving  the  East,  Dr.  Haskell  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Sarah  E.  Wason,  a  native  of 
Chester,  N.  H.  Six  children  were  born  of  their 
union,  but  only  four  of  the  number  are  now  liv- 
ing, namely:  Ella  P.;  Lizzie  M.,  wife  of  Rev.  W. 
J.  Clark,  of  Lamoille,  111.;  Sarah  Isabel,  wife  of 
Col.  J.  B.  Parsons,  of  Dwight,  111.;  and  Anna  N., 
wife  of  W.  T.  Barr,  of  Hinsdale,  111.  The  two 
children  now  deceased  are  Harriet  N. ,  who  died 
in  infancy ;  and  Mary  F. ,  who  died  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  years. 

In  1856,  Dr.  Haskell  left  his  old  New  England 
home  and  removed  to  Milwaukee,  Wis.  The 
following  year  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  has 
since  been  almost  continuously  engaged  in  prac- 
tice. He  demonstrated  the  excellence  of  his 
methods  for  two  terms  in  the  Baltimore  College 
of  Dental  Surgery,  and  for  two  terms  in  the  Minn- 
eapolis College.  He  was  Professor  of  prosthetic 
dentistry  in  the  Chicago  College  of  Dental  Sur- 
gery for  four  years,  and  for  three  years  in  the 
dental  department  of  the  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity. In  1888  he  established  the  first  post-grad- 
uate school  of  dentistry,  which  since  that  time 


has  furnished  instruction  to  hundreds  of  students, 
mostly  practicing  dentists  from  all  parts  of  North 
America,  as  well  as  England,  Germany,  Holland, 
Chile,  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  The  Doctor 
is  a  frequent  contributor  to  dental  journals,  and 
is  the  author  of  "  The  Student's  Manual  and 
Hand  Book  for  the  Dental  Laboratory,"  which 
circulates  extensively  among  the  profession  in 
America,  and  has  been  republished  in  France  and 
Germany.  Since  the  organization  of  the  party, 
Dr.  Haskell  has  been  a  stanch  Republican.  In  1848 
he  cast  his  first  vote,  supporting  Martin  Van  Buren 
on  the  Free-Soil  ticket,  and  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  first  Free-Soil  Convention  ever  held  in 
the  United  States,  which  met  at  Worcester, 
Mass.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Dental 
Club,  the  Illinois  State  Dental  Society,  and  the 
American  Dental  Association.  He  and  his  fam- 
ily are  members  of  the  Congregational  Church  of 
Hinsdale,  where  they  make  their  home.  He  has 
practiced  dentistry  longer  than  any  other  dentist 
in  Chicago,  and  with  one  exception  has  been  ac- 
tively engaged  in  dental  work  here  longer  than 
any  other  member  of  the  profession.  He  keeps 
fully  abreast  of  the  times,  and  is  continually 
studying  to  gain  new  knowledge  on  the  subject 
to  which  he  has  given  his  life  work.  Thus  has 
he  won  a  front  rank  among  the  dentists  of  the 
world.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  pleasing  address 
and  prepossessing  manner,  and  is  an  interesting 
writer  and  able  speaker.  So  well  known  is  he 
throughout  the  Northwest,  that  the  history  of 
Cook  County  would  be  incomplete  without  this 
sketch. 


JAMES  O.  HUTCHINSON. 


(TAMES    O.    HUTCHINSON,    who   for   nine 
I    years   has   been   in  the  employ  of  the  well- 
G)  known  firm  of  Thomas  Cook  &  Sons,  now  oc- 
cupies  the   position  of  General  Western  Agent, 
with  headquarters  at  No.  234  South  Clark  Street, 


Chicago.  His  long  continuance  with  the  com- 
pany is  a  testimonial  of  his  ability  and  fidelity 
more  expressive  than  any  words  could  be.  Mr. 
Hutchinson  was  born  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  in 
1845,  and  comes  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  of 


554 


C.  A.  COOLEY. 


the  Empire  State.  His  ancestors  were  originally 
natives  of  Scotland,  and  came  from  that  country 
to  America  not  long  after  the  Colonies  had  been 
founded  on  the  shores  of  the  New  World.  The 
father  of  our  subject  was  a  man  of  prominence 
and  influence,  and  served  as  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  New  York.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  Judge  Strong,  sat  on  the  Supreme 
Bench  of  the  State  in  1812,  and  was  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  history  of  that  time. 

James  O.  Hutchinson  spent  the  days  of  his  boy- 
hood and  youth  in  his  parents'  home,  acquiring 
his  education  in  the  public  schools  and  in  the 
naval  academy.  He  acted  as  Lieutenant  for  five 
years,  from  1860  until  1865,  and  then  became 
Chief  Clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Adjutant-General 
of  New  York.  There  he  remained  until  1880. 
Two  years  later  he  formed  a  connection  with  the 
firm  of  Thomas  Cook  &  Sons,  which  has  contin- 
ued up  to  the  present  time,  and  which  has  seen 
him  advanced  from  one  position  to  another,  until 
he  is  now  General  Agent  for  all  western  territory, 
having  entered  upon  the  duties  of  that  position 
on  the  2oth  of  April,  1893, 

Thomas  Cook  &  Sons  are  general  steamship 
and  railway  agents,  and  secure  passage  for  sin- 


gle tourists  or  parties  visiting  any  known  point 
on  the  face  of  the  globe.  They  have  their  agents 
in  all  countries,  who  make  the  traveling  arrange- 
ments, and  secure  a  hotel  and  other  accommoda- 
tions for  visitors,  thus  giving  the  tourist  time  for 
sight-seeing  which  otherwise  would  be  largely 
taken  up  in  planning  and  executing  the  trip. 
They  also  issue  letters  of  credit  and  do  all  ex- 
change business  with  the  banks. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  himself  has  made  several  trips 
to  distant  lands,  has  visited  Asia,  spent  some 
time  in  India,  China  and  Egypt,  and  has  seen 
many  of  the  points  of  interest,  historical  and 
otherwise,  in  Europe.  He  expects  soon  to  start 
for  Japan,  where  he  will  spend  seven  months 
among  one  of  the  most  interesting  peoples  known. 

In  his  social  relations,  he  is  connected  with  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  in  his  political 
affiliations  is  a  Democrat.  His  life  has  been  a 
busy  one,  and  he  well  merits  the  confidence  and 
trust  reposed  in  him  by  the  company  with  which 
he  is  now  connected.  His  position  is  a  responsi- 
ble one,  for  he  is  agent  for  the  entire  Western 
Territory,  and  attends  to  all  the  business  of  this 
section  of  the  country. 


CLARK  A.  COOLEY. 


ELARK  A.  COOLEY  is  the  efficient  Clerk 
of  Elk  Grove  Township,  Cook  County. 
He  resides  on  section  16,  and  is  numbered 
among  the  prominent  farmers  of  the  community. 
His  entire  life  has  been  spent  in  this  locality,  and 
an  honorable,  upright  career  has  gained  him  the 
high  regard  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  brought 
in  contact.  He  was  born  in  Elk  Grove  Town- 
ship, this  county,  September  21,  1847,  and  comes 
of  an  old  New  England  family.  His  father, 
Charles  Cooley,  was  a  native  of  Vermont,  and 
emigrated  to  Illinois  in  1845,  locating  in  Elk 
Grove  Township,  where  he  took  up  a  claim  from 


the  Government  and  began  the  development  of  a 
farm,  transforming  the  raw  prairie  into  rich  and 
fertile  fields.  There  he  carried  on  agricultural 
pursuits  and  made  his  home  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1884,  in  his  sixty- fourth  year. 
In  politics,  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  served  as 
School  Director.  Mrs  Cooley,  who  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Clara  Green,  is  a  native  of  Mass- 
achusetts, and  is  yet  living,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two.  Both  families  were  of  English  origin. 

In  the  Cooley  family  were  seven  children,  our 
subject,  who  is  the  eldest,  being  the  only  son. 
The  daughters  were:  Kittie,  wife  of  William 


LOUIS  VOI/TZ. 


555 


Higgins,  of  Elk  Grove  Township;  Mary,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  six  years;  Sarah,  widow  of 
John  B.  Weeks,  and  a  resident  of  Beadle  County, 
S.  Dak.;  Addie,  who  died  at  the  age  of  a  year  and 
a-half;  Clara,  wife  of  John  Carson,  a  resident  of 
Iowa;  and  Mary,  who  is  engaged  in  teaching 
school,  and  makes  her  home  in  Arlington 
Heights. 

C.  A.  Cooley  spent  the  days  of  his  boyhood 
and  youth  in  the  usual  manner  of  farmer  lads,  and 
in  the  schools  of  Elk  Grove  Township  acquired  a 
good  English  education.  From  an  early  age  he 
has  been  familiar  with  all  the  details  of  farming, 
for  as  soon  as  old  enough  to  handle  the  plow  he 
began  work  in  the  fields,  and  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits has  since  devoted  his  energies.  In  his  deal- 
ing, he  has  been  quite  successful.  His  farm  com- 
prises one  hundred  and  fifty-six  acres  of  valuable 
land,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  best  in  the  town- 
ship, for  the  fields  are  well  tilled,  and  it  is  sup- 
plied with  all  modern  accessories  and  conven- 
iences. In  connection  with  general  farming,  the 


owner  also  carries  on  stock-raising  and  dealing, 
and  has  met  with  success  in  this  line. 

In  1871,  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Cooley  and  Miss  Rosa  J.  Crego,  a  native  of  New 
York,  who,  when  a  maiden  of  twelve  summers, 
removed  with  her  parents  to  Arlington  Heights, 
111.  There  her  girlhood  days  were  passed.  Two 
children  grace  this  union,  a  son  and  daughter, 
Frank  A.  and  Anna  E.,  both  of  whom  are  still 
at  home. 

In  his  political  affiliations,  Mr.  Cooley  is  a  Re- 
publican, and  in  1893  was  elected  Clerk  of  his 
township,  which  position  he  is  now  creditably  fill- 
ing. He  has  also  served  as  School  Director,  and 
has  filled  other  offices.  Having  spent  his  entire 
life  in  this  community,  Mr.  Cooley  has  witnessed 
the  many  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
county,  has  seen  its  growth  and  upbuilding,  and 
has  aided  in  its  development.  He  has  ever  been 
a  progressive  and  public-spirited  man,  and  is  rec- 
ognized as  a  valued  citizen. 


LOUIS  VOLTZ. 


I  GUIS  VOLTZ,  who  is  successfully  engaged 
1C  in  farming  on  section  10,  Northfield  Town- 
l*v  ship,  Cook  County,  claims  Germany  as  the 
land  of  his  birth.  He  was  born  in  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, September  30,  1833,  and  is  the  second  in  or- 
der of  birth  in  a  family  of  six  children  whose  par- 
ents were  Louis  and  Elizabeth  Voltz.  They  were 
also  natives  of  Germany.  In  the  common  schools 
of  the  neighborhood  our  subject  acquired  his  edu- 
cation. No  event  of  special  importance  occurred 
during  his  boyhood  and  youth,  which  were  quietly 
passed  in  his  father's  home.  Having  arrived  at 
years  of  maturity,  he  determined  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  America,  and  in  1857  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  the  New  World.  He  made  his  way  direct  to  Chi- 
cago, and  thence  removed  to  McHenry  County, 
111.,  where  he  secured  work  as  a  farm  hand  by  the 


month.  When  he  had  acquired  a  sufficient  capi- 
tal, he  purchased  land  in  Jefferson  Township,  Cook 
County,  and  began  farming  in  his  own  interest. 
For  a  time  he  continued  the  cultivation  and  im- 
provement of  that  tract,  but  at  length  sold  out,  and 
in  1870  purchased  the  farm  on  which  he  now  re- 
sides in  Northfield  Township. 

Mr.  Voltz  was  married  in  Jefferson  Township 
in  1862,  the  lady  of  his  choice  being  Miss  Mar- 
garet Kilwy,  a  native  of  Germany,  who  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  left  the  Fatherland  and  came 
to  the  United  States.  By  the  union  of  this  worthy 
couple  were  born  the  following  children:  Louis, 
who  is  now  deceased;  William,  who  is  married; 
Katie,  who  has  passed  away;  Charlie,  at  home; 
Emma,  deceased;  Emma,  the  second  of  that  name; 
Edward,  Walter,  Sophia,  Ella,  George,  Frank, 


556 


A.  SOHM. 


Richard  and  Albert,  all  of  whom  are  yet  under 
the  parental  roof.  The  children  were  all  born  in 
Cook  County,  and  nine  of  the  number  are  still  at 
home. 

Mr.  Voltz  now  carries  on  general  farming,  and 
is  the  owner  of  one  hundred  and  six  acres  of  good 
land,  which  he  has  placed  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation.  He  has  also  made  many  good  im- 
provements upon  his  farm,  and  its  neat  and  thrifty 
appearance  indicates  his  careful  supervision.  His 
life  has  been  a  busy  one,  and  as  the  result  of  his 
energy  and  untiring  labors  he  has  become  the 
possessor  of  a  comfortable  property.  He  may 
truly  be  called  a  self-made  man. 


In  religious  belief,  Mr.  Voltz  is  a  Lutheran,  and 
in  politics  is  a  Republican,  having  supported  his 
party  by  his  ballot  for  many  years.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  School  Director  for  a  long  period, 
and  the  cause  of  education  finds  in  him  a  warm 
friend.  For  six  years  he  served  as  Township 
Commissioner,  and  is  now  Township  Treasurer. 
In  September,  1883,  he  was  elected  Supervisor  of 
Northfield  Township,  and  has  held  that  position 
continuously  since,  discharging  his  duties  with  a 
promptness  and  fidelity  that  have  not  only  caused 
his  retention  in  office,  but  have  also  won  him  the 
high  commendation  of  all  concerned. 


A.  SOHM. 


a  SOHM  is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  leading 
engraving  establishments  of  Chicago,  and  is 
doing  a  good  business,  which  has  been  se- 
cured through  excellent  workmanship,  courteous 
treatment  and  honorable  dealing.  His  success  is 
therefore  well  deserved.  Mr.  Sohm  claims  Aus- 
tria as  the  land  of  his  birth,  which  occurred  in 
1862.  His  father,  Joseph  Sohm,  was  also  a  na- 
tive of  Austria.  Under  the  parental  roof  our 
subject  was  reared  to  manhood,  the  days  of  his 
boyhood  being  quietly  passed.  The  schools  of 
the  vicinity  afforded  him  his  educational  privi- 
leges, and  when  he  had  mastered  the  common 
branches  of  learning,  he  turned  his  attention  to 
business  pursuits,  whereby  he  might  earn  his 
own  livelihood.  For  some  time  he  engaged  in 
block-cutting. 

At  length  Mr.  Sohm  resolved  to  try  his  fortune 
in  America,  for  he  had  heard  much  of  its  advan- 
tages and  privileges,  and  believed  that  he  might 
thereby  benefit  his  financial  condition.  In  1881 
he  crossed  the  ocean  to  the  New  World,  and  on 
his  arrival  in  America  learned  the  engraving 
business  in  the  establishment  of  the  Acme  En- 
graving Company,  of  Chicago.  He  spent  three 
years  in  mastering  the  trade,  becoming  a  most 
excellent  workman,  and  then  for  five  years  fol- 


lowed that  vocation  in  the  employ  of  other  firms 
in  the  city. 

It  was  in  1888  that  Mr.  Sohm  embarked  in 
business  for  himself,  being  then  located  on  La 
Salle  Street.  About  a  year  later,  however,  he 
removed  to  the  Staats  Zeitung  Building,  where 
he  has  now  been  for  the  past  four  years.  He  en- 
gages in  mechanical  engraving,  and  the  artistic 
work  which  he  turns  out  has  secured  for.  him  a 
liberal  patronage.  He  is  recognized  as  one  of  the 
best  engravers  in  the  city,  and  his  high  reputa- 
tion is  well  deserved. 

In  the  year  1891,  was  celebrated  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Sohm  and  Miss  Gertrude  Bruh.  He  and 
his  wife  are  members  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
in  the  social  circles  in  which  they  move  they  have 
many  friends  who  esteem  them  highly.  In  his 
political  views,  our  subject  is  a  supporter  of  the 
Democracy,  but  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for 
public  office,  preferring  to  devote  his  entire  time 
and  attention  to  other  interests.  It  proved  a  for- 
tunate day  for  him  when  he  determined  to  leave 
his  native  land  and  make  a  home  in  the  New 
World,  and  he  has  never  yet  had  occasion  to  re- 
gret the  change,  for  he  has  here  won  a  prosperity 
that  would  probably  not  have  come  to  him  had 
he  remained  upon  his  native  soil. 


MATHIAS  HOFFMAN. 


557 


MATHIAS  HOFFMAN. 


|ATHIAS  HOFFMAN,  a  prosperous  and 
highly  respected  farmer  of  Niles  Township, 
Cook  County,  residing  on  section  18,  was 
born  on  the  25th  of  July,  1825,  on  the  River 
Rhine,  in  Prussia,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Su- 
sannah (Saul)  Hoffman,  both  of  whom  were  born 
in  Prussia  in  the  year  1799.  The  grandfather, 
Mathias  Hoffman,  was  also  a  native  of  the  same 
country  and  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  In 
1842,  the  parents  with  their  children  turned  their 
faces  toward  the  setting  sun  and  started  for  the 
New  World.  They  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  a 
sailing-vessel  and  made  their  way  to  Chicago, 
taking  up  their  residence  on  the  northwest  quar- 
ter of  section  1 8,  Niles  Township,  Cook  County, 
where  the  father  purchased  a  farm  of  ninety -five 
acres,  paying  $3  per  acre.  At  his  death  in  1846, 
he  was  the  possessor  of  two  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  a  valuable  and  desirable  place. 

The  children  born  to  Peter  and  Susannah 
Hoffman  were:  Mathias;  John,  who  was  a  farmer 
of  Northfield  Township;  Michael,  who  lives  in 
Des  Plaines;  Marguerite;  Nicholas,  a  farmer  of 
Niles  Township;  and  Mrs.  Catherine  Schmelzer. 
John  and  Marguerite  are  deceased. 

Mathias  Hoffman  was  in  his  seventeenth  year 
when,  with  the  family,  he  bade  adieu  to  the  Fa- 
therland and  came  to  the  United  States.  In  Niles 
Township  he  has  since  made  his  home,  and  during 
the  long  years  which  have  since  passed  his  hon- 
orable, upright  life  has  made  him  many  friends. 
He  was  married  on  the  7th  of  September,  1850, 
to  Miss  Barbara  Harsom,  daughter  of  John  Har- 
som,  a  farmer  and  a  native  of  Bavaria.  The  lady 
was  born  September  19,  1828,  and  by  their  union 
have  been  born  five  children,  who  in  order  of 
birth  are  as  follows:  William,  who  was  born  Sep- 
tember ii,  1851,  and  is  now  a  carpenter  of  South 


Evanston;  John,  born  February  24,  1853,  who  is 
now  living  retired  at  Gross  Point;  Nicholas,  a 
farmer  of  Northfield  Township,  born  October  19, 
1854;  Catherine,  who  was  born  March  23,  1857, 
and  is  now  the  wife  of  James  Dal  ton,  of  South  Chi- 
cago; and  Marguerite,  who  was  born  March  n, 
1859,  and  is  the  wife  of  Anton  Mayer,  a  farmer 
of  Hamlet,  Indiana. 

Mr.  Hoffman  received  as  his  portion  of  his 
father's  estate  forty  acres  of  the  old  home  place 
and  twelve  acres  of  timber-land.  All  his  other 
property  has  been  acquired  through  his  own  ef- 
forts. By  perseverance  and  untiring  industry,  he 
has  made  life  a  success  and  has  acquired  a  hand- 
some competency.  Some  years  since  he  gave  to 
each  of  his  children  seventy  acres  of  valuable 
prairie  land,  and  ten  acres  of  timber,  save  to 
one  daughter,  to  whom  he  gave  $7,000  in  cash. 
He  has  ever  been  of  a  liberal  and  generous  nature, 
free  and  open-handed  with  those  in  whom  he 
takes  an  interest,  and  cannot  do  too  much  to  en- 
hance the  happiness  and  promote  the  welfare  of 
his  family.  Although  he  has  transacted  a  large 
volume  of  business,  he  has  never  had  a  lawsuit, 
but  has  ever  been  at  peace  with  all  mankind. 

The  parents  and  their  children  are  all  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  are  highly  respected, 
having  many  friends  in  this  community.  In  his 
political  views,  Mr.  Hoffman  is  a  Democrat,  and 
cast  his  first  Presidential  vote  in  1848.  Although 
he  has  never  been  an  office-seeker,  he  has  served 
as  Assessor  of  Niles  Township  for  twenty-four 
years,  has  been  Road  Commissioner  six  years,  and 
School  Director  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Be- 
ing a  man  of  excellent  judgment,  he  has  made 
an  efficient  officer,  and  his  fidelity  to  duty  is  well 
attested  by  his  long  service. 


558 


T.  S.  ROGERS. 


CAPT.  THEODORE  S.  ROGERS. 


EAPT.  THEODORE  S.  ROGERS  is  one  of 
the  leading  citizens  of  Downer's  Grove,  and 
an  honored  veteran  of  the  late  war,  who 
wore  the  blue  in  defense  of  the  Union,  and  vali- 
antly followed  the  Old  Flag  in  many  of  the  most 
hotly  contested  battles  of  that  struggle,  which 
not  only  did  away  with  slavery,  but  made  the 
Union  more  indissoluble  than  before.  The  Cap- 
tain was  born  in  Morristown,  St.  Lawrence 
County,  N.  Y.,  August  30,  1831.  The  family  is 
of  English  lineage.  The  father,  Joseph  I.  Rogers, 
was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island.  Removing  to 
the  Empire  State,  he  there  married  Caroline 
Smith,  who  was  born  in  New  York,  and  was  also 
of  English  extraction.  Her  father  was  a  well- 
educated  man,  and  kept  a  hotel  in  New  York  for 
a  number  of  years.  In  1844  Mr.  Rogers  came 
with  his  family  to  Illinois,  making  the  journey 
by  water  to  Chicago,  where  he  hired  a  team,  with 
which  he  came  to  DuPage  County.  Here  he 
purchased  a  farm,  upon  which  he  spent  his  re- 
maining days.  He  was  a  stanch  Republican, 
and  took  quite  an  active  part  in  local  politics. 
His  death  occurred  in  this  county,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-two  years.  He  was  the  only  son  of  the 
family  who  lived  to  any  age,  but  has  a  sister, 
Mrs.  Julia  Aldrich,  who  is  now  living  in  this 
county,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-five  years. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  still  survives  her  hus- 
band, and  although  now  in  her  eighty-third  year, 
her  mental  and  physical  faculties  are  well  pre- 
served. 

The  Rogers  family  numbered  six  children, 
three  sons  and  three  daughters,  but  Ella  is  now 
deceased.  The  others  are  Mary  I/.,  widow  of 
Chauncy  Harmon,  and  a  resident  of  Downer's 
Grove;  Theodore  S.;  Joseph  W.,  a  prosperous 


merchant  of  this  place;  Francis  A.,  a  successful 
farmer  of  Downer's  Grove  Township;  and  Sarah, 
wife  of  John  A.  Kinley,  of  Aurora,  111. 

Capt.  Rogers  spent  the  first  thirteen  years  of 
his  life  in  the  State  of  his  nativity,  and  in  1844 
came  with  his  parents  to  Illinois.  He  remained 
at  home  until  twenty  years  of  age,  when  he  be- 
gan teaching  school  in  this  county.  For  twelve 
winters  he  followed  that  profession,  while  in  the 
summer  months  his  labors  were  devoted  to  work 
upon  the  home  farm.  He  had  attended  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Down- 
er's Grove  High  School.  On  the  igth  of  July, 
1862,  prompted  by  patriotic  impulses,  he  re- 
sponded to  the  country's  call  for  troops,  and  en- 
listed as  a  private  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
Illinois  Infantry.  On  the  organization  of  Com- 
pany B,  he  was  elected  Captain.  The  regiment 
went  into  camp  at  Dixon,  and  was  mustered  into 
the  United  States  service  September  2,  1862,  and 
sent  thence  to  Louisville  and  Frankfort,  Ky.,  en- 
gaging at  the  skirmish  at  the  latter  place.  Capt. 
Rogers  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Bowling  Green, 
Taylor's  Ridge,  Smoke  Creek  Gap,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Resaca  had  charge  of  the  skirmish  line 
in  front  of  the  assaulters.  He  led  his  men  at 
Calhoun,  Cassville,  the  advance  on  Dallas,  New 
Hope  Church,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Lookout 
Mountain,  Golgotha,  the  assault  on  Kenesaw,  the 
battle  of  Marietta,  Chattahoocb.ee  River,  Peach 
Tiee  Creek,  the  battle  of  Atlanta,  and  the  siege 
of  that  city.  On  the  3oth  of  September,  1864, 
he  resigned  and  was  honorably  discharged  from 
the  service.  He  participated  in  many  skirmishes 
and  battles,  and  his  war  record  is  one  of  which  he 
may  well  be  proud. 

On  the  i3th  of  December,  1855,  the  Captain 


CAPT.  THEO.  S.  ROGERS. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

/|VERS1TY  OF 


P.  C.  GARDNER. 


559 


married  Miss  Helen  M.,  a  daughter  of  Dexter 
and  Nancy  (Capron)  Stanley,  who  were  among 
the  early  settlers  of  DuPage  County.  She  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  February  6,  1833,  but 
since  her  second  year  has  made  her  home  in  this 
county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  had  two  children, 
Bertha  and  Glen,  but  both  died  in  infancy. 

The  Captain  was  elected  Sheriff  of  DuPage 
County  in  1860,  but  on  entering  the  service  of 
his  country  he  left  reliable  deputies  to  perform 
the  duties  of  that  office.  He  has  served  as  Super- 
visor, Township  Clerk  and  Collector.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Town  Trustees  for  four- 
teen years,  and,  with  the  exception  of  one  year, 
was  President  during  that  entire  time.  He  cast 
his  first  Presidential  vote  for  Scott,  but  it  is  need- 
less to  say  that  he  is  now  a  stanch  Republican, 
supporting  that  party  which  was  formed  to  pre- 
vent the  further  extension  of  slavery.  In  1892 
he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Fifer  on  the  Board  of 
Equalization  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Henry  L.  Bush.  He  is  a  prominent 
Grand  Army  man,  and  with  the  exception  of  one 
year  has  been  Commander  of  Naper  Post  No. 
468,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Downer's  Grove,  since  its  or- 
ganization. At  that  time  he  refused  to  have  the 
office,  but,  his  comrades  insisting  upon  his  ac- 
cepting the  position  again,  he  is  now  the  incum- 
bent. He  has  served  as  Superintendent  of  the 
Agricultural  Society  of  the  county  for  a  number 


of  years,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity of  Downer's  Grove,  and  the  Royal  Arcanum 
of  Hinsdale.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Loyal 
Legion  of  Illinois,  the  last  two  being  societies  of 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  and  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee. 

After  his  return  from  the  war,  the  Captain  en- 
gaged in  teaching  school  for  a  year,  then  spent 
one  year  in  the  insurance  business,  and  in  July, 
1866,  embarked  in  the  market  and  provision  busi- 
ness in  Chicago.  In  1871,  in  the  great  fire,  he 
was  burned  out,  and  again  in  1874,  but  with 
characteristic  energy  he  rebuilt,  retrieved  his 
losses,  and  has  since  successfully  carried  on  busi- 
ness. He  now  has  one  of  the  finest  markets  in 
Chicago,  located  at  the  corner  of  Wabash  Ave- 
nue and  Eighteenth  Street.  His  possessions  have 
all  been  acquired  through  his  own  earnings,  and 
he  has  gained  a  handsome  competence,  but  in- 
stead of  using  it  all  for  selfish  ends,  he  gives  lib- 
erally to  charitable  and  benevolent  work.  The 
needy  are  never  turned  from  his  door  empty- 
handed,  and  probably  no  man  has  contributed  so 
much  to  the  poor  of  Downer's  Grove  as  has 
Capt.  Rogers.  He  has  a  beautiful  home  here 
and  several  lots  and  business  houses.  Through- 
out DuPage  and  Cook  Counties  he  has  a  host  of 
friends,  and  is  held  in  the  highest  regard  by  all 
with  whom  he  has  been  brought  in  contact. 


CAPT.  PETER  G.  GARDNER. 


EAPT.  PETER  G.  GARDNER,  one  of  the 
representative  citizens  of  La  Grange,  and  a 
man  prominent  in  public  affairs  in  this  com- 
munity, claims  Ohio  as  his  native  State.    He  was 
born  near  Zanesville,   September   12,    1842,   and 
was  the  second  in  a  family  of  four  children,  three 
sons  and  a  daughter,  born  unto  Adam  and  Eliza- 
beth Gaertner.     The  mode  of  spelling  the  sur- 
uame  was  changed  to  Gardner  by  the  Captain. 


The  father  was  born  in  Germany,  and  there  grew 
to  mature  years.  Having  married,  he  came  to 
this  country,  locating  near  Zanesville,  Ohio.  His 
wife  died  in  1846,  after  which  the  family  was 
scattered,  and  the  father  joined  an  Ohio  regiment 
for  service  in  the  Mexican  War.  He  was  killed 
in  the  siege  of  the  City  of  Mexico. 

Capt.  Gardner  was  only  four  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  his  mother's  death.     He  was  bound 


560 


P.  C.  GARDNER. 


out  to  a  farmer  near  Zanesville,  and  there  resided 
until  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  began  work- 
ing as  a  farm  hand  by  the  month  through  the 
summer  season,  and  in  the  winter  he  attended 
the  common  schools.  On  the  i7th  of  April,  1861, 
he  joined  Company  A,  of  the  Fifteenth  Ohio  In- 
fantry, for  three  months'  service,  being  among  the 
first  to  respond  to  the  call  for  troops.  When  that 
term  had  expired,  he  immediately  re-enlisted,  and 
was  made  Corporal  March  7,  1862.  He  was  ap- 
pointed Sergeant  January  i,  1864,  and  was  made 
First  lieutenant  February  9,  1865.  On  the  ist 
of  January,  1864,  he  again  enlisted  for  another 
term  of  three  years,  if  the  war  continued  so 
long.  On  the  gth  of  February,  1865,  he  was  dis- 
charged as  an  enlisted  man,  to  accept  a  commis- 
sion as  First  Lieutenant  of  his  old  company  and 
regiment.  On  the  22d  of  December,  1865,  in 
Columbus,  Ohio,  he  received  his  final  discharge. 
He  participated  in  the  engagement  at  Philippi, 
W.  Va. ,  and  afterwards  took  part  in  the  battles 
of  Carricks  Ford,  Cheat  Mountain  and  Shiloh. 
He  also  participated  in  the  engagement  at  Liberty 
Gap,  Chickamauga  and  Mission  Ridge,  and  was 
in  the  entire  campaign  from  Chattanooga  to  At- 
lanta, which  lasted  from  May  i  until  Septem- 
ber i,  1864.  During  all  that  time  hardly  an  hour 
passed  during  which  the  sound  of  the  guns  could 
not  be  heard.  He  took  part  in  the  engagements 
at  Resaca,  Peach  Tree  Creek,  New  Hope  Church, 
Kennesaw  Mountain, Chattahoochee  River,  and  for 
five  weeks  was  in  the  siege  of  Atlanta.  The  army 
then  went  South,  and  after  the  battle  of  Franklin 
the  regiment  in  which  Mr.  Gardner  served,  which 
formed  a  part  of  the  rear-guard,  had  to  destroy 
the  bridge  at  that  place.  They  then  returned  to 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  with  Gen.  Thomas  in  com- 
mand, and  participated  in  the  campaign.  In  June, 
1865,  Capt.  Gardner  was  sent  to  western  Texas, 
and  during  the  month  of  August,  with  his  troops, 
marched  from  Matagorda  Bay  to  San  Antonio, 
where  he  remained  on  duty  until  December,  1865. 
He  then  marched  back  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
after  which  he  returned  home.  He  received  no 
serious  wounds,  but  had  some  very  narrow  es- 
capes. He  still  has  in  his  possession  the  sword 
which  he  carried  through  the  greater  part  of  the 


war,  and  upon  it  is  a  large  scar  that  was  caused 
by  a  piece  of  shell  striking  it. 

When  his  country  no  longer  needed  his  serv- 
ices, Capt.  Gardner  returned  to  his  home  in 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  but  after  a  short  time  went  to 
visit  his  sister  in  Mattoon,  111.  The  eldest 
brother  of  the  family,  now  deceased,  was  in  the 
Sixth  Iowa  Infantry.  The  Captain  had  not  seen 
him  since  the  home  was  broken  up  until  the 
night  following  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  when  they 
chanced  to  meet.  The  brother  was  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge,  and  was  a  cripple 
throughout  the  remainder  of  his  life.  George  A. , 
another  brother,  was  a  member  of  the  same  com- 
pany and  regiment  as  our  subject,  and  is  now 
residing  in  Chula,  Mo.,  a  retired  farmer  and 
prominent  citizen  of  that  place,  where  he  is  en- 
gaged in  the  banking  business.  Their  sister, 
Catherine,  is  now  the  wife  of  Henry  Hortinstine, 
a  farmer  residing  in  Chillicothe,  Mo. 

Removing  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  in  1866,  Capt. 
Gardner  there  engaged  in  the  fire-insurance  bus- 
iness until  1869,  when  he  went  to  Chicago,  where 
he  followed  the  same  pursuit  and  where  he  is 
still  engaged  in  business.  In  the  spring  of  1871, 
he  came  to  where  the  town  of  LaGrange  now 
stands,  being  the  first  resident  of  the  village. 
Purchasing  a  lot  on  the  prairie,  he  has  made 
this  place  his  home  continuously  since. 

In  June,  1869,  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Gardner  and  Miss  Maroa  E.  Conklin,  of  Dar- 
ien,  Wis.,  who  died  in  1873,  leaving  one  son, 
Charles  A.,  who  is  now  in  the  Treasurer's  office 
of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad, 
filling  a  responsible  position.  Our  subject  was 
again  married,  in  December,  1874,  his  second  un- 
ion being  with  Miss  Luella  W.  Humphry,  of  Port- 
land, Me.  They  had  five  children,  but  three  of 
the  number  died  in  infancy,  and  William  R.,  a 
young  man  of  much  promise,  died  at  the  age  of 
seventeen.  Eugene,  the  youngest,  is  a  lad  of 
eleven  years. 

Mr.  Gardner  takes  considerable  interest  in  civic 
societies,  especially  in  Masonry,  in  which  he  has 
taken  the  Thirty -second  Degree.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  LaGrange  Lodge,  and  an  honorary 
member  of  Garden  City  Lodge  of  Chicago.  He 


N.  S.  CARRINGTON. 


belongs  to  the  Commandery  of  the  military  order 
of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  Hiram  McClintock  Post  No. 
667,  G.  A.  R.,  of  La  Grange,  and  was  its  first 
Commander.  He  also  organized  the  Masonic 
lodge  at  this  place,  was  its  Master  for  six  years, 
and  is  now  High  Priest  of  the  Chapter.  With 
the  Royal  Arcanum  he  is  also  connected.  In  his 
political  views,  he  is  a  stanch  Republican,  who 
always  gives  his  support  to  the  men  and  meas- 
ures of  his  party.  He  is  now  serving  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  High  School  Board,  is  Secretary  and 


Treasurer  of  the  Music  Hall  Association  of  La- 
Grange,  is  a  warm  friend  to  education,  and  is  a 
patron  of  all  those  enterprises  which  are  calcu- 
lated to  uplift  humanity.  He  is  now  doing  a 
large  insurance  business  in  Chicago,  and  has  the 
respect  and  esteem  of  all  who  know  him.  He  is 
an  honored  member  of  various  societies,  and  has 
won  prominence  through  merit  and  ability.  He 
was  ever  true  to  his  country  in  her  hour  of  peril, 
and  for  four  years  and  a-half  was  actively  en- 
gaged in  her  service,  faithfully  defending  the  Old 
Flag  which  now  floats  so  proudly  over  the  united 
nation. 


N.  STARR  CARRINGTON. 


STARR  CARRINGTON,  who  resides  upon 
a  farm  on  section  18,  Lyons  Township,  is 
numbered  among  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Cook 
County  of  1836.  His  residence  therefore  in  this 
community  covers  a  period  of  fifty-seven  years. 
He  was  born  in  Middletown,  Conn.,  on  the  i2th 
of  December,  1816,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  and 
Susan  (Starr)  Carrington,  both  of  whom  were  of 
English  descent.  The  Starr  family  was  founded 
in  America  in  1634.  The  grandfather,  Nathan 
Starr,  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Unto 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carrington  were  born  seven  chil- 
dren, as  follows:  Susan,  Elizabeth,  Mary,  Henry, 
Starr,  Lorrania  and  William,  but  our  subject  is 
now  the  only  one  living.  While  in  the  East,  the 
father  served  as  cashier  of  the  Middletown  Bank. 
At  length  he  determined  to  seek  a  home  on  the 
broad  prairies  of  the  West,  and  emigrated  to  Chi- 
cago, then  a  small  town,  giving  little  or  no  evi- 
dence of  its  future  growth  and  importance.  He 
there  engaged  in  the  brokerage  business  in  con- 
nection with  E.  K.  Hubbard  until  1837,  when  he 
removed  to  the  farm  of  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  which  he  had  purchased  of  B.  Jacobs  for 
$12.50  per  acre  the  year  previous.  Upon  this 
farm  he  made  his  home  until  1840,  when  he  re- 


turned to  Middletown,  Conn. ,  and  became  Treas- 
urer and  Secretary  of  the  Savings  Bank  of  that 
place.  He  was  entirely  a  self-made  man,  and  for 
the  success  of  his  life  deserves  great  credit.  With 
the  Congregational  Church  he  held  membership, 
and  his  career  was  an  honorable,  upright  one. 
He  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three 
years. 

In  the  schools  of  his  native  town,  Mr.  Carring- 
ton of  this  sketch  acquired  a  good  business  edu- 
cation and  under  the  parental  roof  he  spent  his 
childhood  days.  With  his  father  he  came  to  Illi- 
nois, but  he  remained  in  Chicago  only  a  short 
time.  On  leaving  that  place  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence upon  the  farm  which  is  now  his  home. 
There  were  no  improvements  upon  the  place,  save 
a  log  cabin,  which  is  still  standing,  one  of  the  few 
landmarks  that  yet  remain.  Chicago  was  the 
nearest  trading-point  and  they  hauled  all  their 
grain  and  farm  produce  to  that  place.  When  he 
first  reached  that  city,  Mr.  Carrington  boarded  at 
the  old  Lake  Street  Hotel.  There  was  not  a 
bridge  in  the  place,  and  many  portions  that  are 
now  solidly  built  up  with  fine  residences  or  busi- 
ness houses  were  then  only  wet  prairie.  Mr. 
Carrington  now  owns  two  hundred  and  twenty 


562 


WESLEY  POLK. 


acres  of  good  land,  and  carries  on  general  farming 
and  stock-raising.  Idleness  is  utterly  foreign  to 
his  nature,  and  a  busy  and  well-spent  life  has 
brought  him  a  comfortable  competence. 

On  the  1 6th  of  August,  1841,  Mr.  Carrington 
was  joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Laura  Butler, 
and  unto  them  have  been  born  eight  children, 
namely:  William  H.,  now  deceased;  Susan; 
Mary;  Elizabeth;  William  H.;  Lorriana,  de- 
ceased; Laura  and  Edward. 

In  his  political  affiliations,  in  early  life,  Mr. 
Carrington  was  a  Whig,  and  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Republican  party  has  been  one  of  its 
stanch  supporters.  He  has  been  honored  with 


some  public  offices,  has  served  as  Commissioner, 
for  the  past  twelve  years  has  filled  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  is  the  present  incum- 
bent. The  best  interests  of  the  community  have 
ever  found  in  him  a  friend.  His  co-operation  and 
support  are  given  to  worthy  enterprises,  and  all 
that  is  calculated  to  benefit  the  community  re- 
ceives his  assistance.  The  history  of  Cook 
County  is  well  known  to  him,  for  since  its  early 
days  he  has  watched  its  growth  and  advance- 
ment. He  may  truly  be  classed  among  the  hon- 
ored pioneers,  and  it  is  with  pleasure  that  we  pre- 
sent to  our  readers  the  sketch  of  this  worthy  gen- 
tleman. 


WESLEY  POLK. 


POLK  was  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
He  was  born  in  Jefferson  County,  on  the 
4tn  of  November,  1818,  and  was  one  of  six 
children  whose  parents  were  Edmund  and  Mar- 
garet Polk.  Their  children  were  H.  H.,  James, 
William,  Wesley  and  Wilson,  but  Henry  H.  is 
the  only  one  now  living. 

Our  subject  was  born  and  reared  upon  the 
home  farm  in  Kentucky,  and  acquired  the  greater 
part  of  his  education  outside  the  school-room. 
He  began  life  for  himself  when  a  young  man,  and 
was  afterward  dependent  upon  his  own  resources. 
In  1831  he  left  the  State  of  his  nativity  and  re- 
moved to  Indiana,  where  he  made  his  home  un- 
til 1833,  when  he  came  to  Illinois,  making  the 
journey  by  wagon.  He  located  in  Lyons  Town- 
ship, where  he  purchased  a  tract  of  wild,  uncul- 
tivated land  on  section  21,  upon  which  a  log  cabin 
was  built.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  parents 
and  family,  and  they  experienced  all  the  hard- 
ships and  trials  of  life  on  the  frontier.  The  In- 
dians were  still  numerous  in  the  settlement,  and 
Chicago  was  the  trading-point  of  the  pioneers. 

Mr.  Polk  grew  to  manhood  upon  the  new  farm, 
and  there  made  his  home  until  1849,  when,  in 


connection  with  his  brother  H.  H.,  and  three 
other  young  men,  they  started  with  pack  mules 
for  California.  They  walked  much  of  the  dis- 
tance, but  at  length  after  traveling  for  several 
months  reached  their  destination.  There  Mr. 
Polk  engaged  in  prospecting  and  mining  from 
1849  until  1851.  His  trip  proved  quite  a  success- 
ful one,  and  he  returned  home  by  way  of  New 
York  City  and  the  water  route.  He  then  came 
back  to  the  farm,  and  to  agricultural  pursuits  de- 
voted his  energies  until  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war,  when,  in  1861,  prompted  by  patriotic  im- 
pulses, he  responded  to  the  country's  call  for 
troops.  He  enlisted  as  a  private,  was  assigned 
to  Company  H,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty -seventh 
Illinois  Infantry,  and  was  mustered  into  service  in 
Chicago.  He  faithfully  followed  the  Old  Flag  for 
three  years,  and  during  that  time  was  never  either 
wounded  or  taken  prisoner,  but  was  always  found 
at  his  post  of  duty,  participating  in  all  the  engage- 
ments in  which  the  regiment  took  part,  a  faithful 
and  valiant  defender  of  the  Union.  When  mus- 
tered out  he  held  the  rank  of  Corporal. 

When  the  war  was  over,   Mr.  Polk  returned  to 
the  old  farm,  where  he  lived  until  1881.    He  then 


C.   H.    HARRISON,  JR. 


563 


purchased  the  farm  now  owned  by  the  family.  It 
comprised  one  hundred  and  ninety  acres  of  rich 
and  valuable  land,  under  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion and  well  improved  with  all  the  accessories 
and  conveniences  of  a  model  farm.  Mr.  Polk  be- 
gan life  a  poor  boy,  but  his  career  was  a  success- 
ful one,  for  he  was  diligent  and  enterprising  and 
possessed  good  business  ability. 

In  1860  Mr.  Polk  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Mary  J.  Bielby.  Her  birthplace  was  near 
Utica,  N.  Y.  They  had  only  one  child,  Edmund 
R.,  who  was  born  March  7,  1866.  He  attended 
the  public  schools  and  was  graduated  from  the 
Metropolitan  Business  College  of  Chicago.  On 
the  1 4th  of  January,  1891,  he  married  Miss  Agnes 
Little,  and  they  have  become  the  parents  of  one 
son,  Wesley  W.  Edmund  now  carries  on  the 


home  farm  and  is  a  wide-awake  and  enterprising 
agriculturist. 

The  father  was  called  to  his  final  rest  May  23, 
1893,  and  his  remains  are  interred  in  Lyonsville 
Cemetery.  He  had  the  respect  of  all  who  knew 
him  and  his  death  was  deeply  mourned.  In  poli- 
tics, he  was  a  stalwart  advocate  of  the  Republican 
party  and  its  principles,  and  did  all  in  his  power 
to  insure  its  success.  For  fourteen  successive 
years  he  creditably  and  ably  filled  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  was  Township  Collector,  and 
also  served  as  Supervisor.  Socially,  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  post,  and  in  religious 
belief  he  was  a  Congregationalist.  Alike  true  in 
public  and  private  life,  and  faithful  to  every  trust, 
he  had  the  confidence  and  regard  of  all  with  whom 
business  or  social  relations  brought  him  in  contact. 


CARTER  H.  HARRISON,  JR. 


H.  HARRISON,  JR.,  the  editor  of 
the  Chic,  go  Times,  the  leading  Democratic 
v  newspaper  of  the  city,  has  spent  his  entire 
life  here,  with  the  exception  of  three  years  spent 
in  Germany  and  the  time  passed  in  college.  The 
Harrison  family  has  been  prominently  connected 
with  the  city's  interests  since  an  early  day,  and 
the  ancestors  of  our  subject  were  among  those 
who  aided  in  achieving  the  independence  of  this 
country.  The  family  originated  in  England,  and 
some  of  its  members  came  from  that  country  to 
the  United  States  in  the  seventeenth  century,  lo- 
cating in  Virginia.  It  had  several  representatives 
in  the  Colonial  army  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  Gen.  William  Russell,  one  of  the  ma- 
ternal ancestors  of  our  subject,  won  his  title  during 
that  eight-years  struggle.  Benjamin  Harrison, 
who  first  came  to  America,  was  a  man  of  promi- 
nence in  Virginia,  and  served  as  Colonial  Gov- 
ernor. For  three  generations  after  him  the  blood 
was  transmitted  through  a  Benjamin  Harrison. 


The  fourth  Benjamin  had  two  sons,  Benjamin 
and  Carter.  In  direct  line  the  descendants  of  the 
former  are  William  Henry,  Scott  H.  and  Benja- 
min. Of  the  latter  they  are  Robert  Carter,  Carter 
H.,  Carter  H.  (the  late  Mayor  of  the  city), 
Carter  H.,  Jr.,  of  this  sketch,  and  his  little  son, 
who  also  bears  the  name  of  Carter  H. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  record 
was  born  in  Chicago,  on  the  23d  of  April,  1860. 
His  father  had  located  here  several  years  previ- 
ous, and  from  that  time  until  his  death  was  ac- 
tively connected  with  the  welfare  of  the  city. 
The  son  was  educated  in  private  schools  until 
1873,  when  he  went  to  Germany.  In  1876,  he 
attended  college  in  New  York,  and  later  was 
graduated  from  St.  Ignatius'  College,  of  Chicago. 
He  afterwards  entered  Yale  College,  and  com- 
pleted the  law  course  in  that  renowned  institution 
in  the  Class  of '83. 

Returning  to  his  home,  Mr.  Harrison  then  em- 
barked in  the  real-estate  business,  and  carried  on 


564 


CHRISTIAN  THIELE. 


operations  along  that  line  for  a  number  of  years, 
when,  in  1891,  in  connection  with  his  father,  he 
bought  out  the  Chicago  Times,  and  assumed 
charge  of  the  editorial  department  of  the  paper. 
The  Times  is  too  well  known  to  need  mention 
here.  It  is  an  old  paper,  yet  its  success  and  high 
reputation  have  been  greatly  increased  since  Mr. 
Harrison's  connection  with  it. 

In  the  year  1887,  our  subject  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Edith  Ogden,  daughter  of  Rob- 
ert N.  Ogden,  of  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  to  them 
has  been  born  a  son,  who  was  named  for  his  father 
and  grandfather.  Mr.  Harrison  holds  member- 
ship with  the  University  Club  and  the  Chicago 


Athletic  Club.  His  connection  with  the  Times  at 
once  indicates  his  political  views  to  be  Democratic. 
He  is  well  known  in  his  native  city,  his  father's 
prominence  having  brought  him  a  wide  acquaint- 
ance among  leading  people,  while  his  own  qualities 
have  gained  for  him  their  high  regard  and  es- 
teem. He  possesses  the  same  attractive  manner 
for  which  the  Harrison  family  is  noted.  Although 
yet  a  young  man,  he  is  recognized  as  one  of  the 
leading  and  influential  citizens  of  the  second  city 
in  the  Union,  and  whether  he  should  continue  in 
newspaper  work  or  leave  the  journalistic  field  he 
is  sure  to  occupy  a  position  of  importance. 


CHRISTIAN  THIELE. 


CHRISTIAN  THIELE,  a  well-known  citizen 
1 1  of  Proviso  Township,  this  county,  is  a  native 
\j  of  Germany,  his  birth  having  occurred  in 
Hanover,  on  the  igth  of  January,  1834.  His  boy- 
hood and  youth  were  quietly  passed;  the  common 
schools  afforded  him  his  educational  privileges, 
and  in  his  native  land  he  learned  the  carpenter's 
trade.  Thinking  to  better  his  financial  condition 
by  emigrating  to  the  New  World,  in  1850  he 
sailed  for  America,  and  after  a  voyage  of  nine 
weeks  landed  in  New  York  City.  During  the 
trip  across  the  water  he  served  as  the  ship's  car- 
penter. He  left  home  with  a  capital  of  $50,  which 
his  father  gave  him,  and  with  this  he  started  out 
in  life  in  the  United  States,  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land.  After  remaining  in  New  York 
City  for  a  short  time,  he  took  an  emigrant  train  to 
Chicago. 

On  reaching  that  place,  Mr.  Thiele  found  that 
his  money  was  exhausted,  but  he  soon  secured 
employment  as  a  carpenter,  and  thus  worked  for 
about  eighteen  months.  He  then  went  to  what 
is  now  Addison,  and  worked  at  his  chosen  trade, 
building  houses  for  the  farmers  of  that  locality 
for  a  period  of  about  nine  years.  With  the  capi- 


tal thus  acquired,  he  purchased  a  ten-acre  tract  of 
land  where  the  village  of  Proviso  now  stands,  and 
has  here  made  his  home  continuously  since.  He 
rented  an  additional  tract,  and  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  farming,  which  he  carries  on  in  connection 
with  the  hay  business. 

In  1857,  Mr.  Thiele  was  joined  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Minnie  Summerman,  of  Cook  County, 
and  unto  them  were  born  two  children:  Henry, 
who  is  now  carrying  on  a  grocery  on  Madison 
Street,  in  Oak  Park,  Chicago;  and  Sophia,  wife 
of  William  Ruchty,  a  resident  of  Fullersburg. 
In  the  year  1872,  the  mother  of  this  family  was 
called  to  her  final  rest,  and  in  1874  Mr.  Thiele 
was  again  married,  his  second  union  being  with 
Miss  Margaret  Bernard,  by  whom  he  has  two 
children,  a  son  and  daughter,  Arno  and  lizzie, 
both  at  home. 

Mr.  Thiele  is  now  the  owner  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  valuable  land  in  Cook  County, 
together  with  a  handsome  brick  residence,  store 
and  saloon,  which  are  valued  at  $23,000.  He 
also  has  a  granary  worth  $6,000.  Everything 
that  he  now  possesses  has  been  acquired  through 
his  own  efforts.  When  he  reached  Chicago,  he 


A.  F.  WEBB. 


565 


slept  for  two  nights  in  the  depot,  for  he  had  not 
money  enough  to  pay  for  lodging.  Undaunted, 
however,  by  the  difficulties  in  his  path,  he  soon 
secured  work,  and  as  he  was  enabled  to  save 
something  from  his  earnings,  he  made  judicious 
investments  of  his  capital,  and  is  now  numbered 


among  the  substantial  citizens  of  this  community. 
He  may  be  truly  called  a  self-made  man.  In  his 
political  views,  Mr.  Thiele  is  a  Republican,  and 
has  served  his  township  as  Highway  Commis- 
sioner. 


ALBERT  F.  WEBB. 


Gl  LBERT  F.  WEBB,  superintendent  of  the 
r  I  Stinson  Stock  Farm  at  Thornton,  was  born 
/I  in  Chicago,  on  the  ist  of  March,  1863,  and 
is  a  son  of  Francis  and  Amelia  (Wheeler)  Webb. 
The  father  was  a  native  of  England,  born  near 
London.  In  1861,  he  took  up  his  residence  near 
Thornton,  having  that  year  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  America,  and  upon  the  farm  where  he  located 
he  made  his  home  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1 88 1,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  years.  His  widow 
still  resides  on  the  old  homestead.  She  was 
born  in  Oxford,  England,  and  came  to  America 
in  1862.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  had  a  family  of 
four  children,  but  two  of  the  number  died  in  child- 
hood. Albert  F.  and  Bessie  are  the  survivors. 
The  father  of  this  family  was  a  well-known  citi- 
zen of  Thornton  and  vicinity  for  some  years. 
For  a  long  time  he  carried  on  a  general  store  in 
the  village  of  Thornton  and  did  a  good  business 
in  that  way.  At  the  same  time  he  operated  his 
farm,  and  it  also  yielded  him  a  good  income.  He 
was  not  a  member  of  any  church,  but  was  an  hon- 
orable, upright  man,  and  for  several  years  was 
superintendent  of  a  union  Sabbath-school  in 
Thornton,  and  was  always  recognized  as  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  esteemed  citizens  of  the  place. 
Albert  F.  Webb  attended  the  public  schools, 
where  he  acquired  a  fair  English  education,  and 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  began  clerking  in  a 
grocery  store  in  Chicago.  Thus  he  started  out 
in  life  for  himself  and  since  that  time  he  has  made 


his  own  way  in  the  world.  For  a  year  he  con- 
tinued to  serve  as  a  salesman,  and  then  began 
learning  the  carpenter's  trade,  which  he  followed 
for  nine  years.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period, 
in  the  spring  of  1890,  he  became  the  superintend- 
ent of  the  Stinson  Stock  Farm  at  Thornton, 
which  position  he  yet  fills.  This  farm  com- 
prises about  seven  hundred  acres  of  land  and  is 
devoted  to  the  breeding  of  trotting  horses  and 
Jersey  cattle.  About  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thoroughbred  trotters  are  kept  on  the  farm,  most 
of  them  bred  under  the  management  of  Mr. 
Webb.  His  stables  are  extensive,  are  well 
lighted  and  ventilated  and  are  models  of  conven- 
ience in  all  particulars.  They  were  built  under 
the  personal  supervision  of  Mr.  Webb  and  indi- 
cate his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  needs  and 
care  of  horses.  The  farm  is  now  a  first-class 
stock-breeding  establishment.  About  thirty  men 
are  employed  upon  the  place,  including  several 
expert  trainers,  and  altogether  it  is  considered 
one  of  the  best  stock  farms  in  the  State.  Since 
locating  here  Mr.  Webb  has  also  superintended 
the  establishment  of  another  stock  farm  on  a 
similar  plan  at  Highlands,  Indiana. 

In  1882,  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  and  Miss  Winnie  Wendt, 
daughter  of  Frederick  Wendt,  of  Homewood.  She 
was  born  in  Germany,  and  came  with  her  par- 
ents to  Cook  County  when  four  years  of  age. 
Two  children  were  born  of  their  union,  but  the 


566 


son,  George,  died  at  the  age  of  ten  years, 
daughter,  Amy,  is  still  with  her  parents. 

Mr.  Webb  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters. 
In  politics,  he  has  been  a  life-long  Republican, 
and  is  a  warm  advocate  of  the  principles  of  his 
party.  He  served  for  two  terms  as  School  Direc- 


E.  P.  PATCH. 
The 


tor  of  Thornton.  His  position  as  Superintendent 
of  the  Stinson  Stock  Farm  he  has  filled  for  four 
years,  and  in  its  management  has  given  entire 
satisfaction.  He  is  a  systematic  farmer  and  busi- 
ness man,  a  practical  and  enthusiastic  stockman, 
and  a  public-spirited  citizen. 


EDWARD  P.  PATCH. 


[TOWARD  PATRICK  PATCH,  cierk  of  the 

ry  village  of  Wilmette,  is  a  native  of  Cook 
I  County  who  reflects  credit  upon  the  place  of 
his  nativity.  He  was  born  in  Chicago,  on  Saint 
Patrick's  Day,  1867,  and  is  a  son  of  Theodore  J. 
and  Rose  (Cassidy)  Patch,  the  former  a  native  of 
Albany,  New  York,  and  the  latter  of  Ireland. 

T.  J.  Patch  is  still  a  resident  of  Chicago,  where 
he  located  in  1844,  settling  on  the  West  Side,  and 
has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  the  dray  and  ex- 
press business.  He  has  built  up  a  large  business, 
and  employs  a  number  of  men  and  teams.  His 
father  was  a  native  of  Germany,  the  name  being 
originally  spelled  Fach.  Mrs.  Patch  came  to  Amer- 
ica in  1851,  and  after  living  five  years  in  Brook- 
lyn, came  to  Chicago.  Her  father,  Edward 
Cassidy,  was  a  Captain  in  the  British  army,  and 
lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  His  widow, 
Bridget  Cassidy,  died  in  Chicago,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-eight  years.  Mr.  Patch  was  born  in  1855, 
and  his  wife  two  years  later. 

Edward  P.  Patch  was  educated  at  the  school 
attached  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Family,  at 
Twelfth  and  Morgan  Streets,  completing  the 
course  before  he  was  eighteen  years  old.  He  im- 
mediately entered  the  employ  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Accident  Insurance  Company,  and  continued 
one  year.  For  the  past  nine  years  he  has  been 


with  the  Standard  Life  and  Accident  Insurance 
Company,  for  the  last  five  years  in  the  capacity 
of  manager  of  its  general  agency  at  Chicago.  He 
has  supervision  of  the  business  of  the  company 
all  over  the  West,  which  is  chiefly  transacted 
with  railroad  employes.  His  long  continuance 
and  steady  progress  with  his  present  employers 
attest  his  faithfulness  and  business  ability. 

In  1890  Mr.  Patch  took  up  his  residence  at  Wil- 
mette, where  he  built  a  handsome  home,  and  in 
April,  1895,  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  village. 
Since  August,  1894,  he  has  been  the  Wilmette 
correspondent  of  the  North  Shore  News.  He  is  a 
progressive,  public-spirited  citizen,  and  takes  an 
intelligent  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  native 
country.  He  keeps  thoroughly  informed  on  all 
questions  of  the  day,  and  adheres  to  the  Republi- 
can party  in  matters  of  public  policy,  because  its 
principles  and  practice  exemplify  his  ideas  of 
good  government.  He  is  a  member  of  Ouilmette 
Council  of  the  Royal  Arcanum. 

May  27,  1889,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lavinia 
M.  Bruno,  and  they  are  the  parents  of  one  child, 
Rose  Louise,  aged  five  years.  Mrs.  Patch  is  a 
native  of  Geneva,  Illinois,  and  is  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Louise  M.  Bruno.  Her  father  died 
from  wounds  received  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  during  the  Civil  War. 


HENRY  GREENEBAUM. 


567 


HENRY  GREENEBAUM. 


HENRY  GREENEBAUM,  a  well-known  bus- 
iness man  of  Chicago  of  long  years'  stand- 
ing, is  descended  from  very  ancient  and  hon- 
orable families.  His  grandfather,  Elias  Greene- 
baum,  was  an  iron  merchant  at  Reipolskirchen, 
in  Rhenish  Bavaria.  It  is  notable  that  this  line  of 
mercantile  industry  has  been  continued  to  the 
present,  one  of  the  leading  iron  houses  of  Chicago 
having  been  until  recently  conducted  by  great- 
grandsons  of  Elias  Gr'eenebaum.  Being  a  Jew, 
the  last-named  was  at  a  great  social  disadvantage 
in  Germany,  yet  such  were  his  energy,  capability 
and  integrity,  that  he  was  appointed  Treasurer 
of  his  county.  This  position  involved  great  re- 
sponsibility at  that  time,  owing  to  the  existence  in 
the  neighborhood  of  a  powerful  bandit,  who  com- 
manded a  strong  organization  of  followers,  whom 
he  ruled  with  despotic  power.  He  was  known 
by  the  nickname  of  "Schinderhannes,"  and  acted 
much  upon  the  plan  of  the  Robin  Hood  of  Eng- 
lish history,  who  took  from  the  rich  and  gave 
largely  to  the  poor.  For  many  years  he  was  a 
terror  to  the  people  and  officers  of  the  region 
where  he  flourished,  but  was  finally  captured  and 
beheaded  at  Mainz.  During  his  term  of  official 
life  Elias  Greenebaum  was  compelled  to  maintain 
a  strong  guard  about  his  premises  continually  to 
protect  the  public  funds,  as  well  as  his  own,  from 
attacks  of  the  robber  king. 

Jacob  Greenebaum  and  Sarah  Herz,  parents 
of  the  subject  of  this  biography,  were  cousins, 
and  grandchildren  of  "Jakob,"  of  Rathskirchen, 
who  was  born  in  the  early  part  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  and  whose  descendants  have  been 


active  and  prominent  citizens  in  many  lands.  One 
of  his  sons,  Herz  Felsenthal,  was  a  delegate  to 
the  synod  held  in  Paris  in  1806,  by  decree  of 
Napoleon  I.  It  was  during  this  time  that  the 
Jews  in  Germany  took  surnames,  and  this  family 
assumed  that  of  Felsenthal.  Among  Jakob's 
great-grandchildren  were  Dr.  Felsenthal,  an  emi- 
nent physician  of  Darmstadt,  who  died  in  1885, 
and  Dr.  Greenebaum,  who  was  Rabbi  emeritus  at 
I/andau,  Bavaria,  and  died  in  1893.  Dr.  B.  Fel- 
senthal, of  Chicago,  now  in  his  seventy-fifth  year, 
and  long  known  here  as  a  man  of  science  and  pub- 
lic spirit,  is  one  of  the  great-great-grandchildren; 
so  also  is  August  Blum,  Cashier  of  the  Union  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Chicago;  Eli  B.  Felsenthal,  an  at- 
torney-at-law,  and  a  Trustee  of  the  Chicago  Uni- 
versity; also  Mrs.  Hannah  Greenebaum  Solomon, 
President  of  the  National  Council  of  Jewish 
Women  of  America.  A  niece  of  Mrs.  Solomon, 
and  representing  the  sixth  generation  from  Jakob, 
was  married  in  San  Diego,  California,  at  the 
home  of  her  parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Max  Lesem, 
in  1894. 

Jacob  Greenebaum  was  born  at  Reipolskirchen, 
and  lost  his  father  by  death  when  he  was  six 
years  old.  He  was  brought  up  to  commercial 
pursuits,  having  the  advantage  of  a  thorough  ed- 
ucation in  the  German,  French  and  Hebrew  lan- 
guages, and  became  a  merchant  at  Eppelsheim, 
in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Darmstadt.  He  possessed 
a  taste  for  agriculture,  and  gradually  came  into 
possession  of  land  in  the  Commune  of  Eppelsheim 
and  adjoining  territory,  until  he  owned  and  man- 
aged a  large  estate.  His  wife,  of  sacred  memory, 


568 


HENRY  GREENEBAUM. 


was  a  daughter  of  Michael  and  Jetta  (Felsen- 
thal)  Herz,  of  Eppelsheim,  where  Mr.  Herz  was 
a  veterinary  surgeon  and  a  livestock  dealer.  They 
were  able  to  give  their  children  the  benefit  of 
the  best  schools,  and  did  not  fail  to  thus  perform 
their  duty  in  preparing  them  for  the  stations  for 
which  they  were  fitted  by  birth  and  capability. 
In  1852  Mr.  Greenebaum  sold  his  possessions  and 
came  to  Chicago  to  be  near  his  sons,  three  of 
whom  had  preceded  him  by  several  years.  He 
did  not  engage  in  active  business  after  coming 
here,  but  made  real-estate  purchases  and  built  a 
number  of  houses  for  rent.  He  died  in  1870,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-three  years,  and  was  followed  to 
the  grave  by  a  very  large  concourse  of  people, 
the  large  courthouse  bell  being  tolled  as  the  pro- 
cession moved,  May  n,  1870.  His  wife, survived 
him  thirteen  years,  reaching  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven  years.  Eight  of  their  thirteen  children 
came  to  America,  the  others  having  died  before 
the  removal  of  their  parents  from  Eppelsheim, 
several  of  them  in  infancy.  Elias,  the  eldest,  is 
a  prominent  banker  in  Chicago.  Michael,  the 
second,  was  an  iron  merchant,  and  did  an  exten- 
sive business  in  Chicago,  where  he  died  in  1894, 
leaving  a  widow  and  a  large  and  interesting  fam- 
ily of  sons  and  daughters.  He  came  to  America 
in  1846,  and  to  Chicago  the  next  year.  Jacob, 
the  third,  died  here  in  1871,  and  Isaac  in  1885. 
The  latter  was  a  hardware  merchant,  and  later  in 
life  became  a  broker  in  Chicago.  Henry  is  the 
next  in  order  of  birth.  Hannah  died  while  the 
wife  of  Gerhard  Foreman,  an  old-time  banker  of 
this  city.  Barbara  is  the  wife  of  A.  Wise,  of 
Chicago;  and  David  S.,  the  youngest  of  the  fam- 
ily, is  engaged  in  the  banking  business  in  the 
same  city.  Elias,  Michael  and  Henry  preceded 
the  rest  of  the  family  to  Chicago. 

Henry  Greenebaum  was  born  at  Eppelsheim, 
Germany,  June  18,  1833.  He  received  his  prim- 
ary education  in  the  public  schools,  where  he 
early  attracted  the  favorable  notice  of  the  teachers 
and  school  officers.  He  then  took  up  the  classics 
at  Alzey  and  Kaiserslautern,  and  only  left  off 
his  literary  researches  when  he  started  for  Amer- 
ica. He  arrived  in  Chicago  October  25,  1848, 
and  at  once  took  employment  as  a  hardware  sales- 


man in  the  establishment  of  W.  F.  Dominick, 
who  conducted  a  strictly  cash  and  one-price  busi- 
ness. Young  Greenebaum  found  this  employ- 
ment congenial,  especially  as  its  conduct  harmon- 
ized with  his  ideas  of  integrity  and  sound  financial 
management.  After  two  years  of  service,  in 
which  he  did  not  fail  to  improve  his  opportunities, 
he  engaged  as  clerk  in  the  banking  house  of 
General  R.  K.  Swift.  Here  he  met  many  prom- 
inent citizens  of  the  state,  and  his  intercourse  with 
them  enhanced  his  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs. 
He  was  inspired  with  a  laudable  ambition  to  be- 
come a  man  of  business,  and  he  so  applied  him- 
self as  to  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  banking 
in  the  course  of  four  years,  during  which  time  he 
made  a  trip  to  Europe  and  formed  business  con- 
nections for  his  employer. 

At  the  end  of  this  period,  in  connection  with 
his  elder  brother,  Elias,  a  clerk  in  the  same  bank, 
he  opened  a  similar  business  on  his  own  account. 
In  fact,  all  of  the  Greenebaum  brothers,  except 
Jacob,  became  at  one  time  or  another  bankers, 
though  not  in  the  same  bank.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  did  not  follow  the  limited  lines  of 
nationality  or  religious  affiliation,  but  fraternized 
with  New  Englanders  and  Southerners,  as  well 
as  the  natives  of  the  Fatherland.  He  was  a  reader 
and  lover  of  books,  and  joined  the  Young  Men's 
Library  Association,  in  whose  affairs  he  was  an 
active  officer,  with  Robert  Collyer  and  others,  until 
the  Great  Fire.  He  was  among  the  early  officers 
of  the  Athenaeum,  another  literary  institution 
after  the  fire,  and  was  among  the  promoters  of 
the  City  Library.  As  a  member  of  the  commit- 
tee of  which  the  late  Thomas  Hoyne  was  Chair- 
man, he  went  to  Springfield  and  aided  in  securing 
the  permanent  establishment  of  this  great  institu- 
tion, which  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant and  valuable  establishments  of  the  city 
of  his  home. 

He  became  President  of  the  German-National 
Bank,  which  was  compelled  by  the  panic  of  1877 
to  close  its  doors  after  a  long-continued  run,  in 
which  it  paid  eighty  per  cent,  of  its  liabilities  in 
cash,  and  within  a  comparatively  short  time  paid 
the  balance,  with  interest.  The  German  Sav- 
ings Bank,  of  which  he  was  also  President,  had 


HENRY  GREENEBAUM. 


569 


a  similar  experience  at  the  same  time,  and  met 
its  liabilities  in  the  same  honorable  manner.  The 
aggregate  deposits  of  these  banks  in  the  time  of 
their  highest  prosperity  approximated  five  mill- 
ions of  dollars. 

In  his  social  and  benevolent  activities  Mr. 
Greenebaum  has  accomplished  a  stupendous 
work,  the  simple  enumeration  of  which  almost 
exceeds  the  capacity  of  this  article.  His  great 
heart  and  wide  popularity  are  evidenced  by  the 
mere  mention  of  these  associations.  He  is  a  life 
member  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Astronomical  Society, 
and  of  several  kindred  associations.  Through 
secret  and  benevolent  societies  he  has  been  per- 
mitted to  do  more  for  his  fellows  than  often  falls 
in  the  way  of  a  single  man.  All  Jewish  interests, 
congregational,  charitable  and  educational,  owe  a 
heavy  debt  to  the  tireless  energy  and  enthusiasm 
of  Mr.  Greenebaum.  In  1855,  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
he  joined  the  nearest  lodge  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  B'nai  B'rith,  and  two  years  later  took  a 
card  of  withdrawal  in  order  to  assist  in  institut- 
ing Rammah  Lodge  Number  33,  of  that  frater- 
nity, in  Chicago.  He  was  an  active  member  of 
District  Lodge  Number  2  for  ten  years,  and  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Cleveland  Orphan  Asy- 
lum, of  whose  Board  of  Trustees  he  is  still  a 
member.  At  the  convention  of  the  order  in  1868, 
at  New  York,  as  a  member  of  the~Committee  on 
Constitution,  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  plac- 
ing the  entire  body  upon  a  Democratic  basis,  es- 
tablishing the  sovereignty  of  lodges.  At  that 
convention  a  charter  was  granted  to  District  Grand 
Lodge  Number  6,  of  which  he  became  the  first 
Grand  President  by  unanimous  choice,  and  twice 
succeeded  himself.  His  usefulness  in  these  and 
other  matters  is  well  known  to  the  great  body 
of  the  Jewish  people  in  Chicago,  and  has  become 
almost  as  well  established  in  foreign  lands.  In 
June,  1885,  he  assisted  Julius  Bien,  President  of 
this  order,  in  instituting  District  Grand  Lodge 
Number  8  at  Berlin,  Germany.  Five  years  later 
he  was  in  attendance  at  the  convention  of  the  order 
at  Richmond,  Virginia,  representing  the  Berlin 
District  Grand  Lodge,  and  in  May,  1895,  repre- 
sented District  No.  9,  Roumania,  at  the  conven- 


tion in  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  He  has  delivered  many 
addresses  in  various  conventions,  the  last  being 
at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  in  February,  1892, 
upon  "Knowledge  and  Character."  His  spoken 
and  written  matter  is  always  clear  and  effective. 
He  is  an  officer  of  the  Jewish  Training  School,  a 
Director  in  the  German  Altenheim,  and  holds 
membership  in  many  other  organizations. 

In  the  purely  religious  institutions  of  his  people 
in  Chicago  he  has  ever  been  foremost  and  efficient. 
Before  he  was  of  age  he  was  Secretary  of  the  con- 
gregation B'nai  Sholom.  In  1855  he  withdrew 
to  join  that  of  Anshe  Maarib,  and  was  elected  an 
honorary  member  of  the  congregation  of  B'nai 
Sholom.  He  was  one  of  a  minority  in  Anshe 
Maarib  who  proposed  a  modification  of  forms  of 
Jewish  worship,  and  was  associated  with  Levi 
Rosenfeld  and  Lazarus  Silverman  as  a  commit- 
tee to  make  the  desired  changes  in  the  official  rit- 
ual. Although  the  majority  were  favorable  to 
their  report,  Mr.  Greenebaum  would  not  consent 
to  its  adoption  by  a  mere  majority,  and  accord- 
ing to  his  desire  the  reformers  were  induced  to 
go  out  and  form  a  new  congregation,  which  is 
now  known  as  Sinai,  and  is  the  strongest  con- 
gregation in  Chicago.  In  1864  Mr.  Greenebaum 
was  the  founder  of  Zion  Temple  on  the  West  Side, 
and  was  its  President  seven  years.  In  1882  he 
was  requested  to  take  charge  again,  which  he 
did  for  two  years,  and  during  this  time  the  move- 
ment was  started  for  the  building  of  the  beautiful 
temple  of  the  society  erected  at  Washington 
Boulevard  and  Ogden  Avenue.  In  the  fall  of 
1895  a  large  number  of  co-religionists  living  south 
of  Thirty-ninth  Street  united  to  organize  the 
Isaiah  Temple,  a  Jewish  Reform  congregation, 
with  Dr.  Joseph  Stoltz  as  Rabbi,  and  Mr.  Greene- 
baum was  elected  the  first  President  of  the  con- 
gregation by  a  unanimous  vote. 

Mr.  Greenebaum  was  one  of  the  foremost  in 
placing  on  a  firm  foundation  the  United  Hebrew 
Charities,  formerly  known  as  the  United  Hebrew 
Relief  Association.  It  built  and  maintained  a  hos- 
pital on  La  Salle  Avenue.  At  the  laying  of  its  cor- 
ner-stone, when  May  or  John  B.  Rice  was  the  only 
speaker  beside  Mr.  Greenebaum,  the  latter  said: 
"While  it  is  true  that  it  is  to  be  built  and  when 


570 


HENRY  GREENEBAUM. 


completed  will  be  maintained  by  the  Jews  of  Chi- 
cago, yet  its  doors  will  ever  be  open  to  any  poor  or 
sick  man,  without  any  reference  to  nationality,  de- 
nomination, creed  or  color;"  and  his  utterance 
was  deeply  applauded  by  the  Jewish  people  pres- 
ent. He  takes  a  just  pride  in  the  fact  that  he  is 
an  honorary  member  of  Johanna  Lodge,  the  lead- 
ing organization  of  Jewish  ladies  in  Chicago, 
devoted  to  charity  and  intellectual  culture.  He 
is  also  President  of  the  Past- Presidents'  Associa- 
tion of  District  Grand  Lodge  Number  6, 1.O.B.B., 
and  for  thirty  years  officiated  in  Zion  Temple  as 
reader  on  the  most  important  Jewish  holiday,  the 
eve  of  the  Day  of  Atonement. 

As  early  as  1856  he  took  an  active  part  in  or- 
ganizing several  German  societies,  and  was  Pres- 
ident of  the  German  Aid  Society  in  1861.  He 
was  the  first  President  of  the  Orpheus  Mannaer- 
chor,  in  1869.  On  account  of  his  services  in  fur- 
thering the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Amer- 
ican Union,  he  is  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Eighty-second  Illinois  Veteran  Association.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  he  maintained  a  recruiting  of- 
fice in  Chicago  at  his  own  expense,  and  furnished 
a  man  to  serve  in  the  army  as  his  representative. 
He  was  Chief  Marshal  on  the  following  occasions: 
the  Siegel  Festival  in  1862;  the  great  Peace  Jubi- 
lee of  1871;  the  opening  of  Humboldt  Park  by 
the  German  people;  and  the  unveiling  of  the 
Humboldt  monument.  He  was  Division  Marshal 
at  the  unveiling  of  the  Fritz  Reuter  monument, 
and  was  Adjutant-General  011  German  Day  at 
the  World' s  Fair  in  1893,  and  also  at  the  recent 
commemoration  of  the  German  victory  at  Sedan. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  he  is  and  has  been  for 
forty  years  a  prominent  representative  of  the  best 
German  element  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Greenebaum  has  never  been  a  politician, 
and  holds  broad  and  liberal  views  on  political,  as 
well  as  religious,  questions.  He  originally  af- 
filiated with  the  Democratic  party,  and  was  a 
warm  admirer  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  whose 
personal  friend  he  was.  Without  his  previous 
knowledge,  he  was  placed  on  the  Democratic 
electoral  ticket  in  1860.  His  only  political  office 
previous  to  that  was  that  of  Alderman  from  the 
Sixth  Ward,  defeating  in  the  election  the  '  'know- 


nothing'  '  candidate.  In  the  City  Council  he  act- 
ed as  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee.  After 
the  war  he  became  a  Republican,  and  was  chosen 
Elector-at- Large  on  the  Presidential  ticket  of  that 
party  in  1872.  With  Charles  B.  Farwell,  he 
represented  Cook  County  on  the  first  Equaliza- 
tion Board  of  the  state,  and  the  clear  financial 
ideas  of  these  two  gentlemen  enabled  the  first 
board  to  complete  its  business  in  five  days.  He 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Palmer  a  delegate  to 
a  national  convention  at  Indianapolis  to  devise 
means  for  protecting  European  immigrants,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  which  laid  the 
matter  before  Congress.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Finance  to  make  preliminary 
arrangements  for  the  Philadelphia  Exposition  of 
1876.  He  was  active  in  promoting  the  adoption 
of  Chicago's  park  system,  and  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  West  Chicago  Park  Commission 
in  1869,  and  was  once  re-appointed.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  promoters  of  direct  trade  between 
Chicago  and  Europe,  and  for  many  years  his  let- 
ters-of-credit  were  readily  cashed  throughout  the 
civilized  world. 

In  1855  Mr.  Greenebaum  was  married,  in  New 
York,  to  Miss  Emily  Hyman,  whose  birthplace 
is  not  far  from  that  of  her  husband.  Having  been 
trained  in  the  same  manner  and  under  the  same 
customs,  they  have  been  happily  united  all  these 
years  in  aim  and  thought,  and  are  warmly  wel- 
comed in  general,  as  well  as  Jewish,  society. 
Mrs.  Greenebaum  sympathizes  wholly  with  her 
husband's  benevolent  disposition,  and  does  her 
part  in  aiding  him.  For  twenty-two  years  she 
has  been  the  representative  of  the  Jewish  people 
in  the  directory  of  the  Home  for  the  Friendless, 
and  has  fulfilled  her  duties  in  perfect  accord  with 
her  associates.  The  only  child  of  this  couple, 
born  August  24,  1856,  was  named  George  Wash- 
ington, and  died  on  the  day  which  completed  his 
first  year  of  life.  Several  orphaned  children  of 
relatives  have  been  reared  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Greenebaum  with  the  same  loving  care  which 
their  own  would  have  received  had  he  been 
spared  to  them. 

Though  still  influenced  much  by  his  early  Ger- 
man training,  Mr.  Greenebaum  is  a  true  Ameri- 


D.  S.  SMITH. 


can,  loyal  through  and  through.  He  is  a  student 
of  literature  and  modern  languages,  of  which  he 
speaks  half  a  dozen,  and  is  much  interested  in 
music.  He  has  contributed  liberally  to  the  mu- 
sical culture  of  Chicago,  and  to  providing  a  home 
for  musical  art.  He  is  a  firm  believer  in  the 
power  of  woman  in  the  ethical  development  of  the 
world,  and  approves  of  every  effort  to  remove  her 
trammels  and  make  her  the  equal  of  man  in  lib- 
erties and  power,  as  she  is  in  talent. 

Mr.  Greenebaum  is  a  resident  Manager  at  Chi- 


cago of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  of 
the  United  States,  and  has  been  connected  with 
the  company  since  the  spring  ot  1882.  His  ster- 
ling character  and  business  activity  have  secured 
for  him  a  large  business  from  the  best  element  of 
Chicago,  and  won  for  him  a  deserved  respect  and 
confidence  on  the  part  of  the  general  officers  of  the 
society.  Although  in  his  sixty-third  year,  he  is 
a  special  favorite  of  the  young  people,  to  whom  he 
is  sympathetic  and  congenial  as  an  associate.  He 
is  an  optimist,  and  always  pleasant  and  agreeable. 


PROF.  DAVID  S.  SMITH,  M.  D. 


.  D.  S.  SMITH,  M.  D.,  late  President  of 
LX  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Chicago, 
[&  was  born  in  Camden,  New  Jersey,  April  28, 
1816.  His  father,  Isaac  Smith,  was  born  in  Salem 
County,  of  that  state.  His  mother's  family  name 
was  Wheaton,  a  family  of  Welsh  extraction. 
The  sturdy,  manly  principles  which  mark  the 
career  of  Professor  Smith  are  largely  due  to  the 
character  he  inherited  from  his  parents.  They  were 
both  noted  for  great  force  of  character,  and  they 
trained  their  children  in  ways  of  strict  right- 
eousness and  integrity.  Besides  this  training, 
David  received  from  his  parents  a  nature  full  of 
energy  and  perseverance,  attributes  which  were 
strong  factors  in  leading  him  to  a  grand  success 
in  the  field  of  labor  he  eventually  chose  as  his 
life  work.  From  his  mother,  particularly,  he 
received  a  taste  for  learning  that  led  him  to  be- 
come a  most  diligent  student.  He  made  rapid 
progress  in  his  studies,  and  early  evinced  a  strong 
inclination  for  the  study  of  medicine.  In  this  he 
was  encouraged,  and  when  only  seventeen  became 
a  medical  student  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Isaac  Mul- 
ford,  of  Camden,  New  Jersey.  He  attended  three 
full  terms  of  lectures  at  the  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege in  Philadelphia,  and  graduated  in  1836. 


Chicago,  at  that  time,  began  to  attract  the  en- 
terprising youth  of  the  East,  and  Dr.  Smith, 
with  his  references,  began  practice  in  Chicago. 
He  was  successful  from  the  start,  and  in  1837 
went  back  to  Camden  to  visit  his  parents.  It 
was  a  momentous  visit,  as  it  was  then  that  Dr. 
Smith  attained  the  first  insight  into  the  then  new 
doctrine  of  homoeopathy.  So  interested  did  he 
become  in  the  subject,  that  he  resolved  to  investi- 
gate it  thoroughly.  He  bought  all  the  books  he 
could  find  in  the  English  language  treating  upon 
the  matter,  and  brought  them  with  him  when  he 
returned  to  Chicago.  Circumstances  led  him  to 
Joliet  for  a  time,  and  there  he  studied  assiduously 
the  doctrines  of  Hahnemann.  The  world  to-day 
knows  the  result  of  his  researches.  Dr.  Smith 
brought  the  new  science  to  the  front  to  such  pur- 
pose that  he  has  been  called  "the  Father  of 
Western  Homoeopathy."  He  procured  from  the 
Illinois  Legislature,  in  1854-55,  the  charter  of 
Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Chicago.  The 
original  draft  of  this  charter  was  written  by  Dr. 
Smith  in  the  law  office  of  Abraham  Lincoln  at 
Springfield,  Illinois.  The  achievement  of  con- 
ceiving and  establishing  this  college  gave  to  Dr. 
Smith  great  honor  and  credit. 


572 


D.  S.  SMITH. 


Dr.  Smith  remained  in  Joliet  until  1842,  when 
he  returned  to  Chicago.  In  the  spring  of  1843 
he  adopted  the  new  system  in  his  practice.  He 
was  thus  the  first  physician  to  introduce  homoe- 
opathic practice  west  of  the  Great  Lakes,  a  region 
that  now  has  six  medical  colleges,  twice  as  many 
hospitals,  and  more  than  two  thousand  prac- 
titioners to  represent  what  he  stood  for  singly  and 
alone.  He  was  both  surprised  and  gratified  at 
the  favor  with  which  the  new  system  was  received 
by  the  public.  He  soon  had  more  calls  than  he 
could  respond  to,  and  other  practitioners  were 
attracted  to  his  side.  So  rapidly  did  the  new 
school  increase  in  members,  that  a  medical  body 
was  soon  formed  whose  power  has  kept  pace  with 
the  other  great  factors  in  the  growth  of  the  west- 
ern metropolis.  Dr.  Smith  was  naturally  elected 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Hahnemann 
Medical  College  when  it  was  organized.  He  held 
that  position  until  1871,  when  he  resigned  in 
favor  of  Dr.  A.  E.  Small.  At  the  death  of  the 
latter  he  was  again  elected  President,  and  held 
the  office  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was 
obliged  to  desist  from  his  labors  on  account  of 
failing  health  at  various  times,  and  in  1866  he 
went  to  Europe,  where  he  spent  a  year  in  travel. 
His  reputation  had  preceded  him,  and  he  was 
received  at  the  various  hospitals  and  colleges 
which  he  visited  with  the  friendliest  attention 
and  consideration  from  the  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  the  profession.  When  he  returned  home, 
in  1867,  he  was  fully  restored  to  health,  and  fol- 
lowed his  profession  till  the  day  of  his  death. 

Dr.  Smith  was  an  attendant  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  through  his  mother's  in- 
fluence he  became  early  imbued  with  a  deep 
religious  conviction.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling 
integrity  and  unflinching  uprightness,  simple  in 
his  habits,  dignified,  urbane  and  generous.  His 
noble  efforts  and  humane  spirit  were  recognized 
when  the  cholera  epidemic  fell  upon  the  city  from 
1848  to  1854.  Instances  of  his  devotion  to  the 
suffering  poor  at  that  time  can  be  related  which 
place  him  in  the  ranks  of  the  most  noted  bene- 
factors of  the  human  race.  He  was  hospitable 
in  the  extreme,  and  an  attentive  listener  to  all 
who  sought  his  ear  for  counsel.  Thoroughly  ac- 


curate in  his  own  habits,  he  was  a  strict  disciplin- 
arian, and  demanded  the  same  adhesion  to  duty 
which  he  rendered  himself.  In  recognition  of 
his  ability,  and  in  appreciation  of  his  services  to 
the  cause  of  homoeopathy,  an  honorary  degree 
was  conferred  upon  him,  in  1856,  by  the  Homoe- 
opathic Medical  College  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  In 
1857  he  was  elected  General  Secretary  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  in  1864  was 
chosen  President,  and  in  1865  Treasurer  of  this 
national  association. 

Naturally,  with  his  many  professional  duties, 
Dr.  Smith  never  sought  political  honors,  but  he 
lived  and  died  a  stalwart  Republican.  He  was 
President  of  the  Second  Ward  Republican  Club 
in  its  palmiest  days,  during  the  Hayes  campaign. 
He  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  honored  and 
popular  President  of  the  old  Tippecanoe  Club  of 
Chicago,  which  was  organized  in  July,  1887,  by 
those  who  ad  voted  for  General  Harrison  in 
1840. 

Dr.  Smith  was  married,  in  1837,  *°  Miss 
Rebecca  Ann  Dennis,  a  native  of  Salem,  New 
Jersey,  who  survives  him.  She  came  to  Chicago 
in  1835  with  her  uncle,  E.  H.  Mulford,  in  whose 
family  she  resided  until  her  marriage.  Four 
children  blessed  their  union,  two  of  whom  survive. 
The  eldest  is  the  widow  of  Maj.  F.  F.  White- 
head,  of  the  United  States  army.  Caroline  is  the 
wife  of  E.  L.  Ely,  of  New  York  City. 

Dr.  Smith  died  in  Chicago,  April  29,  1891. 
The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the 
faculty  of  Hahnemann  Medical  College  and  Hos- 
pital of  Chicago,  and  the  members  of  the  hospital 
staff: 

' '  Inasmuch  as  we  have  been  deeply  grieved  by 
the  death  of  our  worthy  and  venerable  colleague, 
Dr.  David  S.  Smith,  we,  as  a  faculty,  in  expres- 
sion of  deep  sorrow,  and  in  acknowledgment  of 
his  inestimable  services,  do  hereby  adopt  the  fol- 
lowing resolution: 

' '  Resolved,  That  we  recognize  first  of  all  the  loss 
of  the  profession  at  large,  in  which,  as  the  first 
representative  of  our  school  of  practice  in  this 
locality,  his  undaunted  energy  and  marked  abil- 
ity during  the  pioneer  days  have  given  the  im- 
print of  success  and  of  character  to  the  modern 


F.  I.  JACOBS. 


573 


standard  of  medicine.  What  he  knew  to  be  right 
he  faithfully  prescribed.  What  he  honestly  be- 
lieved he  bravely  defended  and  earnestly  applied. 
To  his  ability  and  his  faithfulness  the  followers  of 
homoeopathy  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude,  and  the 
generations  to  come  will  bow  in  reverence  to  his 

name. 

' '  Resolved,  That  as  the  President  of  our  College 
and  Hospital,  we  shall  miss  his  guiding  spirit 
and  his  encouraging  presence.  In  all  our  work 
he  has  ever  been  a  willing  helper  and  a  good  ad- 
viser. His  life  was  consecrated  to  the  college  he 
established  and  loved,  and  his  pride  was  centered 
in  her  prosperity.  The  joy  of  his  last  days  was 
the  realization  that  '  Old  Hahnemann  '  had  ful- 
filled the  desire  of  his  heart  and  had  become  the 


largest  homoeopathic  college  of  the  world.  To 
every  student  his  words  were  an  encouragement 
to  honest  ambition.  To  every  graduate  he  gave 
the  inspiration  of  hope. 

' '  Resolved,  That  more  than  all  we  admire  the 
manly  qualities  and  the  Christian  character  of  his 
life.  In  all  things  he  was  ennobling.  At  all 
times  the  silent  dignity  of  his  faith  gave  a  strength 
to  his  work.  His  absence  will  ever  be  mourned 
and  his  memory  forever  honored.  In  our  loss  we 
shall  sacredly  prize  the  record  he  leaves  us. 

' '  Resolved,  That  to  his  bereaved  family  we  ten- 
der our  sincere  sympathy,  and  offer  the  token  of 
love  we  bore  our  departed  friend  and  associate  in 
their  sorrow." 


FRANCIS  I.  JACOBS. 


RANCIS  IRVING  JACOBS,  a  gallant  vet- 
eran  of  the  great  Civil  War,  residing  at  Wil- 
mette,  was  born  at  Spafford  Hollow,  Onon- 
daga  County,  New  York,  October  4,  1846.  He 
is  the  son  of  Rev.  Milo  E.  and  Cornelia  (O'Far- 
rel)  Jacobs.  Milo  E.  Jacobs  was  born  in  Ver- 
mont, and  removed  with  his  parents  to  New 
York  in  boyhood.  His  father,  Elias  Jacobs,  was 
a  native  of  Vermont,  of  German  descent.  Betsey 
Jacobs,  wife  of  the  latter,  was  of  Welsh  descent. 
The  Jacobs  family  dates  from  early  Colonial  times 
in  this  country,  Elnathan  Jacobs,  the  father  of 
Elias,  having  been  born,  probably  in  Vermont, 

in  1750- 

Milo  E.  Jacobs  was  educated  at  Cazenovia, 
New  York.  He  entered  the  Methodist  ministry 
while  a  young  .man.  In  1857  he  went  to  Ogle 
County,  Illinois,  and  settled  on  a  farm.  Two 
years  later  he  removed  to  Winnebago,  Illinois, 
where  he  joined  the  Rock  River  Conference,  and 
was  successively  located  at  Lena,  Richmond,  Sand 
L,ake,  Lanark  and  other  charges.  He  died  in 


Winnebago,  on  account  of  an  injury  received  in 
Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1874,  aged  fifty-one 
years.  His  widow  died  in  Chicago  in  1893,  aged 
seventy-two  years.  She  was  born  at  Spafford 
Hollow,  New  York.  Her  father,  William  O'Far- 
rel,  who  was  born  August  28,  1784,  was  a  farmer, 
of  Irish  descent.  His  wife,  Dinah,  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  and  Catharine  Turbush,  of  Fishkill, 
New  York.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Milo  E.  Jacobs  had 
three  sons  and  a  daughter:  Francis  I.;  Charles 
H.,  of  Marble  Rock,  Iowa;  Wilbur  F.,  of  Rock- 
ford,  Illinois;  and  Alfaretta,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  eleven  years,  at  Winnebago. 

Francis  I.  Jacobs  attended  the  public  schools 
until  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  In  August, 
1861,  being  then  fourteen  years  and  ten  months 
old,  he  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Thirty-seventh 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  served  nearly 
five  years,  beginning  with  Fremont's  campaign  in 
Missouri.  This  included  the  battles  of  Pea  Ridge 
and  Prairie  Grove  (where  five  thousand  Union 
troops  drove  twenty  thousand  rebels  from  the 


574 


F.  I.  JACOBS. 


field) ,  and  other  engagements  of  minor  character. 
After  the  Missouri  service  he  was  taken  down  the 
river  to  Vicksburg,  and  took  part  in  the  siege  of 
that  place  and  other  expeditions  in  Mississippi. 
Thence  he  went  to  Port  Hudson,  where  he  was 
stationed  for  some  time,  and  later  he  was  at  Mor- 
ganza  Bend,  Louisiana.  He  camped  at  New 
Orleans  and  various  points  in  Louisiana.  He  was 
on  the  Texas  frontier  during  the  winter  of  1863 
-64,  where  the  regiment  re-enlisted,  and  he  re- 
ceived a  veteran's  furlough. 

While  returning  to  the  front  after  the  expira- 
tion of  his  furlough,  Mr.  Jacobs  met  General 
Banks'  army  on  retreat  from  its  disastrous  Red 
River  expedition.  The  steamers  going  down 
stream  met  those  going  up  and  formed  a  bridge, 
on  which  the  army  crossed  from  the  west  bank  to 
an  island  in  the  river.  This  temporary  bridge 
was  instantly  and  readily  removed  before  the 
enemy  could  advance  and  take  possession.  Mr. 
Jacobs  continued  to  New  Orleans.  '  Later  the 
regiment  went  to  Pensacola  by  boats,  thence 
overland  to  Mobile  Bay,  and  helped  capture  the 
forts  opposite  the  city,  with  severe  fighting.  After 
the  capture  of  Mobile,  they  encamped  three  miles 
from  the  city,  where  pieces  of  iron  fell  in  camp  at 
the  explosion  of  the  arsenal  at  Mobile  Bay.  From 
here  they  went,  by  way  of  Selma,  to  Montgomery, 
Alabama,  and  heard  of  Lee's  surrender  on  the 
march. 

Mr.  Jacobs  was  soon  afterward  sent  to  New 
Orleans,  and  thence  went  on  an  expedition  to 
Sabine  Pass,  Columbus  and  Houston,  Texas. 
While  on  the  levee  at  Morganza  Bend,  Louisiana, 
he  was  detailed  to  serve  in  the  artillery  force. 
Being  surprised  by  the  enemy  while  saddling  a 
horse,  he  received  a  kick  from  the  animal,  in  con- 
sequence of  its  pain  at  being  shot.  This  consti- 
tuted the  only  injury  he  received  during  his  service 
of  four  years  and  ten  months,  though  frequently 
exposed  to  a  galling  fire.  He  was  captured  that 
evening  and  marched  about  a  mile  to  the  enemy's 
camp.  Being  unable  to  walk  on  account  of  lame- 
ness from  the  kick  of  the  horse,  he  was  assigned 
to  an  ambulance,  and  helped  to  care  for  the 
wounded.  During  the  night  a  Union  ambulance 
corps  arrived,  under  cover  of  a  flag  of  truce,  and 


by  claiming  to  be  wounded  he  was  taken  in  the 
wagon  to  the  Union  camp.  Among  several  hun- 
dreds of  his  comrades  captured  on  that  day,  most 
were  kept  prisoners  for  eighteen  months,  and  many 
were  starved  and  killed.  While  on  duty  guard- 
ing a  plantation  in  Texas,  he  was  offered  the  use 
of  a  large  cotton  plantation  for  three  years,  free  of 
cost.  The  owner  was  about  to  leave  the  state  for 
fear  of  arrest  for  treason,  and  thought  he  could 
leave  his  property  in  no  safer  hands  than  those  of 
a  Union  soldier;  but  his  offer  was  declined.  Dur- 
ing his  service  he  traveled  over  13,000  miles, 
marching  on  foot  about  one-fourth  of  that  dis- 
tance, and  took  part  in  four  battles  and  thirteen 
skirmishes. 

After  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  stock-farming 
at  Downer's  Grove,  Illinois,  where  he  reared 
thoroughbred  horses  and  cattle.  In  the  fall  of 
1871,  he  moved  to  Chicago,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed in  overseeing  preparations  for  rebuilding 
the  burned  city.  He  was  also  engaged  in  buying 
old  iron  for  an  eastern  foundry.  For  two  years 
he  was  engaged  in  the  grocery  trade  on  West 
Madison  Street,  and  two  years  in  commission 
business  on  South  Water  Street.  Five  years 
were  spent  in  the  office  of  the  ' '  Panhandle ' ' 
Railroad,  at  Crown  Point,  Indiana.  The  next  six 
years  were  passed  on  a  stock  farm  in  Franklin 
County,  Iowa,  breeding  high-grade  horses,  cattle 
and  swine.  Since  1887  he  has  been  connected 
with  the  commission  firm  of  Wayne  &  Low,  on 
South  Water  Street,  Chicago,  taking  charge  of 
their  butter  trade. 

Since  the  fall  of  1894  Mr.  Jacobs  has  lived  at 
Wilmette,  where  he  built  a  pleasant  home.  His 
business  career  has  been  marked  by  integrity, 
activity  and  thoroughness. 

He  was  married,  in  1869,  to  Miss  Julia  Flora 
Hudson,  daughter  of  Horace  Hudson,  of  Winne- 
bago,  Illinois.  They  have  one  adopted  child, 
Bdith  Wilson  Jacobs.  Mr.  Jacobs  is  a  member 
of  George  H.  Thomas  Post  Number  5,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  While  living  at  Crown 
Point  he  joined  the  Masonic  order.  He  takes 
considerable  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  gives 
his  enthusiastic  support  to  Republican  candidates 
and  principles. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
DIVERSITY  OF  ILLIf' 


GEN.  HERMANN  LIEB 


HERMANN  UEB. 


575 


HERMANN  LIEB. 


HERMANN  UEB,  who  has  distin- 
|_  guished  himself  in  both  military  and  civil 
U  life  in  the  United  States,  was  born  in  Chateau 
Hard,  near  Ermatingen,  on  the  shore  of  Lake 
Constance,  Switzerland.  The  family  is  among 
the  oldest  in  Switzerland. 

General  Lieb's  father,  Frederick  Lieb,  was  sent 
to  London  by  his  father,  Siegmund  Lieb,  in  1809, 
to  study  the  English  system  of  cotton  manu- 
facturing, which  he  introduced  in  Russia. 

In  1817  Frederick  Lieb  married  Henriette  Von 
Vosmer,  of  noble  family,  born  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  then  belonging  to  Denmark.  Return- 
ing to  Switzerland  in  1825,  having  amassed  a 
considerable  fortune,  Mr.  Lieb  settled  upon  the 
beautifully  situated  estate  he  had  purchased,  to 
pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  pursuits  con- 
genial to  his  studious  habits.  Frederick  Lieb's 
family  consisted  of  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Until  twelve  years  of  age,  Hermann  Lieb,  the 
subject  of  this  biography,  attended  the  Constance 
public  schools,  after  which  he  was  sent  to  a  Ger- 
man preparatory  school,  and  from  there  to  French 
Switzerland  to  perfect  himself  in  the  French 
language.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  joined  his 
oldest  brother,  who  was  in  Paris  engaged  in  the 
exporting  and  importing  trade,  in  connection 
with  Russian  houses.  The  Revolution  of  1848 
disarranged  commercial  affairs,  and  young  Lieb, 
being  an  enthusiastic  Republican,  served  in  the 
Garde  Mobile  until  the  corps  was  mustered  out. 
In  1851  he  left  Paris  for  the  United  States  for  the 


purpose  of  establishing  a  branch  house  of  his 
brother's  business  in  New  York,  but  the  illness 
and  death  of  the  latter  frustrated  this  plan.  Re- 
turning to  Paris  and  becoming  dissatisfied  with 
the  conditions  there,  after  a  few  months'  stay  he 
again  left  for  New  York.  Spending  a  few  years  in 
the  latter  city  and  in  Boston  and  Cincinnati,  he 
finally  settled  in  Decatur,  Illinois,  where,  in  1859, 
he  commenced  the  study  of  law. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  late  Civil  War  Mr. 
Lieb  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  B,  Eighth 
Illinois  Infantry,  Col.  Richard  J.  Oglesby  com- 
manding. On  the  25th  of  July,  1861,  he  was 
elected  captain  of  the  company.  He  took  part  in 
the  campaigns  for  the  reduction  of  Forts  Donel- 
son  and  Henry,  the  battle  of  Shiloh  and  siege  of 
Corinth.  In  1862  he  was  promoted  to  major  of 
the  regiment,  which  formed  part  of  Gen.  John 
A.  Logan's  division,  and  participated  in  the 
campaign  into  northern  Mississippi,  and  after- 
ward down  the  Mississippi  River.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  to  respond  to  the  President's  proclama- 
tion for  the  organization  of  colored  troops,  and 
was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Ninth  Louisiana 
Colored  Volunteer  Infantry.  While  the  regi- 
ment was  being  recruited  he  served  on  the  staff 
of  Gen.  John  D.  Stevenson,  in  charge  of  the  skir- 
mishers of  his  brigade,  sharing  its  fortunes  in  the 
battles  of  Raymond,  Jackson,  Champion  Hills, 
Big  Black  Bridge  and  the  assault  on  Vicksburg. 

In  June  Colonel  Lieb  returned  to  his  regiment 
at  Milliken's  Bend,  and  while  in  command  was 


576 


HERMANN  UEB. 


attacked  by  General  McCulloch's  Texas  Rangers, 
whom  he  repulsed  with  great  slaughter.  Benson 
J.  Lossing's  "History  of  the  Civil  War"  con- 
tains the  following  account  of  this  important 
engagement,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  to  which  Grant  attributed  the  safety 
of  the  supplies  of  his  whole  army  at  Young's 
Point: 

"Pemberton's  only  hope  for  deliverance  was  in 
the  ability  of  Johnston  to  compel  Grant  to  raise 
the  siege.  He  was  informed  that  General  Tay- 
lor would  endeavor,  with  eight  thousand  men 
from  Richmond,  Louisiana,  to  open  communica- 
tion with  him  from  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Al- 
ready Taylor  had  sent  between  two  and  three 
thousand  troops  under  Gen.  Henry  McCulloch 
(brother  of  Ben,  killed  at  Pea  Ridge)  to  strike  a 
blow.  It  was  leveled  at  a  little  force,  chiefly  of 
colored  troops,  called  the  African  Brigade, 
stationed  at  Milliken's  Bend,  composed  of  about 
fourteen  hundred  effective  men,  of  whom  all  but 
one  hundred  and  sixty  (of  the  Twenty-third  Iowa) 
were  negroes.  McCulloch's  blow  fell  first  on  the 
Ninth  Louisiana,  commanded  by  Col.  H.  Lieb, 
who  went  out  on  a  reconnoissancefrom  Milliken's 
Bend  toward  Richmond  on  the  6th  of  June, 
preceded  by  two  companies  of  the  Tenth  Illinois 
Cavalry,  Captain  Anderson  in  command.  Lieb 
went  within  three  miles  of  Richmond,  when 
he  encountered  Taylor's  pickets  and  fell  slow- 
ly back;  it  was  evident  that  a  heavy  force 
was  in  his  front.  Very  soon  some  of  the 
cavalry  came  dashing  back,  hotly  pursued, 
when  Lieb  formed  his  troops  in  battle  order, 
and  with  one  volley  dispersed  the  pursuers.  He 
continued  to  fall  back  slowly,  and  the  Con- 
federates in  strong  numbers,  horse  and  foot,  pur- 
sued nearly  up  to  the  earthwork  at  the  Bend. 
It  was  now  night,  and  the  Confederates  lay  on 
their  arms,  expecting  to  make  an  easy  conquest  of 
the  Union  forces  in  the  morning.  The  latter  were 
on  the  alert,  and  when,  at  three  o'clock  A.  M.,  the 
Confederates  returned  to  the  assault,  with  the 
cry  of  'No  quarter,'  they  were  met  by  a  volley 
that  made  them  recoil  for  a  moment;  but  before 
the  inexperienced  blacks  could  fire  more  than  an- 
other volley,  they  had  rushed  over  the  intrench- 


ment.  Then  occurred  a  most  sanguinary  hand  to 
hand  fight  for  several  minutes,  with  bayonets  and 
clubbed  muskets,  the  colored  troops  contesting 
every  inch  of  ground  with  the  greatest  obstinacy 
and  answering  the  question,  'Will  the  negoes 
fight  ?'  with  a  distinct  affirmative.  Combatants 
were  found  after  the  struggle  close  together, 
mutually  transfixed,  the  white  and  the  black 
face,  the  master  and  slave,  close  together  and 
equal  in  death." 

Having  received  a  bullet  in  his  left  thigh, 
Colonel  Lieb  went  North  on  a  leave  of  absence. 
Upon  his  return  he  was  ordered  by  General 
Grant  to  organize  a  heavy  artillery  regiment  and  to 
take  charge  of  the  defenses  of  Vicksburg.  This 
regiment  was  formed  by  collecting  from  the  vari- 
ous contraband  camps  sixteen  hundred  able- 
bodied  colored  men,  who  were  put  under  Euro- 
pean military  discipline  by  Colonel  Lieb.  A 
splendidly  drilled  regiment  was  the  result.  He 
also  established  battalion  schools  in  which  these 
colored  soldiers  were  taught  the  elementary 
branches  of  learning,  and  many  of  these  men 
have  since  occupied  important  political  positions 
in  the  state  of  Mississippi,  thus  verifying  the 
opinion  the  Colonel  always  has  held — that  the 
army  is  a  civilizer.  Colonel  Lieb  was  appointed 
brigader-general  for  meritorious  services  in  the 
field  in  1865,  and  was  mustered  out  in  1866,  hav- 
ing served  five  years  and  one  month. 

Locating  permanently  in  Chicago  in  1868,  hav- 
ing removed  his  business  from  Springfield,  Illi- 
nois (the  publication  of  the  Abend  Zeitung),  the 
General  plunged  into  the  political  campaign  of 
1869,  with  his  famed  reputation  for  thoroughness 
and  energy.  Since  1869  the  General  has  been 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

In  1873,  after  being  admitted  to  the  practice  of 
law,  General  Lieb  was  elected  county  clerk  of 
Cook  County,  serving  four  years.  At  that  time 
the  county  clerk  was  clerk  of  the  County  Court, 
the  Probate  Court  and  clerk  of  the  County  Com- 
missioners. Until  his  term  of  office  Cook  Coun- 
ty had  no  map  of  its  real  estate.  He  had  one 
made  and  perfected  which  has  been  of  incalculable 
value  to  its  owners  and  dealers  in  real  estate.  In 
1879  he  was  appointed  by  Mayor  Harrison  su- 


S.  N.  NIELSEN. 


577 


perintendent  of  the  water  department  of  Chicago, 
which  office  he  held  for  six  years.  In  18858.  Corn- 
ing Judd,  Postmaster  of  Chicago,  appointed  the 
General  to  be  superintendent  of  second  class 
matter,  and  latter  of  the  registry  department. 
In  1889  the  General  was  elected  county  com- 
missioner of  Cook  County  and  the  next  year 
re-elected  for  a  second  term.  He  was  a  strong 
advocate  of  the  cottage  system  for  the  insane,  and 
several  cottages  were  constructed  during  his  terms 
of  service.  He  also  advocated  the  employment 
of  the  insane  in  various  light  manufactories  and 
on  the  farm,  which  employment  proved  very 
beneficial  to  the  health  of  the  patients.  Discover- 
ing many  old  soldiers  in  the  poorhouse,  a  way 
was  provided  for  their  admittance  to  various  sol- 
diers' homes,  or  they  were  furnished  with  em- 
ployment in  positions  which  they  were  found 
competent  to  fill. 

In  1895  the  General  was  appointed  to  the  su- 
perintendency  of  Postal  Station  "A,"  North  Di- 
vision of  the  city  of  Chicago.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Masonic 
order  and  of  Swiss  and  German  benevolent 


societies.  Though  not  identified  with  any  re- 
ligious body,  he  is  a  stanch  supporter  of  good 
morals,  and  attends  Unity  Church  (Unitarian) , 
with  which  denomination  his  family  is  connected. 

General  Lieb  was  married  in  1869  to  Miss 
Sarah  Hill  Stevens,  of  Somerset  County,  Maine. 
Like  her  talented  husband,  Mrs.  Lieb  is  a  writer 
of  recognized  worth,  and  is  the  author  of  a 
child's  history  of  Michigan,  a  work  of  wide  pop- 
ularity. 

Among  the  best  known  works  of  General  Lieb 
are:  "The  Protective  Tariff,"  published  in  1887, 
reaching  six  editions;  "The  Foes  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1789,"  published  in  1890;  and  the 
"Life  of  Emperor  William  I.  and  the  German 
People,"  in  1891.  Four  sons  have  been  given  to 
General  and  Mrs.  Lieb,  Frederick  Carl,  Her- 
mann, Thomas  Jefferson  and  Francis  Keller  Lieb. 
The  eldest  died  in  1878,  and  the  third  in  1892; 
both  are  buried  in  Rosehill  Cemetery.  A  disin- 
terested patriot,  a  scholarly  and  benevolent  gen- 
tleman and  a  brave  soldier,  General  Lieb's  his- 
tory offers  a  most  worthy  example  for  the  emula- 
tion of  American  youth. 


SOREN  N.  NIELSEN. 


(7JOREN  N.  NIELSEN,  born  December  16, 
?\  1857,  in  Sultuui  Vensgssel,  Denmark,  came 
Cy/  to  America  in  1884,  and  has  been  a  resident 
of  Chicago  for  fifteen  years.  He  is  the  son  of 
Nels  C.  and  Johanna  Nielsen,  and  is  the  third  of 
a  family  of  five  children  born  to  that  couple,  of 
whom  three  are  still  living.  His  father  was  a 
farmer  and  died  in  Denmark  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
five  years.  His  mother  attained  the  same  ripe 
old  age  and  sleeps  in  the  sod  of  her  native  laud. 
After  attending  the  common  schools,  young 
Soren,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  entered  upon 
a  seven  years'  apprenticeship  to  the  trade  of  a 


stone  mason,  working  at  other  occupations  during 
the  months  when  the  harsh  Danish  winter  ren- 
dered the  handling  of  blocks  of  stone  a  physical 
impossibility.  Having  become  a  journeyman,  he 
went  to  Copenhagen  and  worked  at  his  trade  in 
that  city  for  four  years,  and  for  two  years  at 
other  cities.  During  the  winters  of  these  six 
years,  when  comparative  idleness  was  enforced 
upon  him,  he  supplemented  his  early  education 
by  attending  college  at  Copenhagen  and  Colelde 
Moen;  his  aggregate  attendance  at  these  two 
institutions  being  about  a  year  and  a-half. 
Encouraged  by  reports  from  Danish  emigrants 


578 


F.  W.  HANSEN. 


to  America,  he  determined  to  follow  in  their  foot- 
steps, and  in  the  spring  of  1884  (as  has  been 
already  said)  he  came  to  Chicago.  For  ten  years 
he  worked  as  a  journeyman.  At  the  end  of  his 
first  decade  of  residence  he  found  himself  able, 
through  industry,  sobriety  and  prudent  manage- 
ment, to  engage  in  business  on  his  own  account. 
In  the  conduct  of  his  own  affairs  he  has  dis- 
played the  same  qualities,  and  he  is  to-day  a  busy 
and  prosperous  contractor,  having  erected  build- 
ings in  all  parts  of  the  city. 

When  thirty-four  years  of  age,  in  1891,  he  mar- 


ried. He  chose  for  his  wife  one  of  his  own  coun- 
trywomen, Christine  Jorgensen.  Mrs.  Nielsen 
was  born  in  Denmark  June  10,  1861,  and  came 
to  Chicago  when  seventeen  years  old.  Two  chil- 
dren have  been  born  of  the  marriage — Elker  and 
Margaret. 

Mr.  Nielsen  is  an  active  and  prominent  member 
of  Trinity  Lutheran  Church,  having  been  for  a 
time  trustee  and  secretary  of  that  organization. 
He  also  belongs  to  the  Young  People's  Associa- 
tion, and  was  for  several  years  a  member  of  the 
Society  Dania. 


FREDERICK  W.  HANSEN. 


|~~  REDBRICK  WILLIAM  HANSEN  was 
Yy  born  at  Assens  Fyen,  Denmark,  July  3, 
I  ^  1865.  He  is  the  son  of  Lars  Peter  Hansen, 
who  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  the  only  mail 
carrier  of  that  place.  He  died  in  1879.  Mr. 
Hansen' s  mother  was  Catherine,  and  is  still  liv- 
ing, making  her  home  in  Chicago.  He  is  the 
second  of  a  family  of  six  children,  all  of  whom 
grew  to  maturity. 

Like  a  majority  of  the  Danish  boys  of  his  class 
he  attended  school  until  he  was  fourteen  years  of 
age,  when  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  trade.  The 
trade  chosen  for  him  was  that  of  a  baker,  and  he 
served  the  required  term  of  five  years.  The  first 
three  were  spent  with  one  Jacob  Supply,  of 
Udby  Kro,  the  last  two  at  Copenhagen,  in  the 
largest  confectionery  establishment  of  the  Danish 
capital.  After  becoming  a  journeyman  he  worked 
for  various  firms,  and  finally  removed  to  Stav- 
anger,  Norway.  There  he  remained  three  years, 
having  charge  of  one  of  the  largest  confectioneries 
in  that  city.  Here,  in  1886,  he  was  married,  his 
bride  being  a  Norwegian  maiden,  Miss  Kitty, 
the  youngest  child  of  Typograf  O.  Aadnesen. 


Two  years  later,  in  1888,  he  crossed  the  water 
and  came  to  Chicago.  When  he  reached  this 
city  his  cash  capital  was  but  thirty-five  cents,  yet 
he  possessed  what  was  of  far  more  value — health, 
strength  and  pluck.  Recognizing  that  work  of 
some  sort  was  in  immediate  and  urgent  necessity 
he  secured  employment  as  a  laborer.  Four 
weeks  later  he  found  work  at  his  trade.  At  first 
his  weekly  wage  was  small,  but  his  skill  being 
soon  recognized  he  was  rapidly  promoted  until 
he  became  foreman.  He  filled  this  position  in 
several  establishments  before  engaging  in  busi- 
ness for  himself,  which  he  did  in  1893,  at  No. 
353  Erie  Street.  Disposing  of  this  place  after 
eight  months  he  removed  to  Oak  Park,  but  re- 
mained there  only  a  short  time.  In  1894  ^e 
opened  his  present  bakery  at  No.  447  West  Chi- 
cago Avenue.  Here  he  has  prospered  greatly 
and  carries  on  a  large  and  remunerative  trade.  In 
1898  he  opened  a  branch  at  No.  353  West  Erie 
Street,  the  location  where  he  had  opened  his  first 
establishment  ten  years  before.  He  employs 
ten  bakers  and  uses  four  delivery  wagons,  selling 
both  at  wholesale  and  retail. 


GEORGE  SCHROEDER. 


579 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hansen  have  five  children, 
Anton,  Oluf,  Kitty,  Lillie  and  Willie,  the  eldest 
having  been  born  in  Norway.  Mr.  Hansen  is  a 
member  of  Humboldt  Park  Council  of  the  Royal 
Arcanum,  and  of  the  Society  Dania.  In  1896  he 
purchased  a  summer  house  at  Druces  Lake,  Illi- 
nois, where  his  family  spends  the  heated  term, 


and  in  1898,  the  three-story  brick  building  on 
Chicago  Avenue,  where  he  resides  and  does  busi- 
ness. In  1899  Mr.  Hansen,  his  wife  and  three 
of  their  children,  made  an  extended  trip  to  Eu- 
rope, visiting  the  countries  of  Norway,  Denmark 
and  Germany,  and  renewing  the  associations  of 
their  youth. 


GEORGE  SCHROEDER. 


/JjEORGE  SCHROEDER,  although  a  native 

bChicagoan,  is  descended  from  a  well-known 
and  highly  esteemed  family  of  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt. His  father  was  John  M.  Schroeder,  and 
his  mother,  Margaret  Goetzinger,  of  Bin  gen, 
Germany.  To  this  couple  were  born  eleven  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  yet  living:  Katharine,  wife 
of  A.  W.  Wendt;  George;  Louisa,  Mrs.  Frank 
Urson;  Lena,  who  is  married  to  F.  W.  Englehardt; 
and  Emma. 

The  elder  Mr.  Schroeder,  as  has  been  said,  was 
a  native  of  Hesse-Darmstadt.  He  received  his 
early  education  in  the  parish  school,  Lutheran, 
of  his  native  place,  and  later  learned  the  cabinet- 
maker's trade.  In  1849  he  left  the  Fatherland 
for  the  new  world,  proceeding  at  once  to  Chicago, 
after  landing  on  American  shores.  It  was  an  un- 
attractive place  in  those  days,  but  Mr.  Schroeder 
was  neither  repelled  nor  discouraged.  He  had 
faith  in  the  city's  future,  and  with  that  resolute 
determination  which  is  characteristic  of  his  race 
and  nation,  at  once  set  to  work  to  hew  out  his 
own  road  to  success.  For  a  few  years  he  worked 
at  his  trade,  but  about  1858  opened  a  grocery 
store  and  meat  market  at  the  intersection  of  Ash- 
land and  Austin  Avenues.  He  was  the  pioneer 
in  these  lines  of  trade  in  that  section  of  the  city, 
and  his  business  prospered.  He  continued  it 


until  1871,  when  he  believed  he  perceived  better 
prospects  in  the  hotel  and  saloon-keeping  busi- 
ness. Accordingly,  disposing  of  his  market  and 
grocery,  he  opened  an  establishment  of  this  char- 
acter at  No.  501  West  Chicago  Avenue.  There 
he  remained  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
March  20,  1890.  His  widow  still  survives  him. 

John  M.  Schroeder  was  a  genial,  whole-souled 
man,  fond  of  social  pleasures  and  readily  making 
and  keeping  friends.  He  was  an  earnest  Repub- 
lican in  politics  and  took  an  active  interest  in 
advancing  his  party's  welfare,  yet  he  never 
yearned  for  office.  In  social  and  fraternal  or- 
ganizations he  always  felt  at  home  and  was  both 
a  Mason  (belonging  to  Mithra  Lodge  No.  410, 
Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons)  and  an 
Odd  Fellow,  being  connected  with  Goethe  Lodge, 
No.  329,  of  that  order.  Both  he  and  his  family 
attended  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 

George  Schroeder,  whose  name  heads  the 
present  sketch,  was  born  at  Chicago,  March  23, 
1859.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
and  at  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  College, 
taking  a  two  years'  commercial  course  in  that 
institution.  On  receiving  his  diploma  he  entered 
the  employ  of  J.  S.  Kirk  &  Company,  the  well- 
known  soap  manufacturers,  and  has  remained 
with  that  concern  twenty-five  years.  Beginning 


580 


C.  W.  EISEL. 


in  an  exceedingly  subordinate  position,  he  has 
gradually  worked  his  way  upward  in  its  service 
through  unflagging  industry  and  unquestionable 
fidelity.  At  present  he  holds  the  position  of 
secretary  of  the  company. 

He  belongs  to  Garden  City  Lodge  No.  141, 
Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  to  the  Royal 
League,  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  the  North 
American  Union.  On  national  issues  he  votes 


with   the  Republican  party,  but  in    municipal 
elections  he  rises  above  mere  partisanship. 

December  8,  1881,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Mathilde,  daughter  of  Henry  Grusendorf,  whose 
biography  may  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 
She  has  borne  him  three  children:  Edward, 
George  and  Dorothea.  Mr.  Schroeder  and  his 
family  are  members  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church. 


CHRISTIAN  W.  EISEL. 


EHRISTIAN  WILLIAM  EISEL.  Among 
the  most  prominent  and  energetic  citizens  of 
the  city  of  Chicago  who  have  attained  a 
comfortable  position  through  their  own  ability 
and  industry,  many  are  the  sons  of  good  old  Ger- 
man families.  This  nation  of  people  is  one  of 
strong  characteristics,  steadfast  minds  and  sturdy 
muscular  ability.  They  are  equal  to  the  endur- 
ance of  more  hardships  and  disappointments  than 
almost  any  other  on  the  globe.  Christian  Will- 
iam Eisel  was  born  in  Mulhausen,  Saxony,  Ger- 
many, July  26,  1865,  a  son  of  Henry  August  and 
Christina  Mary  (Marshall)  Eisel. 

Henry  A.  Eisel,  born  January  2,  1832,  in  Ger- 
many, died  in  Chicago  September  16,  1890,  and 
his  remains  were  interred  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery. 
He  was  a  brewer,  conducting  his  own  establish- 
ment in  his  native  land  for  seven  .years.  Sub- 
sequent to  the  sale  of  this  property  he  entered  the 
German  army  and  fought  all  through  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1872 
he  emigrated  from  his  native  land,  arriving  in 
America  May  4  of  the  same  year.  He  came  to 
America  on  the  vessel  "Duringer,"  which  was 
later  sold  to  the  Russian  government.  He  be- 
came occupied  at  his  trade  and  was  at  the  head 
of  the  malters  in  Seipp's  brewery  until  the  time  of 


his  death,  covering  a  period  of  sixteen  years.  He 
purchased  property  at  No.  2919  Vernon  Avenue, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death. 

Christian  W.  Eisel  attended  public  school  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  when  he 
entered  the  vast  school  of  experience.  He  was 
with  F.  D.  Reynolds,  at  the  carpenter  trade 
five  years  and  then  began  contracting  on  his  own 
account.  His  first  building  was  erected  at  No. 
6507  Stewart  Avenue.  He  continued  the  busi- 
ness sixteen  months,  during  which  time  he  held 
contracts  for  six  dwellings  in  Englewood.  He 
was  employed  by  William  Graham  subsequent 
to  this  time  and  was  also  with  other  concerns. 
He  had  charge  of  interior  finishing  under  C.  J. 
L-  Meyer,  and  for  eighteen  months  had  charge 
of  the  interior  finishing  for  the  Interior  Finishing 
Company  at  North  Pier,  being  with  this  estab- 
lishment four  and  one-half  years  in  all.  He 
worked  on  such  buildings  as  the  residence  of 
Elmer  Washburne,  Hyde  Park  Hotel,  Ozark 
Flats,  the  residence  of  C.  W.  Lasher,  in  Lake 
View,  Metropole  Hotel  and  Unity  Building.  He 
was  bridge  foreman  in  the  Civil  Service  two  and 
one-half  years,  being  the  only  man  who  ever  re- 
ceived a  percentage  of  100  on  both  mental  and 
physical  examinations.  He  also  worked  for  the 


JOHN  MUELLER. 


city  of  Chicago  as  carpenter.  He  is  connected 
with  the  Civil  Service  Club,  and  is  independent 
in  his  political  views. 

He  was  married  April  24,  1888,  to  Miss 
Henrietta  Sophia,  daughter  of  John  and  Minnie 
(Hetnpel)  John.  Mrs.  Eisel  was  born  April  13, 
1868,  at  No.  12  £  Mohawk  Street,  Chicago.  Her 
sister,  Minnie,  married  Peter  Hilt  and  resides  at 
No.  547  School  Street.  Her  father  was  born 
April  3,  1828,  in  Germany,  and  came  to  Amer- 
ica at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  locating  in  New 
York.  He  removed  to  Chicago  in  1847.  Mrs. 
John  was  born  November  24,  1839,  in  Germany. 
Her  first  husband  was  William  Siedschlag,  and 
their  child,  Tena,  died  on  the  ocean.  The  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.-  John  were  named  as  fol- 
lows: Minnie,  John  (deceased),  Charles,  Annie, 
Henrietta,  Henry,  Mary,  Emma  (deceased), Rose 
(deceased)  and  George.  Emma  and  Rose  were 
twins. 


The  maternal  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Eisel,  Chris- 
tian Hempel,  came  to  America  with  her  parents. 
His  children  were  William,  Frederick,  Minnie 
and  Gottlieb.  The  last-named  resides  at  No.  121 
Mohawk  Street,  Chicago.  The  children  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Eisel  are  as  follows:  Anna  Mary,  born 
January  27,  1889;  Irene  Odette,  July  4,  1894; 
Grant  Lancelot,  November  24,  1895;  and  Lin- 
coln Archibald,  born  February  12,  1897,  died 
April  n,  1898. 

A  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Forest- 
ers, Mr.  Eisel  is  Past  Chief  Ranger  and  for  twelve 
terms  has  been  financial  secretary  of  Logan 
Court  No.  117.  He  is  also  connected  with  the 
Carpenters'  Union.  Mr.  Eisel  is  a  man  of  clear, 
far-seeing  mind,  sound  in  judgment,  and  is  never 
found  wanting  in  a  matter  of  duty.  He  is  hon- 
ored and  respected,  being  beloved  by  family  and 
friends.  He  was  reared  a  Protestant  and  is  true 
to  the  teachings  of  his  fathers. 


JOHN  MUELLER. 


(\  OHN  MUELLER.  Of  all  cities  in  the  United 
I  States  Chicago  is,  perhaps,  the  most  costno- 
Q)  politan,  and  among  her  citizens  of  foreign 
birth  or  lineage  she  has  none  more  sturdy,  more 
enterprising,  more  thrifty  nor  more  honest  than 
are  the  children  of  the  Fatherland  who,  while 
tenderly  loving  the  land  of  their  birth,  are  yet 
devotedly  loyal  to  the  country  of  their  adoption. 
Of  such  is  John  Mueller,  a  successful  business 
man,  whose  coal  and  wood  yard  is  located  on 
West  Chicago  Avenue.  His  birthplace  is  Meck- 
lenburg-Schwerin,  Germany,  where  lie  first  saw 
the  light  April  14,  1836.  His  parents  were 
Henry  and  Marie  Mueller,  and  under  their  com- 
mand he  attended  his  parish  school  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  Following  the 
custom  of  his  native  country,  he  began  to  work 


immediately  after  leaving  school.  For  some 
years  he  found  employment  on  a  farm.  The 
remuneration  was  small  and  the  work  hard,  and 
in  1866  he  resolved  to  change  his  conditions. 
In  other  words  he  emigrated.  On  reaching 
America  he  proceeded  at  once  to  Chicago.  At 
the  beginning  the  outlook  was  not  encouraging, 
and  for  a  time  he  worked  as  a  stevedore  along 
the  docks  and  for  a  year  as  helper  in  one  of  the 
round  houses  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railway  Company. 

Little  by  little,  however,  his  industry  and 
thrift  enabled  him  to  accumulate  money.  With 
his  savings  he  bought  a  team  and  wagon,  and 
embarked  in  business  for  himself.  Industry  and 
fidelity  still  stood  him  in  good  stead,  and  in  1883 
he  bought  the  property  at  Nos.  573  and  575 


582 


JAMES  PENDERGAST. 


West  Chicago  Avenue,  where  for  twelve  years 
he  conducted  a  prosperous  business  as  a  dealer  in 
coal  and  wood.  In  1895  he  retired  from  active 
business. 

Before  leaving  Germany  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  Kummerow,  the  date  of  their  wedding 


being  October  15,  1864.  Mrs.  Mueller's  father 
was  Frederick  Kummerow.  The  fruit  of  this 
marriage  has  been  six  sons,  Frederick,  Henry, 
William,  Albert,  Robert  and  Herman.  In  poli- 
tics Mr.  Mueller  is  a  Republican.  The  family 
attends  St.  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 


JAMES  PENDERGAST. 


(TAMES   PENDERGAST,    one  of  Chicago's 

I  retired  successful  contractors,  was  born  Feb- 
G/  ruary  1 1, 1840,  in  Watertowu,  Massachusetts. 
He  comes  of  an  old  and  highly  respected  family, 
and  his  ancestors  have  made  a  list  to  be  proud  of, 
by  the  profitable  lives  they  led.  His  parents  were 
Pierce  and  Catherine  (Burk)  Pendergast,  and  his 
father  was  for  many  years  a  resident  of  Waltham, 
Massachusetts. 

Pierce  Pendergast  was  born  in  County  Galway, 
Ireland.  He  was  married  in  1838,  and  brought 
his  bride  directly  to  America.  He  located  in 
Waltham  and  worked  the  remainder  of  his  life 
in  the  bleaching  factory  in  that  city.  He  died 
in  November  of  the  year  1858,  in  the  prime  of 
his  life,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  years.  He  was 
a  Catholic  and  his  remains  were  interred  at 
Waltham. 

Mrs.  Pendergast,  mother  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  article,  was  born  in  County  Gal- 
way,  Ireland,  and  died  in  Waltham  in  1878,  her 
remains  being  buried  at  that  place.  Her  children 
are  accounted  for  as  follows:  James;  John,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  four  years;  Pierce,  who  died  in 
1894;  Thomas,  a  watchmaker  in  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania;  Mary,  who  married  Dr.  Mur- 
phy, and  resides  in  Chelsea,  Massachusetts;  and 
Frank,  who  died  in  1888. 

James  Pendergast  attended  school  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  and  then  spent 


three  years  learning  the  trade  of  a  house  painter. 
In  1867  he  located  in  Elgin,  Illinois,  and  since 
that  time  has  contracted  in  his  line  of  business. 
In  May,  1871,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  opened  a 
shop  for  his  own  interests,  on  Randolph  Street. 
When  the  great  fire  of  October,  1871,  struck  Chi- 
cago, like  a  pall,  ruining  the  works  and  plans  of 
men,  his  loss  was  with  the  rest,  but  he  did  not 
give  up  and  flee  from  the  scene  of  disaster,  as 
did  many,  but  stayed  in  the  nearly  destroyed 
city,  and  his  contracts  were  among  the  largest 
and  his  business  was  better  than  ever  before.  He 
can  truly  be  said  to  have  helped  build  up  the 
charred  city  and  his  credit  is  given  him  in  suc- 
cess in  his  subsequent  undertakings.  He  has  re- 
tired from  his  active  business  in  that  line  and  is 
enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  labor. 

Mr.  Pendergast  has  been  very  energetic  and 
ambitious,  and  in  1892  he  was  enabled  to  build  a 
residence  at  No.  6518  Jackson  Avenue,  where  he 
has  lived,  with  his  family,  since  that  time.  Con- 
ducive to  the  well-doing  and  well-being  of  the 
majority  of  men,  is  a  happy,  congenial  companion 
and  a  harmonious  married  life.  Such  has  been 
the  good  fortune  of  Mr.  Pendergast.  He  mar- 
ried Bridget  Clark,  a  native  of  County  Lowe, 
Ireland,  in  June,  1859. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Order  of 
Foresters  and  is  an  upholder  of  the  principles  and 
candidates  of  the  Republican  party. 


J.  W.   RICH. 


583 


JAMES  W.  RICH. 


(lAMES  WILSON  RICH  is  of  English  lin- 
I  cage,  his  great-grandfather  having  come  from 
(2/  England  to  New  England  in  1765,  eleven 
years  before  the  first  musket  was  fired  in  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  against  the  crown.  He  set- 
tled at  Boston,  where,  too,  he  died,  but  not  until 
he  had  heard  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  to 
the  half-clothed,  poorly  fed,  ill  paid  patriots  led 
by  Washington.  His  son,  Eli  Rich,  the  grand- 
father of  James  W.  Rich,  enlisted  in  the  Con- 
tinental army  when  but  a  boy  of  fifteen,  and 
served  until  the  struggle  had  been  won. 

Then  the  youthful  veteran  took  his  govern- 
ment land  warrant  and  set  out  for  Geuesee  Coun- 
ty, New  York,  where  he  entered  upon  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  of  land,  near  Avon.  There 
he  made  for  himself  a  home  and  became  an  hon- 
ored and  prominent  citizen.  He  married  a  lady 
from  Holland,  who  bore  him  three  sons  and  two 
daughters.  He  lived  to  be  ninety-nine  years  old, 
his  wife  dying  at  the  age  of  ninety-eight. 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  article  was  the 
youngest  of  the  sons,  and  bore  his  father's  Chris- 
tian name,  Eli.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  three 
times  married.  His  first  wife,  mother  of  James 
Wilson  Rich,  was  Laura  Johnson.  Her  son, 
J.  W.,  was  born  at  Avon,  October  4,  1833,  and 
she  died  in  1836,  soon  after  the  birth  of  Nelson, 
her  second  son.  About  a  year  afterward  the 
elder  Rich  married  Miss  Laura  Dowd.  Of  this 
second  marriage  there  were  born  four  children, 


named  as  follows:  Judson,  Watson,  Lewis  M. 
and  Mary.  Of  these  Judson  died  of  injury  re- 
ceived in  the  Civil  War,  in  which  he  was  a  gal- 
lant soldier.  Watson  is  a  letter  carrier  of  Chi- 
cago, residing  on  West  Chicago  Avenue,  near 
Robey  Street;  Lewis  M.  lives  at  Naperville,  Illi- 
nois; and  Mary  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  Halman,  of 
Chicago. 

In  1839  Eli  Rich  removed  with  his  family  to 
Naperville,  Illinois,  where  he  resumed  farming. 
Here,  in  1846,  his  second  wife  died.  He  subse- 
quently married  Lucy  Kinzman,  who  died  in 
1872,  without  issue.  Ten  years  later  the  sturdy 
old  pioneer  was  himself  laid  to  rest,  universally 
mourned  by  the  community  of  which  he  had  been 
so  valued  a  member  and  which  had  learned  to 
appreciate  his  worth. 

James  Wilson  Rich  remained  upon  his  father's 
farm  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  sixteen, 
when  his  ardent, adventurous  disposition  prompted 
him  to  hew  out  his  own  path  to  that  fortune  and 
success  which  lies  so  near  the  grasp  of  many  men 
who  lack  the  perception  and  nerve  necessary  to 
attain  them.  Mr.  Rich  was  not  one  of  these,  as 
the  story  of  his  early  struggles  and  final  triumph 
will  show.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1849,  a  pen- 
niless boy,  and  worked  for  his  board,  with  the 
privilege  of  attending  school,  for  be  it  remem- 
bered that  educational  facilities  at  Naperville  in 
those  early  days  were  of  the  most  meager  sort. 
A  private  school  near  the  corner  of  Lake  and 


WAYNE  KINYON. 


State  Streets,  kept  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hathaway, 
and  another  at  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Washing- 
ton, gave  him  his  first  training,  and  the  necessity 
for  hard  work,  which  in  those  days  always  con- 
fronted him,  was  constantly  interrupting  his  at- 
tendance. He  must  labor,  if  he  would  live,  and 
it  is  to  those  early  years  of  patient,  poorly  re- 
quitted  toil  that  he  owes  his  present  ease,  no  less 
than  a  measure  of  his  sterling,  virile  manhood. 
In  those  early  years  he  regarded  no  honest  work 
as  degrading,  doing  whatever  came  nearest  hand 
and  following  the  Scriptural  injunction  to  "do 
it  with  his  might." 

By  the  year  1860,  his  patient  industry,  joined 
to  habits  of  abstemiousness  and  thrift,  enabled 
him  to  engage  in  business  for  himself,  as  a  grocer 
in  Chicago.  Integrity  and  fidelity  brought"  him 
success.  His  venture  prospered,  but  the  great 
conflagration  of  1871  speedily  swept  away  the 
accumulation  of  years.  When  the  ashes  cooled 
he  found  his  possessions  reduced  to  five  vacant 
lots.  But  resolution  such  as  his  is  not  easily 
daunted,  and  within  thirty  days  he  was  once  more 
selling  groceries  in  a  temporary  structure  erected 


on  the  site  of  his  former  shop.  In  1884  he  re- 
tired from  business,  a  comparatively  young  man, 
yet  with  a  comfortable  competence,  to  which  he 
has  since  added. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Rich  affords  much  food  for 
reflection.  Not  only  does  it  exemplify  the  op- 
portunities which  Chicago  offers  to  youths  of 
pluck  and  vim,  but  it  also  serves  to  illustrate  the 
truth  that  men  of  his  character  and  ability  can  be 
architects  of  their  own  fortunes,  provided  they 
lay  the  same  foundations  as  he. 

He  was  married  February  6,  1856,  to  Miss 
Mary  Bergman,  a  lady  born  in  Germany,  but  a 
resident  of  Chicago  since  reaching  the  age  of  six 
years.  They  have  three  children,  James  E., 
William  H.  and  Lucy  A.,  their  daughter  being 
the  wife  of  Mr.  Edward  Weinberg,  of  Chicago. 
In  religious  faith  Mr.  Rich  is  affiliated  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  body  all 
his  family  number  among  the  consistent  and  re- 
pected  members.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican, 
his  first  vote  having  been  cast  for  John  C.  Fre- 
mont. He  has,  however,  never  been  an  aspirant 
for  any  public  office. 


WAYNE  KINYON. 


fDQAYNE  KINYON,  who  holds  a  responsible 
I  A/   Positi°n  with  one  of  the  largest  packing 
V  V    concerns  in  Chicago,  was  born  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Lyden,    Cook  County,   on  the  Oplain 
River,  May  8,  1842.     He  is  a  son  of  James  Ham- 
ilton and  Sally  (Dunlap)  Kinyon,  and  is  truly  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States. 

James  H.  Kinyon  was  born  December  19,  1812, 
in  Balston  Spa,  New  York,  and  came  to  Illinois 
in  1836.  He  passed  away  from  this  world  at  his 
residence  at  No.  508  South  Randolph  Street,  in 
Champaign,  Illinois,  September  18,  1889.  James 


Kinyon  lost  his  parents  when  he  was  a  small  boy, 
and  was  reared  by  his  grandmother.  At  an  early 
age  he  left  her  and  went  south  to  Florida.  He 
located  first  at  Troy  Grove,  La  Salle  Count}', 
after  coming  to  Illinois,  and  later  removed  to 
Cook  County.  He  fought  in  the  Seminole  War, 
and  later  went  into  trading,  traveling  up  the 
Illinois  River. 

He  was  married,  January  19,  1839,  to  Miss 
Sally  Dunlap.  He  was  a  machinist  by  trade  and 
found  little  to  do  in  his  line  at  the  last-mentioned 
location,  so  decided  to  change  his  residence.  He 


WAYNE  KINYON. 


585 


located  in  Chicago  in  1841,  which  was  a  dull 
place  at  that  time;  consequently  he  went  to  Ly- 
den,  where  for  several  years  he  kept  tavern  and 
cultivated  the  soil.  In  1851  Chicago  had  begun 
to  boom  and  manufacturing  to  prosper,  and  Mr. 
Kinyon  returned,  .renewing  work  at  his  chosen 
trade  in  this  vicinity.  He  was  employed  by  some 
of  the  largest  manufacturers  and  continued  at 
active  labor  until  his  hearing  began  to  fail  him, 
when  he  was  obliged  to  seek  other  occupation. 

With  R.  K.  Swift  he  went  into  the  business  of 
banking,  but  went  down  with  others  in  the  panic 
of  1857.  Ifl  1869  he  was  forced  to  succumb  to 
failing  health  and  take  a  rest.  He  purchased 
the  residence  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  days  and  cultivated  small  fruits  for  the  pleas- 
ure derived  from  the  occupation.  During  his 
active  life  he  invented  many  machines  which 
were  patented  to  the  advantage  of  others  unde- 
serving. At  an  early  age  he  united  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  was  a  devout 
and  consistent  Christian.  At  his  death  his  re- 
mains were  interred  in  Rose  Hill  Cemetery.  He 
was  the  father  of  three  children.  Florida  Virginia 
was  the  first,  and  was  born  February  14,  1840, 
in  Cosnovia,  Cook  County,  Illinois.  She  died 
October  31,  1869,  and  her  remains  were  interred 
at  San  Francisco,  California.  She  married  Wil- 
bur F.  Hitchcock  November  18,  1855,  and  her 
children  were  named:  Nellie,  Edgar,  Walter, 
Bella  and  Wilbur.  Nellie,  the  oldest  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hitchcock,  married  Mr. 
Anthony,  and  resides  in  San  Francisco,  Califor- 
nia. She  has  three  interesting  children:  Gerald, 
Helen  and  Virginia. 

Wayne  is  next  in  order  of  birth.  Emmet  James 
was  born  on  a  farm  near  Lyden,  Cook  County, 
Illinois,  April  10,  1848.  He  resides  in  Chicago 
and  has  never  married.  James  H.  Kinyon  was 
associated  with  James  H.  Hollingsworth  in  the 
invention  ot  the  cotton  gin,  which  is  used  at  the 
present  time.  He  was  later  with  Sylvester  Marsh, 
and  they  invented  and  set  up  a  number  of  wheat 
dryers  in  several  of  the  large  lake  bordering 
cities,  and  this  industry  developed  into  a  great 
business  to  their  profit.  Mrs.  J.  H.  Kinyon, 
mother  of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this  article, 


comes  of  a  family  which  ranks  among  the  oldest 
settlers  of  Cook  County.  Their  list  is  voluminous 
and  well  preserved  in  the  annals  of  the  county. 

Wayne  Kinyon  was  at  school  until  he  reached 
the  age  of  seventeen  years,  receiving  the  educa- 
tion which  proves  an  advantage  to  all  who  are 
fortunate  enough  to  obtain  it.  He  attended 
Gleason's  private  academy  on  the  West  Side, 
Snow's  private  school  on  Adams  Street,  Ogden 
public  school,  and  Sloan's  Business  College. 
When  twelve  years  of  age,  before  leaving  school, 
he  was  in  the  employ  of  H.  C.  Van  Schak,  on 
Michigan  Street,  a  part  of  two  years,  this  being 
a  hardware  store.  He  subsequently  went  into 
the  banking  house  of  F.  M.  Kerwin  &  Company, 
in  St.  Charles,  Illinois.  Both  partners  died  on 
the  same  day  after  Mr.  Kinyon  had  been  with 
them  eighteen  months.  He  was  one  year  with 
F.  H.  Benson  &  Company,  at  No.  46  Clark  Street. 
He  visited  in  Iowa  at  several  different  points, 
which  occupied  him  one  year,  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years  he  went  into  the  service  of  the 
Rosehill  Cemetery  Company  as  clerk.  In  1864 
he  was  made  resident  superintendent  and  re- 
mained thus  until  1867. 

He  subsequently  went  to  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  and 
engaged  in  the  sale  of  agricultural  machinery 
and  seeds.  He  dealt  in  heavy  farm  machinery, 
and  in  1877  returned  to  Chicago  and  entered  the 
employ  of  George  W.  Higgins  Packing  Company 
as  weighing  master  one  year.  Mr.  Higgins  left 
the  company  and  placed  Mr.  Kinyon  in  charge  of 
the  storage  and  warehouse.  In  the  year  1890 
he  leased  the  storage  department,  with  Henry 
D.  Gilbert,  and  continued  thus  occupied  until 
May,  1892. 

At  this  date  Mr.  Kinyon  entered  the  service  of 
Armour  &  Company  as  superintendent  of  the 
sweet  pickle  department.  He  retains  this  posi- 
tion and  is  a  valued  and  honored  employe.  He 
has  control  of  three  hundred  and  forty-four  men, 
the  business  having  developed  under  his  manage- 
ment from  work  that  used  ninety  hands.  He  is 
given  full  credit  for  his  share  in  the  growth  and 
is  rewarded  accordingly. 

Conducive  to  the  success  and  general  welfare 
of  a  man  is  a  genial,  helpful  life  companion.  He 


536 


CHARLES  LARSEN. 


was  married,  January  5,  1864,  to  Miss  Ellen  Au- 
gusta Reals,  daughter  of  Frederick  and  Adelia 
(Hungerford)  Reals.  Mrs.  Kinyon  is  all  that 
could  be  desired  in  a  wife,  and  is  possessed  of  a 
refined,  gentle  disposition.  She  was  born  De- 
cember 22,  1842,  in  Jamesville,  Onondaga  Coun- 
ty, New  York.  Her  parents  never  came  to  Chi- 
cago. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kinyon  have  five  children,  each 
of  whom  is  mentioned  at  some  length.  Frederick 
Reals,  the  eldest,  was  born  in  Chicago  December 
9,  1864,  and  died  in  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  November 
20,  1874,  his  remains  being  interred  in  the  family 
lot  at  Rosehill  Cemetery.  Robert  Dunlap,  born 
in  Iowa  City  February  14,  1868,  married  Martha 
Ferrell,  of  Belleville,  Iowa.  He  resides  on  Marsh- 
field  Avenue,  Chicago,  and  is  a  shipping  clerk, 
under  his  father's  supervision,  for  Armour  & 


Company.  Nellie  Virginia,  born  February  6, 
1874,  in  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  died  in  Chicago  Janu- 
ary 10,  1883.  Wayne  James,  born  in  Chicago 
May  24,  1879,  died  January  25,  1883.  Earle 
Clark,  born  in  Chicago  July  28,  1883,  is  attend- 
ing the  Sherwood  public  school. 

Wayne  Kinyon  was  reared  in  the  faith  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  is  true  to  the 
teachings  of  his  parents.  He  is  loyal  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Republican  party,  voting  in  favor 
of  the  candidates  of  this  party  at  all  opportuni- 
ties. Being  of  a  thrifty  and  economical  nature, 
Mr.  Kinyon  desired  to  obtain  a  home  of  his  own 
and  purchased  at  No.  5512  Armour  Avenue,  in 
1886,  and  has  since  resided  at  this  number.  He 
is  a  man  of  genial  temperament,  a  good  neighbor 
and  influential  at  all  times  for  all  measures  which 
tend  to  uplift  or  benefit  mankind. 


CHARLES  LARSEN. 


EHARLES  LARSEN  is  a   native  of  Svend- 
berg,  Denmark,  and  was  born  in  that  place 
July  20,  1844.     His  father  was  Lars  Chris- 
tensen,  who  was  a  weaver  by  trade  and  passed 
his  life  in  his  native  town.     He  was  born  in  181 1 
and  died  in  the  year  1898.     His  wife  survives 
him  and  is  living  in  Denmark.     They  had  four 
children,  all  of  whom  are  living.     Mr.  Charles 
Larsen  is  the  oldest  son  and  third  child  of  this 
family. 

He  went  when  six  years  of  age  to  live  with  an 
uncle  and  at  the  age  of  eleven  years  went  to  sea, 
and  the  next  thirteen  years  of  his  life  were  most 
eventful.  He  sailed  to  nearly  all  of  the  ports  of 
both  this  and  the  old  world,  making  voyages  to 
Japan,  China,  California  and  other  countries. 
He  was  once  shipwrecked  on  a  voyage  to  Cali- 
fornia and  later  on  a  trip  to  Newfoundland  and 


was  cast  away  and  endured  great  hardships. 
Tiring  of  the  dangers  of  a  life  at  sea,  he  came  to 
this  country  in  1874,  Chicago  being  the  objective 
point.  Here  he  first  found  employment  at  the 
Union  Stock  Yards  and  was  afterward  employed 
by  shipmen.  He  then  secured  a  position  in  the 
employ  of  the  city  railroads  for  three  years.  At 
the  end  of  this  time  he  started  in  business  for 
himself,  and  was  established  first  on  Center 
Avenue.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he  started  at  No. 
265  Milwaukee  Avenue,  where  he  remained  for 
seven  years.  He  then  removed  to  No.  273 
Milwaukee  Avenue,  where  he  remained  only  a 
short  time  and  started  in  again  on  a  larger  scale 
at  Nos.  235-237  Milwaukee  Avenue.  At  the 
end  of  five  years  he  decided  to  move  to  the  South 
Side  and  started  in  business  at  Randolph  Street 
and  Fifth  Avenue.  One  year  later  he  sold  out, 


J.  H.  JENSON. 


587 


and  going  to  Turner  County,  South  Dakota,  he 
purchased  a  farm.  He  remained  here  for  two 
years,  but  determining  to  return  to  Chicago,  he 
sold  his  farm.  Upon  his  arrival  here  he  again 
engaged  in  business  for  himself  at  No.  352  Mil- 
waukee Avenue  and  since  that  time  has  made 
only  one  other  business  change,  when  he  removed 
to  his  present  location,  No.  365  Milwaukee 
Avenue. 

Mr.  Larsen  married  Miss  Anna  M.  Bremner, 
a  native  of  Norway,  in  Chicago,  in  1876.  They 
have  no  children,  but  have  an  adopted  daughter, 
Nellie. 


Mr.  Larsen  is  at  present  connected  with  the 
following  organizations:  Keystone  Lodge  No.  639, 
Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, Eclipse  Lodge 
No.  404,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
Danish  Brotherhood  No.  18,  White  Cross  No.  i 
and  United  Workmen  No.  90.  He  was  at  one 
time  a  member  of  eighteen  lodges  and  clubs,  but 
was  obliged  to  give  some  up,  as  he  could  not  find 
time  to  attend  to  them. 

Mr.  Larsen  is  a  self-made  man.  He  came  to 
this  country  and  has  made  a  place  for  himself, 
not  that  alone,  but  he  has  been  able  to  help  others 
and  is  highly  esteemed  by  his  associates. 


JOHN  H.  JENSON. 


(lOHN  HANSEN  JENSON  is  a  native  of 
I  Denmark,  having  been  born  at  Wisby  Ribe 
Q)  on  August  3,  1839.  Both  his  parents  were 
natives  of  the  same  place,  and  his  ancestors  on 
both  the  paternal  and  maternal  side  belonged  to 
the  hardy  race  of  rugged  Danish  farmers.  His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Mette  Torkildsen. 
His  parents  had  but  one  child  beside  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  a  daughter,  who  died  in  early 
childhood. 

Mr.  Jenson  was  reared  in  his  native  town,  and 
attended  its  common  schools  until  he  had  reached 
the  age  of  fourteen  years,  when  he  began  to  feel 
a  strong  desire  to  see  more  of  the  world  than 
could  be  viewed  from  the  little  peninsula  where  he 
had  first  seen  the  light.  Accordingly,  he  shipped 
before  the  mast  on  a  vessel  employed  in  seal  fish- 
ing and  ou  this  craft  he  began  a  life  which  was 
destined  to  be,  for  many  years,  filled  with  travel 
and  adventure. 

On  his  return  from  his  first  voyage,  which 
occupied  six  months,  he  had  grown  so  fond  of 
the  sea  that  he  went  to  the  port  of  Hamburg,  to 


seek  a  vessel  bound  on  a  longer  cruise.  There 
he  joined  the  crew  of  a  vessel  bound  for  Brazil, 
and,  young  as  he  was,  he  had  profited  so  well  by 
his  first  experience  that  he  shipped  as  an  ordinary 
seaman.  He  sailed  between  Hamburg  and  the 
South  American  country  on  three  voyages,  and 
altogether  was  engaged  upon  vessels  sailing  from 
that  port  for  twelve  years.  At  intervals,  while 
on  shore,  he  was  employed  at  sail-making  for 
some  six  months;  and  for  a  little  over  two  years 
he  was  sail-maker  on  board  ship.  Among  other 
countries  that  he  visited  were  China  and  the  East 
Indies,  cruising  along  the  coast  of  Asia  and  call- 
ing at  the  principal  ports  of  that  continent.  He 
also  made  four  trips  between  Hamburg  and  New 
York,  on  the  steamer  "Germania,"  serving  as 
quartermaster,  or  wheelsman.  He  next  shipped 
(again  as  wheelsman)  on  the  "Key  West,"  a 
steamer  plying  between  New  York  and  the 
Florida  port  of  that  name.  The  "Key  Kest" 
was  an  American  vessel,  and  her  cargoes  con- 
sisted largely  of  cotton.  His  next  voyage  was 
between  New  York  and  Santos,  Brazil,  in  the 


588 


FREDERICK  KOSCHE. 


capacity  of  second  mate  of  the  "P.  C.  War- 
wick," a  sailing  vessel  engaged  in  the  coffee 
carrying  trade. 

In  1866  he  went  from  New  York  to  Buffalo, 
and  from  there  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he 
secured  work  as  a  sail-maker  in  a  loft  on  South 
Water  Street,  owned  by  George  Foster.  But  his 
old  love  for  the  water  once  more  asserted  itself, 
and  in  August  of  that  year  he  shipped  aboard  a 
lake  vessel  as  a  common  sailor.  He  sailed  the 
lakes  for  nine  seasons,  during  four  of  which  he 
served  as  mate  on  different  vessels.  Through 
the  part  of  the  year  when  navigation  was  closed, 
he  drove  teams,  although  one  year  he  visited  the 
land  of  his  birth,  where  lay  the  hallowed  graves 
of  his  parents. 

In  1875  he  purchased  a  horse  and  wagon  and 
embarked  in  the  express  business.  Eleven  years 
later  (1886)  he  bought  the  premises  at  No.  279 


West  Ohio  Street,  where  he  now  resides.  Here, 
in  addition  to  his  express,  he  conducts  a  flourish- 
ing trade  in  coal  and  wood. 

Mr.  Jenson's  success  has  been  due  solely  to  his 
own  efforts.  Coming  to  Chicago  absolutely  with- 
out means,  he  has  won  success  without  other  aid 
than  that  given  by  industry,  perseverance  and 
integrity. 

In  1876  he  was  married  to  Miss  Christine  E. 
Guldbrandsen,  a  native  of  Norway,  but  who  has 
been  a  resident  of  Chicago  since  early  youth. 
Six  children  were  born  of  this  union,  of  whom 
three — Walter,  Howard  and  James — survive,  and 
are  still  at  home. 

Mr.  Jenson  was  a  member  of  Scandinavian 
Lodge,  Knights  of  Honor,  for  eighteen  years,  and 
is  a  prominent  and  active  member  of  the  First 
Norwegian  Methodist  Church,  of  which  body  he 
is  one  of  the  trustees. 


FREDERICK  KOSCHE. 


|"~REDERICK  KOSCHE.  For  nearly  half  a 
rft  century  has  Frederick  Kosche,  now  a  hale 
|  *  old  gentleman  of  seventy-four  years,  resided 
in  the  city  of  Chicago,  where  he  has  many  friends, 
besides  securing  a  comfortable  competence  and 
earning  an  unsullied  reputation.  He  was  born 
at  Breslau,  Prussia,  April  15,  1825,  and  comes  of 
a  prominent  family.  His  father  was  Christian 
Kosche;  and  his  mother's  maiden  name  was 
Louise  Penning.  He  was  but  six  months  old 
when  his  mother  was  left  a  widow.  Of  her  ten 
children  he  was  the  youngest  and  the  only  one  to 
leave  the  land  of  his  birth. 

Until  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  attended  the 
parochial  school,  and  was  then  apprenticed  for 
three  years  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  tailor.  After 
becoming  a  journeyman  he  traveled,  working  in 
various  cities,  until  he  was  twenty-six  years  of 


age,  when  he  entered  the  Prussian  army.  After 
nearly  three  years  spent  in  military  service  he 
determined  to  bid  adieu  to  the  Fatherland  and 
seek  a  new  home  beyond  the  sea.  Accordingly, 
in  1852,  he  took  passage  on  a  sailing  vessel  at 
Bremen,  bound  for  New  York,  disembarking  on 
American  soil  after  a  remarkably  stormy  and 
tedious  voyage  of  nearly  three  months. 

Coming  at  once  to  Chicago,  where  he  arrived 
in  September,  he  found  employment  at  his  trade 
without  remaining  idle  long.  After  four  years 
of  industry  and  frugality  he  had  saved  enough 
capital  to  enable  him  to  embark  in  business  as  a 
grocer,  which  he  did,  on  Clybourn  Avenue,  near 
Larrabee  Street.  There  the  same  energy  and 
integrity  which  have  ever  been  among  his  leading 
characteristics,  soon  secured  for  him  a  prosperous 
and  constantly  increasing  trade,  and  after  several 


JAMES  GRENNAN. 


589 


years  of  close  attention  to  business  he  disposed  of 
the  establishment  to  his  sons.  Since  then  he  has 
led  a  life  of  retirement  at  his  pleasant  home,  No. 
607  Orchard  Street. 

He  was  married  to  Miss  Julia  Baumann,  a  na- 
tive of  Baden,  Germany,  May  i,  1854.  Nine 
children  have  been  the  fruit  of  the  union,  named 
as  follows:  Caroline,  now  Mrs.  John  Debos;  Oscar, 
a  broker;  Ernst,  a  grocer;  Augustus,  now  Mrs. 
Schimberg;  Mary,  wife  of  William  Hanshaw; 
Amelia,  Mrs.  Thomas  Furlong;  Frederick,  a 
grocer;  Theresa,  Mrs.  George  Shad,  of  Rochester, 
New  York;  and  Charles,  a  grocer  on  Sedgwick 
Street.  Most  members  of  the  family  attend  St. 
Michael's  Catholic  Church. 

Mrs.  Kosche  is  a  daughter  of  Franz  Baumann 


and  Abalone  Schwartz,  who  came  to  America 
with  their  family  in  1846,  settling  near  Niles 
Center.  Mr.  Baumanu  died  in  Chicago  in  1894, 
and  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Kosche  died  of  cholera, 
about  1849.  Of  their  family,  Theresa  is  the  wife 
of  Michael  Lochner,  of  Morton  Grove;  Christian 
and  Anton  live  in  Niles,  and  Ferdinand  lives  in 
Decatur,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Kosche  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest 
in  political  questions  touching  the  welfare  of  his 
adopted  country  and  the  city  of  his  home.  He 
has  never,  however,  been  an  active  politician,  and 
while  affiliating  with  the  Democratic  party  in 
national  issues,  in  questions  affecting  municipal 
government  has  always  held  the  interests  of  the 
city  above  partisanship. 


JAMES  GRENNAN. 


(JAMES  GRENNAN,  who  comes  of  one  of  the 
I  oldest  and  most  highly  respected  families  of 
Q*/  the  Emerald  Isle,  is  a  valued  and  worthy  citi- 
zen of  Chicago.  He  first  opened  his  eyes  on  the 
misfortunes  and  mysteries  of  this  world  February 
9,  1829,  in  Kilkeel,  County  Down,  Ireland.  His 
parents  were  John  and  Nancy  (Perry)  Grennan, 
he  being  named  for  his  grandfather,  James  Gren- 
nan, who  married  twice.  His  second  wife  was 
Miss  Frances  Morrison,  and  her  children  were: 
James  and  Nancy.  The  maternal  grandfather  of 
the  man  whose  name  heads  this  article  was  John 
Perry,  and  by  his  first  wife  he  became  the  father 
of  James,  William,  Andrew  and  Nancy.  His 
second  wife's  children  were  named  John,  Samuel 
and  Jane.  He  was  a  weaver  as  well  as  a  tiller  of 
the  soil. 

John  Grennan  was  a  worthy  son  of  his  father, 
and  followed  the  occupation  of  weaver  in  his  na- 
tive land.  His  children  are  as  follows:  Nancy, 
born  February  8,  1831;  James,  whose  name  heads 


this  article;  Elizabeth,  who  is  married  and  resides 
in  New  Richmond,  Ohio;  Fannie,  who  married 
Patrick  Mooney,  and  is  the  mother  of  one  child, 
William;  John,  who  resides  in  Chicago;  and 
William,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 

James  Grennan  came  to  America  in  1862  and 
settled  in  London,  Canada.  In  June,  1865,  he 
removed  to  Chicago  and  was  a  sailor  for  a  short 
time.  He  was  employed  in  the  lumber  yard  of 
F.  B.  Gardner  for  six  months,  and  subsequently 
for  three  years  was  with  the  Wilmington  Coal 
Company.  He  then  purchased  a  team,  and  since 
that  time  has  been  occupied  with  teaming.  Be- 
ing of  an  economical  and  ambitious  nature,  Mr. 
Grennan  succeeded  so  well  that  in  1868  he  was 
enabled  to  build  a  residence  for  himself  and  fam- 
ily, where  he  has  since  been  located,  at  No.  1617 
Armour  Avenue. 

Nothing  is  more  conducive  to  the  success  of  a 
worthy  man  than  a  pleasant,  congenial  and  eco- 
nomical life  partner.  Mr.  Grennan  was  success- 


590 


C.  W.  GRADY. 


ful  in  obtaining  for  a  wife  one  of  the  most  worthy 
and  sympathetic  of  women,  and  his  domestic  life 
has  been  one  long  period  of  peace  and  harmony. 
January  2,  1865,  he  was  united  to  Miss  Mary 
Jane  McCrink,  daughter  of  Frank  and  Bethie 
(Chestnut)  McCrink.  Mrs.  Grennan  was  born 
in  Kilkeel,  County  Down,  Ireland.  Her  chil- 


dren were  two  in  number.  Elizabeth  married 
E.  J.  Mulholland,  of  whom  extended  mention 
appears  on  another  page  of  this  work.  James, 
born  December  21,  1869,  died  when  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age,  December  26,  1897,  mourned 
greatly  by  his  relatives  as  well  as  by  his  hosts  of 
friends. 


CHARLES  W.  GRADY. 


QHARLES  WILLIAM  GRADY,  who  has 

1 1  for  eighteen  years  been  one  of  the  valued 
U  employes  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Com- 
pany, was  born  August  6,  1857,  on  Mohawk 
Street,  near  North  Avenue,  Chicago,  and  is  a 
loyal  and  highly  esteemed  citizen.  His  parents 
were  Stephen  and  Ann  (Tyrell)  Grady,  and  his 
grandfather,  Thomas  Grady,  died  in  1856,  at  the 
age  of  seventy  years.  The  last-named  emigrated 
from  his  native  land  after  his  wife's  death,  with 
the  following  children :  Thomas,  Michael,  Will- 
iam, John,  Martin,  Stephen  and  Mary. 

Stephen  Grady,  father  of  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  was  born  in  Kings  County, 
Ireland,  and  died  in  1870,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
six  years.  His  remains  were  interred  in  Calvary 
Cemetery,  Chicago.  He  was  a  railroad  clerk, 
being  at  one  time  employed  by  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad  Company,  and  later  was  with 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad 
Company.  Stephen  Grady  was  married  October 
25,  1852,  to  Miss  Ann  Tyrell,  who  died  Novem- 
ber 5,  1876,  at  the  age  of  forty-two  years.  She 
was  born  in  West  Meath,  Ireland. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grady  were  the  parents  of  the 
following  children:  Charles  William,  Ann  Eliza, 
Sarah  (who  married  Michael  Cole,  and  resides  in 
Chicago) ,  and  eight  others  who  died  when  very 
young.  Ann  Eliza  married  John  Renan. 

Charles  W.  Grady  attended  the  Newberry  pub- 


lic school  until  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  when 
he  entered  a  grocery  store.  He  was  four  years 
in  his  father's  store,  at  No.  188  Dearborn  Street, 
and  subsequently  was  employed  by  Ed  Quinlan, 
at  the  corner  of  Eighteenth  and  State  Streets, 
five  years.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  em- 
ployed in  the  train  department,  as  clerk,  at  the 
Chicago  City  Railway  Company's  offices. 

Mr.  Grady  married  Miss  Mary  Martha,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Martin,  June  27,  1888.  Mrs.  Grady 
was  born  in  Kings  County,  Ireland,  and  came  to 
America  September  5,  1865.  The  children  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grady  are  as  follows:  Stephen, 
born  May  26,  1889,  died  January  18,  1896;  Es- 
tella  Virginia,  born  October  29,  1890;  Ruth  Irene, 
born  March  8,  1891,  died  at  the  age  of  six  weeks; 
Mary,  born  February  29,  1892,  died  while  still 
an  infant;  and  Edna  Marie,  born  September  20, 
1894. 

Mr.  Grady  is  a  very  energetic,  economical  and 
ambitious  man,  and  has  been  able  to  erect  a  resi- 
dence for  the  accommodation  of  himself  and  fam- 
ily at  No.  6620  Jackson  Avenue,  which  is  a  very 
comfortable  house  and  was  the  first  in  the  near 
vicinity.  He  has  never  sought  public  favor  in 
the  form  of  office,  but  adheres  to  the  principles 
of  the  Democratic  party,  giving  them  substan- 
tial support  in  the  form  of  vote.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the  Holy 
Cross. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

iVERSITY  OF  ILLI>> 


ADOLPH  METZGER 


(From  Photo  by  W.  J.  ROOT.) 


ADOLPH  METZGER. 


ADOLPH  METZGER. 


Gl  DOLPH  METZGER  is  one  of  the  prominent 
LJ  German-American  citizens  of  Chicago,  where 
/  I  he  has  resided  for  forty-seven  years,  and  in 
whose  welfare  he  has  always  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest. He  was  born  in  Langen,  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, Germany,  March  3,  1832,  and  having 
been  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  seven  years,  he 
was  reared  by  an  uncle.  Upon  leaving  school 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  he  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship of  three  years  to  the  butcher's  trade 
at  Frankfort,  and  subsequently  worked  as  a  jour- 
neyman in  that  city  until  1852,  when  he  resolved 
to  follow  the  example  of  an  elder  brother,  Will- 
iam, and  emigrate  to  America. 

Accordingly,  October  18  of  that  year,  he  set 
forth  on  what  was  destined  to  prove  a  far  more 
eventful  journey  than  he  anticipated.  He  pro- 
ceeded from  Frankfort  to  Rotterdam,  and  thence 
to  Hull  and  Liverpool,  England.  At  the  last- 
named  point  he  took  passage  for  New  York  on 
the  sailing-vessel  "St.  George."  The  comple- 
ment of  passengers  was  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two,  of  whom  six  were  Germans  and  the  re- 
mainder Irish.  When  thirty-two  days  out  from 
shore  the  ship  caught  fire.  The  captain  and 
crew  promptly  deserted  her,  taking  life  boats 
and  leaving  the  unfortunate  passengers  to  their 
fate.  They  afterwards  sent  the  boats  back  by 
some  negro  sailors  from  a  vessel  near  by.  About 
fifty  of  those  on  board  the  doomed  craft  were 
rescued,  the  remainder  perishing  miserably.  The 


vessel  to  which  those  saved  were  thus  transferred 
landed  them  January  14,  1853,  at  Havre,  France, 
where  they  were  forced  to  remain  four  weeks. 

Mr.  Metzger  lost  his  all,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  kindness  of  the  German  Consul  and  the 
German  Society  his  condition  would  have  been 
yet  more  deplorable.  They  took  their  country- 
men in  charge,  and  sent  them  on  to  New  York 
by  the  vessel  "William  Tell,"  Mr.  Metzger 
first  pressing  foot  on  American  soil  March  3, 
1853,  the  twenty-first  anniversary  of  his  birth. 
From  New  York  he  went  to  Buffalo,  and  after 
working  there  about  a  month,  proceeded  to  Chi- 
cago, where  his  brother,  William,  kept  a  meat 
market.  Adolph  entered  his  brother's  employ 
and  remained  with  him  nearly  five  years. 

In  1858  he  went  into  business  for  himself,  and 
opened  a  shop  at  the  corner  of  Canal  and  Cath- 
erine Streets.  Two  years  later  his  imagination 
became  inflamed  through  tales  of  remarkable 
gold  discoveries  in  the  country  around  Pike's 
Peak,  and  he  went  there  to  seek  the  precious 
metal.  For  a  few  months  he  kept  a  meat  market 
in  Denver,  but  after  nine  months'  absence  he 
found  himself  back  in  Chicago.  He  then  formed 
a  partnership  with  his  brother,  William,  under 
the  style  of  Metzger  Brothers.  They  carried  on 
business  at  William's  former  location  until  1863, 
when  the  firm  was  dissolved,  and  Adolph  put  up 
a  building  on  the  corner  of  Halsted  and  Henry 
Streets.  Here  he  began  business  for  himself  for 


592 


C.  A.  FRANZEN. 


the  second  time  in  Chicago,  and  the  venture 
proved  successful  from  the  start.  He  was  burned 
out  September  17,  1873,  but  immediately  rebuilt 
and  resumed  business  and  continued  until  1883, 
when  he  retired. 

It  is  not  easy  to  speak  too  highly  of  the  energy 
and  tenacity  of  purpose  of  such  men  as  Adolph 
Metzger.  Left  an  orphan  at  a  tender  age,  and 
thrown  wholly  on  his  own  resources  at  seventeen 
years,  he  has  made  his  own  way,  and  his  sur- 
prising success  is  due  to  his  own  efforts.  When 
he  landed  in  New  York  his  sole  worldly  posses- 
sions were  ten  dollars  given  him  by  the  German 
Society  of  Havre,  and  a  five-franc  piece  pre- 
sented him  from  a  friend.  From  this  small  be- 


ginning, through  industry,  sobriety  and  thrift, 
he  has  accumulated  a  handsome  fortune. 

At  one  time  he  took  an  active  interest  in 
politics,  as  an  independent.  In  1871  he  was 
candidate  for  alderman  from  the  tenth  ward,  but 
the  great  fire  prevented  the  holding  of  an  election. 

He  was  married  in  1857,  to  Miss  Mary  Meyer, 
a  native  of  Switzerland,  by  whom  he  was  the  fa- 
ther of  eight  children,  only  two  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing, Mary  (Mrs.  Herman  Eckstard)  and  Kath- 
arine, now  Mrs.  Charles  Lodding.  Mr.  Metzger 
subsequently  married  Mrs.  Anna  Ziegler,  widow 
of  John  Ziegler,  who  has  two  sons,  John  and 
Louis  Ziegler.  The  family  is  connected  with  the 
Lutheran  communion. 


CHARLES  A.  FRANZEN. 


OHARLES  AUGUST  FRANZEN  first  op- 

1 1  ened  his  eyes  upon  the  farm  lying  in  sec- 
\J  tion  14,  of  Addison  Township,  DuPage 
County,  September  28,  1852.  His  father  was 
Johann  Heinrich  Franzen  and  his  mother's  maid- 
en name  was  Katharine  Deters.  The  elder 
Franzen  was  born  October  i,  1813,  at  Schale, 
Prussia.  He  emigrated  in  1834,  arriving  June 
27  at  Baltimore,  with  his  family,  and  finally  made 
his  home  in  Addison  Township,  where  he  located 
in  1835,  and  at  one  time  he  owned  three  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  land.  He  was  a  farmer  all  his 
life,  with  the  exception  of  his  first  year  in  Amer- 
ica, when  he  lived  in  Chicago.  He  established 
the  first  linseed  oil  mill  in  DuPage  County  and 
probably  in  Northern  Illinois.  This  was  suc- 
cessfully operated  by  him  about  thirty  years, 
until  Chicago  competition  rendered  it  unprofit- 
able. His  second  wife,  the  mother  of  Charles 
August,  was  a  native  of  the  same  place  as  him- 
self, and  was  born  September  14,  1824.  She  was 
married  to  Mr.  Franzen  in  October,  1844,  and 
bore  her  husband  ten  children,  as  follows:  Bar- 


ney L-,  born  October  2,  1845,  a  farmer  living 
one-half  mile  northwest  of  Bensenville,  111.;  Car- 
oline, born  August  n,  1847,  married  J.  H. 
Schutte,  of  Pingree  Grove,  Illinois;  Emma  Cath- 
erine, born  April  6,  1849,  and  became  the  wife 
of  Rev.  G.  Koch,  living  at  Beecher,  in  this  state; 
Henry  F.  D.,  born  March  3,  1851,  died  August 
14,  following;  Charles  August  is  next;  John 
Henry,  born  February  27,  1855,  and  died  March 
7,  1880;  Dorothea,  born  January  25,  1857,  widow 
of  Frank  Ort,  of  Bensenville;  Gustav,  born  De- 
cember 14,  1858,  and  died  September  10,  1860; 
William  F. ,  born  March  18,  1861,  now  on  the 
old  homestead;  and  Herman  H.,  born  September 
3,  1868,  residing  at  Ithaca,  Illinois,  four  miles 
west  of  the  family's  original  home. 

The  father  of  Johann  Heinrich,  and  grand- 
father of  Charles  August  Franzen,  was  Herman 
Bernhardt  Henry  Franzen,  a  native  of  Prussia, 
where  he  was  born  October  14,  1772.  He  was 
the  husband  of  Fenne  Adelheit  Elfring,  who  was 
born  in  Germany,  March  18,  1781.  The  issue  of 
this  marriage  was  as  follows:  Anna  Katharine 


J.  G.  CARLSON. 


593 


Maria,  born  August  10,  1810,  and  married  to 
Carl  Schwerdtfeger,  and  whose  son,  Henry,  is  a 
teamster  in  the  West  Division,  Chicago;  Johann 
Heinrich,  the  father  of  Charles  August;  Anna 
Gasina,  born  February  29,  1816,  afterward  Mrs. 
Dietrich  Fischer,  and  whose  son,  W.  H.  Fischer, 
is  an  attorney  located  at  Room  510,  84  I/aSalle 
Street,  Chicago,  with  a  home  at  Wheaton;  Jo- 
hann Bernhardt,  born  December  3,  1818,  and 
whose  biographical  sketch  appears  elsewhere; 
and  Gerhardt  Heinrich,  born  January  7,  1823, 
residing  on  section  n,  Leyden  Township. 

Charles  A.  Franzen  was  educated  in  the  coun- 
try schools  and  studied  book-keeping  for  six 
months  at  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  College, 
in  1869.  He  remained  on  the  farm  until  he  was 
twenty-two  years  old,  when  his  father  started  his 
present  business.  For  about  eighteen  months 
Charles  August  conducted  it  as  his  father's  rep- 
resentative, and  since  1875  has  had  entire  con- 
trol of  it.  He  deals  in  lumber,  coal,  feed,  flour, 
seeds  and  kindred  articles. 


May  14,  1875,  he  married  Mary  Heuer,  who 
was  born  in  Cook  County,  September  5,  1855. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Franzen  have  been  blessed  with 
eleven  children,  as  follows:  Frederick  Henry, 
who  was  born  August  4,  1876,  and  lived  but  a 
single  day;  George  Edward,  born  August  10, 
1877;  Ida  Katharine  Amalia,  October  28,  1879; 
Reine  Sophia  Emma,  January  16,  1882;  Albert 
William,  September  29,  1883;  Walter  Herman, 
October  23,  1885,  deceased;  Edna  Dorothea  Car- 
oline, November  17,  1887;  Hulda  Emma,  Au- 
gust 7,  1890;  Erwin  Henry,  February  8,  1893; 
Gilbert  Henry,  January  3,  1895;  and  Oscar 
Henry,  June  15,  1897.  The  family  belongs  to 
the  German  Emanuel  United  Lutheran  and  Re- 
formed Church. 

Mr.  Franzen  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  is 
held  in  high  esteem  among  his  fellow-citizens, 
who  have  testified  their  appreciation  of  his  worth 
by  electing  him,  at  various  times,  village  trustee 
and  school  director,  holding  the  last  named  posi- 
tion thirteen  years. 


JOHN  G.  CARLSON, 


(1 OHN  GODFREY  CARLSON.     Few  of  Chi- 
I    cage's  gallant  fire  fighters  at  present  living 
C/  have  a  record  for  so  many  years  of  continu- 
ous service  as  Captain  John  Godfrey  Carlson  of 
Engine  Company  No.  83. 

His  experience  as  a  fireman  dates  back  to  1857, 
when  he  joined  the  old  Volunteer  Fire  Company, 
with  which  he  was  connected  two  years,  when  he 
quit  the  service,  but  only  to  re-enter  it  in  1862, 
becoming  a  member  of  Engine  Company  No.  i , 
commonly  known  as  the  "  Long  John  "  Company. 
For  several  years  he  served  as  pipeman,  and  was 
afterward  transferred  to  Engine  Company  No.  4, 
and  promoted  to  captain  of  that  company  in  1871, 
previous  to  the  Great  Fire.  During  that  holo- 


caust he  did  heroic  service  in  the  face  of  unprece- 
dented danger,  and  despite  unparalleled  fatigue, 
having  been  on  duty  uninterruptedly  from  the 
hour  of  being  called  out  until  Tuesday  forenoon, 
and  a  circumstance  which  added  not  a  little,  to 
the  men's  fatigue  was  the  fact  that  the}'  had  been 
at  a  fire  on  the  Saturday  and  Sunday  before, 
which  called  for  their  constant  attendance  and 
hard  work  for  twenty-four  hours  without  cessa- 
tion. Most  of  Captain  Carlson's  service  has  been 
rendered  in  connection  with  Engine  Company 
No.  4,  but  he  has  been  with  his  present  company 
since  its  organization  in  1897. 

He  was  born  in  the  Parish  of  Liared,  Wester 
Gotland,  Sweden,  November  29,  1835,  and  is  the 


594 


H.    C.    MARTENS. 


son  of  Joseph  and  Gustava  Carlson.  He  was 
educated  in  his  native  country,  and  after  leaving 
school  learned  the  trade  of  a  tailor,  which  he  fol- 
lowed, both  in  Sweden  and  Chicago,  until  he 
was  enrolled  in  the  paid  fire  department. 

In  1852,  the  family,  consisting  of  his  parents, 
his  two  sisters  and  himself,  emigrated  to  America, 
settling  at  Chicago.  Here  Mr.  Carlson,  Senior, 
died  in  1855,  his  widow  surviving  him  until 
1894.  The  captain  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Emma 
C.  Johnson,  wife  of  John  A.  Johnson,  are  the 
only  living  members  of  his  father's  family. 


In  1873  he  was  married  to  his  countrywoman, 
Mathilda  Johnson.  The  issue  of  this  union  has 
been  three  children — Albert  Godfried,  Hilldor 
and  Arthur  James.  The  family  attends  Emanuel 
Lutheran  Church,  which  was  organized  in  1853, 
Captain  Carlson  being  the  only  charter  member 
now  connected  with  the  society. 

Captain  Carlson  is  a  member  of  the  Volunteer 
Firemen's  Association,  the  Firemen's  Benevolent 
Association,  and  the  Mutual  Aid  Association. 
He  is  a  man  of  independent  mind  and  does  not 
acknowledge  allegiance  to  any  political  party. 


HENRY  C    MARTENS. 


HENRY  CHRISTIAN  MARTENS.  A  de- 
tailed account  of  Mr.  Marten's  ancestry  may 
be  found  in  the  biography  of  his  brother, 
Charles  Martens,  on  another  page  of  this  volume. 
Henry  Martens  was  born  in  Gartow,  Kingdom  of 
Hanover,  Germany,  October  18,  1825.  His 
father  was  Charles  Christian  Martens,  and  his 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Dorothea  Dankert. 
He  learned  floriculture  in  the  old  country  and 
followed  that  pursuit  until  his  emigration,  in  the 
fall  of  1847.  On  reaching  America  he  catne  at 
once  to  Chicago,  where  for  a  time  he  turned  his 
willing  hand  to  any  honorable  toil  that  presented 
itself.  He  worked  on  the  canal  and  as  a  farm 
hand,  and  helped  build  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western railroad  between  Chicago  and  Elmhurst. 
In  1850  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  B, 
Third  United  States  Infantry,  under  Colonel  Oli- 
ver L.  Shepherd.  Within  eighteen  months  he 
had  risen  to  be  first  corporal  and  was  later  a  first 
sergeant.  His  regiment  was  sent  to  New  Mexi- 
co to  build  and  perform  garrison  duty  at  Fort 
Defiance,  and  he  finally  received  his  discharge  at 
Albuquerque.  This  military  service  entitled  him 
to  exemption  from  draft  during  the  Civil  War, 


but  his  patriotic  spirit  would  not  suffer  him  to 
avail  himself  of  the  privilege,  and  he  insisted  up- 
on paying  three  hundred  dollars  for  a  substitute 
who  might  represent  him  among  the  boys  in 
blue. 

After  receiving  his  discharge,  he  joined  a  wag- 
on train  bound  for  St.  Louis,  as  a  guard.  The 
journey  proved  itself  a  most  exciting  one.  Mr. 
Martens  had  a  friend  named  Michael  McGlone,  a 
typical  long-haired  frontiersman,  a  capital  fellow 
when  sober,  but  a  demon  when  crazed  by  drink. 
Mr.  Martens  insisted  that  he,  too,  should  be 
taken  as  a  guard,  agreeing  to  become  security  for 
his  good  behavior.  The  two  friends  first  pro- 
ceeded to  Santa  Fe,  to  receive  the  money  due 
them  from  the  Government,  and  joined  the  party 
at  Las  Vegas.  After  leaving  that  point  Mc- 
Glone's  unfortunate  habit  overcame  him.  He 
got  drunk,  started  a  disturbance  of  mammoth  di- 
mensions, and  came  near  killing  several  of  the 
travelers,  whom  he  had  come  to  protect,  before 
he  could  be  overpowered,  disarmed  and  secured. 
At  Kansas  City  Mr.  Martens  left  the  train,  and 
there  he  had  an  experience  with  tin-horn  gam- 
blers, not  easily  forgotten.  He  was  decoyed,  on 


H.  C.  MARTENS. 


595 


a  pretext  that  he  was  to  meet  some  of  his  friends, 
into  a  room  filled  with  gamblers  and  thugs,  who 
locked  the  door  and  made  him  a  prisoner.  He 
had  a  large  sum  of  money  upon  his  person, 
which  fact  was  probably  known  to  his  warders. 
The  old  frontier  soldier's  presence  of  mind,  how- 
ever, did  not  desert  him.  Quietly  drawing  a  re- 
volver he  ordered  them  to  open  the  door,  or  suf- 
fer the  consequences.  The  door  was  opened 
without  further  parley. 

From  Kansas  City  he  returned  to  Chicago, 
reaching  the  city  toward  the  close  of  1855.  At 
that  time  the  Ruh  brothers — John,  Valentine  and 
Joseph — were  conducting  a  bakery  on  North 
Wells  Street.  Mr.  Martens  bought  the  interest 
of  John  and  Joseph,  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  Valentine,  devoting  himself  to  a  mercantile 
life  one  year.  But  the  business,  with  its  attend- 
ant confinement  and  monotonous  routine  of  duties, 
was  not  to  his  taste.  He  was  naturally  of  a  roav- 
ing  disposition,  and  his  life  and  adventures  on 
the  plains  had  not  tended  to  alter  or  curb  it. 
Leaving  the  business  in  the  hands  of  his  partner, 
he  went  to  New  York,  and  after  spending  most 
of  his  ready  money,  took  passage  to  Australia. 
After  a  voyage  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
days  he  landed  at  Melbourne,  and  set  out  for  the 
gold  fields,  about  eighty  miles  distant.  For  the 
first  month  he  worked  for  a  miner,  earning  fifteen 
dollars.  He  then  started  to  prospect  on  his  own 
account,  but  not  meeting  with  the  hoped-for  suc- 
cess, at  the  end  of  a  year  he  shipped  before  the 
mast  on  the  vessel  "Red  Jacket,"  reaching  New 
York  after  a  passage  lasting  one  hundred  and 
forty  days.  On  her  homeward  voyage  the  ship 
touched  at  Saint  Helena,  where  he  visited  the 
grave  of  Napoleon.  His  spirit  of  investigation 
led  him  to  climb  down  into  the  vault,  but  on  be- 
ing discovered  by  the  guards  he  was  forced  to 
beat  a  hasty  retreat.  A  stop  of  four  weeks  was 
also  made  in  London. 

On  returning  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Martens  resumed 
the  bakery  business  with  his  brother-in-law,  Val- 
entine Ruh.  The  partnership  continued  for 
about  three  years,  when  Mr.  Martens  opened  a 
grocery  store  at  Nos.  591-93  Wells  Street,  which- 
he  conducted  until  1890,  establishing  a  record  of 


thirty  years  of  success  as  a  retail  grocer.  In  the 
year  last  mentioned  he  retired,  and  having  erect- 
ed his  present  residence  at  Franklin  Park,  he  re- 
moved to  that  suburb,  which  has  been  his  home 
ever  since. 

September  18,  1860,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  McCormack,  the  daughter  of  James 
McCormack  and  Mary  Jane  (Lind)  McCormack. 
Mr.  McCormack  was  born  in  County  Down,  Ire- 
land. He  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  and  was  reared 
in  the  Church  of  England,  although  in  later  life 
he  became  a  Presbyterian,  out  of  deference  to  the 
wishes  of  his  wife.  He  died  in  1841,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-nine  years.  His  wife  had  preceded  him  to 
the  grave  in  the  spring  of  1838,  aged  thirty-eight 
years.  She  was  born  in  Belfast  and  was  the 
mother  of  Violet  Isabella,  who  was  born  Novem- 
ber 14,  1829,  died  March  29,  1887,  and  was 
buried  at  Graceland  Cemetery.  She  was  the 
wife  of  John  Gilmore,  a  brass  finisher,  and  lived 
both  in  Chicago  and  in  New  York.  Their 
daughter,  Margaret,  was  born  February  14, 
1852,  and  married  Richard  Houlihan.  Their 
home  is  at  No.  865  Osgood  Street,  Chicago. 
Their  children  are:  Richard,  Henry,  John  and 
Edmund.  The  second  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McCormack  was  named  George  Lind.  He  was 
born  in  1831,  is  a  glass  blower  by  trade,  and  lives 
at  Homestead,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  three 
times  married.  His  first  wife  was  Esther  Corbit, 
who  bore  him  two  sons,  George  and  William. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  (McCormack)  Martens  is  the 
youngest  child.  Three  others  died  in  infancy. 
Mrs.  Martens'  paternal  grandfather  was  a  glass 
worker  and  blower  in  Belfast.  His  son,  Thomas, 
also  a  glass  worker,  reared  a  large  family;  his 
daughter,  Margaret,  married  a  Mr.  Thompson 
and  now  lives  in  Toronto,  Canada.  Mrs.  Mar- 
tens' maternal  grandfather  married  Violet  Milli- 
ken,  by  whom  he  had  two  children,  James  and 
Mary  Jane.  James  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Brit- 
ish army  and  fought  at  Waterloo.  He  married 
Isabella  Harrington,  but  the  couple  had  no  chil- 
dren. Mary  Jane  was  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Mar- 
tens. She  made  her  home  with  her  brother  be- 
tween the  ages  of  four  and  eight  years.  Mrs. 
Martens'  great  uncle  on  the  maternal  side  was 


596 


AMOS  SMITH. 


named  Israel  Milliken,  a  man  of  no  little  note  in 
Belfast.  He  began  life  as  a  linen  manufacturer, 
but  converted  his  factory  into  public  baths,  and 
came  to  be  familiarly  known  as  "Doctor. "  He 
erected  the  first  illuminating  gas  plant  in  Belfast, 
which  he  operated  himself.  He  voted  with  the 
United  Irish  Party. 

Mrs.  Martens  herself  was  born  September  8, 
1838,  on  Peters  Hill,  in  Belfast.  She  came  to 
New  York  with  the  family  of  John  Greenlees, 
consisting  of  father,  mother  and  a  daughter, 
Mary,  who  married  John  Calvert. 

The  following  children  have  been  born  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Martens:  Johanna  Martin,  born  July 
12,  1862,  died  February  6,  1865;  Dora  Violet, 
born  October  25,  1863,  and  living  at  home;  Char- 
lotte Fredericka,  born  March  8,  1865,  died  April 
27,  1866;  Elizabeth  Caroline,  born  January  26, 
1867,  married  Julius  Grubb,  a  postal  clerk,  and 
lives  at  Franklin  Park;  Henry  George,  whose  bi- 
ography may  be  found  elsewhere;  Helena  Isabella, 
born  April  29,  1870,  graduated  from  the  Chicago 


North  Division  High  School  in  1888,  is  a  teacher 
of  nine  years'  experience  and  for  the  past  seven 
years  has  been  employed  as  a  teacher  of  the  fifth 
grade  at  the  Ella  Mitchell  School,  Chicago;  Vio- 
let Louise,  born  September  29,  1871,  died  Sep- 
tember 7,  1873;  John  Frederick  Albert,  born  No- 
vember 28,  1875,  died  August  18,  1876;  and 
Alice  Maggie,  born  September  14,  1873,  married 
William  H.  Kirchhoff,  whose  sketch  appears  on 
another  page. 

In  politics  Mr.  Martens  is  a  Republican, 
though  he  never  held  or  sought  office.  He  was 
for  many  years  an  earnest  and  active  member  of 
Grant  Place  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Chica- 
go, toward  the  building  of  which  he  contributed 
liberally,  both  in  time  and  money,  and  of  which 
he  was  for  many  years  a  trustee.  He  is  a  man 
of  clear  and  vigorous  intellect,  keen  insight 
and  accurate  judgment;  generous  and  charitable. 
His  tastes  are  artistic  and  refined,  a  fact  which  is 
abundantly  attested  by  the  furnishings  and  sur- 
roundings of  his  delightful  home. 


AMOS  SMITH. 


Gl  MOS  SMITH,  one  of  Chicago's  well  known 
LJ  business  men,  and  a  gallant  soldier  of  the 
/  I  Civil  War,  first  saw  the  light  in  New  Jersey, 
having  been  born  in  Elizabeth,  that  state,  Feb- 
ruary 7;  1847.  His  father,  Louis  R.  Smith,  was 
a  sea  captain,  and  in  the  course  of  his  life  visited 
nearly  every  important  port  on  the  globe.  Both 
he  and  his  wife,  Louisa,  were  natives  of  Ger- 
many. 

The  early  opportunities  for  study  which  young 
Amos  enjoyed  were  very  meager.  Until  he 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  accompanied 
his  father  upon  his  voyages,  attending  school 
while  at  home,  but  only  after  desultory  fashion. 
In  his  fifteenth  year  he  went  to  work  in  a  tan- 


nery, but  the  employment  was  not  to  his  taste, 
and  he  set  himself  to  learn  the  trade  of  an  uphol- 
sterer, at  Newark,  New  Jersey. 

The  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  aroused  his 
patriotic  impulse,  and  September  i,  1861,  al- 
though a  mere  boy,  he  enlisted  in  Company  F 
of  the  Thirty-fifth  New  Jersey  Infantry,  for  ninety 
days.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  he  re-en- 
listed for  the  war,  and  served  until  its  close, 
being  mustered  out  at  Washington  in  August, 
1865.  He  shared  all  the  fatigues  and  trials  of 
his  regiment,  taking  part  in  all  the  battles  and 
skirmishes  in  which  it  was  engaged,  and  at 
Gettysburg  receiving  a  slight  wound. 

After  receiving  his  discharge  from  the  army 


J.  L.  WAGENBERGER. 


597 


he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  worked  at  any 
honorable  labor  that  presented.  He  found  em- 
ployment in  various  upholstering  establishments, 
and  was  for  eleven  years  at  ' '  The  Fair, ' '  where 
he  was  in  charge  of  the  window  shade  depart- 
ment. In  1895  he  started  in  business  for  himself, 
at  the  same  location  where  he  now  is,  No.  405 
North  Clark  Street,  where  he  has  built  up  a 
large  and  remunerative  business. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  Lake  View  Lodge 
No.  774,   Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 


and  of  Court  America,  Independent  Order  of 
Foresters.  In  politics  he  is  independent  in 
thought  and  action. 

April  5,  1874,  he  was  married  to  Carrie,  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Jacob  Miller,  and  an  old  settler 
and  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Chicago,  a  more 
detailed  mention  of  whom  may  be  found  in  the 
biographical  sketch  of  George  B.  Miller,  on 
another  page.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have 
been  born  three  children — Emma,  Fred  and 
Robert. 


JOHN  L.  WAGENBERGER. 


(I  OHN  LOUIS  WAGENBERGER.  Thisven- 
I  erable  man,  now  looking  back  upon  sixty 
Q)  seven  years  of  a  well-spent  life,  has  been  a 
resident  of  Chicago  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
having  accompanied  his  parents  hither  in  1847, 
when  but  a  boy  of  fifteen  years. 

His  parents  were  John  and  Katharine  (Paul) 
Wagenberger,  natives  of  that  portion  of  Bavaria 
which  lay  upon  the  frontier  of  France.  There; 
in  the  village  Schweisweiler,  he  was  born,  May 
31,  1832.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  emi- 
grated to  America  in  1842,  bringing  with  him 
his  wife  and  three  children,  Katherine,  John  L. 
and  Margaret.  The  family  first  settled  near 
Allentown,  Pennsylvania,  where  the  father  found 
work  as  a  farm  hand,  and  where  Joseph-,  the 
youngest  child,  was  born.  The  mother  died  in 
Chicago  in  1853,  six  years  after  the  removal  to 
this  city,  her  husband  surviving  her  until  1888. 
Of  other  members  of  the  family  it  may  be  re- 
marked that  Katherine  is  now  the  widow  of 
Henry  Miller,  living  in  Chicago;  Joseph  has  his 
home  in  California;  and  Margaret,  widow  of 
William  Miller,  resides  in  Chicago. 

Of  scholastic  training  John  L.  Wagenberger 
received  but  little.  He  attended  school  for  a 


short  time  in  Pennsylvania  and  for  a  few  months 
in  Chicago,  at  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Harrison 
Streets,  but  the  straitened  circumstances  of  the 
family  forced  him  to  encounter  the  stern  realities 
of  contact  with  the  world  before  his  boyhood 
was  completed.  Before  leaving  Pennsylvania  he 
worked  on  the  Lehigh  canal  and,  for  five  years 
after  coming  to  Chicago  he  toiled  at  any  honest 
labor  that  he  could  find  to  do.  In  1852  he  be- 
came an  apprentice  to  John  L.  Gerber  to  learn 
the  trade  of  a  carriage  painter,  serving  a  term  of 
three  years.  To-day  Mr.  Wagenberger  enjoys 
the  distinction — which  he  justly  values — of  being 
the  oldest  carriage  painter  in  Chicago  who  has 
learned  his  trade  in  this  city.  For  a  time  he 
worked  as  a  journeyman,  and  for  many  years 
conducted  a  shop  of  his  own,  but  in  1897  failing 
health  necessitated  his  retirement  from  active 
business  cares. 

Sitting  now  in  the  richly  earned  quiet  of  his 
own  home,  he  looks  back  upon  the  changes  which 
he  has  witnessed  since  coming  here,  a  poor  boy 
of  ten  years.  They  have  been  as  marvelous  as 
they  have  been  numerous,  and  in  not  a  few  of 
them  he  has  played  an  important  part.  In  his 
early  days  of  hard  work,  before  learning  his 


598 


HENRY  KIRCHHOFF. 


trade,  he  worked  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal  and  in  lumber  yards,  and  in  1851  operated 
a  ferry  boat  at  Rush  Street.  He  joined  the  old 
Volunteer  Fire  Department  that  same  year,  being 
a  member  of  Metamora  Engine  Company  No.  2, 
and  was  its  foreman  at  the  date  of  the  disband- 
ment  of  the  volunteers  in  1859. 

Mr.  Wagenberger  was  originally  a  Democrat, 
but  immediately  after  the  firing  of  Fort  Sumter 
he  transferred  his  political  allegiance  to  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  has  acted  with  that  organi- 
zation ever  since.  Since  1864  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Druids,  and  also 
belongs  to  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men. On  joining  the  Volunteer  Fire  Department 
in  1857  he  became  a  member  of  the  Firemen's 
Benevolent  Association,  with  which  he  yet  retains 


his  connection.  He  is  a  man  of  quick  percep- 
tions and  remarkably  clear  memory. 

He  was  married  January  5,  1859,  to  Miss  Lydia 
Roemer,  the  ceremony  being  celebrated  at  Osh- 
kosh,  Wisconsin.  Mrs.  Wagenberger  was  born  in 
New  Jersey.  They  have  had  three  children,  one 
of  whom,  George,  died  in  childhood.  The  other 
two,  John  and  Julia,  grew  to  maturity.  The 
former  died,  leaving  a  widow,  in  1897,  from  dis- 
ease resulting  from  an  accident  received  while 
rendering  gallant  service  as  a  fireman,  he  having 
inherited  his  father's  love  for  the  risks,  the  dan- 
gers and  the  glory  attending  such  a  life.  Julia 
became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Charles  Thiele,  a  con- 
tracting mason,  and  lives  in  Chicago. 

The  family  is  connected  with  St.  Paul's  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church. 


HENRY  KIRCHHOFF. 


HENRY  KIRCHHOFF  is  a  retired  and  repre- 
sentative German- American  citizen,  a  thor- 
ough business  man,  and  loyal  to  the  inter- 
ests of  his  adopted  country.      Born  March  30, 
1835,  in  the  village  of  Bennevos,  near  Hanover, 
Germany,  he  is  a  son  of  Henry   and  Christina 
(Pingston)  Kirchhoff. 

The  paternal  grandfather  died  when  his  son, 
Henry,  was  two  years  of  age,  and  he  was  still  a 
young  man.  His  widow  supported  their  two  sons 
after  his  death  and  both  grew  up  to  fight  for  their 
country  against  Napoleon.  Henry,  the  father 
of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this  article,  fought 
at  Waterloo,  and  his  brother  went  to  Russia  and 
was  never  heard  from  again.  The  latter  was  not 
married. 

Mr.  Pingston,  the  maternal  grandfather,  be- 
came the  father  of  two  daughters.  His  wife  died 
the  day  her  grandson,  Henry,  was  born.  Mr. 
Pingston  was  a  distiller  and  farmer  in  his  native 


land  and  became  wealthy.  One  daughter  mar- 
ried and  remained  in  her  native  land. 

Henry  Kirchhoff,  Senior,  born  February  20, 
1796,  opened  his  eyes  for  the  first  time  in  the 
town  of  Lelute,  Hanover.  This  town  was  then  a 
small  village,  but  has  grown  a  great  deal  since. 
This  worthy  gentleman  died  April  5,  1870,  and 
was  buried  in  St.  John's  Lutheran  Cemetery  in 
Addison,  Du  Page  County.  He  was  ten  years  in 
the  army  and  later  farmed  until  he  emigrated 
from  the  Fatherland.  With  his  wife  and  eight 
children,  on  a  sailing  vessel,  he  left  Bremen  for  a 
strange  land,  and  arrived  in  Chicago  October  5, 
1846,  coming  by  way  of  New  York  and  Buffalo, 
by  canal  and  boat. 

The  first  home  of  the  family  of  which  Henry, 
Junior,  was  a  member,  was  a  small  frame  build- 
ing of  four  rooms,  20x36  feet  in  dimensions. 
Mr.  Kirchhoff  brought  lumber  from  Chicago  and 
ripped  out  the  shingles  himself.  The  land  was 


HENRY  KIRCHHOFF. 


599 


seminary  land  and  located  in  section  21,  Leyden 
Township.  In  1864,  when  this  land  came  into 
market,  he  purchased  it.  Later  he  bought  eighty 
acres  in  section  27,  of  Mr.  Blanchard,  making  his 
possessions  ninety  acres,  all  told.  A  man  of 
splendid  physique,  Mr.  Kirchhoffwas  five  feet, 
eleven  inches  in  height,  and  weighed  two  hun- 
dred pounds.  He  spent  his  last  days  in  the 
home  of  his  son.  It  may  be  said  of  him  that  he 
was  ever  devout  and  a  worshipper  in  the  Lutheran 
Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He  was  a 
Republican  in  politics. 

Mrs.  Christina  (Pingston)  Kirchhoff  was  born 
February  20,  1801,  in  the  village  of  Vesburg, 
Hanover,  Germany.  She  died  August  14,  1880, 
and  her  remains  were  interred  by  the  side  of 
her  husband's.  The  children  of  this  union  were 
nine  in  number,  and  brief  mention  is  made  of 
each. 

William  married  Sophia  Prelbing  and  became 
the  father  of  one  son,  William,  and  a  daughter, 
Katharine.  His  widow  lives  with  her  son.  Mary 
became  the  wife  of  Henry  Korthauer.  She  was 
born  July  13,  1824,  and  died  May  i,  1873,  and 
was  buried  at  the  same  place  as  her  parents.  Her 
husband  survived  her  until  January  8,  1891, 
when  he  also  died  and  was  buried  with  his  wife. 
The  children  of  this  union  are  accounted  for  as 
follows:  Herman  H.  is  a  dealer  in  hardware  in 
Bensenville;  Caroline  mairied  Edward  Avers,  a 
farmer  in  Du  Page  County ;  George  and  an  infant, 
twins,  died  young;  William  is  a  single  man  and 
lives  in  Bensenville.  Louis,  the  third  child  of 
Henry  Kirchhoff,  Senior,  was  born  April  8,  1827, 
and  married  Mrs.  Sophia  Bender.  He  is  a  capital- 
ist, and  resides  in  Astoria,  Oregon,  and  is  the  fa- 
ther of  Alvina  and  Paulina.  Christina  was  the 
fourth  child  and  died  in  Germany.  Doretta  died 
at  sixteen  years  of  age.  She  was  an  invalid  and 
lived  only  two  years  after  the  emigration  of  the 
family.  Henry,  Junior,  is  the  next.  Ernestina 
married  George  Korthauer  and  lives  at  Whatcom, 
Washington.  Her  children  are:  Martha,  Henry, 
Ernest,  Alvina,  Laura  and  George.  Sophia, 
born  October  22,  1840,  died  April  18,  1892,  and 
was  buried  in  Rosehill  Cemetery.  She  married 
Frederick  Schule,  of  whom  further  mention  is 


made  on  another  page  of  this  volume.  August, 
the  youngest,  was  born  April  5,  1843,  and  died  in 
July,  1856.  His  remains  were  buried  with  those 
of  the  family,  interred  at  the  Addison  Lutheran 
Church. 

Henry  Kirchhoff,  for  whom  this  article  is  com- 
posed, remained  at  the  home  of  his  parents  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-five  years.  He 
subsequently  undertook  the  cultivation  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  in  section  21. 
He  purchased  this  land  from  the  Agricultural 
College,  and  later  bought  eighty  acres  of  his  fa- 
ther in  section  27,  the  land  all  adjoining.  In  1873 
he  erected  a  brick  residence  in  which  he  lived 
seventeen  years.  This  building  still  stands,  but 
is  unoccupied.  In  1890  Mr.  Kirchhoff  built  his 
present  home  in  Manheim,  and  has  been  located 
there  since  1891.  He  sold  two  hundred  and 
eighty  acres  to  Lester  Franklin,  which  became  a 
part  of  the  Franklin  addition,  and  retains  the 
balance.  Since  1890  Mr.  Kirchhoff  has  lived  re- 
tired, but  has  given  some  attention  to  investments 
and  different  enterprises  since.  Among  these 
may  be  mentioned  the  Elgin  Breakfast  Food 
Company,  located  at  Spalding,  Illinois.  Mr. 
Kirchhoff  is  the  financial  backer  and  practically 
the  owner.  The  concern  was  established  in  Au- 
gust, 1898,  with  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty- five  barrels  of  oatmeal  in  twenty- four 
hours.  George  Ward  is  the  manager  and  is  also 
a  small  stockholder. 

May  17,  1 86 1,  Mr.  Kirchhoff  married  Mary 
Ann  Franzen,  daughter  of  John  Henry  and  Eliza- 
beth (Diekoff)  Franzen.  The  family  of  Fran- 
zen is  mentioned  further  on  another  page  of  this 
volume.  Mrs.  Kirchhoff  was  born  January  20, 
1840.  Of  each  of  the  twelve  children  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kirchhoff  brief  mention  will  be  made. 

Herman  Henry,  born  January  27,  1862,  lives 
at  Hampshire,  Illinois.  He  is  a  dealer  in  flour 
and  feed.  He  married  Maggie  Scheddin  and  their 
only  child,  Florence,  was  born  January  17,  1895. 
Of  August  Bernhardt,  born  May  13,  1863,  further 
mention  is  made  in  an  article  headed  by  his  name. 
Emma  Katharine,  born  November  16,  1864,  mar- 
ried Thomas  Henry  Tiedmann,  October  29,  1890. 
Her  husband  is  a  son  of  Peter  Theodore  and 


6oo 


JOHN  SCHMELTZ. 


Anna  (Fortman)  Tiedmann,  and  was  born  Jan- 
uary 23,  1864,  on  Wells  Street,  Chicago.  In 
June  1889,  he  went  into  the  employment  of  Guth- 
mann,  Carpenter  &  Telling,  as  cashier,  and  is 
with  this  concern  at  the  present  time.  The  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tiedmann  are:  Elmer, 
Henry,  Arthur  and  Theodore,  the  last  two  being 
twins,  born  December  17,  1891,  and  Peter 
Thomas,  born  May  6,  1896. 

Henry  George,  the  next  in  order  of  birth,  was 
born  July  19,  1866,  and  is  further  mentioned  in 
an  article  headed  by  his  name.  William  Her- 
man, born  January  24,  1868,  is  also  mentioned 
elsewhere.  Frederick  Gustavus,  born  November 
3,  1869,  is  a  partner  with  his  brother,  Herman, 
at  Hampshire,  Illinois.  Albert  Gustav,  born 
November  8,  1871,  resides  with  his  parents.  He 
has  charge  of  the  Elgin  Breakfast  Food  Com- 
pany at  Spalding,  Illinois.  Julius  George,  born 


September  14,  1873,  died  September  25,  1890. 
Frank  William,  born  July  25,  1875,  is  head  mil- 
ler at  the  works  at  Spalding,  Illinois.  Carl  Ed- 
ward, born  March  30,  1878,  is  a  bookkeeper  for 
Schultz  &  Lemly,  on  Indiana  Street,  and  resides 
with  his  parents,  as  do  also  Mary  Dorothea, 
born  March  16,  1880,  and  Robert  Frank,  born 
April  8,  1883. 

Mr.  Kirchhoff  is  a  member  of  the  Evangelical 
German  Reformed  Church.  He  is  a  Republican 
and  has  served  as  Road  Commissioner  of  Leyden 
Township,  twenty-four  years  as  school  commis- 
sioner of  the  sixth  district  and  township  trustee 
of  Franklin  Park  three  years.  He  is  one  of  Cook 
County's  influential  citizens  and  it  can  truly  be 
said  that  his  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond.  His 
success  is  due  to  his  sagacity  and  integrity,  in  a 
large  measure,  and  his  income  is  founded  on  sub- 
stantial ground. 


JOHN  SCHMELTZ. 


flOHN  SCHMELTZ  is  one  of  the  Gerrnan- 
I  American  citizens  of  the  city  of  Chicago, 
Q)  whose  industry  and  integrity  reflect  credit 
alike  upon  the  land  of  his  birth  and  the  country 
of  his  adoption.  Upon  a  rather  slender  founda- 
tion he  has  reared  a  superstructure  of  success, 
built  upon  the  corner  stones  of  his  own  energy 
and  fidelity.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  May- 
ence,  Germany,  May  21,  1829.  His  father's 
name  was  Andrew  and  his  mother  was  Barbara 
(Blum)  Schmeltz. 

He  attended  the  public  schools  until  he  was 
fourteen  years  old,  when  he  was  apprenticed  to 
learn  the  wall  paper  printer's  trade.  His  quick 
perception  and  ready  adaptability  to  surroundings 
stood  him  in  as  good  stead  here  as  it  has  in  after 
life.  His  apprenticeship  lasted  three  and  one- 
half  years.  Then  came  the  Revolution  of  1848, 


with  its  accompanying  disturbance  of  the  coun- 
try's industries.  The  paper  printing  houses  were 
closed,  one  and  all,  and  he  found  himself  forced 
to  seek  a  new  field  of  industry.  An  apprentice- 
ship of  three  years  at  the  blacksmith's  trade  fol- 
lowed. This  was  succeeded  by  work  in  the  rail- 
road shops  of  the  Taunus  Railroad  Company,  in 
the  employ  of  which  corporation  he  remained  five 
and  one-half  years.  At  the  end  of  that  period 
circumstances  combined  to  stimulate,  if  not  to  in- 
spire, his  wish  to  emigrate.  His  sympathies  had 
been  with  the  Revolutionists,  and  he  had  written 
many  articles  for  the  liberal  journals,  the  publi- 
cation of  which  had  given  great  offense  to  the 
government,  and  he  became  unpopular. 

He  was  born  within  the  pale  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  had  been  reared  in  that 
faith,  but  had  abjured  the  tenets  and  teachings 


JOHN  SCHMELTZ. 


601 


of  the  church,  and  had  advocated  unlimited  free- 
dom of  thought  and  its  expression.  His  change 
of  views  and  fearless  championship  of  new  ideas 
involved  him  in  a  conflict  with  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities,  whose  hostility  assumed  the  form  of 
positive  persecution.  The  struggle  was  long  and 
wearisome,  but  in  the  end  he  decided  to  abandon 
it  and  emigrate  to  a  country  where  no  restriction 
is  placed  on  either  thought  or  speech.  To  obtain 
a  passport  was  not  easy  for  a  man  in  his  position, 
but  he  secured  one  through  aid  of  political 
friends.  He  had  been  cited  to  appear  before  a 
civil  tribunal,  but  on  the  day  set  for  the  hearing 
of  his  case,  when  he  was  expected  to  be  person- 
ally present,  he  was  serenely  floating  down  the 
Rhine,  a  passenger  on  an  American  sailing  ves- 
sel, bound  for  New  York.  The  name  of  the  ship 
that  bore  him  was  "Helicon,"  and  her  command- 
er was  Captain  Goodwin. 

The  voyage  occupied  fifty-two  days,  and  not 
until  he  set  foot  on  American  soil,  at  Bangor, 
Maine,  did  he  feel  fully  assured  that  his  personal 
liberty  and  freedom  of  conscience  were  to  be  for- 
ever inviolate.  He  landed  March  i,  1854,  with 
a  cash  capital  of  five  dollars,  in  the  shape  of  an 
American  half  eagle.  For  a  few  months  he 
worked  at  his  trade  in  the  east,  and  as  soon  as 
his  purse  permitted  came  to  Chicago,  which  city 
he  reached  September  5,  1854,  with  eight  cents 
in  his  pocket  and  an  utter  stranger.  Here  he 
readily  found  employment  at  his  trade. 

He  was  frugal  and  saved  his  earnings,  but  his 
slender  means  suffered  depletion  through  an  at- 
tack of  illness  induced  by  a  cold  contracted  while 
shoeing  horses  in  the  rain.  After  his  recovery 
he  went  to  Downer's  Grove,  where  he  remained 
a  few  months,  and  on  his  return  to  Chicago  was 
made  foreman  over  twenty-two  men,  in  a  shop 
where  horseshoeing  and  the  building  and  repair- 
ing of  wagons  was  carried  on.  He  received  high 
wages,  but  they  were  paid  in  the  "wild  cat"  cur- 
rency of  the  times,  and  one  hundred  dollars  were 
frequently  worth  but  seventy-five  dollars. 

His  health  beginning  to  fail,  he  was  advised 
by  a  physician  to  try  the  climate  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  he  accordingly  removed  to  that  state,  where 
he  remained  four  years.  While  in  Potter  County 


he  bought  fifty  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  paid 
one  hundred  and  ten  dollars,  and  erected  a  log 
house  which  is  still  standing.  It  was  while  liv- 
ing in  Pennsylvania  that  he  was  married,  his 
bride  being  Margaret  C.  Schaus,  who  was  born 
in  Wies  Baden,  Germany,  October  26,  1827. 
She  died  in  Chicago,  September  7,  1898. 

In  1862  he  returned  to  Chicago,  bringing  his 
wife  and  two  children  with  him.  He  found  em- 
ployment with  the  Eagle  Iron  Works,  a  concern 
which  was  succeeded  by  the  firm  of  Fraser  & 
Chalmers.  He  was  with  them  four  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  he  went  into  the  shops  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railway  Company,  where  for  two 
and  one-half  years  he  worked  by  the  piece  and 
earned  large  wages,  being  able  to  save  about  fif- 
ty dollars  per  month,  which  he  invested  in  Gov- 
ernment bonds.  In  1864  he  leased  property  on 
Brown  Street,  paying  an  annual  ground  rent  of 
twenty-four  dollars.  Here  he  built  a  cottage, 
which  in  1869  he  moved  to  the  premises  which 
are  now  No.  304  Blue  Island  Avenue,  and  which 
he  purchased,  from  Samuel  J.  Walker. 

In  1866  he  became  a  canvasser  for  the  Ameri- 
can Tea  Company  and  not  long  afterward  opened 
a  tea  and  coffee  store  of  his  own,  in  a  modest 
way.  Business  prospered,  and  in  1878  he  had 
accumulated  sufficient  means  to  enable  him  to 
retire.  He  was  one  of  the  victims  of  the  Fidelity 
Savings  Bank's  failure,  and  with  the  other  depos- 
itors was  paid  forty-five  cents  on  the  dollar.  He 
managed  his  real  estate  investment  on  Blue  Is- 
land Avenue  so  judiciously  that  when  he  disposed 
of  if  he  found  that  he  had  netted  a  clear  profit  of 
twelve  hundred  dollars.  He  bought  more  prop- 
erty on  West  Van  Buren  Street,  and  is  at  present 
owner  of  Nos.  780,  781  and  785  on  that  thor- 
oughfare. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  and  his  services 
have  been  in  request  as  a  campaign  speaker. 
He  was  once  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  alder- 
man of  the  Seventh  Ward  on  his  party  ticket, 
He  was  a  warm  supporter  of  Monroe  Heath,  and 
has  always  been  a  public-spirited  citizen,  having 
the  best  interests  of  the  city  at  heart,  and  being 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  many  local  im- 
provements. 


6O2 


CHRISTIAN   DIETERIvE. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schmeltz  were  the  parents  of  two 
sons,  Henry  G. ,  who  has  been  in  the  employ  of 
the  Durand  family,  wholesale  grocers,  twenty- 
seven  years,  and  Albert  C.,  who  is  credit  man 
for  the  firm  of  Jaeger  &  Company,  wholesale 
grocers. 

Mr.  Schmeltz  has  been  a  successful  man.     He 


is  a  man  of  unusually  keen  intellect,  possessed  of 
untiring  industry  and  perseverance;  yet  he  as- 
cribes his  success,  in  no  small  measure,,  to  the 
energy,  frugality  and  wise  counsel  of  his  excel- 
lent wife,  who  was  in  every  sense  of  the  word  a 
helpmeet  19  him.  In  1896  they  visited  the  Fath- 
erland together. 


CHRISTIAN  DIETERLE. 


CHRISTIAN  DIETERLE  isof  German  birth 
j  C  and  parentage.  He  was  born  at  Weiblingen, 
\j  near  Stuckhardt,  Wurtemberg,  Germany, 
March  18,  1830,  the  son  of  Michael  and  Katharine 
Dieterle,  and  one  of  a  family  of  six  children.  He 
is  the  only  one  who  has  made  his  ,home  in  the 
New  World.  The  father  operated  a  vineyard 
and  farming  and  gardening  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  son  after  leaving  school,  his  elementary 
training  being  received  at  the  L,utheran  parochial 
schools,  and  at  those  maintained  by  the  govern- 
ment. He  left  school  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
and  for  several  years  worked  upon  a  farm. 

Thus  his  life  passed  until  the  spring  of  1854, 
when  he  resolved  to  emulate  the  example  of  many 
of  his  compatriots  by  wooing  Fortune  in  "fresh 
fields  and  pastures  new."  May  2  of  that  year  he 
turned  his  face  toward  the  setting  sun,  and  set 
out  for  Havre,  France.  From  that  point  he 
sailed  for  New  York,  which  city  he  reached  June 
1 1 .  He  made  no  pause  at  the  eastern  metropolis 
in  his  westward  journey,  but  at  once  departed 
for  Chicago.  On  reaching  that  city  he  found  all 
avenues  of  employment  closed,  because  of  a 
plethora  of  either  unemployed  or  misdirected 
energy. 

Being  informed  that  better  opportunities  were 
to  be  had  at  I,a  Porte,  Indiana,  he  went  from 
Chicago  to  that  town,  where  he  obtained  work  as 
a  farm  hand.  At  the  end  of  the  busy  season  in 


agricultural  labor  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and 
found  work  in  a  livery  stable.  His  task  was  far 
from  congenial,  and  after  eight  months  he  aban- 
doned it  to  enter  the  employ  of  the  Gates  Iron 
Works,  in  whose  machine  shops  he  worked  eight 
years.  After  leaving  the  employ  of  this  concern 
he  went  to  work  as  a  cooper,  mastering  the 
mysteries  of  the  trade  and  becoming  a  fairly  good 
workman  within  three  months.  His  employer 
and  teacher  was  John  Hess.  He  liked  the  work 
and  after  leaving  the  employ  of  Mr.  Hess  he 
opened  a  shop  of  his  own  in  the  rear  of  No.  555 
West  Fourteenth  Street,  which  property  he  has 
since  purchased  and  improved. 

Shrewd  common  sense  and  inborn  industry  in- 
sured the  success  which  naturally  followed.  For 
twenty  years  he  did  a  prosperous  and  remu- 
nerative business  in  his  rather  modest  shop,  the 
pressure  of  his  orders  frequently  calling  for  the 
employment  of  a  large  number  of  hands.  He 
also  owned  and  conducted  a  cooper  shop  on 
Seventeenth  Street,  on  the  present  site  of  the 
Jirka  School. 

Mr.  Dieterle  is  a  man  of  comparatively  simple 
tastes,  and  in  1885,  having  accumulated  a  com- 
petence, he  retired  from  active  business,  to  enjoy 
the  ease  which  he  had  richly  earned  by  a  life  of 
industry,  prudence  and  integrity.  His  business 
record  is  one  of  which  he  may  well  be  proud,  and 
the  story  of  his  private  life  is  without  a  stain. 


JOHN  GADEN. 


603 


As  a  citizen  he  is  deeply  interested  in  public 
affairs,  although  neither  an  aspirant  for  office  nor 
a  party  worker.  Politically  he  has  always  been 
an  ardent  and  consistent  Republican,  having  cast 
his  first  presidential  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln  in 
1860.  He  is  not  a  member  of  any  society,  al- 
though he  was  once  affiliated  with  the  Sons  of 
Hermann  and  the  Germania  Society. 

Mr.  Dieterle  married  Dorothy  Keenle,  October 
9,  1854.  His  wife  was  born  in  the  same  town  as 
himself  and  they  crossed  the  ocean  on  the  same 


vessel.  She  died  December  15,  1896.  Five  chil- 
dren, four  sons  and  a  daughter,  were  born  to 
them,  of  whom  the  youngest  son,  Albert,  died  in 
Denver,  Colorado,  in  September,  1897,  leaving 
two  children,  who  are  cared  for  by  Miss  Dieterle. 
Those  yet  living  are:  Henry  E. ,  Edward  A., 
William  and  Emily  C.  Edward  is  a  machinist, 
and  William  is  in  the  employ  of  Marshall  Field  & 
Company.  The  family  was  reared  in  the  Luth- 
eran faith,  and  all  its  members  are  devout  and 
consistent  worshippers  in  that  church. 


JOHN  GADEN. 


(lOHN  GADEN,  a  well-known  property  owner 
I  of  the  section  in  which  he  is  located,  was 
C/  formerly  of  Germany,  having  been  born 
June  10,  1842,  in  the  village  of  Wolkenwehe,  a 
place  of  four  hundred  people,  near  a  city  of  five 
thousand,  Oldesloe,  in  Holstein,  Germany.  His 
parents  were  Frederick  and  Dorothea  Margareta 
(Relling)  Gaden,  and  his  paternal  grandfather, 
August  Gaden. 

The  last  named — August  Gaden — was  the  fa- 
ther of  five  children — Frederick,  Johann,  Carl, 
Henry  and  Dorothea.  Dorothea  married  Henry 
Homan  and  their  children  are  accounted  for  as 
follows:  Henry,  John  and  Dorothea.  Their 
daughter  married  Henry  Wieser  and  their  son, 
Henry,  is  in  Iowa  following  the  occupation  of  a 
farmer.  John,  who  married  Wilhelmina  Apple, 
remained  in  Germany.  His  children  were  named 
John,  Henry,  Sophia,  Minnie,  Lottie,  Louise  and 
Dorothea.  Henry  is  a  farmer  in  Iowa,  and  Doro- 
thea married  John  Clausen  and  resides  in  Daven- 
port, Iowa.  Henry,  of  the  family  of  August 
Gaden,  never  married,  and  Charles  went  to 
Australia. 

Henry  Relling,  father  of  Dorothea  M.  (Rell- 


ing) Gaden,  was  the  father  of  a  family  which  in- 
cluded a'  son  named  Henry  Relling.  The  last 
named  married  and  remained  in  Germany.  His 
children  were:  Hans,  John,  Christoph,  Diedrich, 
Fritz,  August,  Ferdinand,  Margaret,  Mary  and 
Louise.  None  of  this  family  ever  emigrated. 

Frederick  Gaden  was  born  in  1795,  near  Olde- 
sloe, and  died  in  1873.  He  was  an  extensive 
farmer,  operating  two  hundred  acres,  and  raised 
stock,  finding  niarket  for  his  products  in  Ham- 
burg. He  was  a  German  Lutheran  in  religious 
principles,  and  a  worthy  and  highly  respected 
man.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  physique,  weighing 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  and  well  able  to 
take  care  of  his  large  property,  which  afterward 
fell  into  the  hands  of  his  son,  Henry. 

His  wife,  the  mother  of  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  was  born  in  1811,  and  died  in 
1881.  She  was  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  of 
each  member  of  which  short  mention  is  made. 
Dorothea  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  years. 
Henry,  who  is  on  the  old  homestead,  married 
Dorothea  Gerken,  and  their  children  are:  Fred- 
erick, Clans,  Mary  and  John.  Frederick  is  a 
wealthy  contractor  in  Christiana,  Norway.  He 


604 


JOHN  GADEN. 


was  twice  married  and  the  children  by  his  first 
marriage  were  Andrea  and  Mary.  There  were 
no  children  by  the  second  marriage  of  this  man. 

Glaus  Peter  Heinrich,  born  April  i,  1838,  was 
married  March  7,  1876,  to  Harriet  Westensee, 
daughter  of  Herman  John  and  Anna  (Knack) 
Westensee.  She  was  born  February  4,  1854,  in 
the  village  of  Merkendorf,  Holstein,  Germany. 
The  children  of  this  couple  are  accounted  for  as 
follows:  Ernst  Diedrich,  born  May  30,  1889; 
Emil,  born  November  20,  1894,  died  August  12, 
1895.  Claus  P.  H.  Gaden  and  his  brother, 
Herman,  were  the  first  of  his  father's  family  to 
emigrate.  The  former  reached  New  York  in 
November,  1869,  journeying  west  to  Omaha, 
Nebraska,  where  he  worked  at  the  trade  of  car- 
penter. After  one  subsequent  year  in  New 
Orleans  he  came  to  Chicago  and  was  occupied  at 
his  chosen  trade  until  1880.  Later,  with  his 
brother,  Diedrich,  he  started  a  store  at  No.  160 
Centre  Street,  in  1888,  dealing  in  delicacies, 
which  has  commanded  his  attention  since. 

Marie,  the  next  in  order  of  birth  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Frederick  Gaden,  died  at  the  youthful 
age  of  fifteen  years.  John  was  the  next  born, 
and  Herman  Nicholas,  born  September  25,  1844. 
the  seventh  born.  He  learned  the  trade  of  car" 
penter  and  joiner  in  Germany  and  in  his  work 
as  journeyman  visited  Bremen  and  Hamburg, 
Copenhagen  and  Christiana  for  his  brother  Fred- 
erick in  the  last-named  city.  After  his  arrival  in 
America  he  visited  Omaha,  New  Orleans,  and 
came  to  Chicago  in  February,  1872.  He  was 
employed  for  wages  until  1875,  at  which  time  he 
established  a  contract  business  for  his  own  inter- 
ests, with  shop  on  North  Clark  Street,  near 
Turner  Hall,  where  his  headquarters  were  located 
two  years.  He  then  moved  to  East  Chicago 
Avenue,  near  Clark  Street,  remaining  four  years 
in  the  same  place.  After  one  year  in  Harlem,  he 
was  six  years  at  No.  600  West  Indiana  Street, 
and  since  that  time  has  been  at  No.  795  Fulton 
Street.  His  business  is  mostly  done  with  archi- 
tects, and  residences  on  the  south  side  have  taken 
his  attention  to  a  great  extent. 

H.  N.  Gaden  has  built  about  one  hundred 
residences,  and  among  other  buildings  Saint 


Luke's  Hospital.  He  was  married  September 
15,  !877,  to  Wilhelmina  Schroeder,  daughter  of 
Carl  and  Marie  (Seekamp)  Schroeder.  Mrs. 
H.  N.  Gaden  was  born  March  24,  1858,  at  No. 
282  Milwaukee  Avenue,  Chicago.  Her  father 
came  over  in  1847.  The  children  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  H.  N.  Gaden  are  three  in  number:  Arthur 
Henry  Ernst,  born  June  30,  1878;  Frederick 
Louis,  born  June  7,  1880;  and  Adelia  Emma 
Roslind. 

Margaret  Marie,  eighth  child  of  Frederick 
Gaden,  was  born  July  10,  1850,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 10,  1895,  her  remains  resting  in  Forest 
Home  Cemetery.  March  28,  1873,  this  lady  was 
married  to  Theodore  Clamer,  who  was  born  De- 
cember '14,  1845,  in  Oldesloe,  Germany.  With 
his  wife  and  three  children  he  reached  New  York 
December  24,  1881.  The  children  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Theodore  Clamer  are  accounted  for  as  fol- 
lows: Frederick  William  Henry,  born  Ma}'  13, 
1874;  Henry  Frederick  Theodore,  known  as 
Theodore,  Junior,  born  October  27,  1876;  and 
Henry  Julius,  born  September  8,  1877. 

August,  the  next  child  of  the  parents  of  John 
Gaden,  was  born  September  7,  1848.  He  never 
married,  and  died  August  18,  1897.  This  was 
the  favorite  brother  of  John,  and  they  were  asso- 
ciated in  nearly  all  their  business  transactions. 
He  was  quite  prominent  and  served  as  alderman 
in  Harlem  from  1884  to  1891.  Heinrich  Died- 
rich, born  January  3,  1854,  landed  in  New  York 
October  10,  1883.  He  had  learned  the  trade  of  a 
tanner  in  Germany,  but  abandoned  it  after  one 
year  in  America.  In  Jefferson  Township  he  kept 
twenty-two  cows  and  established  a  milk  route, 
which  he  retained  three  years.  He  subsequently 
started  a  store  at  No.  151  Clybourn  Avenue, 
which  occupied  him  two  years,  when  he  joined 
his  brother  Claus,  as  is  mentioned  above. 

John  Gaden,  of  whom  this  article  is  a  biog- 
raphy, learned  the  trade  of  brick-laying,  and  fol- 
lowed it  in  his  native  land.  With  his  brother, 
August,  he  reached  New  York  in  June,  1871,  and 
traveled  to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  where  a  brother, 
Gustav,  had  preceded  them.  Mr.  Gaden  re- 
mained there  five  months,  and  was  employed  on 
a  government  steamer  the  same  length  of  time. 


HENRY  GILBERT. 


605 


He  went  to  St.  Louis  and  for  some  months  fol- 
lowed his  former  trade  there.  He  was  similarly 
occupied  in  New  Orleans  one  year,  and  the  same 
length  of  time  in  Galveston,  Texas.  He  spent 
some  months  in  New  Orleans  and  Davenport, 
Iowa,  subsequently  coming  to  Chicago  to  change 
his  occupation. 

He  located  a  restaurant  on  Clark  Street,  near 
Chicago  Avenue,  which  he  carried  on  two  years, 
and  then  bought  a  lot  in  Harlem  and  erected  a 
building  for  the  purpose  of  starting  a  saloon  and 
general  merchandise  store.  This  was  in  1876, 
and  he  eontinued,  with  success,  until  1884,  when 
he  built  at  No.  193  Madison  Street  and  became 
identified  with  his  brothers,  August  and  Herman, 
who  had  built  at  Nos.  195-197.  In  1884  he  sold 
out  the  mercantile  portion  and  made  a  restaurant 
of  the  place.  In  1888  he  built  a  business  block 
near  Altenheim  Station  with  his  brother,  Her- 
man, to  whom  he  sold  out  later.  In  1891  Mr. 
Gaden  established  a  fine  resort  and  picnic  grounds, 


hall,  theatre  and  bowling  alley,  all  of  which  oc- 
cupies one  acre  of  ground. 

March  9,  1875,  Mr.  Gaden  married  Rosa 
Johanna  Wilhelmina,  daughter  of  Ludwig  Died- 
rich  Hann.  For  further  mention  of  her  ancestry 
refer  to  sketch  of  her  father,  in  this  volume.  The 
children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gaden  are  accounted 
for  as  follows:  Infant  boy,  infant  girl,  Rudolph 
August  Herman,  born  August  6,  1877,  lives 
at  home;  Martha  Matilda  Wilhelmina  Albina 
Sophia,  born  August  27,  1879;  Henry  Frederick, 
born  July  22,  1881;  Edwin  Henry  August,  born 
May  4,  1883;  Anton  Herman,  born  November  6, 
1886;  and  an  infant  boy. 

Mr.  Gaden  is  a  member  of  Olympia  Lodge, 
No.  477,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He 
conducts  one  of  the  finest  resorts  in  Harlem  be- 
cause he  is  careful  of  the  reputation  of  the  place. 
He  caters  only  to  the  first-class  people.  He  is 
blessed  with  a  charming  wife  and  daughter  and 
energetic,  intelligent  boys. 


HENRY  GILBERT. 


HENRY  GILBERT,  foreman  in  the  tin  de- 
partment of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railway  Company's  shops,  has  spent  almost 
his  entire  life  in  Chicago.  He  was  born  in  Os- 
wego,  New  York,  January  12,  1834.  His  par- 
ents, Sherrod  and  Elizabeth  Ann  (Acres)  Gil- 
bert, were  natives  of  England.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  Oswego,  and  in  the  year  1826  came  to 
Chicago,  when  Henry  was  two  years  old.  Both 
died  in  this  city,  the  mother  in  1854,  and  the 
father  in  1869.  Their  remains  rest  in  Graceland. 
They  were  the  parents  of  two  children,  Henry 
and  Matilda. 

Henry  Gilbert  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  this  city.  He  learned  the  trade  of  tin 
and  copper  smith  with  Thomas  George,  on  Lake 


Street,  and  worked  as  a  journeyman  until  1863, 
when  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railway  Company,  and  was  given 
charge  of  the  tin  department,  which  position  he 
has  held  ever  since. 

In  1855  he  married  Mary  Jane  Muldoon,  of 
Chicago,  a  native  of  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  and 
of  Irish  parentage.  Of  this  union  four  daughters 
and  two  sons  were  born,  of  whom  three  daughters 
died  in  childhood.  The  surviving  children  are: 
William  Henry;  Charles,  a  machinist;  and  Anna 
Mary. 

Mrs.  Gilbert  died  January  7,  1897.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  family  are  connected  with  the  Bethany 
Congregational  Church,  where  they  are  highly 
respected  by  the  congregation. 


6o6 


C.  H.  MARTENS. 


Mr.  Gilbert  has  seen  many  charges  and  has 
twice  witnessed  the  building  of  the  city.  Previ- 
ous to  the  fire  of  1871  he  lived  on  LaSalle  Ave- 
nue, and  was  burned  out  there,  losing  all  of  the 
improvements  he  had  put  upon  the  property. 
In  the  spring  of  1872  he  purchased  a  lot  at 
No.  19  Iowa  Street  and  erected  a  residence  where 
most  of  the  surrounding  country  was  unbroken 
plain,  thus  becoming  one  of  the  first  settlers  in 
this  now  populous  portion  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Gilbert  is  a  member  of  Cleveland  Lodge 


No.  211,  Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons. 
His  political  faith  is  Republican  and  his  vote  is 
always  cast  for  the  Republican  national  electors, 
but  in  local  affairs  he  votes  independently. 

Mr.  Gilbert's  life  has  been  spent  in  promoting 
the  commercial  and  financial  interests  of  the 
country  by  improving  the  means  by  which  the 
products  of  this  great  country  are  moved  from 
one  point  to  another.  By  the  labors  of  such  men 
as  he  have  the  arteries  of  commerce  been  devel- 
oped during  the  present  century. 


CHARLES  H.  MARTENS. 


EHARLES  HENRY  MARTENS  was  born 
on  a  farm  in  section  27,  of  Ley  den  Town- 
ship, Cook  County,  on  December  10,  1852. 
His  family  relations  and  descent  are  set  forth  in 
the  biographical  sketch  of  his  father,  Charles 
Martens,  elsewhere  in  this  work. 

He  was  educated  in  the  public  and  parochial 
schools,  and  passed  the  first  thirty  years  of  his 
life  at  his  parents'  home,  but  in  the  spring  of 
1883  built  the  house  where  he  now  lives,  and  on 
the  thirteenth  of  the  following  June  took  to  him- 
self a  wife.  He  then  began  the  cultivation  of  a 
farm  of  sixty  acres,  which  he  afterwards  increased 
to  eighty  by  the  purchase  of  twenty  additional 
acres.  April  19,  1889,  he  disposed  of  this  prop- 
erty, with  the  exception  of  the  homestead  and  a 
plat  of  two  acres  surrounding  it,  obtaining  four 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  an  acre  for  the  land  in 
section  22,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
an  acre  for  that  in  section  21.  He  still  deals,  to 
some  extent,  in  real  estate,  as  to  the  value  of 
which  his  judgment  is  seldom  at  fault. 

Reference  has  been  already  made  to  Mr.  Mar- 
tens' marriage.  His  wife  was  Louise  Mary 
Popp,  a  daughter  of  Adam  Popp,  who  was  born 
in  that  township,  January  31,  1861.  The  issue 


of  the  marriage  has  been  as  follows:  Walter, 
born  May  13,  1884,  died  September  12,  1886,  and 
buried  at  Eden  Cemetery;  Eva  Frederika,  born 
May  7,  1887;  Elsie  Louise,  born  August  24,  1890. 

Mr.  Martens  is  a  member  of  Waldeck  Lodge 
No.  674,  Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
and  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church.  In  politics 
he  is  a  Republican,  and  has  held  several  offices. 
For  two  years — 1884  and  1885 — he  was  collector 
of  the  township,  for  a  like  period  assessor,  and 
for  three  years  school  director  and  for  eighteen 
months  president  of  the  village. 

Mr.  Martens  has  one  of  the  most  attractive  sub- 
urban homes  to  be  found  around  Chicago. 
Everything  about  it  has  been  planned,  laid  out  and 
built  under  his  own  personal  supervision,  and  the 
evidences  of  refined  taste  and  skilled  workman- 
ship are  to  be  seen  on  every  hand.  Since  dispos- 
ing of  his  original  farm  to  aid  in  the  building  up 
of  Franklin  Park,  he  has  engaged  more  or  less  in 
farming  for  his  own  pleasure,  though  never  with 
an  eye  to  profit.  His  reputation  for  integrity  and 
business  sagacity  is  an  enviable  one,  his  word  be- 
ing regarded  as  equivalent  to  his  bond,  while  his 
commercial  judgment  has  been  repeatedly  shown 
to  be  well  nigh  unerring. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
DIVERSITY  OF  ILLI*' 


MAJ,  L.  S.  RASMUSSEN 


L.  S.  RASMUSSEN. 


607 


LAURITZ  S.  RASMUSSEN. 


I AJ.  LAURITZ  S.  RASMUSSEN  was  born 
at  Copenhagen,  June  5,  1837.  He  comes 
of  a  line  of  military  ancestors.  His  father, 
Hans  Peter  Severin  Rasmussen,  who  was  a  na- 
tive of  Jutland,  was  an  officer  in  the  Danish  navy, 
while  many  others  of  his  progenitors  served  with 
distinction  as  soldiers  or  sailors  under  the  flag  of 
their  country.  His  father  died  at  the  age  of 
seventy,  and  his  only  sister  when  but  four  years 
old.  He  has  no  brothers. 

Major  Rasmussen  graduated  from  the  Danish 
Military  Academy  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  was 
at  once  commissioned  a  lieutenant  in  the  Seven- 
teenth regiment  of  infantry.  In  1861  he  was 
granted  leave  of  absence  at  his  own  request  and 
came  to  America,  where  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  D,  First  New  York  Infantry  Volun- 
teers. In  1862  he  re-enlisted — once  more  as  a 
private — in  the  One  Hundred  and  Nineteenth 
Regiment,  New  York  Infantry,  and  served  to  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War.  He  took  part  in  the 
Potomac  campaigns,  and  in  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg. Later  his  regiment  was  sent  West,  where 
he  participated  in  the  fierce  fight  at  Lookout 
Mountain  and  marched  with  Sherman  to  the  sea. 
He  was  transferred  to  the  One  Hundred  and 
Nineteenth  United  States  Colored  Infantry,  made 
second  lieutenant  for  gallant  service,  and  attached 
to  the  command  of  General  Stoneman.  He  re- 
ceived his  majority  in  1865,  and  was  assigned  to 
duty  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  to  aid  in  muster- 
ing out  Sherman's  army.  He  next  re-joined  his 


regiment  at  Brownsville,  Texas,  and  from  there 
was  ordered  to  Arizona  Territory,  where  he  saw 
service  in  fighting  the  Indians. 

In  1866  he  resigned  his  commission  and  went 
to  New  York,  coming  soon  afterward  to  Chicago. 
He  soon  accepted  the  general  agency  of  the 
Great  Western  Life  Insurance  Company,  of  New 
York,  with  headquarters  at  St.  Paul.  A  year 
later  he  returned  to  this  city  and  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Burlington  &  Missouri  River  Rail- 
road Company  as  local  agent.  He  remained  with 
the  company  until  1871.  Since  then  he  has  been 
connected  with  the  various  newspapers,  and  him- 
self published,  for  two  years,  a  journal  called  the 
Daily  North-west.  Since  the  year  1894  ne  ^as 
been  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business,  his 
present  location  being  at  No.  1379  Humboldt 
Boulevard. 

In  1877,  when  the  famous  riots  occurred  in 
Chicago,  Major  Rasmussen,  then  a  captain  of 
the  state  militia,  was  the  first  officer  to  report  for 
duty.  During  seven  days  he  was  on  guard,  until 
relieved  by  a  regiment  of  regulars. 

Major  Rasmussen  has  been  a  widower  since 
1882,  and  all  his  eight  children  are  deceased. 
He  is  an  active  worker  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  being  a  member  of  Butler  Post  No. 
754,  and  having  organized  many  others,  of 
several  of  which  he  has  been  commander.  His 
first  presidential  vote  was  cast  for  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  1864,  and  he  has  since  supported  the 
Republican  ticket  in  national  contests. 


6o8 


CONRAD  TAUBERT. 


CONRAD  TAUBERT. 


EONRAD  TAUBERT,  one  of  the  highly  re- 
spected and  esteemed  citizens  of  Chicago, 
has  for  the  past  fifteen  years  been  a  valued 
and  honored  employe  of  the  Chicago  French 
Embroidery  Company,  and  is  a  skilled  and  ex- 
perienced fringe-maker.  He  was  born  July  14, 
1844,  in  the  village  of  Kaiserroda,  in  Saxon 
Weimer,  Germany.  His  parents  were  Conrad, 
Senior,  and  Christina  (Kaiser)  Taubert. 

The  grandfather  of  the  man  whose  name  heads 
this  article  was  Herominus  Taubert,  and  he  was 
a  weaver.  The  maternal  grandfather  had  four 
children.  Conrad  Taubert,  Senior,  was  a  weaver 
in  his  native  land  and  died  when  in  the  prime  of 
manhood,  in  1863.  His  wife  died  January  23, 
1872,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years.  Her  chil- 
dren were:  Conrad  and  Henry,  the  latter  being  a 
resident  of  No.  78  Maud  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Conrad  Taubert,  of  whom  this  commemoration 
treats,  was  the  first  of  his  father's  family  to  emi- 
grate to  America  and  he  went  directly  to  Mendota, 
Illinois,  and  four  weeks  later,  November  7,  1865, 
located  in  Chicago.  He  followed  the  occupation 
of  his  fathers  and  was  a  weaver,  but  there  being 
no  special  demand  for  men  of  his  occupation,  he 
became  a  fringe-maker.  For  a  short  time  he  was 
with  Henry  Went,  at  the  corner  of  Polk  and  Jef- 
ferson Streets,  after  which  he  entered  the  employ 
of  Mr.  Fiedler,  cord  and  tassel  maker,  and  re- 
mained thus  occupied  three  years.  He  then  be- 
came identified  with  Mr.  Jacobs,  at  the  corner  of 
Michigan  and  Wells  Streets,  and  was  with  him 
until  April,  1871,  when  he  started  a  catering  es- 


tablishment on  Sedgwick  Street.  He  was  burned 
out  some  months  later  by  the  great  fire  and  re- 
moved to  New  York,  where  he  became  an  em- 
ploye of  Mr.  O'Brien,  at  No.  66  Bowery.  He 
remained  but  three  months,  when  he  was  back 
in  the  service  of  Mr.  Jacobs,  of  Chicago,  and  con- 
tinued in  his  employ  a  period  of  five  years.  He 
was  ten  years  subsequently  in  the  service  of  Mr. 
Peters,  at  No.  61  Washington  Street,  and  since 
that  time,  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  has  been 
identified  with  the  Chicago  French  Embroidery 
Company,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Madison 
Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  This  concern  moved 
their  place  of  business  to  No.  71  Market  Street. 

August  4,  1868,  Mr.  Taubert  married  Mary 
Muther,  daughter  of  Alouiwse  and  Josepha  (Jely ) 
Muther,  who  was  born  April  15,  1843,  in  Aus- 
tria. Alouiwse  Muther  died  in  1846,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-two  years.  He  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil 
and  his  children  were  four  in  number.  Mrs. 
Taubert  is  the  oldest.  I/awrence  Muther,  the 
next  in  order  of  birth,  is  a  partner  and  superin- 
tendent of  the  Union  Special  Sewing  Machine 
Company.  He  resides  at  No.  406  Forest  Ave- 
nue. Joseph  conducts  a  catering  establishment 
at  No.  187  Washington  Street,  his  home  being 
at  No.  193,  the  same  street.  Alouiwse  died  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  years,  in  Chicago. 

The  mother  of  Mrs.  Taubert,  Mrs.  Muther,  was 
born  in  October,  1818,  and  joined  the  great  ma- 
jority February  16,  1870.  Her  remains  were  in- 
terred in  St.  Boniface  Cemetery.  Her  second 
husband  was  Frank  Joseph  Muther  and  he  was 


C.  A.  TIDEN. 


609 


the  father  of  Frank  J.,  Josepha,  Charles  and 
Cecelia.  Frank  Joseph  Muther  was  a  carpenter, 
but  followed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer  in  Park 
Ridge.  He  died  May  10,  1867,  at  the  age  of 
forty -two  years.  He  had  lived  iu  Chicago  since 
1852.  Of  his  children,  Frank  Joseph  is  the  old- 
est, having  been  born  December  25,  1848.  He 
married  Miss  Fannie  Cox,  of  Kansas  City,  and 
their  children  were  named:  Frank,  Daisy  and 
Georgia.  He  is  a  cigar  manufacturer,  and  re- 
sides in  Santa  Rosa,  California.  Josepha,  born 
January  15,  1850,  married  William  Lang  and 
their  children  are:  William,  Frank,  Ida  and 
Charles.  The  family  of  Mr.  Lang  resides  in 
California,  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  and  he  is 
a  candy-maker.  Charles,  born  in  1851,  married 
Elizabeth  Honsburg,  and  is  with  Lawrence,  his 
half  brother.  Cecelia,  born  in  January,  1852,  died 
on  the  voyage  to  America  in  August,  1852,  and  his 
remains  were  interred  in  the  ocean.  John,  born 
in  November,  1853,  is  an  auctioneer  and  picture 
frame  manufacturer.  He  married  Charlotte  Cof- 
fee and  resides  in  California.  His  children  were 


John  and  George  Washington.  The  former  died 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  Michael,  born  in 
the  fall  of  1855,  married  Miss  Emma  Winhofer, 
and  died  in  Santa  Rosa,  California,  in  1888.  Mr. 
Muther  was  a  carpenter,  and  his  widow  and  one 
child,  George,  reside  in  Lake  View.  Elizabeth, 
born  August  18,  1858,  is  a  traveling  companion 
and  is  now  in  Honolulu.  Amelia,  born  in  1861, 
died  in  1864.  William,  born  April  18,  1863, 
died  September  2,  1897.  He  married  Mary  Har- 
bach  and  lived  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Their  chil- 
dren were  named:  Alice,  Mary  and  Charles. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conrad  Taubert  were  the  par- 
ents of  six  children:  Ida  Amelia  Josepha,  the 
oldest,  at  home  with  her  parents;  Edmond  Con- 
rad Lawrence,  born  April  12,  1870;  Emma 
Christina  Elizabeth;  Robert  Henry,  born  March 
18,  1875;  Frederick  Frank  William,  born  Febru- 
ary 27,  1878,  at  home;  and  Clara  Marie. 

Mr.  Taubert  is  a  member  of  Germania  Lodge 
No.  282,  of  the  Society  of  Red  Men.  He  was 
reared  a  Protestant  and  clings  to  the  faith  of  his 
fathers,  while  his  wife  is  a  Catholic. 


CHARLES  A.  TIDEN. 


EHARLES  ABRAM  TIDEN,  of  a  nation  of 
sturdy,  muscular  men,  is  one  of  the  repre- 
sentative citizens  of  Chicago  and  a  com- 
petent and  valued  employe  of  Spaulding  &  Com- 
pany, jewelers.  He  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Sollefteo,  Augermanland,  Sweden,  June  15,  1850. 
His  parents  were  Olaf  and  Sarah  (Olsen)  Sell- 
stedt,  and  were  natives  of  the  same  province. 
Olaf  Sellstedt,  grandfather  of  Charles  Abram 
Tiden,  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  his  children 
were:  Nels,  Olaf,  Anna  and  Jonas.  The  last- 
named  was  a  Lutheran  clergyman. 

The   maternal    grandfather    was   Olaf   Olson, 
whose  children  were:  Sarah,  Nels,  Magnus,  Anna, 


Mary  and  Carrie.  Olaf  Sellstedt,  Junior,  father 
of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this  article,  was 
born  in  1814,  and  died  in  1867.  He  was  a  tiller 
of  his  own  land  in  Sweden.  His  wife  was  born 
in  1812,  and  died  April  5,  1863.  Her  children 
were  named  as  follows:  Anna,  Jonas,  Olaf,  Nels 
and  Charles.  All  are  deceased  except  Charles 
and  Jonas,  the  former  being  the  only  one  to 
emigrate  from  their  native  land. 

Charles  A.  Tiden  reached  Chicago  May  21, 
1871,  and  has  since  been  a  resident  of  this  locality. 
He  attended  school  until  he  was  fifteen  years  of 
age,  in  Sweden,  after  which  he  learned  the  trade 
of  watchmaker.  He  practiced  this  profession  in 


6io 


ERNST  JOHNKE. 


Sundsvell  four  years  and  then  served  as  journey- 
man in  Guttenberg  three  years  and  two  years  in 
Stockholm.  At  that  time  he  decided  to  seek  his 
fortune  in  America,  and  immigrated  to  the 
United  States. 

He  was  employed  by  different  concerns  for  six 
months  and  subsequently  remained  with  Robert 
Seidel  two  years.  He  was  in  the  service  of  J.  S. 
Townsend,  located  at  No.  1554  Wabash  Avenue, 
seven  years.  From  the  spring  of  the  year  1887, 
until  August  6,  1898,  he  was  employed  in  the 
well-known  establishment,  of  C.  D.  Peacock. 
Since  that  time  he  has  been  in  the  service  of 
Spaulding  &  Company. 


May  n,  1892,  Mr.  Tiden  was  married  to  Miss 
Carrie  Anderson,  a  daughter  of  S  wen  Anderson. 
Mrs.  Tiden  was  born  in  Stengordsholt,  Smoland, 
Sweden,  September  21,  1853,  and  died  February 
9,  1897.  Her  remains  were  interred  in  Mount 
Hope  Cemetery,  and  her  loss  was  mourned  by 
many  friends,  as  well  as  by  her  relatives. 

Mr.  Tiden  is  not  a  seeker  after  public  office, 
but  a  stanch  upholder  of  the  principles  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  is  a  very  ambitious  man, 
and  one  of  the  finest  workmen  in  his  profession 
in  the  West.  He  was  enabled,  in  1892,  to  erect  a 
residence  at  No.  6312  Champlain  Avenue,  where 
his  home  has  since  been  located. 


ERNST  JOHNKE. 


IT  RNST  JOHNKE,    who  is  car  inspector  for 
rJ   the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Rail- 
I        road  Company  in   Chicago,   is  a  native  of 
Germany.     He  was  born  August  3,  1847,  in  the 
village  of  Colberg,  and  is  a  true  representative  of 
the  sturdy  and  energetic  character  of  the  Ger- 
man.    His  father  was  a  respected  man  of  the  lo- 
cality where  he  resided  at  the  time  of  his  son's 
birth,  whose  name  was  Frederick  Johnke. 

He  lived  all  his  life  in  the  land  of  his  birth  and 
tilled  his  own  land.  His  wife  died  in  1848.  Of 
the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  Johnke — Oottleib, 
Wilhelmina,  Hennette,  Frederick,  August,  Al- 
bertine,  William,  Albert  and  Ernst — Gottleib, 
August,  William  and  Albert  are  deceased,  and  of 
those  who  have  passed  the  border,  the  first  three 
are  buried  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery.  William 
Johnke  came  to  America  in  1868  and  located  in 
Chicago.  He  married  Miss  Caroline  Ledbuhr, 
and  their  only  child  is  named  August. 

Frederick  and  August  Johnke  emigrated  from 
their  native  land  and  located  in  Chicago  in  1865. 
Ernst  Johnke,  whose  name  heads  this  article, 


reached  New  York  December  7,  1867,  and  ar- 
rived in  Chicago  April  3,  1848.  He  was  in  charge 
of  the  brick  masons,  who  were  employed  on  the 
Court  House,  and  while  thus  occupied  fell  at 
one  time,  a  distance  of  forty  feet.  He  followed 
this  work  until  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
Chicago.  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany, at  its  elevators,  where  he  was  employed 
until  he  accepted  a  position  with  the  Lake  Shore 
&  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  Company,  eight 
years  later.  He  has  held  his  present  responsible 
occupation  for  a  period  of  seventeen  years.  This 
fact  goes  to  show  that  his  services  are  valued  and 
that  he  is  possessed  of  much  stability  of  char- 
acter. 

July  n,  1875,  Mr.  Johnke  was  married  to  Miss 
Amelia,  daughter  of  William  and  Elvina  (Cor- 
nell) Franke,  all  natives  of  the  vicinity  of  Ber- 
lin, Germany.  Mrs.  Johnke  was  born  July  20, 
1855.  Her  parents  and  their  nine  children  came 
to  Manitowoc,  Wisconsin,  in  1865,  where  the 
family  still  reside.  Mrs.  Johnke  came  alone  to 
Chicago  August  2,  1871.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnke 


WILLIAM  PALMER. 


611 


became  the  parents  of  six  children :     Albert  Will- 
iam Peter,    born    May    25,    1876,  died  April  2, 

1884.  George   Carl  Bernhardt,    born  June  9, 
1878,  died  March  12,   1884.     Elvina  Wilhelmina 
Phillipina,   born  December  9,  1879,  died  March 
28,   1884.     Edward  Henry  Ernst,  born  June  25, 

1885,  was  the   next   in  order  of  birth.     Alma 
Emma  Henrietta  was  born  December  5,    1886, 
and   Emma  Herinina   Albertina,    November    7, 
1892.    The  first  three  died  of  scarlet  fever. 


Mr.  Johnke  has  ever  been  of  an  ambitious  and 
thrifty  nature,  and  with  a  partner  of  similar 
tendencies  he  has  accumulated  considerable  of 
this  world's  goods.  In  1890  he  was  enabled  to 
build  a  residence  at  No.  6334  Rhodes  Avenue, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  votes  in  favor 
of  the  Republican  party,  though  he  has  never 
sought  public  office.  His  ancestors  were  Luth- 
erans and  he  has  been  true  to  the  teachings  of 
his  fathers. 


WILLIAM  PALMER. 


PALMER,  one  of  the  best-known 
and  most  extensive  building  contractors  of 
Chicago,  has  built  much  of  the  resident 
portion  of  the  South  Side.  He  was  born  Septem- 
ber 22,  1840,  in  Bathurst,  Ontario,  Canada,  his 
parents  being  William  and  Mary  (Wilson)  Pal- 
mer. Mr.  Palmer's  grandfather,  John  Palmer, 
was  a  soldier  in  the  British  Army  and  served 
seven  years  in  British  India.  Mr.  Palmer's  ma- 
ternal grandparents  were  George  and  Agnes 
(Reid)  Wilson. 

William  Palmer,  Senior,  was  born  in  Suffolk, 
England,  and  came  to  America  when  a  young 
man.  He  passed  away  in  1886,  having  reached 
the  age  of  eighty  years.  He  was  an  agricultur- 
ist and  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  His  wife  was  born  in  Scotland,  emi- 
grating when  twelve  years  of  age.  All  her  liv- 
ing children  are  residents  of  Canada,  except  Will- 
iam, whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 

An  attendant  of  a  country  school  until  fifteen 
years  of  age,  Mr.  Palmer  remained  on  the  farm 
where  he  was  born,  two  years  more.  He  was  then 
made  apprentice  to  learn  the  trade  of  carpenter. 
After  a  short  time  spent  at  Bathurst,  he  located 
in  Chicago,  arriving  September  3,  1863.  He  as- 
sisted in  the  erection  of  the  North  Side  College, 


the  Reynolds  Block  and  the  first  Chamber  of 
Commerce  building.  He  then  made  a  short  visit 
to  Canada. 

In  May,  1866,  with  Duncan  McClellan,  Mr. 
Palmer  established  a  partnership  contract  busi- 
ness which  continued  until  the  fall  of  1868,  under 
the  firm  name  of  McClellan  &  Palmer.  Mr. 
Palmer  then  united  with  Alexander  McDonald, 
but  this  partnership  continued  only  a  few  months, 
however,  when  Mr.  Palmer  decided  to  operate  his 
business  unaided,  which  he  did  for  some  time. 
In  November,  1871,  Mr.  Palmer  established  him- 
self in  business  at  No.  39  Homan  Court.  He 
was  thus  located  until  the  spring  of  1889.  Since 
that  time  he  has  given  his  whole  time  and  atten- 
tion to  building.  In  July,  1898,  he  located  an 
office  at  No.  4305  Langley  Avenue.  He  con- 
structed the  Chicago  Post-Graduate  Medical  Col- 
lege, the  residence  of  Barry  Brothers,  thirteen 
houses  on  Ellis  Avenue,  six  on  Kenwood  Ave- 
nue and  other  residences  on  the  South  Side,  and 
performed  carpenter  work  on  the  Lake  Shore  & 
Michigan  Southern  depot  and  the  first  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  building.  From 
1876  to  1898  he  resided  at  No.  3212  Forest 
Avenue. 

November  26,  1864,  Mr.  Palmer  was  united 


612 


JOHN  KANE. 


in  marriage  to  Miss  Margaret  Carrie  Honden, 
who  was  born  January  18,  1841,  in  Scotland. 
She  passed  away  in  October,  1898,  her  death 
being  caused  by  a  cancer.  She  was  a  woman  of 
noble  character,  a  practical  helpmeet  to  her  hus- 
band, a  kind  mother,  and  one  whose  loss  is  very 
deeply  mourned,  not  only  by  her  immediate  fam- 
ily, but  by  neighbors  and  all  who  were  privileged 
to  enjoy  her  friendship.  Throughout  her  long 
and  painful  illness,  she  uttered  no  word  of  com- 
plaint. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Palmer  were  five 
in  number.     William  John,   born   August    n, 


1867,  died  February  n,  1882.  George  Wilson, 
born  April  26,  1869,  married  Miss  Helen  Fuller. 
He  is  in  the  service  of  the  Northern  Trust  Com- 
pany, and  resides  with  his  wife  and  only  child, 
at  No.  3212  Forest  Avenue.  James  Davidson, 
born  March  17,  1871,  died  February  4,  1882.  A 
biography  of  Frank  Burr,  the  next  in  order  of 
birth,  appears  on  another  page  of  this  work. 
Grace  was  born  Augusts,  1875.  Though  never 
an  office  seeker,  Mr.  Palmer  is  a  stanch  Repub- 
lican. He  and  his  family  are  consistent  and 
honored  members  of  the  Second  Adventist 
Church. 


JOHN   KANE. 


HOHN  KANE,  who  is  one  of  Chicago's  repre- 
I  sentative  citizens,  was  born  in  1832,  in 
C/  Waterford,  Ireland.  His  father  was  Michael 
Kane,  and  his  mother,  who  was  a  Miss  Tobin, 
died  when  her  son  John  was  but  three  weeks 
old.  With  his  father  and  brother  and  sisters — 
Patrick,  Mary,  Bridget  and  Nora — John  Kane 
came  to  America  in  1846.  He  located  in  Chicago 
and  was  employed  by  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
&  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  He  went,  sub- 
sequently, to  Saratoga  Springs,  New  York,  where 
he  was  married.  He  came  back  to  Chicago  and 
was  occupied  as  a  laborer  before  he  entered  into 
the  enterprise  of  teaming.  In  1 859  he  purchased 
thirteen  and  one-half  acres  of  land,  between 
Sixty-sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  Streets,  and 
moved  a  house  to  this  property.  Since  that 
time  he  has  resided  at  No.  6619  State  Street. 

John  Kane  was  married  April  8,  1856,  to 
Bridget  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  and  Mar- 
garet (Hainan)  Guerin.  Mrs.  Kane  was  born 
August  15,  1830,  in  Parish  Minoe,  County  Clare, 
Ireland.  Mrs.  Kane  and  her  sister,  Mary,  immi- 
grated to  America  in  1 85 1 ,  and  located  in  Esperus, 


Schoharie  County,  New  York.  They  remained 
a  period  of  three  years  and  some  months,  during 
which  time  Mrs.  Kane  was  employed  by  Mr. 
Alfred  Isham.  She  then  located  in  Saratoga 
Springs,  New  York,  and  was  a  seamstress  in  the 
tailor  shop  of  Mr.  Wilcox  two  years,  and  was 
with  Daniel  Stewart,  in  the  capacity  of  household 
assistant,  one  year.  Her  father  died  when  she 
was  about  eight  years  of  age,  in  his  early  man- 
hood. He  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  by  occupation. 
His  wife  survived  him  until  1852,  having  reached 
the  age  of  forty  years.  Her  children  are  accounted 
for  as  follows:  James,  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  is  mar- 
ried and  resides  in  the  city  of  Melbourne,  Aus- 
tralia; John  died  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years; 
Mrs.  Kane  is  the  next  in  order  of  birth;  Mary 
never  married  and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-two 
years;  Michael  lived  to  be  eight  years  old;  Patrick 
died  one  year  before  reaching  his  majority ;  Thom- 
as, a  freight  house  clerk,  married  Elizabeth  Lahiff, 
and  resides  in  San  Francisco,  California.  Cath- 
erine and  Julia,  twins,  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
months;  Maggie  lives  near  Seattle,  Washington, 
having  married  John  Crane,  an  agriculturist. 


F.  A.  BROWN. 


613 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kane  became  the  parents  of  eleven 
children.  Mary  was  born  March  i,  1857,  and 
married  Mr.  McKicham,  extended  mention  of 
whom  appears  on  another  page  of  this  work. 
John,  born  November  6,  1859,  died  March  23, 
1887.  He  was  killed  by  a  train  of  the  Lake 
Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  Company, 
at  Root  Street.  Michael,  born  August  29,  1861, 
married  Mary  N.  Steinberg,  and  their  children  are 
Clarence  and  Grace.  He  is  a  gate-keeper  and  has 
occupied  this  position  twenty-one  years.  Mar- 
garet, born  August  13,  1863,  married  John  Metz- 
ger,  and  resides  at  the  corner  of  Seventy-ninth 
Street  and  Ford  Avenue.  Mr.  Metzger  is  an 
engineer  and  his  children  are:  Nellie,  John,  Fred- 
erick, Philip  and  Bessie  (the  last  two  named  be- 
ing twins)  Kate  and  George.  Patrick  Henry 
Kane,  born  March  23,  1865,  married  Sophia 
Lowie.  He  is  a  policeman,  and  resides  at  the 
corner  of  Sangamon  and  Seventy-second  Streets. 
His  children  are  Albert  and  Roger.  Ellen,  born 


December  25,  1866,  married  Samuel  Rank.  Her 
children  are:  Grace,  Mamie  and  Hattie.  Thomas, 
born  November  24,  1867,  is  a  watchman  in  the 
employ  of  the  New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad  Company.  He  married  Annie  Brown 
and  resides  on  Chauncey  Avenue.  Their  chil- 
dren are  named:  George,  Thomas,  Theresa  and 
Stephen.  James  was  born  July  17,  1869,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  fourteen  months.  Elizabeth, 
born  March  23,  1871,  married  Eugene  Hutton, 
and  their  only  child  is  named  Eugene.  Mr.  Hut- 
ton  is  a  paper-hanger  and  decorator  and  resides 
on  Wabash  Avenue.  Nora,  born  January  4, 
1874,  died  when  four  days  old.  Stephen,  born 
December  25,  1876,  was  in  Troop  E,  First  Illi- 
nois Cavalry,  in  the  war  with  Spain. 

Mr.  Kane  was  born  of  Roman  Catholic  parents 
and  is  a  stanch  Democrat  in  politics.  He  is  not 
an  office-seeker,  but  is  interested  in  the  fate  of 
his  party  and  never  fails  to  offer  his  influence 
and  arguments  in  its  favor. 


FREDERIK  A.  BROWN. 


r~REDERIK  ANIAS  BROWN  is  one  of 
Vri  those  sons  of  Denmark  who  have  found  a 
|  *  home  in  America  at  an  early  age,  and  who, 
while  yet  in  the  flush  of  young  manhood,  have 
attained  success  through  their  own  unaided  ex- 
ertions. He  was  born  January  19,  1866,  at 
Nakskow,  and  is  the  oldest  of  four  children  born 
to  Hans  and  Laura  Brown,  both  natives  of  Den- 
mark. His  father  was  a  brewer  and  still  carries 
on  the  same  business  in  his  native  place. 

The  elder  Brown  was  naturally  desirous  of 
training  his  son  to  his  own  trade.  Accordingly, 
when  Frederik  was  fifteen  years  old  and  had 
attended  the  common  schools  for  the  customary 
period,  he  was  placed  to  work  in  a  general  store, 
where  he  might  learn  something  of  the  funda- 


mental principles  of  business,  and  later  was  sent 
to  a  brewing  school  (the  only  institution  of  the 
sort  in  Denmark),  to  learn  both  the  science  and 
practical  art  of  brewing.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years  he  returned  to  Nakskow  and  took 
charge  of  his  father's  business.  There  he  re- 
mained for  a  period  of  two  years,  when  he  left 
his  native  country  to  begin  a  new  career  at 
Chicago. 

Arriving  in  this  city  he  commenced  work  for 
the  North  Western  Terra  Cotta  Company,  in 
which  employ  he  remained  four  years.  He  re- 
turned to  this  concern,  after  working  as  collector 
for  six  months,  during  the  Columbian  Exposition, 
and  continued  with  the  company  for  a  year  and 
one-half.  His  next  venture  was  to  start  a  brewery 


614 


G.  I.  HOFFMANN. 


at  Racine,  Wisconsin,  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in 
America  making  non-intoxicating  beer.  After 
two  years  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness to  his  partner,  who  still  carries  it  on.  Re- 
turning to  Chicago,  he  entered  into  a  teaming 
contract  with  Kuh,  Nathan  &  Fischer,  wholesale 
dealers  in  clothing,  with  which  concern  he  has 
since  remained. 


Before  leaving  Denmark  he  was  married  to 
Johanna  Hansen,  who  was  born  in  Copenhagen. 
Mr.  Brown  is  an  active  member  of  the  Danish 
Veterans'  Association,  of  which  he  is  (1899) 
secretary.  He  was  several  years  president  of  the 
Danish  Turners'  Society,  which  has  gone  out  of 
existence.  In  religious  faith  he  is  a  Lutheran, 
and  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 


GEORGE  I.  HOFFMANN. 


0EORGE  I.  HOFFMANN  is  a  native  of  Lok- 
I—  ken,  Denmark.  He  was  born  July  4,  1834, 
t_J  and  is  the  fourth  child  and  third  son  of 
Thomas  Christian  Hoffmann  and  his  wife,  Cath- 
erine M.  Petersen.  Both  parents  were  natives  of 
Lokken,  where  the  father  was  prominent  in  both 
mercantile  and  farming  interests.  He  died  at  the 
age  of  fifty-eight  years.  The  mother  died  at  the 
age  of  seventy-five  years.  Both  parents  spent 
their  lives  in  their  native  place.  Their  family 
consisted  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  grew  to 
maturity. 

George  I.  Hoffmann  passed  his  boyhood  in  his 
birthplace,  attending  the  local  schools  until  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  when  he  was  apprenticed  to 
a  farmer.  Here,  by  his  industry  and  close  atten- 
tion to  business,  he  rose  at  the  end  of  two  years 
to  be  assistant  overseer.  One  year  later  he  left 
that  position  to  take  charge  of  the  property  of  a 
deceased  uncle.  At  the  end  of  two  years  this 
farm  was  sold  and  he  managed  another  place  for 
two  and  one-half  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
he  decided  to  come  to  America,  and  spent  six 
months  in  making  preparations  for  the  journey. 

He  was  at  that  time  engaged  to  his  present 
wife,  but  left  his  young  sweetheart  to  follow  him 
later,  and  in  1861  he  landed  in  this  country, 
corning  to  Lee  County,  Illinois,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  farming  for  about  two  months;  but 


the  war  of  the  Rebellion  had  been  declared  and 
the  young  Dane  was  anxious  to  help  his  adopted 
land,  so  with  two  of  his  countrymen  he  enlisted 
in  Company  A,  Second  Illinois  Cavalry,  and 
served  with  that  regiment  until  the  battle  of  Fort 
Donaldson,  in  1862,  when  he  was  wounded.  He 
was  unwilling  to  be  left  behind  and  stayed  with 
his  company  until  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  when 
his  condition  became  known  to  his  officers  and 
he  was  honorably  discharged  on  account  of  dis- 
ability. This  is  a  fine  record  for  a  man  who  had 
been  but  a  few  months  in  this  country.  No 
native-born  American  has  a  better.  After  leav- 
ing the  army  he  spent  a  short  time  at  Dixon, 
Illinois,  and  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1862. 

He  at  once  started  in  business  manufacturing 
cigars,  locating  first  at  No.  37  Kinzie  Street.  He 
remained  at  this  site  until  1865.  He  then  re- 
moved to  No.  i$l/2  North  Wells  Street,  where  he 
continued  the  same  line  of  business  as  before. 
After  a  period  of  two  years  he  moved  again  to 
No.  105  East  Kinzie  Street,  but  the  fire  of  1871 
turned  him  out  of  both  home  and  business.  He 
was  able  to  recover  only  a  nominal  amount  of 
insurance,  and,  removing  his  family  to  West 
Chicago,  he  rented  one-half  of  a  store  on  West 
Kinzie  Street,  where  he  began  to  build  up  again 
the  trade  swept  away  when  Chicago  was  de- 
stroyed. He  was  at  this  location  until  1873,  when 


NELS  FIELDSE. 


615 


he  moved  to  No.  201  Milwaukee  Avenue,  and  in 
1888  removed  to  his  present  location,  where  he 
has  been  since  that  date. 

Mr.  Hoffmann  was  engaged  to  Miss  Anna  S. 
Larsen,  who  came  on  to  Chicago  from  Denmark, 
and  they  were  married  August  18,  1862.  They 
have  a  family  of  five  children.  They  are:  Kath- 
rene  (deceased);  Catherine  S.,  who  is  at  home 
with  her  parents;  Ida  T. ,  who  is  engaged  in 
teaching;  Thomas  C. ,  who  died  at  the  age  of  two 
years;  and  L.  Maria,  who  is  a  teacher  of  music. 

Mr.  Hoffmann  is  a  firm  believer  in  Democratic 
principles  and  is  active  in  party  work.  He  was 
elected  county  commissioner  in  1876  and  served 
in  that  capacity  until  1879.  He  then  took  a  trip 
to  his  native  country,  and  on  his  return  contin- 
ued at  his  business. 

He  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  our  large 


and  highly  respected  Danish  citizens,  being  the 
founder  of  the  Society  "Dania,"  the  great  social 
and  charitable  factor  among  the  Danes  of  this  city. 
He  is  the  last  man  living  of  the  twelve  who  were 
its  original  promoters,  and  it  was  due  to  his  per- 
sonal efforts  that  it  reached  its  present  prominence. 
He  is  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Danish 
Lutheran  Trinitates  Church,  which  was  the  first 
church  established  in  Chicago.  He  is  a  Mason 
of  note,  being  a  member  of  Hesperia  Lodge  No. 
411,  Washington  Chapter  No.  43,  Siloam  Coun- 
cil No.  53,  and  Chicago  Commandery  No.  19. 

Mr.  Hoffmann  occupies  an  enviable  position 
among  his  acquaintances  and  friends.  He  has 
overcome  many  difficulties  in  business  life  and 
has  been  enabled  to  help  many  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen,  besides  being  a  loyal  American  citi- 
zen from  the  moment  he  landed  in  this  country. 


NELS  FIELDSE. 


FIELDSE  was  born  January  31,  1844, 
|  /  at  Flekkefjord,  in  the  northwestern  part  of 
I  tD  Norway.  Both  his  parents  were  natives  of 
the  same  place,  and  were  of  that  hardy,  virile 
stock  which  has  made  the  name  of  Norseman  a 
synonym  for  strength  and  endurance.  They 
were  the  parents  of  nine  children,  and  lived  to 
celebrate  their  diamond  wedding.  Mr.  Fieldse's 
father,  Peter  Fieldse,  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five  years,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Anina  Jacobsen,  at  eighty-three,  both  pass- 
ing away  near  the  spot  where  they  were  born. 
All  their  children  grew  to  manhood  and  woman- 
hood. 

Nels  Fieldse  was  the  youngest.  Until  his 
fifteenth  year  he  attended  the  common  schools, 
and  after  passing  through  their  various  grades 
was  apprenticed  to  learn  the  trade  of  cabinet- 
maker, the  term  of  apprenticeship  (as  is  usual  in 


Norway)  being  five  years,  with  no  more  com- 
pensation than  mere  subsistence.  After  becoming 
a  journeyman,  young  Fieldse,  anxious  to  see 
more  of  the  world,  set  out  for  Copenhagen,  and 
afterward  visited  Breslau,  Guttenburg  and  Berlin. 
Returning  to  Norway,  he  remained  at  home  for 
about  a  year  and  a-half,  when  he  determined 
upon  removing  to  Chicago. 

He  reached  this  city  while  the  great  fire  of 
October,  1871,  was  still  raging.  It  was  a  time 
when  every  variety  of  labor  was  in  demand,  and 
he  readily  found  work  at  his  trade.  For  twenty 
years  he  was  thus  employed,  having  been  a  fore- 
man during  a  considerable  portion  of  this  period. 
While  serving  in  that  capacity  he  fitted  up  the 
First  and  Commercial  National  Banks,  Spaulding 
Brothers'  store, the  Metropolitan  Business  College, 
the  ceiling  in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name, 
besides  some  other  handsome  interiors. 


6i6 


ANTON  ROHDE. 


In  1891  Mr.  Fieldse  opened  his  present  place  of 
business,  at  No.  398  West  Chicago  Avenue,  which 
he  operates  as  proprietor,  under  the  business 
style  of  the  West  Side  Mantel  Company.  He  en- 
joys the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  artistic  workmen  in  Chicago,  and  makes 
specialties  of  handsome  mantels,  tilings,  railings, 
wainscotings,  and  other  interior  fittings. 

He  was  married  in  Chicago  May  3,  1873,  to  a 
Norwegian  young  lady,  Miss  Nicolene  Planting. 
Five  children  have  been  born  to  them:  Palmer, 
Jennie  (who  is  married  to  Nicholas  Moe) ,  Harry, 
Clara  and  Anton.  With  the  exception  of  Mrs. 
Moe  and  Harry,  who  is  married,  all  are  living  at 
home. 

Mr.  Fieldse  is  an  active  member  of  the  follow- 


ing organizations:  Sons  of  Hermann,  a  German 
order;  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor;  and  the 
Norwegian  Glee  Club.  Of  all  of  these  bodies  he 
has  been  president,  having  filled  that  office  in  the 
Sons  of  Hermann  ten  times,  besides  twice  in  the 
Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  and  six  times  in 
the  Glee  Club. 

His  success  has  been  extraordinary.  Coming  to 
this  city  penniless,  he  has,  through  his  own  indus- 
try, thrift  and  good  judgment,  built  up  a  pros- 
perous business  and  achieved  an  enviable  reputa- 
tion, not  only  as  a  skilled  artisan,  but  as  a  man 
of  integrity  and  mental  acumen.  He  is  of  a  social 
disposition  and  his  home  is  a  happy  one.  He 
resides  in  a  handsome  three  story  and  basement 
brick  house,  which  he  erected  in  1880. 


ANTON  ROHDE. 


Gl  NTON  ROHDE,  who  has  been  a  resident  of 
L_l  Chicago  over  thirty  years,  and  has  risen  to 
/  I  independence  in  the  face  of  difficulties  and 
misfortunes,  was  born  in  Fredensborg,  Denmark, 
April  13,  1842.  He  is  the  youngest  of  three  chil- 
dren of  Dr.  Frederik  and  Ida  Rohde  and  is 
the  only  member  of  the  family  who  has  emigrated 
to  America.  Frederik  Rohde  was  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Copenhagen  and  practiced  medi- 
cine for  many  years.  He  and  his  wife  passed 
away  many  years  ago. 

After  receiving  an  elementary  training  in  the 
public  schools,  Anton  Rohde  entered  a  drugstore 
as  clerk,  where  he  remained  four  years  and,  at 
the  end  of  that  time,  had  made  considerable  prog- 
ress in  the  study  of  pharmacy.  He  then  took 
a  course  of  two  years  in  the  University  at  Copen- 
hagen, graduating  in  1866.  He  was  then  quali- 
fied to  dispense  drugs  and  at  once  accepted  a 
position  in  a  drug  store,  and  continued  as  drug 
clerk  in  Denmark  two  years. 


With  a  spirit  of  adventure  natural  to  the  pen- 
insular kingdom,  he  resolved  to  seek  advance- 
ment in  the  newer  country  of  America,  and  in 
1868  made  a  journey  across  the  Atlantic  and  on 
to  Chicago.  As  he  was  not  familiar  with  the 
language  and  customs  of  his  adopted  country,  he 
was  not  at  once  able  to  make  use  of  his  knowl- 
edge of  pharmacy,  but  spent  one  year  in  the 
factory  of  Mahler  &  Chappell.  Having  learned  to 
speak  English  and  having  gained  an  acquaint- 
ance in  the  city,  he  was  able  to  secure  a  more  desir- 
able position  and,  during  the  next  twelve  months, 
was  engaged  in  the  drug  store  of  Emil  Dreyer, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  Danes  in  Chicago  at 
that  time  and  for  some  years  Danish  consul. 

But  his  natural  courage  and  energy  were  not 
satisfied  in  serving  others,  and  the  next  year, 
1870,  he  opened  a  store  of  his  own,  at  the  corner  of 
Chicago  Avenue  and  Sedgwick  Street,  where  he 
continued  in  business  until  the  great  fire  swept 
away  his  property,  leaving  him  in  discouraging 


ADAM  SAUER. 


617 


circumstances.  Shortly  after  this  catastrophe  he 
made  a  trip  to  the  South,  visiting  Texas  and 
Cuba.  His  intentions  were  to  settle  in  the 
Danish  island  of  St.  Thomas,  but  he  concluded 
his  means  were  not  sufficient  to  make  a  satisfac- 
tory beginning,  so  he  crossed  to  New  Orleans. 
He  was  unable  to  secure  any  advantages  there,  so 
he  returned  to  Chicago  and,  borrowing  capital, 
again  opened  a  pharmacy,  this  time  at  the  corner 
of  Sedgwick  and  Oak  Streets.  He  still  had  an 
account  of  three  hundred  dollars  with  the  whole- 
sale druggists,  Fuller  &  Fuller,  which  had  been 
made  previous  to  the  fire,  but  when  he  asked  to 
have  this  old  account  included  in  the  new,  they 
made  him  a  present  of  the  amount  by  throwing 
the  bill  in  the  waste  paper  basket.  With  an 
entirely  new  stock,  Mr.  Rohde  began  business 
again,  but  a  short  time  after  removed  to  Chicago 
Avenue.  A  few  months  later  he  found  his  health 
failing  and  disposed  of  his  stock. 

In  1872  he  engaged  in  photography,  though 
at  first  he  was  only  able  to  make  a  living.  He 
persevered,  however,  and  after  six  years  of  hard 
work  began  to  accumulate  some  capital.  With 
his  usual  pride  and  energy  he  strove  to  become 
proficient  in  his  art  and  to  please  his  patrons. 
His  work  gradually  increased  in  artistic  merit 


and  his  patronage  grew  in  proportion.  His  work 
is  much  admired,  and  at  the  photographer's  con- 
vention in  Minneapolis,  in  1888,  he  won  a  fine 
medal  for  the  finest  display  of  photographs.  He 
opened  his  gallery  at  No.  90  West  Ohio  Street, 
corner  of  Milwaukee  Avenue,  and  is  still  located 
at  that  number,  being  probably  the  only  photog- 
rapher in  the  city  who  has  been  in  the  same  lo- 
cation over  twenty-five  years.  He  is  the  oldest 
photographer  on  the  street  where  he  is  located. 

In  1876  Mr.  Rohde  was  married,  in  Chicago, 
to  Miss  Augusta  Traegarth,  who  was  born  in 
Sweden  and  came  to  Chicago  with  her  parents  at 
the  age  of  two  years.  Her  father,  Sven  Trae- 
garth, was  among  the  prominent  citizens  in  Chi- 
cago fifty  years  ago.  Two  children  have  been 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rohde,  Ida  and  Sven,  both 
of  whom  reside  with  their  parents. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  is  connected  with 
several  fraternal  organizations.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  Thorwaldsen  Lodge,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  seventeen  years.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  order  known  as  the  Dansk  Brodersamfund. 
With  his  brethren  and  among  his  acquaintances 
and  friends,  he  is  ever  found  to  be  a  polished 
gentleman,  and  a  genial  and  entertaining  com- 
panion. 


ADAM  SAUER. 


Gl  DAM  SAUER,  now  deceased,  was  for  many 
LJ  years  a  well-known  business  man  in  the 
/  I  northwestern  section  of  Chicago.  He  was 
born  February  18,  1846,  in  the  village  of  Lohne, 
Kreis  Fritzlar,  Germany.  His  father  was  Martin 
Sauer,  who  apprenticed  him  to  a  cabinet-maker, 
after  he  had  completed  the  curriculum  of  studies 
taught  in  the  school  of  his  native  village. 


In  1865,  having  served  the  prescribed  term  of 
apprenticeship,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  here 
obtained  work  at  his  trade  from  a  Mr.  Clark,  in 
whose  employ  he  remained  some  five  years.  He 
then  formed  a  co-partnership  with  a  brother-in- 
law,  and  together  they  opened  a  grocery  store  on 
Milwaukee  Avenue  near  Chicago  Avenue.  The 
business  was  not  to  Mr.  Sauer's  liking,  and  after 


6i8 


JOHN  DE  KOKER. 


a  few  months  he  disposed  of  his  interest  therein 
to  his  partner  and  returned  as  a  journeyman  to 
Mr.  Clark.  Later  he  embarked  for  himself  as  a 
saloon-keeper,  continuing  in  that  line  of  trade 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  September  24, 
1886. 

He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity  and  of  a 
genial,  generous  disposition.  He  was  noted  for 
his  public  spirit,  as  well  as  for  his  genuine  loyalty 
to  the  country  of  his  adoption.  In  politics  he 
was  an  ardent  Republican  and  always  au  earnest 
worker  for  his  party's  success.  He  was  a  mem- 


ber of  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters  and  of 
the  Teutonic  Singing  Society.  In  religious  faith 
he  was  a  Lutheran. 

He  was  married,  August  9,  1868,  to  Miss 
Anna,  daughter  of  Henry  Hamil,  a  native  of  the 
same  German  village  as  himself.  A  more  ex- 
tended notice  of  Mrs.  Sauer  may  be  found  in  the 
biography  of  Mr.  Hamil,  which  appears  else- 
where in  this  volume.  The  issue  of  the  mar- 
riage was  three  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  is 
deceased.  Those  yet  living  are:  Alice  S.  and 
Alma  M.,  the  latter  the  wife  of  Otto  Nottelman. 


JOHN  DE  KOKER. 


(JOHN  DE  KOKER  was  born  March  17,  1862, 
I  and  is  a  son  of  Abraham  and  Martha  (Mo- 
G)  balius)  De  Koker,  the  former  a  Belgian  and 
the  latter  a  Hollander  by  birth.  Both  died  in 
Chicago.  His  father  was  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  Chicago  and  one  of  the  first  carpenters  in  the 
vicinity  of  Roseland,  Pullman  and  Kensington. 
Five  of  his  children  now  reside  in  Chicago. 

Abraham,  the  eldest,  resides  on  a  farm  at  De 
Motte,  Indiana.  Mollie,  who  married  John  Oling, 
an  employe  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  resides  in  Kensington.  Jane  married 
Charles  Fraatz,  and  died  in  1892,  leaving  five 
children.  Cornelius,  born  April  13,  1856,  con- 
ducts a  catering  establishment  at  No.  6321  South 
Park  Avenue.  March  3,  1879,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Johanna,  daughter  of  Peter  Mack,  and  a 
native  of  Holland.  His  children  are:  Peter, 
Annie,  Maud,  Abram,  Joseph  and  Cora.  James 
is  a  contracting  carpenter,  very  successful  in  this 
enterprise,  and  resides  at  No.  25460116  Hundred 
Seventeenth  Place.  John  is  next  in  order  of 
birth.  Jacob  was  born  November  26,  1865,  and 
is  occupied  in  the  same  business  as  his  brother 
Cornelius.  He  was  married  to  a  native  of  the 


Netherlands,  Miss  Nellie  Leits,  and  a  daughter 
of  Jacob  Leits.  She  was  born  in  1867,  and  her 
children  are  accounted  for  as  follows:  Maud,  born 
in  September,  1888,  died  in  November  of  the 
same  year;  Maud,  another  child  of  the  same 
name,  was  born  in  November,  1889,  and  died  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  months;  Martin,  born  June 
5,  1891,  and  Abraham,  born  May  27,  1894,  re- 
side in  Chicago. 

John  De  Koker  attended  school  until  he  reached 
the  age  of  fourteen  years,  subsequent  to  which 
time  he  was  occupied  in  agricultural  labors  until 
nineteen  years  of  age.  Being  very  energetic  and 
ambitious  of  character,  he  began  the  sale  of  fish 
and  vegetables,  with  a  market  in  the  town  of 
Pullman.  After  two  years  he  began  catching 
fish  for  sale.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1890  he 
conceived  success  in  another  line  of  occupation 
and  established  a  saloon  at  the  corner  of  One 
Hundred  Third  Street  and  Wabash  Avenue,  a 
very  desirable  location.  He  entered  the  build- 
ing which  he  had  erected  for  another,  but  in  1892 
he  changed  his  location  to  a  building  of  his  own, 
at  the  comer  of  the  same  street  and  Michigan 
Avenue.  He  remained  there  until  May,  1895, 


P.  G.  RUEHL. 


619 


when  he  removed  to  the  northern  part  of  the 
state  of  Michigan.  August  16,  1897,  he  returned 
to  Chicago  and  has  since  resided  at  the  corner  of 
Ninetieth  Street  and  Cottage  Grove  Avenue. 

Conducive  to  a  life  of  success  and  realized 
ambitions  through  one's  own  efforts,  is  a  worthy 
and  helpful  life  partner,  such  as  Mr.  De  Koker 
secured.  He  was  married  June  15,  1887,  to  Miss 
Bertha,  daughter  of  John  Stall.  Mrs.  De  Koker 
was  born  in  Holland  and  came  to  America  when 
she  was  quite  young.  She  is  the  mother  of  six 
very  bright  and  attractive  children:  Maud,  born 


October  3,  1888;  Abram,  April  25,  1890;  Jacob, 
Novembers,  1891;  Annie,  in  August,  1893;  John, 
April  i,  1896;  and  Richard,  March  5,  1898. 

In  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Mr. 
De  Koker  is  a  member  of  Fernwood  Lodge  No. 
228.  He  is  independent  in  his  political  views, 
preferring  to  vote  at  all  times  for  the  man,  rather 
than  for  the  furtherance  of  party.  He  has  served 
as  judge  of  elections.  By  all  men  who  have  been 
fortunate  enough  to  make  his  acquaintance,  Mr. 
De  Koker  is  regarded  with  respect  and  esteem, 
and  is  recognized  as  a  man  of  honor  and  integrity. 


PAUL  G.  RUEHL. 


RAUL  GUSTAV  RUEHL,  belongs  to  the 
yr  great  class  of  German- Americans  which 
1$  does  so  much  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  best 
and  most  substantial  businesses  of  the  metropolis 
of  the  west.  He  was  born  October  7,  1861,  in 
Wiesbaden,  Germany,  a  son  of  Gustav  William 
and  Minnie  Byanky  (Remmy)  Ruehl. 

The  grandfather,  William  Ruehl,  was  in  the 
business  of  cutting  and  dealing  in  stone,  which 
was  handed  down  to  his  sons.  His  children  were: 
William,  Gustav,  Carl,  Alvina  and  Rose.  None 
emigrated  from  their  native  land  except  Gustav 
William.  Siegfried  Retnmy,  maternal  grandfa- 
ther, was  a  Frenchman  and  has  five  children. 

Gustav  William  Ruehl  died  May  i,  1871,  and 
his  remains  were  interred  at  Waldheim  Cemetery. 
He  was  born  August  23,  1829,  in  Wiesbaden, 
Germany.  He  conducted  a  stone  yard  in  his  na- 
tive land  and  followed  the  cut  stone  business  in 
the  town  of  Wiesbaden,  in  partnership  with  his 
brother,  Karl.  He  left  his  family  in  Germany 
and  came  to  America  in  1859.  He  came  to  Chi- 
cago and  established  a  business  like  the  one  he 
left  in  Germany,  and  his  stone  yard  was  between 
Polk  and  Harrison  Streets,  on  the  south  branch 


of  the  river.  His  partner  was  Mr.  Reece.  In 
the  year  1866  he  sent  for  his  family  and  sold  his 
interest  in  the  business  in  the  old  country  to  his 
brother. 

His  first  extensive  contract  was  for  the  old 
Court  House,  on  the  North  Side.  He  was  the 
first  cut  stone  worker  in  Chicago,  and  had  a 
monopoly  of  the  business  for  a  long  time.  He 
was  practically  an  invalid  the  last  four  years  of 
his  life,  and  lived  retired.  He  lost  all  his  ac- 
cumulations in  the  fire  of  1871.  Mrs.  Minnie  B. 
Ruehl,  the  mother  of  Paul  G.  Ruehl,  died  Jan- 
uary 3,  1890.  She  was  born  February  23,  1829, 
in  Mentz,  on  the  Rhine,  German}'.  Her  chil- 
dren were  Paul  Gustav  and  a  daughter,  Frances, 
who  was  born  July  14,  1853.  She  married  Theo- 
dore Onsweiler,  a  cattle  dealer,  and  resides  in 
Wichita,  Kansas.  They  have  five  bright,  inter- 
esting children. 

Paul  G.  Ruehl  attended  public  schools  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  He  was  sub- 
sequently employed  two  years  at  the  store  of 
Marshall  Field  &  Company  and  subsequently  at 
clerical  labor  in  the  postoffice  six  years.  For 
four  years  he  conducted  a  billiard  and  pool  hall 


620 


L.  A.  McDOLE. 


at  No.  2834  Union  Avenue.  He  then  entered 
the  police  department,  and  was  patrolman  for  a 
period  of  nine  years.  He  has  since  been  one 
year  with  the  Union  Stock  Yards  &  Transit 
Company. 

Conducive  to  the  success  and  happiness  of  a 
man's  whole  life  is  a  pleasant,  congenial  life 
companion,  such  as  Mrs.  Ruehlhas  proven.  Mr. 
Ruehl  was  married  October  20,  1887,  to  Miss 
Edith  Sophia  Ann,  daughter  of  George  Parker. 
She  was  born  in  London,  England,  February  18, 
1865,  and  came  to  America  in  1869.  The  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ruehl  are  as  follows:  Paul 


William,  born  July  21,  1888;  Ruby  Sophia  Ann, 
September  2,  1891;  William  George  Parker, 
March  9,  1893;  and  Minnie  Olive  Belle,  July  3, 
1894. 

Mr.  Ruehl  is  connected  with  the  Policemen's 
Benevolent  Association.  He  has  served  as  judge 
of  election,  and  casts  his  vote  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  is  a  worshipper  in  the 
Baptist  Church  and  sanctions  any  move  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people,  and  lends  his  influence,  as 
well  as  financial  aid,  to  charity.  Coming  of  a 
very  old  and  respected  family,  he  is  a  credit  to 
the  name  he  bears. 


LEMUEL  A.   McDOLE. 


I  EMUEL  ALEXANDER  Me  DOLE  was 
born  Februarys,  1857.  At  the  time  of  his 
birth  his  parents,  David  and  Catherine 
(Emmy)  McDole,  resided  at  Newport,  now 
Maine  City,  Michigan. 

The  name  was  originally  Dole,  and  the  great- 
grandfather of  L-  A.  McDole  emigrated  from 
France  and  settled  in  Vermont,  marrying  into  a 
family  of  Whitney s.  His  son,  David  McDole, 
added  the  prefix  to  the  name.  He  was  born  in 
Vermont,  where  his  parents  were  among  the  first 
settlers.  They  later  removed  to  Pappineauville, 
province  of  Quebec,  Canada,  where  David  Mc- 
Dole conducted  a  store.  He  married  Miss  Chloe 
Carpenter  and  had  children  as  follows:  Alexan- 
der, Lemuel,  David,  Cynthia,  Fannie,  Caroline 
and  Olive. 

David  McDole  left  Canada  during  the  war  of 
1812  and  fought  with  the  United  States  as  an 
officer.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  the  man 
whose  name  heads  this  article,  Frederick  Emmy, 
came  to  America  in  1840,  and  located  in  Detroit. 
He  came  from  Strassburg,  Germany,  a  city  lo- 
cated on  the  Rhine  River.  His  wife  was  a  French 


lady  and  their  children  were  named:  Frederick, 
David  and  Catherine. 

David  McDole,  son  of  David  McDole,  Senior, 
was  born  June  u,  1827,  in  Pappineauville, 
Canada,  and  died  May  17,  1898.  His  remains 
were  interred  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery.  In  his 
early  manhood  he  removed  to  Oswego,  New 
York,  and  served  an  apprenticeship  in  Goodsell's 
ship  yards.  He  then  located  in  Detroit,  Michi- 
gan, and  was  in  the  service  of  E.  B.  Ward  until 
1865,  when  he  began  contracting  for  himself. 
At  Newport,  Michigan,  he  built  the  schooner, 
' '  Meers, ' '  and  many  others.  He  built  more  lake 
vessels  than  any  other  man  and  was  part  owner 
in  the  schooner  '  'John  Rice ' '  and  old  brig 
"Prebel."  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1868  he  lo- 
cated in  Chicago,  in  what  is  known  as  South 
Chicago,  where  he  made  his  home  until  his  death. 
He  had  charge  of  dock  work  for  the  Calumet  & 
Chicago  Canal  &  Dock  Company,  under  Charles 
Mears,  doing  the  first  dock  work  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity. 

He  built  the  first  schooner  that  entered  the 
harbor  of  Calumet,  now  South  Chicago.  He 


CONRAD  KNUTSEN. 


621 


later  put  in  the  slip  at  the  Brown  rolling  mills 
and  completed  the  dock  at  Ninety-third  Street. 
In  1865  he  fell  off  a  tug,  and  in  after  years  his 
health  was  impaired  by  this  accident,  the  fall 
being  a  distance  of  thirty-seven  feet.  He  was 
known  as  one  of  the  finest  mechanics  on  the 
lakes.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  David  Mc- 
Dole  were  four  in  number.  Charles  Edward, 
born  January  12,  1854,  resides  in  Chicago. 
Lemuel  A.  is  the  next  in  order  of  birth.  Olive 
Rosaline  married  Gest  Westfeldt;  and  Clara,  the 
youngest,  married  Harry  Sellick.  For  his  second 
wife,  Mr.  McDole  married  Miss  Mary  Donaldson, 
and  her  daughter,  Ida,  married  Thomas  Cart- 
wright,  who  resides  in  Montana. 

Lemuel  A.  McDole  was  educated  in  Maine  City 
Academy,  attending  until  he  was  twelve  years  of 
age.  He  then  became  occupied  at  packing 
shingles,  and  subsequently  worked  in  and  around 
ship  yards  until  1869,  when  he  went  to  school  in 
South  Chicago  for  a  short  time.  After  leaving 
school  he  was  in  the  same  interest  as  formerly, 
and  went  into  the  postal  service  under  E.  G. 
Clark,  the  first  postmaster  in  South  Chicago,  who 
also  owned  and  operated  a  coal  yard. 

After  three  years  in  this  capacity  his  father 
started  a  coal  yard.  The  old  Volunteer  Fire 
Company  located  in  the  vicinity,  and  L.  A.  Mc- 
Dole took  the  engine  out  to  the  first  fire,  which 
was  the  burning  of  the  Casper  House,  across  the 
street.  He  subsequently  for  one  year  occupied 
himself  with  the  house  moving  business  and  for 
the  same  length  of  time  was  engineer  for  his 


father  on  the  tug  "Meteor."  For  a  short  time 
he  was  on  a  pleasure  boat,  which  had  for  its 
course  the  distance  between  Harrison  Street  and 
Lincoln  Park.  For  a  period  of  three  years  he 
was  engineer  on  the  boat  ' '  Pet, ' '  and  took  the 
first  vessel  load  of  lumber  into  Calumet  Lake. 
He  was  in  the  government  employ,  being  engin- 
eer on  a  government  launch  for  two  years.  In 
1 88 1  he  had  charge  of  draining  and  putting  in 
the  artifical  lakes  in  Washington  Park,  being  in 
the  employ  of  the  Washington  Park  board  until 
1885,  when  he  was  made  chief  engineer  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company's  plant,  located  at  the 
corner  of  Sixty-third  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue. 
Until  1890  he  was  engineer  for  Martin  Ryerson, 
at  No.  45  Randolph  Street,  after  which  he  became 
inspector  of  elevators  and  machinery  for  the 
London  Guarantee  &  Accident  Company,  with 
which  concern  he  is  still  identified. 

Being  very  ambitious  and  energetic,  Mr.  Mc- 
Dole succeeded  in  building  a  cottage  at  No.  6420 
St.  Lawrence  Avenue,  in  1888,  which  burned 
and  was  replaced  by  a  fine  two-story  brick  house, 
built  in  1895.  August  29,  1894,  Mr.  McDole 
married  Miss  Charlotta  Olive  Heavens,  daughter 
of  Frederick  and  Sarah  Heavens.  His  wife  was 
born  in  Dixon,  Illinois,  and  her  only  child,  Fred- 
erick, was  born  October  n,  1897.  The  family  is 
connected  with  the  First  Baptist  Church.  Mr. 
McDole' s  father  came  of  Protestant  stock  and  his 
mother  of  Roman  Catholic.  He  is  a  truly  con- 
scientious man,  enjoying  the  honor  and  respect 
of  all  who  meet  him. 


CONRAD  KNUTSEN. 


O  ONR AD  KNUTSEN  is  a  native  of  Norway, 
1 1  but  has  been  a  valued  and  respected  citizen 
\J  of  the  United  States  for  many  years.  He 
was  born  at  Bergen,  Norway,  July  5,  1860.  His 


father,  Knut  Knutsen,  was  a  shoemaker,  who 
died  in  his  native  place  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven. 
The  mother,  Caroline  Eriksen,  a  sturdy  Nor- 
wegian maiden,  bore  her  husband  six  sons,  of 


622 


MARTIN  HANSEN. 


whom  Conrad  is  the  oldest.  Mrs.  Knutsen  is 
still  living  in  her  native  land,  in  a  happy  and 
honored  old  age. 

Young  Conrad  attended  school  until  he  was 
fourteen  years  of  age,  although  about  one  half  his 
time,  after  reaching  the  age  of  eleven  years,  was 
devoted  to  learning  the  art  of  making  fish  hooks, 
for  which  the  fishing  industries  of  the  Scandi- 
navian peninsula  create  a  constant  demand.  He 
believed,  however,  that  the  new  world  across 
the  water  was  full  of  promise,  and  in  May,  1880, 
he  came  hither.  He  went  as  far  West  as  Iowa, 
where,  in  Winneshiek  County,  he  went  to  work 
on  a  farm.  Growing  dissatisfied, he  came  to  Chi- 
cago, and  here,  for  a  time,  he  supported  himself 
by  whatever  labor  he  could  find  to  do.  Finally 
he  secured  steady  employment  with  the  Babcock 
Fire  Extinguisher  Company,  and  remained  in  the 


employ  of  that  concern  nine  years.  By  1892  he 
had  managed  to  save  enough  capital  to  open  a 
yard  for  the  sale  of  coal  and  wood.  The  venture 
proved  successful,  and  he  has  continued  in  the 
business  ever  since,  his  present  location  being  at 
No.  972  North  Robey  Street. 

In  October,  1885,  he  married  a  young  lady  of 
Chicago  birth,  but  Scandinavian  descent,  Miss 
Hannah  Nielsen.  Mrs.  Knutsen  is  a  daughter 
of  J.  O.  Nielsen,  of  Highland  Park,  who  lays 
claim  to  the  distinction  of  being  an  old  settler, 
having  resided  there  for  some  forty  years.  The 
marriage  has  resulted  in  the  birth  of  three  chil- 
dren, Henry,  Cora  and  Ida. 

Mr.  Knutsen  is  a  Forester,  and  a  member  of 
the  Scandinavian  Society  Nora  and  a  Knight  of 
the  White  Cross.  He  is  a  Republican,  but  votes 
rather  for  men  that  for  partisan  issues. 


MARTIN    HANSEN. 


HANSEN  has  been  a  resident  of 
I  Y  I  Chicago  twenty  years,  and  is  well  known 
Ksl  in  the  section  of  the  city  where  he  resides 
and  carries  on  business.  He  was  born  in  Sweden, 
June  9,  1861,  the  sixth  of  a  family  of  nine  chil- 
dren, all  except  one  of  whom  are  (1899)  yet 
living.  His  father,  Hans  Hansen,  a  brickmaker, 
and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Bata 
Comeliesen,  are  still  living  in  Sweden. 

Martin  left  school  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
and  began  active  life  as  a  baker's  apprentice.  He 
did  not  complete  his  term,  however,  emigrating 
to  America  when  but  nineteen  years  old.  He 
came  to  Chicago  immediately  after  landing  and 
for  six  years  worked  at  any  honorable  toil  which 
his  hand  could  find  to  do.  At  the  end  of  that 
time,  through  industry,  temperance  and  thrift,  he 
had  accumulated  enough  to  enable  him  to  em- 
bark in  a  small  business  on  his  own  account.  He 


opened  a  restaurant  at  No.  194  Wells  Street, 
which  he  conducted  three  years.  In  1894  he  en- 
gaged in  the  business  of  a  butcher,  opening  a 
meat  market  at  No.  290  Milwaukee  Avenue.  The 
venture  proved  so  successful  that  he  has  since 
opened  a  branch  at  No.  240  West  Erie  Street, 
and  now  conducts  both  establishments.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  in  looking  back  over  his  career 
in  Chicago  Mr.  Hansen  feels  pardonable  pride  in 
reflecting  that  the  poor  boy  of  nineteen  has 
grown  to  be  the  prosperous  business  man  of 
thirty-eight,  and  that  his  success  is  due  to  him 
self  alone. 

In  1887  he  married  Sophia  Jensen,  a  lady  born 
in  Denmark.  She  has  borne  him  six  children — 
Otto,  Tillie,  Lillie,  Florence,  Willbert  and  Irvin. 
In  politics  Mr.  Hansen  is  independent,  prefer- 
ring to  exercise  his  own  better  judgment  rather 
than  blindly  follow  party  dictation. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

•VERSITY  OF  ILLI> 


M.  A.  FARWELL. 


623 


MARCUS  A.  FARWELL. 


IARCUS  AUGUSTUS  FARWELL. 

well  is  the  anglicized  form  of  the  Norman- 
French  word  Fauvel.  This  fact  suggests 
antiquity  of  family  origin.  The  Farwells,  as  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  Great  Britain,  have 
been  chiefly  conspicuous  in  Yorkshire.  As  re- 
mote as  the  ancient  days  of  King  Edward  I. 
(A.  D.  1280),  Richard  Farwell  was  united  in 
marriage  to  the  heiress  of  Elias  de  Rillertone. 
From  that  time  forth  the  name  appears  in  local 
and  state  records  in  many  honorable  connections. 

A  descendant  of  this  noble  line,  Henry  Far- 
well  came  to  New  England,  where  he  was  ad- 
mitted as  a  freeman  of  Concord,  Massachusetts, 
March  14,  1639.  He  was  the  progenitor  of 
nearly  all  the  American  Farwells.  Later  in  life 
he  removed  to  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts,  where 
he  died  August  i,  1670.  He  had  a  vigorous 
posterity,  scions  of  which  were  actively  scattered 
over  the  New  England  territory,  as  fast  as  new 
settlements  opened  up.  New  Hampshire  and  Con- 
necticut were  especially  early  indebted  to  this 
stock  for  valuable  colonizers. 

The  first  generations  became  quite  distin- 
guished as  Indian  fighters.  In  the  various 
Colonial,  French,  Indian,  Revolutionary  and 
1812  Wars,  the  Farwells  have  been  actively  en- 
gaged. As  privates  and  officers  they  bear  un- 
blemished records. 

Samuel  Farwell  came  from  England  to  Marble- 
head,  Massachusetts,  some  time  between  1720 
and  1740.  He  had  three  sons  and  several  daugh- 
ters. The  sons  were  Absalom,  Richard  and 
John.  Richard  Farwell  married  a  Miss  Pickett, 


and  removed  to  Nelson,  New  Hampshire,  about 
1772.  He  cleared  a  farm  which  is  still  known 
as  his  place,  and  here  he  made  oars,  which  he 
took  to  Boston  and  exchanged  for  such  articles 
as  could  not  be  produced  at  home.  April  12, 
1776,  nearly  three  months  before  the  passage  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  signed  what 
was  called  the  "Association  Test,"  which  read 
as  follows:  "We,  the  subscribers,  do  hereby 
solemnly  engage  and  promise  that  we  will,  to  the 
utmost  of  our  power,  at  the  risk  of  our  lives 
and  fortunes,  with  arms  oppose  the  hostile 
proceedings  of  the  British  fleet  and  armies 
against  the  Americau  colonies."  Richard  and 
his  brother  Absalom  were  soldiers  of  the  Revolu- 
tion and  fought  under  Stark  at  Bennington.  A 
prominent  and  wealthy  neighbor,  named  Batch- 
eldor,  had  joined  the  English  forces,  and  Richard 
Farwell  used  to  say  that  he  saw  Batcheldor  there 
in  the  ranks  of  the  British  and  ' '  took  as  good 
aim  at  him  as  he  ever  did  at  a  black  duck."  At 
the  battle  of  Beunington,  Richard  and  Absalom 
were  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  Richard,  who 
knew  no  fear,  was  standing  out  completely  ex- 
posed to  the  murderous  fire,  while  his  comrades 
were  behind  trees  and  rocks.  The  fight  was  in 
the  woods.  Absalom,  seeing  him  thus  exposed, 
called  out  to  him:  "Get  behind  a  tree,  brother 
Richard,  get  behind  a  tree.  They'll  put  your 
daylights  out."  But  Richard  continued  to  load 
and  fire  where  he  was.  It  was  there  he  said  he 
saw  Batcheldor  and  fired  at  him.  These  Far- 
wells  were  so  prominent,  on  account  of  their  size 
anl  bravery,  that  Stark  knew  them,  and  said  if 


624 


M.  A.    FARWELL. 


he  had  a  regiment  of  such  men,  he  could  drive 
the  British  into  the  Atlantic.  Richard  was  also 
noted  for  his  feats  of  strength.  He  lived  to  be 
about  seventy-seven  years  old.  His  eldest  son, 
Absalom,  married  a  Lovejoy,  and  their  son, 
Zophar,  was  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  Zophar  Farwell's  wife  was  Miss  Betsey 
Knight. 

Marcus  A.  Farwell  was  born  in  Coshocton 
County,  Ohio,  July  8,  1827.  His  parents  came 
thither  from  New  Hampshire.  The  boy  Marcus 
grew  up  environed  by  the  wholesome,  albeit  rus- 
tic, scenes  of  his  nativity.  Most  of  the  time  he 
was  at  work,  and  he  received  but  the  limited 
schooling  customary  in  those  days.  The  benefits 
of  a  Christian  home  and  an  educated  self  reliance 
were  all  his  worldly  stock  in  trade  when  he  set 
sturdy  foot  abroad  to  make  his  fortune. 

At  nineteen  he  bade  an  affectionate  and  eternal 
farewell  to  boyhood  haunts,  and  entered  upon  a 
life  work  destined  to  be  crowned  with  exceptional 
success  and  happiness.  For  four  years  he 
labored  faithfully,  early  and  late,  in  a  country 
store  in  the  then  wilds  of  Eaton  Rapids,  Michigan. 
Thereafter,  he  made  the  cross-country  trip  in  a 
"prairie  schooner"  to  try  his  luck  in  pioneer 
Iowa.  That  state,  fifty  years  ago,  was  not  by 
any  means  the  Iowa  of  to-day.  He  was  soon 
satisfied  that  for  himself  there  were  better  oppor- 
tunities nearer  his  old  home.  In  1851  he  set 
out  for  Chicago,  coming  in  from  Elgin  on  the 
old,  now  historic,  Galena  &  Chicago  Union 
Railway. 

His  first  experiences  in  our  midst  were  such  as 
usually  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  clerk  in  a  wholesale 
grocery  store;  and  such  they  continued  to  be  for 
three  years,  in  the  employ  of  M.  D.  Oilman, 
located  at  No.  153  South  Water  Street.  Thrift 
and  industry  bring  their  rewards.  At  the  end  of 
this  period  he  had  saved  enough  out  of  his  earn- 
ings to  buy  an  interest  in  the  newly  forming 
firm,  M.  D.  Oilman  &  Company.  January  i, 
1856,  along  with  W.  C.  D.  Grannis,  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  fuller  partnership.  His  fortunes  and 
abilities  expanded  rapidly  with  the  pace  of  the 
business  community  of  which  he  was  now  an  in- 
tegral important  factor.  Successively  he  became 


a  member  of  the  firms  of  Gilman,  Grannis  &  Far- 
well,  Gilman  &  Farwell,  Grannis  &  Farwell, 
and  when  Mr.  Gilman  retired  in  1867,  a  new  or- 
ganization became  Farwell,  Miller  &  Company, 
which  continued  in  active  operation  until  1883. 

Following  upon  the  heels  of  the  big  fire,  Mr. 
Farwell  was  the  very  first  one  of  our  merchants 
to  telegraph  advices  East,  "I'll  pay  everyone  I 
owe  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar."  Taking 
up  temporary  quarters  at  Michigan  Avenue  and 
Twenty-first  Street,  they  built  their  substantial 
block  of  1874  upon  Michigan  Avenue  near  Ran- 
dolph Street.  And  here  was  enjoyed  an  ever  in- 
creasing era  of  old  prosperities,  until  his  volun- 
tary retirement  from  mercantile  life  to  take  up 
with  fuller  amplitude  the  development  of  an  en- 
terprise dearest  to  his  heart,  the  Oakwoods 
Cemetery. 

To  the  easterly  of  Cottage  Grove  Avenue  and 
between  Sixty-seventh  and  Seventy-first  Streets, 
was  a  handsome  quarter-section  of  land,  contain- 
ing the  customary  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
which  Mr.  Farwell  had  the  shrewd  foresight  to 
purchase.  Revolving  in  his  acute  mind  the  uses 
to  which  this  acquisition  might  be  profitably  put, 
he  said  to  himself  one  day,  "  Let  us  have  here  a 
burial  place  for  the  dead  which  shall  be  worthy 
of  South  Chicago. ' '  His  plans  were  henceforth 
rapidly  matured,  and  in  the  year  1864  was  in- 
corporated the  Oakwoods  Cemetery  Association. 
The  controlling  interest  therein  was  reserved  for 
himself,  that  he  might  not  be  hampered  in  pursu- 
ing his  noble  plans.  The  controlling  interest  still 
rests  in  those  dear  ones  he  has  left  behind.  Mr. 
Farwell  was  secretary  and  treasurer  until  1879, 
and  was  subsequently  president. 

Mr.  Farwell  was  an  enthusiastic  Republican 
and  able  politician,  and  might  have  made  a  brill- 
iant record,  had  his  tastes  run  in  such  lines;  but 
he  was  more  than  content  with  local  honors, 
which  were  ever  and  anon  attempted  to  be  thrust 
upon  him.  In  1879  he  was  city  candidate  for 
treasurer;  in  1880  and  1881  he  acted  as  collector 
for  the  South  Town.  He  was  repeatedly  tend- 
ered the  aldermanic  office,  but  invariably  refused, 
on  account  of  the  pressure  of  business  cares. 

Personally  Mr.  Farwell  was  a  typical  Yankee, 


M.  A.  FAR  WELL. 


625 


of  a  race  which  he  proudly  asserted  was  the 
smartest  in  the  wide  world.  Yet  there  was 
nothing  of  the  braggart  in  his  make-up.  Univer- 
sally affable,  courteous  and  popular,  he  found  his 
worldly  walks  crowded  with  admiring  friends, 
and  made  easy  by  the  assurance  of  duties  cour- 
ageously performed.  He  was  the  first  president 
of  the  Fox  Lake  Club,  for  a  period  of  three  years; 
was  a  time-tried  member  of  the  Union  League 
Club,  also  a  member  of  Oriental  Lodge  No.  33,  An- 
cient Free  and  Accepted  Masons.  Democratic  in 
his  sympathies  and  habits,  a  man  for  the  public 
when  matters  of  weight  demanded  his  attention, 
he  was  essentially  a  domestic  person,  and  found 
in  the  well-being  and  development  of  those  en- 
trusted to  his  paternal  solicitude  his  greatest 
happiness.  For  twenty  years  Mr.  Farwell  had 
been  an  uncomplaining  sufferer  from  the  lasting 
effects  of  an  attack  of  spinal  meningitis.  In  the 
spring  of  1894  he  went  South,  in  hopes  of  attain- 
ing at  least  temporary  relief,  and  the  following 
summer  changed  to  Waukesha,  Wisconsin.  In 
June  of  that  year  he  passed  away. 

Mrs.  Marcus  A.  Farwell,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Miss  Lucia  Day  Cross,  has  in  her  veins 
some  of  the  best  Puritan  strains  of  blood,  as  de- 
veloped in  stanch  old  New  England,  whose 
principles  now,  as  ever,  have  continued  to  domi- 
nate the  policy  of  our  entire  country.  She  was 
born  in  the  picturesque  village  (now  city)  of 
Montpelier,  Vermont.  Married  February  i,  1860, 
she  came  directly  to  her  adopted  home;  since 
when,  her  own  and  her  family's  history  has  been 
a  conspicuous  part  of  Chicago  development.  Mrs. 
Farwell' s  father,  Luther  Cross,  was  descended 
from  a  noble  English  family,  whose  principal 
seat  was  in  St.  John's  Wood,  London.  The 
American  progenitor  was  Nathan  Cross,  who 
came  from  England  and  is  found  at  Dunstable, 
Massachusetts  .about  the  time  of  "  Lovell's  War." 
September  4,  1724,  while  collecting  turpentine 
near  the  Nashua  River,  he  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Mohawks.  A  captive  for  several  months  in 
Canada,  he  escaped  and  found  his  way  home 
through  the  wilderness,  in  the  spring  of  1725. 
Singularly  enough,  he  found  his  gun  in  the  tree 
where  he  had  hidden  it  on  the  morning  of  that 


eventful  day,  months  gone,  and  it  is  now  preserved 
in  the  museum  of  the  Nashua  Historical  Society. 
Thereabouts  he  had  extensive  landed  possessions, 
including  a  farm  on  the  east  side  of  the  Merrimack 
River,  as  well  as  two  meadows  and  an  island  in 
the  mouth  of  the  Nashua  River.  The  old  farm 
homestead,  then  in  the  town  of  Dunstable,  has, 
as  the  extensive  boundaries  have  been  cut  down 
from  time  to  time,  been  later  in  the  town  of 
Nottingham,  afterwards  Nottingham  West,  finally 
Hudson  of  to  day.  The  exact  spot  is  about  a- 
half  mile  above  Taylor's  Falls  Bridge.  It  re- 
mained in  the  Cross  family  for  over  two  centuries. 
Here,  after  his  return  from  Canada,  Nathan  built 
a  house,  the  cellar  of  which  is  still  to  be  seen. 
He  died  September  8,  1766. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  an  eldest  son,  Capt. 
Peter  Cross,  born  September  28,  1729.  By  his 
wife,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Deacon  Henry  Hale,  of 
Nottingham  West,  he  had  an  eldest  son,  Joseph 
Cross,  born  February  17,  1759,  who  served  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  and  resided  at  Swanzey, 
New  Hampshire. 

Joseph's  eldest  son  was  Luther  Cross,  the 
father  of  Mrs.  Farwell.  Born  at  Keene,  New 
Hampshire,  in  1802,  Luther  obtained  a  good 
academic  education,  after  which  he  taught 
mathematics  and  surveying.  Later  he  went  to 
Boston  to  engage  with  his  uncle  Stearns,  again 
removed  to  Woodstock,  Vermont,  where  he  met 
his  wife,  Miss  Polly  May  Day;  removed  thence 
to  Barre,  Vermont,  to  go  into  partnership  with 
his  uncle,  Ira  Day,  an  extensive  merchant  of  his 
time,  who  owned  the  famous  Boston  stage  line; 
and  finall}',  still  in  partnership,  removed  to  his 
long  honored  and  honoring  residence,  Mont- 
pelier, Vermont.  Here  he  built  three  fine  brick 
residences,  known  to-day  as  the  "Fifield," 
"Page"  and  "Cross"  places.  A  stanch  Whig, 
he  was  quite  a  prominent  and  successful  politician. 
He  was  Selectman  sixteen  years,  Sergeant-at- 
Anns  for  the  same  length  of  service,  and  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  for  a  period  of  greater  duration 
than  any  predecessor.  Of  benevolent  disposition 
and  sincerely  pious,  he  was  universal!}'  esteemed 
and  generally  beloved.  His  death,  which  oc- 
curred in  1873,  was  mourned  by  all  his  towns- 


626 


J.  T.  REA. 


men.  He  was  laid  to  rest  in  Green  Mountain 
Cemetery,  as  peacefully  beautiful  a  last  resting- 
place  as  one  could  wish  to  choose. 

Mrs.  Farwell's  mother,  Polly  May  Day,  who 
died  at  the  remarkable  age  of  ninety-five  years, 
also  was  descended  from  a  very  ancient  and  noble 
family.  William  Day,  in  the  twenty-fourth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  had  a 
family  coat-of-arms  confirmed  to  him  by  Norroy, 


King  of  Arms.  This  family  is  widely  distributed, 
Burke  recording  eleven  coats  claimed  in  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  William  Day  was  a  son 
of  Richard,  a  son  of  Nicholas,  a  son  of  John  Dee 
(called  Daye  in  England).  Traditionally  the 
family  is  from  Wales,  where  Dee  (signifying  dark 
or  dingy)  is  the  name  of  an  important  Welsh 
river,  from  which  the  family  name,  probably,  at 
a  remote  day  had  its  origin. 


JOHN  T.  REA, 


(lOHN  THOMAS  REA,  one  of  the  most  suc- 
I  cessful  and  esteemed  contractors  in  his  line 
O  of  business  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  comes  of 
a  very  old  and  highly  respected  Scotch  family. 
His  ancestors  were  men  and  women  of  education 
and  refinement,  and  he  does  justice  to  the  family 
name,  the  teachings  which  he  received  and  the 
hereditary  honor.  Born  in  Williamsport,  Pennsyl- 
vania, of  William  Henry  and  Sarah  Brown  (Wille- 
min)  Rea,  he  first  opened  his  eyes  to  the  troubles, 
trials  and  joys  of  this  world  on  the  2?th  of  Au- 
gust, 1843. 

The  first  immigrant  to  America  of  this  family 
of  Rea  was  the  great-grandfather  of  the  man 
whose  name  heads  this  article,  John  Rea,  who 
was  captain  of  a  company  in  the  Revolutionary 
army.  His  son,  John  Rea,  was  a  sailor  with 
Captain  Bainbridge  in  the  war  with  Algiers.  His 
children  were  named:  George,  Samuel  and  Will- 
iam. The  maternal  grandfather  of  John  Thomas 
Rea,  Thomas  Willemin,  conducted  a  distillery  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  had  four  children,  the  names 
of  only  three  of  whom  are  now  known:  Thomas, 
Levi  and  Sarah.  Thomas  Willemin  married  Miss 
Sleigh,  daughter  of  Francis  Sleigh,  the  only  son 
of  Lord  Francis  Sleigh,  whose  estate  was  near 
Dublin,  Ireland. 


William  Henry  Rea,  father  of  John  T.  Rea,  was 
born  in  Philadelphia,  February  14,  1805.  He 
was  a  finely  educated  man  and  was  for  many 
years  an  instructor  in  Williamsport.  In  1846  he 
came  to  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  and  taught  a 
country  school.  He  was  later  occupied  in  the 
same  manner  in  Polo,  Cedarville,  Charleston  and 
Decatur.  He  then  went  to  Urbana,  Illinois, 
where  he  died,  in  July,  1880.  While  living  at 
Polo  he  was  made  agent  for  the  American  Bible 
Society  and  remained  in  this  capacity  until  the 
time  of  his  death.  About  eight  years  before  his 
death  he  lost  his  sight,  while  working  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  society.  He  was  a  follower  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  politics 
he  was  a  Whig,  but  at  the  organization  of  the 
Republican  party,  took  up  interest  in  this  party 
and  upheld  it  after. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Rea  was  born  in  April,  1814,  in 
Lycoming  County,  Pennsylvania.  Her  death 
occurred  in  November,  1879,  her  remains  being 
interred  in  Urbana.  Her  children  are  accounted 
for  as  follows:  William  Henry  is  a  teacher;  Robert 
McCormick,  born  March  10,  1840,  died  March  7, 
l&93'>  John  Thomas  is  next  in  order  of  birth;  and 
Alfred  Willemin,  born  July  15,  1845,  died  in 
August,  1 86 1. 


C.  J.  L.  GEBERT. 


627 


In  the  public  schools  of  Illinois,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  received  his  education,  after  which 
time  he  began  the  battle  of  life.  He  enlisted  in 
the  army  June  15,  1861,  in  Company  A,  Twenty- 
first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  General  Grant's 
old  regiment.  He  remained  with  this  body  until 
August  10,  1862,  when  he  was  discharged  on 
account  of  ill  health,  at  Jacinto,  Mississippi. 
January  i,  1864,  he  re-enlisted  and  became  at- 
tached to  Company  I,  Seventh  Illinois  Volunteer 
Cavalry,  and  he  did  detached  service  a  part  of  the 
time,  on  the  military  commission,  and  was  dis- 
charged November  16,  1865. 

After  the  Civil  War  was  over  he  returned  to  Illi- 
nois, and  took  up  the  occupation  of  house  and  sign 
painting  and  decorating.  He  was  thus  occupied 
five  years,  until  1870,  when  he  located  in  Urbana, 
to  remain  until  1878.  He  then  removed  to  Chi- 
cago and  opened  a  place  of  business  at  No.  3532 
State  Street,  being  employed  for  some  time  by 


several  firms.  He  is  at  the  present  time  engaged 
in  contracting,  and  makes  a  specialty  of  sign 
painting  and  decorating. 

October  28,  1866,  Mr.  Rea  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  Grabill,  daughter  of  Abraham  and  Eliza- 
beth Grabill.  Mrs.  Rea  was  born  July  27,  1845, 
in  Shenandoah  County,  Virginia,  near  Mount 
Jackson.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rea  are  the  parents  of 
seven  children.  Irene  May,  the  eldest,  is  the 
wife  of  Ritchie  DeLan,  the  mother  of  two  chil- 
dren and  resides  in  Omaha,  Nebraska.  The 
others  are  as  follows:  Stella  Eugenie;  Laura 
Bertha,  wife  of  Henry  Clay  Keniston,  and  a  resi- 
dent of  Chicago;  Walter  Raleigh,  Louis  Albert, 
Jesse  Thomas  and  Arthur  Alfred. 

Mr.  Rea  is  independent  in  politics,  and  not  a 
seeker  after  public  office.  He  is  a  valued  and 
consistent  member  of  the  Advent  Christian 
Church,  and  is  connected  with  A.  E.  Burnside 
Post  No.  109,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 


CHARLES  J.  L.  GEBERT. 


JOHN  LUDWIG  GEBERT  was 
one  of  Chicago's  prominent  and  worthy  citi- 
\J  zens.  He  was  born  October  i,  1836,  and 
passed  beyond  the  border  February  14,  1885, 
being  a  son  of  George  and  Dorothea  (Rohlk) 
Gebert,  proper  mention  of  whom  appears  else- 
where in  this  volume.  He  came  to  Chicago  in 
1856,  and  was  at  home  until  the  time  of  his  mar- 
riage. He  was  employed  by  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company,  in  its  shops,  until  1858.  He 
was  in  charge  of  a  matching  machine,  and  proved 
himself  one  who  would  do  well,  whatever  he  un- 
dertook to  do.  He  was  interested  in  the  service 
of  the  same  company  until  the  time  of  his  death. 
February  25,  1866,  Mr.  Gebert  was  married  to 
Miss  Augusta  Ernestina  Charlotta,  daughter  of 
Christian  and  Charlotte  (Schade)  Frank.  Mrs. 


Gebert  was  born  December  19,  1844,  near  the 
city  of  Landsberg,  Prussia.  Her  father  was  born 
February  2,  1804,  in  Rehfeld,  Prussia.  He  died 
October  5,  1865,  and  his  wife,  who  was  born  July 
5,  1803,  survived  him  until  April  15,  1893,  pass- 
ing away  at  Champaign,  Illinois.  She,  with  her 
daughter,  Ottilie,  came  to  Illinois  in  1868,  and 
made  their  home  among  her  children.  The 
paternal  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Gebert  was  Chris- 
tian Frank,  and  her  maternal  grandfather  was 
Ludwig  Schade. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  Frank  were  the  parents  of 
the  following  children:  Franz,  who  was  killed  by 
a  railroad  train,  at  Champaign;  Ferdinand,  now 
residing  in  Germany;  Julius,  deceased,  Wilhel- 
mina,  Pauline,  deceased,  Christian,  Fredericka, 
Augusta  and  Ottilie.  The  children  of  Mr.  and 


628 


O.  C.  TAFT. 


Mrs.  Gebert  are  nine  in  number.  Ottilie  Pauline 
Elizabeth,  born  March  2,  1867,  married  Henry 
Schroeder,  September  25,  1890,  and  resides  at 
No.  617  Fifty-third  Street.  He  is  assistant  man- 
ager of  the  Chicago  office  of  the  Warder,  Bush- 
nell  &  Glessner  Company.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schroe- 
der are  the  parents  of  four  children,  Frederick 
Henry,  born  July  20,  1891;  Henry,  March  8, 
1893;  Bertha  Augusta,  November  18,  1894;  and 
Grace  Elizabeth,  February  15,  1897. 

Carl  Frederick  Christian,  another  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gebert,  was  born  May  9, 
1869,  and  died  February  2,  1872.  Frederick 
Carl  Ferdinand,  born  June  14,  1871,  died  Feb- 
ruary 2,  1890.  Paul  Carl  Julius,  born  December 
27,  1873,  died  December  16,  1875.  Walter  Paul, 
born  April  15,  1876,  died  April  30,  1877.  Au- 
gusta Bertha  Marie,  born  April  17,  1878,  is  next 
in  order  of  birth  of  her  father's  family.  Arthur 
Walter  Paul  was  born  September  28,  1880,  and 
Julius  Albert  Frederick,  who  was  born  January 


9,  1883,  died  February  13,  1884.  Walter  Carl, 
who  was  born  August  17,  1885,  was  the  young- 
est of  this  family. 

Mr.  Gebert  was  of  a  nature  that  is  bound  to 
succeed,  and  having  obtained  considerable  of 
this  world's  goods,  he  purchased  lots  at  Nos. 
4731  and  4733  State  Street,  in  1868,  and  at  No. 
2950  South  Park  Avenue,  in  1864.  This  prop- 
erty is  still  in  possession  of  the  family.  Mr. 
Gebert  built  at  No.  4733  State  Street  in  1874, 
and  his  widow  built  the  adjoining  house  in  1887. 
Mrs.  Gebert  also  built  a  flat  building  at  No.  4733 
State  Street  in  1893,  which  contains  two  stores 
and  six  flats,  being  four  stories  high.  Mrs. 
Gebert  is  a  true  type  of  the  gentlewoman,  and 
was  a  faithful  and  loving  helpmate  to  her  worthy 
husband,  mourning  his  loss  greatly  at  the  time 
of  his  death  and  ever  cherishing  tender  memories 
of  him.  He  was  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Evangelical  German  Church,  and  a  stanch  Re- 
publican in  political  principle. 


ORRISON  C   TAFT. 


0RRISON  CHARLES  TAFT,  one  of  Chi- 
cago's most  worthy  citizens,  was  born  Sep- 
tember 7,  1844,  at  Milford,  Massachusetts. 
His  parents  were  Harvey  Flag  and  Prudence 
Daniels  (Adams)  Taft.  He  began  to  learn  the 
trade  of  a  shoemaker  at  the  age  of  eight  years 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  left  school.  He 
enlisted  in  Company  B,  Twenty-fifth  Massachu- 
setts Volunteer  Infantry,  September  18,  1861. 
June  3,  1864,  he  was  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Virginia,  by  a  shell,  and  December  22,  1864,  was 
discharged  for  inability,  having  participated  in 
all  experiences  and  engagements  that  his  com- 
pany had  been  through. 

He  returned  to  Milford  and  for  five  years  con- 
ducted a  shoe  shop  at  that  place,  before  coming 


to  Chicago.  He  arrived  in  the  last-mentioned 
city  February  15,  1873,  and  located  at  the  corner 
of  Sixtieth  and  State  Streets.  After  a  short 
time  spent  in  the  shoe  factory  of  C.  M.  Hender- 
son &  Company,  he  was  clerk  for  Ephling  & 
Barney  Brothers  three  years,  and  subsequently 
drove  a  team  for  Julius  Carr,  proprietor  of  wood 
and  coal  yards.  He  then  established  a  general 
repair  shop  at  his  present  residence  on  State 
Street,  which  has  occupied  his  full  attention  since 
that  time. 

Mr.  Taft  was  first  married  December  29,  1863, 
to  Miss  Vesta  Ann  Barton,  daughter  of  John  and 
Vesta  Bonnie  Barton.  Mrs.  Taft  was  born 
December  15,  1843,  in  Wrenthon,  Massachusetts, 
and  died  January  23,  1881.  She  had  four  chil- 


WILLIAM  HECKLER. 


629 


dren.  Frederick  Arnold,  the  oldest,  lives  in  Chi- 
cago, and  is  a  switchman  on  the  Fort  Wayne 
Railroad.  He  has  never  married.  May  Bell, 
the  next  in  order  of  birth,  lives  in  Evanston. 
Charles  Robert  lives  at  the  corner  of  Fifty-fifth 
and  Wright  Streets,  and  Jennie  Mary  also  resides 
in  Evanston. 

For  his  second  wife  Mr.  Taft  married,  Novem- 


ber 28,  1883,  Miss  Mary  Ellen  Ryan,  a  daughter 
of  William  and  Margaret  (Dougherty)  Ryan. 
Mrs.  Taft  was  born  December  25,  1851.  Mr. 
Taft  has  never  sought  public  office,  but  is  a 
stanch  upholder  of  the  principles  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  ideas  and 
characteristics,  and  his  influence  is  ever  for  good 
and  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men. 


WILLIAM  HECKLER. 


HECKLER.  Among  the  most 
energetic  and  successful  business  men  of 
Chicago  at  the  present  time  many  were 
born  of  parents  from  the  country  of  the  Rhine. 
They  invariably  possess  a  pertinacity  and  power 
that  is  admirable  and  hard  to  imitate.  William 
Heckler  was  born  January  22,  1852,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  birth  his  parents,  William  and  Kath- 
arine (Loyen)  Heckler,  resided  at  the  corner  of 
State  and  Fourteenth  Streets  in  Chicago,  where 
the  Santa  Fe  freight  depot  now  stands. 

William  Heckler,  Senior,  was  the  only  child  of 
his  parents,  and  was  born  October  10,  1821,  at 
Wittenburg,  Germany.  He  died  in  March,  1891, 
and  his  remains  were  interred  in  Mount  Olivet 
Cemetery.  He  was  a  contractor  in  his  native 
land,  and  reached  Chicago  in  1847.  Fora  short 
time  he  was  employed  by  others,  but  later 
began  contracting  for  his  own  interests,  achieving 
financial  success  by  the  change.  A  large  num- 
ber of  the  many  houses  which  he  held  contracts 
for  are  located  on  the  South  Side.  He  was  a 
very  fine  mechanic,  and  among  the  buildings  he 
erected  was  the  Brand  Brewery. 

In  1856  he  was  induced  by  the  cholera  scare  to 
remove  to  Blue  Island,  where  he  afterward  re- 
tained his  home,  at  the  corner  of  York  Street  and 
Western  Avenue.  In  1848  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Loyen,  a  native  of  Trier,  Germany.  Mrs. 


Heckler  was  born  August  25,  1824,  and  died 
February  23,  1884,  her  remains  being  interred 
at  Mount  Olivet  Cemetery.  William  is  the  eld- 
est of  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heckler. 
Charles,  the  next  in  order  of  birth,  resides  on 
the  old  homestead  in  Blue  Island.  Wilhelmina, 
Josephine,  Herman,  Otiplie,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two  years;  Alfred,  who  lives  at  No. 
108  Forty-fifth  Place,  and  Frances  followed,  and 
next  in  order  were:  Wenzel,  an  engineer  in  Blue 
Island;  Henry,  a  cigar  manufacturer,  at  Blue 
Island;  Gregory,  a  grocer,  in  Palos  Springs, 
Cook  County. 

Having  spent  the  first  twelve  years  of  his  life 
in  seeking  a  rudimentary  education  in  the  schools 
of  the  day,  William  Heckler,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  prepared  by  his  father  to  enter  the 
great  and  complicated  school  of  business  and  ex- 
perience. He  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter 
with  his  father,  and  remained  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  paternal  eye  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty  years.  For  two  3-ears  he  was  em- 
ployed by  a  contractor,  Mr.  Ramsey,  subsequent 
to  which  period  he  spent  the  same  length  of  time 
at  Blue  Island,  contracting  on  his  own  respon- 
sibility. In  Rock  Island  he  became  foreman  of 
the  employes  of  E.  Ralston,  an  extensive  con- 
tractor, with  whom  he  remained  seventeen  years. 

This  extremely  long  period  spent  in  furthering 


630 


ALONZO    BRYAN. 


the  interests  of  one  man,  prove  the  power  of  en- 
durance and  force  of  character  of  Mr.  Heckler, 
also  denoting  with  what  respect  and  confidence 
he  was  regarded  by  his  employer.  He  returned 
to  Blue  Island,  after  this  extended  time  in  another 
locality,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  contractors  of 
the  town  for  two  years.  Susbsequent  to  that 
time  he  located  in  Chicago  and  is  employed  here 
as  a  journeyman  at  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Heckler  was  married  April  19,  1881,  to 
Miss  Margaret  Fickenscher,  a  daughter  of 
Erhardt  and  Mary  (Swicker)  Fickenscher.  Mrs. 
Heckler  was  born  May  28,  1858,  at  Rock  Island. 


Their  children  were  as  follows:  Herman  Erhardt, 
born  January  30,  1882;  Emil,  born  February  23, 
1884,  and  died  at  the  age  of  three  weeks;  George 
Washington,  born  February  22,  1885;  Elma,  Jan- 
uary 8,  1889,  and  Edward  William,  December  8, 
1887. 

Mr.  Heckler  is  in  favor  of  silver  as  a  medium 
of  exchange,  and  his  arguments  in  its  favor  are 
very  strong.  He  is  descended  from  a  line  of 
Roman  Catholics  and  is  not  delinquent  to  the 
church  of  his  fathers.  His  name  is  one  respected 
in  all  circles,  and  his  influence  is  used  in  all  cir- 
cumstances for  the  right. 


ALONZO  BRYAN. 


<3|  LONZO  BRYAN,  who  has  passed  through 
LJ  a  varied  career  and  has  finally  entered  into 
|  I  a  profitable  business  in  Chicago,  was  born 
in  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  a  son  of  Benjamin 
Bryan,  who  was  born  in  the  same  state  as  his 
son. 

Alonzo  Bryan  lived  eighteen  years  in  the  city 
of  his  birth,  and  attended  school  at  Pittsburg. 
He  then  became  employed  in  a  physician's  office 
and  was  subsequently  in  the  St.  Charles  Hotel 
four  years.  He  spent  three  years  in  the  Monon- 
gahela  House  and  reached  Chicago  August  9, 
1868.  He  went  to  work  at  the  Sherman  House, 
and  was  waiter  one  week  at  this  establishment. 
After  two  years  in  the  Richmond  House  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  Mr.  Green,  who  has  kept  a 
restaurant  on  Clark  Street,  opposite  the  Court 
House,  many  years.  Mr.  Bryan  was  but  six 
months  in  this  service,  and  was  one  year  at  the 
old  Palmer  House,  at  the  corner  of  Quincy  and 
State  Streets. 

He  was  one  season  at  the  Cataract  House, 
at  Niagara  Falls,  and  returned  at  the  end  of  the 
season  to  the  Palmer  House,  Chicago,  which  was 


in  1871.  He  was  subsequently  one  year  in  the 
old  Palmer  House  and  later  accepted  a  position 
as  porter  for  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company, 
which  he  occupied  two  years.  After  a  few  months 
at  Woodman's  bakery,  on  Washington  Street, 
he  was  two  years  in  the  Brevoort  House.  He  was 
head  waiter  two  years  in  the  Ocean  Oyster 
House,  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  and  fifteen 
months  porter  on  a  sleeper  of  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  Railroad.  He  spent  four 
seasons  at  the  summer  resort  of  Waukesha,  Wis- 
consin, and  returned  to  the  Palmer  House  for 
six  months. 

Having  been  economical  and  prudent  at  all 
times  he  was  then  able  to  go  into  partnership  at 
that  time  with  John  B.  Johnson  and  J.  Whiting, 
the  firm  name  being  Johnson,  Bryan  &  Whiting, 
located  at  No.  311  South  Clark  Street.  This  was 
in  1882,  and  the  business  that  of  saloon  and 
billiard  hall.  The  business  thrived  and  Johnson 
purchased  Whiting's  interest  and  continued  with 
Mr.  Bryan  until  1892,  when  the  latter  purchased 
his  partner's  interest  and  hag  since  continued 
alone. 


F.  C.  GEBERT. 


631 


Since  the  spring  of  1890  Mr.  Bryan  has  re- 
sided at  No.  5622  Dearborn  Street,  which  is  prop- 
erty that  he  owns.  He  was  married  in  the  fall  of 
1879,  to  Miss  Emma  Pash  and  their  children  are 
named:  Alonzo,  Junior,  Anna  Elizabeth,  Will- 
iam Henry  and  Walter  James.  Mr.  Bryan  was 


made  a  Mason  in  John  Jones  Lodge  in  1884.  He 
is  independent  in  political  ideas,  voting  for  the 
man  best  suited  for  the  office,  rather  than  for 
party.  He  was  reared  in  the  faith  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  is  true  to  the  teach- 
ings of  his  fathers. 


FREDERICK  C    GEBERT. 


f~  REDERICK  CHRISTIAN  GEBERT,  one 
ry  of  Chicago's  retired  business  men,  is  a  promi- 
|  nent  land-owner  in  the  city,  and  takes  an 
admirable  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  fellow- 
citizens.  He  comes  of  a  stanch  old  race,  born  in 
Germany,  and  is  a  typical  representative  of  the 
sturdiness  and  strength  of  character  of  his  people. 
He  was  born  February  19,  1848,  in  New  Caliss, 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  Germany.  His  parents 
were  George  and  Dorothea  Elizabeth  (Rohlk) 
Gebert.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  John 
Johachim  Rohlk,  who  married  Katharine  Louise 
Rohr. 

George  Gebert  died  in  1849,  having  reached 
the  age  of  forty-nine  years.  He  crossed  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  three  times  in  a  whaling  vessel, 
and  subsequently  sailed  in  local  German  waters, 
and  commanded  small  boats.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried, his  first  wife  being  Miss  Akoff.  His  second 
wife  was  the  mother  of  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article.  Dorothea  E.  Rohlk  was  born 
September  i,  1811,  at  New  Caliss,  Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin,  Germany.  She  died  April  18,  1891, 
and  her  remains  were  interred  in  Oakwoods 
Cemetery. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Gebert 
were  six  in  number.  Mary  Elizabeth,  born  Sep- 
tember 4,  1828,  died  April  4,  1875,  her  remains 
being  buried  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery.  She  left  a 
husband,  Henry  Sal  to,  to  mourn  her  loss.  George 


Charles,  the  next  in  order  of  birth,  was  born 
October  4,  1831,  and  died  September  14,  1898. 
He  emigrated  from  his  native  land  in  1856,  ar- 
riving in  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  and 
resided  here  until  his  death.  Henry  John  is 
spoken  of  on  another  page  of  this  work.  Fred- 
erick Christian  is  the  youngest  of  his  father's 
family. 

Frederick  Christian  Gebert  reached  Chicago 
June  28,  1857,  ar>d  attended  school  in  this  city 
until  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  was 
employed  in  the  flour  and  feed  business  by  his 
brother,  John,  subsequently,  for  a  period  of  four- 
teen years.  October  i,  1879,  he  established  a 
feed  store  at  No.  3031  State  Street,  which  he 
conducted  eighteen  months.  He  was  later  oc- 
cupied in  a  seed  store,  under  the  conduct  of  Wal- 
lace &  Kingman.  He  was  successively  with  the 
American  Seed  Company  and  Albert  Dickinson 
Seed  Company  until  April,  1891,  when  he  re- 
tired from  active  business  life,  to  enjoy  a  well- 
earned  rest  and  the  comforts  of  a  very  pleasant 
home. 

He  married,  June  14,  1888,  Miss  Mada  Marie, 
daughter  of  John  and  Christina  (Hasenmeyer) 
Krohn.  She  was  born  in  Peotone,  Illinois,  No- 
vember 18,  1859.  Her  father,  John  Krohn,  was 
born  November  17,  1825,  in  the  village  of  Little 
Zein,  Mecklenberg-Schwerin,  Germany,  and  emi- 
grated to  Lombard,  Du  Page  County,  in  1857. 


632 


C.  A.  ORNBERG. 


He  later  removed  to  Peotone,  Illinois,  where  he 
was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  and  where  he 
still  resides.  He  occupied  the  position  of  coach- 
man in  his  native  land. 

Mrs.  John  Krohn  was  born  January  27,  1836, 
in  Wenn,  Hanover,  Germany.  Her  children  are 
accounted  for  as  follows:  Mrs.  Gebert  is  the  old- 
est; Mary,  born  May  4,  1861,  died  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  months;  Henry  John,  born  July  18, 
1865,  resides  at  No.  7257  Lexington  Avenue, 
Chicago;  Federick,  born  February  25,  1867, 
makes  his  home  with  Mr.  Gebert;  and  Dena, 
born  June  16,  1868,  resides  at  home  with  her 
parents.  The  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Gebert,  Joseph 
Krohn,  married  Miss  Marie  Miller,  and  her  chil- 
dren are  accounted  for  as  follows:  Joseph,  born 
in  1822,  never  married;  John  and  Christian  are 
deceased,  as  are  also  Christopher  and  Frederick; 
Marie  and  two  younger,  whose  names  are  not  re- 
corded. 


Mr.  Gebert  has  been  very  successful  as  a  busi- 
ness man,  and  in  1867  built  a  house  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Twenty-ninth  Place  and  South  Park  Ave- 
nue. In  January,  1872,  he  moved  his  house  to 
No.  3036  Vernon  Avenue  and  has  resided  at  this 
location  since  that  time.  In  1891  he  built  a  flat 
building  at  Nos.  114-116  Thirty-first  Street, 
which  is  four  stories  in  height,  of  brick,  and  con- 
tains six  flats  and  two  stores.  In  1870  he  erected 
a  two-story  brick  building  at  No.  3031  State 
Street,  which  he  has  since  disposed  of.  He  owns 
a  frame  building  located  at  No.  3034  Veruon 
Avenue. 

Mr.  Gebert  is  a  descendant  of  Protestant  peo- 
ple and  has  ever  been  true  to  the  teachings  of 
his  fathers  in  regard  to  religion.  He  is  not  an 
office  seeker,  but  upholds  the  Republican  party 
at  all  opportunities.  He  is  a  man  of  influence 
and  ability,  and  is  well  known  and  respected  in 
the  vicinity  where  he  resides. 


CHARLES  A.  ORNBERG. 


EHARLES  A.  ORNBERG  is  a  native  of 
Sjaland,  Denmark,  having  been  born  at 
that  place,  January  17,  1854.  He  is  the 
son  of  P.  A.  Ornberg  and  his  wife,  Catherine  C. 
Bensen.  Their  family  consisted  of  six  children, 
four  of  whom  were  sons,  and  all  grew  to  maturity. 
Charles  was  the  fourth  child  and  third  son.  His 
father  was  a  prominent  teacher  and  was  em- 
ployed in  the  schools  of  his  native  place.  He 
passed  away  in  1897,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years.  The  mother  was  the  daughter  of  a  priest 
and  a  member  of  a  notable  family.  She  died  in 
1881,  and  was  sixty-seven  years  old  at  the  time 
of  her  death. 

Mr.    Ornberg  attended  school  in  his  native 
town  until  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen   years, 


when  he  took  an  active  part  in  caring  for  a  farm 
owned  by  his  father.  He  was  nineteen  years  old 
when  he  began  the  practical  study  of  farming, 
and  at  the  end  of  two  years  he  became  manager 
of  one  of  those  hugh  estates  such  as  only  exist  in 
the  old  country  and  are  quite  different  from  what 
we  style  farms.  This  one  contained  between  eighty 
and  ninety  thousand  acres,  and  furnished  employ- 
ment to  over  eighty  men.  He  held  this  position 
three  years  and  then  served  in  the  army  seventeen 
months,  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  cor- 
poral. 

He  then  sailed  for  the  New  World,  reaching 
New  York  May  18,  1881,  and  came  direct  to 
Chicago.  He  was  first  employed  in  the  lumber 
business  for  a  short  time,  when  he  went  to  New 


BERNARD  KOTZ. 


633 


Mexico  and  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Santa  Fe  & 
Pacific  Railroad.  He  remained  here  until  the 
spring  of  1882,  when  he  returned  to  Chicago  and 
was  again  in  the  employ  of  a  lumber  company. 

At  the  end  of  the  summer  he  went  to  New 
Orleans  and  was  a  sub-contractor  on  the  levee, 
and  at  the  end  of  two  months  started  by  boat  for 
Vicksburg.  In  the  night  he  was  robbed  of  all 
his  little  savings,  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars. 
It  was  stolen  by  the  negroes  employed  on  the 
boat.  This  mishap  did  not  daunt  Mr.  Oruberg. 
Landing  at  Vicksburg  without  any  money,  he 
was  able  to  get  work  there  and  at  the  end  of  two 
months  returned  to  Chicago.  He  then  engaged 
in  the  teaming  business,  which  he  followed  two 
years.  He  was  variously  employed  until  April 
i,  1886,  when  he  started  in  business  for  himself 
locating  first  at  No.  273  Milwaukee  Avenue. 
One  year  later  he  sold  out  and  started  afresh  on 
West  North  Avenue.  One  year  later  he  sold 
this  place  and  returned  to  and  bought  the  old 


place  on  Milwaukee  Avenue.  At  the  expiration 
of  four  years  he  again  disposed  of  his  business 
and  purchased  his  present  place  at  No.  468  West 
Erie  Street. 

He  was  married  in  Chicago,  April  10,  1886,  to 
Miss  Carrie  Hansen,  a  native  of  Schleswig,  Den- 
mark. They  have  four  children,  namely:  Elna, 
Aage,  Erig  and  Dagmar,  all  born  in  Chicago. 
Erig  is  a  mute  and  is  attending  the  Englewood 
School  for  Deaf  and  Dumb,  where  he  will  receive 
all  the  benefits  that  it  is  possible  to  bestow  on 
those  who  are  in  a  measure  shut  out  from  the 
ordinary  advantages  of  school  and  business  life. 
All  the  other  children  are  at  home. 

Mr.  Ornberg  is  connected  with  the  following 
organizations:  Singing  Society  Harmouien,  Dan- 
ish Veterans  and  the  Danish  Brotherhood.  He 
has  filled  all  the  offices  in  the  latter,  from  the  low- 
est to  president.  He  is  highly  esteemed  by  all 
his  associates,  whether  business  or  social,  and  like 
most  of  his  countrymen  is  an  admirable  citizen. 


BERNARD  KOTZ. 


Q  ERNARD  KOTZ.  Among  our  most  worthy 
|C\  and  influential  citizens  are  those  of  Teutonic 
d/  blood.  They  are  hardy  by  nature  and  are 
equal  to  all  the  hardships  which  it  is  in  the  power 
of  man  to  overcome.  Persistent  and  persevering 
to  an  extreme,  they  succeed  financially,  invari- 
ably surmounting  all  difficulties.  Bernard  Kotz, 
born  February  7,  1855,  in  Germany,  spent  his 
early  years  in  the  village  of  Brecht.  His  par- 
ents, Bertien  and  Mary  (Ludes)  Kotz,  removed 
to  the  last-named  village,  when  their  son,  Ber- 
nard, was  but  eighteen  months  of  age. 

In  1872  his  mother  and  sister,  Margaret,  emi- 
grated from  their  native  land,  and  he  came  to 
America  with  them.  For  six  months  after  his 
arrival  he  was  employed  on  the  farm  of  his 


cousin,  John  Ludes.  He  remained  in  the  vicinity 
of  Gross  Point,  Cook  County,  two  years,  engaged 
in  farming  and  gardening.  He  then  was  occupied 
with  section  work  for  the  Chicago  &  Northwest- 
ern Railroad  Company,  one  year,  and  later  with 
teaming  six  months.  After  speuding  six  years 
in  a  tannery,  four  and  one-half  years  with  T.  F. 
Wheeler,  in  Waukegan,  a  short  time  with  Sharp 
&  Clark,  in  Chicago,  he  was  engaged  five  years 
in  expressing,  and  a  short  time  in  firing  a  boiler 
for  T.  F.  Wheeler,  a  former  employer.  He  then 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Chicago  City  Railroad 
Company  and  is  among  its  force  at  the  present 
time,  being  valued  and  honored  by  those  to  whose 
interests  he  is  ever  true. 
July  26,  1882,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Barbara 


634 


G.  A.  WOOD. 


Schucker,  daughter  of  John  and  Katharine 
Schucker.  Mrs.  Kotz  was  born  April  14,  1865, 
in  Bavaria,  Germany,  and  is  a  worthy  helpmate 
and  companion.  In  1888  Mr.  Kotz  erected  a 


the  first  house  in  the  block  on  the  east  side  of  the 
street.  This  was  raised  to  height  of  two  stories, 
above  a  high  basement,  in  the  year  1899,  making 
of  it  a  valuable  and  handsome  residence  prop- 


residence  at  No.  6327  Evans  Avenue,  this  being     erty. 


GEORGE  A.  WOOD. 


iEORGE  ALBERT  WOOD.  Of  the  rising 
generation  of  prominent  and  highly-es- 
teemed business  men  of  the  present  time  in 
the  city  of  Chicago,  how  many  are  the  result  of 
excellent  training  and  rearing  of  the  teachings  of 
their  fathers  in  a  business  manner,  and  of  their 
mothers  in  the  way  that  they  should  go;  and  yet 
they  are  given  the  honor  when  the  fathers  and 
forefathers  are  forgotten.  George  Albert  Wood 
was  at  one  time  well  known  among  the  business 
world  of  this  city,  but  has  retired  from  active  life 
to  give  place  to  his  sons,  who  do  him  credit  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  He  is  to  be  honored 
and  esteemed,  as  he  truly  is,  for  his  part  in  the 
welfare  of  the  world. 

Born  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  January  13, 
1827,  he  is  the  son  of  Calvin  and  Mary  (Bond) 
Wood.  He  was  left  an  orphan  at  the  extremely 
youthful  age  of  six  years.  Calvin  Wood  was 
born  in  America,  but  of  English  parentage.  He 
was  barber,  musician  and  correspondent  for  a 
local  paper.  He  died  in  1833,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
two  years,  in  the  prime  of  life.  His  wife  died 
when  her  youngest  child,  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  was  six  months  of  age.  She 
was  the  mother  of  three  children:  Jesse  was 
married  and  resided  in  California;  he  died  at  the 
age  of  forty  years,  leaving  one  child.  Henrietta 
married  Eldon  H.  Sigler  and  resides  in  Brook- 
lyn, New  York;  she  is  the  mother  of  two  chil- 
dren. 

At  the  death  of  his  mother,  George  A.   Wood 


was  adopted  by  Mrs.  Hannah  Norris,  widow  of 
John  Norris,  and  lived  with  her  until  he  was 
seventeen  years  of  age.  When  he  was  ten  years  of 
age  she  removed  from  her  home  in  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York,  where  she  had  lived  but  six  months,  to 
New  York  City.  George  A.  Wood  started  to 
learn  the  cigar  business  in  Poughkeepsie  and 
kept  at  it  for  some  time.  After  eight  years  in 
New  York  City  he  removed  to  Burlington,  Ver- 
mont, where  he  continued  at  his  trade.  At  one 
time  he  conducted  a  prosperous  retail  shoe  busi- 
ness in  that  city.  He  subsequently  decided  to 
locate  in  Chicago,  and  arrived  in  that  city  in  the 
fall  of  1856. 

He  launched  into  the  commission  business  and 
opened  an  office  on  Dearborn  Street.  He  was 
later  one  year  a  clerk  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Pot- 
ter, on  Randolph  Street.  He  then  established  a 
grocery  store  and  meat  market  at  the  corner  of 
Market  and  Madison  Streets.  October  20,  1864, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  A,  Seventy-second  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry,  remaining  with  this 
regiment  nine  months,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  Company  G.  After  three  months  he  was 
mustered  out  at  Vicksburg.  He  was  in  the  bat- 
tles at  Nashville,  Jackson,  Franklin  and  Mobile 
Bay. 

Mr.  Wood  returned  to  Chicago  and  became  an 
employe  of  Jameson  &  Morse,  printers,  located 
at  Nos.  10-12  La  Salle  Street.  He  was  thus  oc- 
cupied eight  years,  and  four  subsequent  years 
was  with  Culver,  Page,  Hoyne  &  Company,  re- 


CHRISTIAN  LARSEN. 


635 


turning  to  the  old  employ,  to  be  in  that  service 
five  years.  He  then  succumbed  to  the  injuries 
received  in  the  war,  and  for  the  past  twelve  years 
has  been  practically  an  invalid. 

October  28,  1851,  Mr.  Wood  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  George  Wash- 
ington Allen.  Mrs.  Wood  was  born  July  13, 
1829,  in  Burlington,  Vermont.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wood  are  the  parents  of  seven  children.  Guilford 
Sigler,  born  in  Burlington,  Vermont,  July  12, 
1852,  married  Miss  Carrie  Stanton,  and  has  a  son 
and  daughter,  Chester  Guilford,  born  in  Novem- 
ber, 1884,  and  Gladys  Marie,  in  June,  1891.  Heis 
one  of  the  most  popular  and  well-known  sales- 
men of  the  firm  of  W.  H.  Salisbury  &  Company, 
dealers  in  rubber  goods  and  leather  belting. 
Eveline  Almina,  born  in  Burlington,  Vermont, 
May  21,  1854,  is  not  married.  George  Allen, 
who  was  born  in  Burlington,  Vermont,  May  8, 
1856,  lives  in  Kansas  City  and  is  married. 
Leonard  Jameson,  born  December  7,  1858,  in 
Chicago,  died  September  3,  1859.  Henrietta 


Sigler,  born  April  2,  1862,  in  Chicago,  married 
J.  H.  Barnette,  an  electrotyper.  She  resides  in 
Austin,  and  her  children  are:  Fannie  Eckler, 
Joseph  H.  and  Dorothy.  Emma  Frances,  born 
June  15,  1867,  married  Charles  H.  Morgan,  a 
traveling  salesman,  and  their  one  child  is  Eveline 
Wood.  Lilian  May  married  W.  E.  Wood,  a  man 
who  is  no  blood  relation  to  the  family,  and  they 
reside  at  No.  3518  Ellis  Avenue.  He  has  charge 
of  the  Douglas  Club  House,  and  his  children  are: 
Douglas  and  George  Washington. 

Mr.  Wood  was  very  successful  financially, 
and  being  an  economical  and  energetic  man,  suc- 
ceeded in  building  a  residence  for  himself  and 
family  at  No.  1201  Sixty-seventh  Street,  in  1891. 
He  has  since  been  located  at  this  number.  He 
never  sought  public  office,  but  favors  the  Repub- 
lican party  with  his  vote  and  sanction.  He  is  a 
highly  respected  man  in  the  community  where  he 
resides,  and  has  been  recognized  as  an  actor  in 
the  great  business  turmoil  of  Chicago  who  will 
never  be  forgotten. 


CHRISTIAN  LARSEN. 


CHRISTIAN  LARSEN,  a  well-known  and 
I  (  highly  esteemed  member  of  the  Danish 
\J  colony  in  Chicago,  is  a  man  in  the  prime  of 
life,  having  been  born  August  17,  1848,  at  Saug- 
laud,  Denmark.  His  father,  Anselm  Larsen, 
was  a  wagon-maker  by  trade,  and  died  at  about 
the  age  of  forty.  Of  the  four  children  born  to 
his  father,  Christian  is  the  youngest,  and  only  two 
are  yet  living. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  quit  school  to  begin 
the  more  hazardous,  more  exciting  life  of  a  sailor. 
His  life  aboard  ship  commenced  in  the  capacity 
of  a  cook,  a  post  more  important  than  dignified. 
Within  a  year,  however,  he  had  learned  enough 
of  the  mysteries  of  a  sailor's  craft  to  become  an 


ordinary  seaman.  His  first  voyage  to  America 
was  made  in  1864,  and  it  was  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year  that  he  first  landed  in  Boston.  At  that 
port  he  shipped  as  one  of  the  crew  of  a  coasting 
vessel,  the  "America,"  and  sailed  with  that  craft 
for  six  months. 

Tiring  of  short  voyages  which  such  a  life  ne- 
cessitated he  joined  the  crew  of  the  United  States 
man-of-war,  "Canandaigua,"  as  an  able  seaman, 
and  sailed  with  that  vessel  under  Admiral  Far- 
ragut  three  years  and  four  months,  making  all 
the  principal  ports  of  Europe.  Returning  to  the 
United  States  he  set  out  for  Buffalo,  to  try  navi- 
gating the  Great  Lakes.  He  sailed  on  these  in- 
land seas  every  summer  until  1870,  when  his  in- 


636 


PETER  BUHL. 


born  love  of  adventure  impelled  him  to  seek  a 
new  clime.  In  that  year  he  sailed  on  the  "Can- 
andaigua"  to  Santiago,  Cuba,  where  he  re- 
mained for  nearly  two  months,  quite  long  enough 
to  become  acclimated,  having  nearly  died  of  yel- 
low fever  under  the  tropical  sun. 

In  the  spring  of  1871  he  came  back  to  Chicago, 
and  once  more  tempted  the  waters  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. For  nearly  eight  seasons  he  led  this  ad- 
venturous, fascinating  life,  and  in  1878  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Gorten  Rolsen,  a  maiden  from  Norway. 
Thereupon,  for  some  reason  (perhaps  remem- 
brance of  the  young  wife,  perhaps  because  he  had 
tired  of  roving  and  adventure)  he  determined  to 
settle  down.  Accordingly,  he  located  himself  at 
No.  322  West  Ohio  Street,  where  he  still  makes 
his  home.  His  first  venture  in  business  as  a 
landsman  was  the  purchase  of  a  milk  route.  In 
1887  he  established  himself  in  the  grocery  trade, 


and  has  continued  in  that  line  of  business  ever 
since,  building  up  a  prosperous  clientage  through 
industry  and  integrity.  The  same  year  in  which 
he  embarked  in  this  new  venture  he  built  a  small 
store,  and  ten  years  later,  in  1897,  he  erected  his 
present  handsome  three-story,  stone-front  flat 
building.  In  addition  to  this  fine  property  he 
also  owns  a  three-story  frame  building  at  No. 
370  West  Erie  Street.  It  would  not  be  surpris- 
ing if,  deep  down  in  his  heart,  he  rejoiced  over 
the  success  which  he  knows  that  he  owes  to  his 
own  enterprise. 

Six  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Larsen,  and  all  on  the  spot  to  which  he  first  led  his 
bride,  twenty  years  ago.  They  are  named:  Fred, 
Julius,  Mamie,  Harry,  Gertie  and  Christian. 

Mr.  Larsen  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  So- 
ciety Dania,  and  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood, 
having  held  office  in  the  latter  organization. 


PETER  BUHL 


P\ETER  BUHL.  This  well-known  member 
LX  of  the  Danish-American  colony  is  a  striking 
J5  illustration  of  the  success  which  may  be 
achieved  through  perseverance  and  well-directed 
effort.  He  conducts  a  well-stocked  establishment 
at  No.  909  Milwaukee  Avenue,  where  he  deals 
in  oils,  paints,  glass  and  wall  paper,  doing  a 
prosperous  business  and  enjoying  the  esteem  of 
a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances. 

He  was  born  in  Fredericia,  Denmark,  May  3, 
1865.  His  father,  Frederik  Buhl,  was  a  hotel- 
keeper  in  his  native  town,  where  he  died,  at  the 
age  of  threescore  years.  His  mother's  name  be- 
fore marriage  was  Christine  Hansen.  She  bore  her 
husband  eight  children  (seven  of  whom  grew  up) 
and  died  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-two  years. 

Of  this  large  family  Peter  was  the  youngest. 
He  attended  the  Latin  school  in  his  own  town 


until  he  reached  his  fourteenth  year,  when  his 
parents  sent  him  to  Copenhagen,  to  pursue  his 
studies  at  a  military  academy,  an  institution 
analogous  to  our  own  academy  at  West  Point, 
from  which  institution  he  was  duly  graduated. 
On  leaving  the  academy  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Fifth  Regiment  at  Nyborg.  At  the  end  of  eight- 
een months  he  took  an  examination,  passing 
third  in  a  class  of  seventy-four,  and  was  made  a 
second  lieutenant,  and  transferred  to  the  Seventh 
Regiment,  doing  duty  with  that  body  of  troops 
for  one  year.  Having  won  a  reputation  for  mil- 
itary qualities,  and  being  endowed  with  mental 
abilities  of  a  high  order,  he  was  sent  to  the  mili- 
tary high  school.  This  appointment  was  a  rare 
distinction,  having  been  given  solely  because  of 
merit  and  being  one  of  twenty  which  were  made 
by  the  government  out  of  the  entire  army.  What 


W.  G.  FISCHER. 


637 


his  career  might  have  been  cannot  be  told,  had  it 
not  been  that  ill  health  compelled  him  to  resign 
from  the  school  at  the  end  of  eighteeen  months. 
For  half  a  year  afterwards  he  once  more  served 
in  the  Fifth,  and  then  left  the  army.  He  then 
accepted  a  position  as  instructor  in  the  Fred- 
eriksberg  Latin  and  Real  School,  at  the  same 
time  attending  a  technical  school  for  one  term. 
During  the  same  period  he  gave  instruction  in 
several  Copenhagen  institutions.  Later  he  spent 
two  and  one-half  years  in  Germany,  as  a  decora- 
tor, and  then  came  to  America. 

Chicago  was  his  first  halting  place.  Here  he 
readily  found  employment  as  a  sign  painter  and 
decorator,  sometimes  working  for  day  wages,  as 
a  journeyman,  and  sometimes  being  paid  by  the 
piece.  In  1893  he  first  opened  a  shop  of  his 


own  at  the  same  location  where  he  is  to-day. 
At  first  he  confined  himself  to  sign-painting  and 
work  on  contract,  carrying  no  stock  for  sale. 
Gradually,  however,  his  business  expanded,  and 
he  began  to  deal  in  the  accessories  of  his  trade. 
At  present  he  has  one  of  the  best  equipped  estab- 
lishments in  that  section  of  the  city,  and  is  able 
to  point  with  pride  to  the  success  which  has 
crowned  his  own  unaided  efforts. 

He  was  married  in  November,  1892,  to  Miss 
Agnes  Rasmussen.  Mrs.  Buhl  was  born  in  Den- 
mark. She  has  no  children.  Mr.  Buhl  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Danish  Veterans,  and  a  member  of 
the  Singing  Society  Harmonien.  From  1891  to 
1897  he  was  teacher  of  the  Danish  Turners,  an 
organization  which  disbanded  in  the  last-men- 
tioned year. 


WILLIAM  G.  FISCHER. 


G.  FISCHER  is  one  of  eight 
children  born  to  Christian  and  Melusine 
Fischer,  of  Schmidburg,  in  the  province  of 
Brandenberg,  Germany.  Both  his  parents  died 
in  the  Fatherland,  and  sleep  beneath  the  shadow 
of  the  hills  they  loved  so  well.  All  their  children 
emigrated  to  America,  but  William  is  the  only 
one  living  in  Chicago.  They  were  named,  re- 
spectively: Christian,  August,  Charles,  Hannah, 
Gus,  Ernestina,  William  and  Minnie.  Three  of 
these,  Christian,  Hannah  and  Minnie,  are  de- 
ceased. 

Mr.  Fischer  was  born  August  15,  1841,  and  in 
boyhood  received  the  ordinary  education  given 
by  the  parish  schools  of  his  native  place.  After 
coming  to  Chicago  he  attended  night  school,  with 
a  view  to  acquiring  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
English  language  and  greater  fluency  in  its  use. 


For  a  time  after  settling  here  he  worked  as  a 
laborer  in  mills,  but  in  September,  1861,  while 
on  a  visit  to  his  brother  in  Wisconsin,  he  enlisted 
in  the  Union  army,  joining  Company  B,  of  the 
Ninth  Wisconsin  Infantry  Volunteers.  He  was 
made  a  corporal,  and  during  the  last  two  years  of 
his  service  acted  as  bugler.  He  was  a  gallant 
soldier,  and  participated  in  all  the  battles, 
skirmishes  and  sieges  in  which  his  regiment  was 
engaged,  some  of  the  most  noteworthy  being  Pea 
Ridge,  Cowskin  Prairie,  Vicksburg  and  Sabine 
River.  He  was  thrice  wounded  but  never 
seriously.  In  November,  1864,  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged  at  Milwaukee  and  returned  to 
Chicago. 

From  that  time  until  1882  he  continued  work- 
ing in  and  around  machine  shops,  and  in  the  last- 
mentioned  year  he  was  appointed  a  letter-carrier 


638 


A.   C.  WILSON. 


in  the  city  postoffice.  This  position  he  held  until 
1898,  when  he  resigned.  Since  then  he  has  en- 
joyed a  well-earned  rest. 

His  first  presidential  vote  was  cast  for  Abraham 
Lincoln,  in  1864,  and  he  has  always  continued  to 
support  the  policy  and  candidates  of  the  Repub- 
lican party. 

He  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was 
Melusine  Kruse,  who  was  born  at  Addison,  Du 
Page  County,  Illinois.  Their  marriage  was  solem- 
nized August  24,  1866,  and  was  blessed  with 
twelve  children,  of  whom  five  are  yet  living: 


Ernst,  Emma,  Paul,  Martha  and  Frank.  Mrs. 
Fischer  died  January  9,  1887.  Three  years  later 
(April  ii,  1890)  he  led  to  the  altar  Mrs.  Kath- 
erine  Luehr,  the  widow  of  Henry  Luehr.  Of  the 
issue  of  this  marriage  three  are  living,  Henry 
Emil  and  Adolph. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fischer  are  consistent  and 
esteemed  members  of  St.  John's  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church,  and  are  respected  and  loved 
by  a  large  circle  of  friends  who  know  and  appre- 
ciate their  unostentatious  virtues  and  their  gen- 
uine worth. 


ANDREW  C    WILSON. 


Gl  NDREW  CHRISTENSON  WILSON  is  the 
I  I  second  son  and  third  child  of  John  F.  N. 
/I  Wilson,  a  noted  educator  in  Bedehauus, 
Schleswig,  Denmark,  where  he  was  a  teacher 
twenty-eight  years.  He  died  there  in  1898,  at 
the  ripe  age  of  sixty-eight  years.  His  mother 
was  Bolette  Andersen,  whose  family,  father  and 
son,  had  lived  upon  the  same  ground  three 
centuries.  She  was  born  in  1830,  and  died  in 
1888.  All  their  eight  children  are  still  living. 
Four  of  them  have  made  homes  in  America,  and 
three  reside  in  Chicago,  Andrew  C.,  Julius  P.  C. 
and  John  F.  N. 

The  subject  of  this  brief  sketch  was  born  in 
Bedehauus,  by  Tondern,  Schleswig,  Denmark, 
February  19,  1861.  He  attended  his  father's 
school  during  boyhood,  and,  after  acquiring  the 
rudiments  of  a  sound  education,  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship of  three  and  one-half  years  at  the 
baker's  trade  with  one  master,  and  a  little  over 
one  year  with  another.  In  1881,  having  reached 
the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  came  to  America, 
never  ceasing  his  journey  westward  until  reaching 
Aurora,  Hamilton  County,  Nebraska.  He  re- 
mained there  a  year,  and  then  came  to  Chicago. 


After  reaching  this  city  he  worked  at  his  trade, 
and  then  embarked  in  the  grocery  business,  as  a 
trader  on  his  own  account,  at  No.  34  West  Ohio 
Street.  For  twelve  years  (1883  to  1895),  he  con- 
tinued there  in  this  line  of  merchandising,  win- 
ning the  favor  of  his  patrons  through  his  correct 
business  methods  and  his  unquestioned  integrity. 
In  1895  he  erected  a  handsome  three-story  build- 
ing at  the  corner  of  Maplewood  Avenue  and 
Hifsch  Street,  on  the  first  floor  of  which  he  con- 
ducts his  flourishing  business. 

Mr.  Wilson's  success  is  but  one  of  the  many 
triumphs  which  numbers  of  his  countrymen  have 
won  in  Chicago  over  adverse  circumstances.  Com- 
ing, poor,  to  a  strange  land,  he  has  hewed  out 
his  own  pathway  to  fortune  by  the  force  of  his 
own  moral  and  mental  powers. 

In  1884  he 'was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Christine  Schmidt,  a  native  of  Denmark,  who 
had  come  to  this  country  about  a  year  before  her 
marriage.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with 
two  children,  Anna  Maria  and  John  Andrew. 
In  religious  faith  the  family  adheres  to  the  Luth- 
erau  Church.  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  stanch  Republi- 
can in  political  principle. 


OF  THE 
iVERSITY  OF 


PHILIPP  STEINMUELLER 


(From  Photo  by  W.  J.  ROOT). 


PHIUPP  STEINMUELLER. 


639 


PHILIPP  STEINMUELLER. 


QHILIPP  STEINMUELLER,  who  is  deputy 

yr  factory  inspector  for  the  state  of  Illinois,  is 
K^  a  pioneer  of  1852,  and  a  man  of  prominence. 
He  was  born  September  10,  1832,  in  the  village  of 
Heuchelheim,  near  Giessen,  Hessen-Darmsdat, 
Germany,  and  is  a  son  of  Philipp  and  Katharine 
Steinmueller,  natives  of  the  same  locality. 

Philipp  Steinmueller,  senior,  was  the  father  of 
five  daughters  and  three  sons,  namely:  Jacob,  of 
No.  225  Dayton  Street;  Philipp;  Katharine, 
wife  of  Jacob  Kroeck,  of  No.  223  Dayton  Street; 
Mary,  who  returned  to  Germany  and  died  there; 
Elizabeth,  deceased,  widow  of  Louis  Rinn;  Anna 
Margarita,  widow  of  Louis  Kroeck  and  lives  in 
Chicago;  Louis,  of  No.  343  Hudson  Avenue; 
and  Anna,  now  Mrs.  Bauman,  of  Decatur, 
Illinois.  The  father  died  in  1887,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-six  years  and  six  months  and  the  mother 
in  1883,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years  and 
six  months. 

Philipp  Steinmueller,  junior,  of  this  notice 
after  being  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  village,  worked  with  his  father  at  the 
mason's  trade  until  he  emigrated.  On  April  27, 
1852,  he  left  his  home  and  went  to  Meinz,  on  the 
Rhine,  from  there  to  Rotterdam,  from  which 
place  he  traveled  to  Hull  and  on  to  Liverpool, 
England.  There  he  took  passage  for  America, 
on  the  sailing  ship  "Argo,"  May  6,  landing  in 
New  York  June  17.  Two  days  later  he  pur- 
chased tickets  to  Chicago.  On  reaching  Buffalo 
he  was  refused  passage  further  and  he  was  forced 
to  pay  for  his  transportation  the  second  time. 
He  reached  Chicago  June  30.  He  had  a  relation 
living  in  Evanston  and  he  walked  to  his  home. 


He  found  employment  with  Michael  Weber, 
near  Rose  Hill.  When  he  arrived  in  Chicago  he 
had  three  cents  in  his  possession  and  was  four 
dollars  in  debt.  He  at  first  worked  for  six  dollars 
per  month,  later  being  allowed  nine  dollars  per 
month.  In  the  fall  of  the  year  that  he  came  to 
Chicago  he  worked  for  Page  &  Warner  and 
carried  mortar  to  build  the  first  court  house. 
Having  a  knowledge  of  plastering  he  was  soon 
promoted  to  a  better  position  and  his  wages  in- 
creased. After  working  for  wages  a  few  years 
he  began,  in  1857,  to  conduct  a  business  on  his 
own  account.  He  continued  in  this  capacity 
until  1860.  In  1862  he  was  employed  in  the 
postoffice  until  1867.  He  resigned  in  1868  and 
accepted  a  position  on  the  Board  of  Public  Works, 
which  he  occupied  two  years.  In  1869  he  re- 
turned to  the  postoffice  and  remained  one  year. 
He  subsequently  purchased  a  business  on  the 
South  Side  and  was  burned  out  in  1871,  when  he 
lost  his  residence  on  Goethe  Street.  He  erected 
a  building  on  Lincoln  Street,  which  he  later  sold, 
and  started  a  catering  establishment  and  grocery 
store  on  Sedgwick  Street.  In  1873  he  sold  this 
and  entered  the  Recorder's  office  and  was 
employed  there  during  1875  and  1876. 

Mr.  Steinmueller  then  purchased  a  grocery 
store  and  after  six  months  again  sold  out.  He 
spent  two  years  in  Texas,  returning  in  1878. 
He  established  a  restaurant  and  catering  establish- 
ment at  No.  8  South  Clark  Street  and  six  months 
later  sold  out  and  removed  to  No.  45  North 
Clark  Street.  He  remained  at  this  location  until 
1885.  He  retired  for  one  year,  when  he  resumed 
his  former  business  at  the  corner  of  Wells  Street 


640 


T.  A.  NOBLE,  M.  D. 


and  Chicago  Avenue.  He  continued  there  until 
May  i,  1891.  The  summer  of  this  year  he 
visited  Europe  with  his  wife,  returning  for  a 
short  time  to  his  native  place  and  thoroughly 
enjoying  the  trip.  On  the  election  of  Governor 
Tanner  he  was  appointed  to  his  present  position, 
receiving  his  commission  May  10,  1897.  He  has 
taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Re- 
publican party  and  at  one  time  was  supervisor  of 
the  North  Town.  He  has  also  attended  many 
state  conventions. 

Mr.    Steinmueller    is    a    member  of  Lessing 


Lodge  No.  557,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons.  He  is  also  connected  with  Corinthian 
Chapter  No.  69,  Royal  Arch  Masons.  He  was 
married  September  13,  1875,  to  Miss  Erstina 
Bernhart.  They  have  no  children.  Mrs.  Stein- 
mueller's  niece,  Miss  Martha  Grebe,  has  been  a 
member  of  the  household  since  she  was  seven 
years  of  age  and  receives  the  same  kindly  treat- 
ment that  she  would  if  their  own  daughter.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Steinmueller  are  members  of  the  con- 
gregation of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church, 
located  near  their  home. 


THOMAS  A.  NOBLE,  M.  D. 


'HOMAS  A.  NOBLE,  M.  D.,  was  born 
near  Toronto,  Canada,  and  reared  in  the 
village  of  Maple,  Ontario.  He  received  the 
common  and  high  school  education  of  his  home. 
His  father  was  a  merchant,  but  the  son  early  de- 
cided to  enter  upon  the  medical  profession,  and 
graduated  from  the  Toronto  University  of  Medi- 
cine with  the  class  of  1888,  receiving  the  medi- 
cal degree.  Not  satisfied,  he  determined  to  sup- 
plement this  course  with  further  studies  in  that 
celebrated  institution,  the  medical  department  of 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  where  he 
completed  the  post-graduate  course. 

His  first  field  of  practice  was  as  assistant  to  a 
physician  at  New  Cutnnock,  Ayrshire,  Scotland. 
The  practice  here  was  that  in  and  about  a  large 
coal  mining  community,  and  cases  in  the  mines 
afforded  him  au  extensive  surgical  practice,  in 
addition  to  his  general  practice.  January  i, 
1892,  he  located  at  Harvey,  thinking  only  that 
he  would  remain  during  the  World's  Fair.  A 
handsome  practice  at  once  came  to  him  and  by 
the  close  of  the  Fair  his  business  had  assumed 
such  proportions  that  he  felt  the  sacrifice  would 
be  too  great  if  he  removed  to  other  regions.  In 


every  respect  his  relations  to  the  people  of 
Harvey  have  been  so  pleasant  and  so  many  warm 
friends  have  been  made  that  the  ties  of  both  busi- 
ness and  friendship  are  constantly  growing 
stronger. 

Dr.  Noble  stands  high  in  the  esteem  of  those 
of  the  medical  profession  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Association  of  Railway  Surgeons.  He  is  the  local 
surgeon  of  both  the  Grand  Trunk  and  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroads.  While  enjoying  a  wide 
and  lucrative  practice,  the  doctor  is  closely  identi- 
fied with  the  people  in  many  social  and  public 
respects,  being  interested  in  every  move  that 
tends  to  the  advancement  of  the  community. 
He  is  a  Republican,  though  not  identified  with 
official  position,  preferring  to  refrain  from  acquir- 
ing a  reputation  as  a  politician. 

He  is  a  Free  Mason,  a  Knight  of  Pythias,  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Arcanum,  Royal  League, 
Home  Forum  Benefit  Order  and  Fraternal  Tri- 
bunes. No  man  stands  higher  in  the  estimation 
of  the  citizens,  every  one  according  him  the  palm 
of  being  a  royal  good  fellow.  A  close  student 
of  his  profession,  he  keeps  abreast  of  modern 
investigation  and  medical  thought,  and  while  he 


AUGUST  STEINER. 


641 


is  not  given  to  display  of  knowledge,  his  diag- 
nosis of  cases  is  generally  accepted  by  his  medi- 
cal brethren,  with  all  of  whom  he  is  courteous 
and  for  whom  he  has  but  words  of  commenda- 


tion. Dr.  Noble  has  not  as  yet  taken  to  him- 
self a  permanent  companion,  but  it  is  not  for  lack 
of  mutual  admiration  between  himself  and  the 
opposite  sex. 


AUGUST  STEINER. 


GlUGUST  STEINER.  The  world  owes  a 
M  great  debt  of  gratitude  to  its  few  men  whose 
/  I  application  to  the  development  of  an  idea, 
under  the  most  adverse  circumstances,  has  finally 
contributed  to  the  material  progress,  thus  adding 
to  the  sum  of  human  happiness  and  enlarging 
the  wealth  of  the  world.  Such  a  man  is  he  whose 
life  we  are  attempting  to  review.  Naturally  of  a 
mechanical  turn  of  mind,  at  an  early  age  he  be- 
gan to  develop  that  faculty  and  served  a  regular 
training  in  the  shops  of  his  native  country 
Wurtemberg,  Germany,  where  he  was  born  April 

15,  I«32. 

In  1854  he  came  to  America,  settling  in 
Thornton  Station,  now  Homewood.  He  found 
employment  in  Scovell's  Locomotive  Works  at 
Chicago,  and  for  some  years  worked  in  similar 
shops  through  various  western  states  and  territo- 
ries. In  1859  he  started  at  Homewood,  a  black- 
smith, wagon,  and  plow  shop,  and  soon  built  up 
a  large  and  lucrative  business.  His  plows  proved 
so  satisfactory  to  the  farmers  that  their  manufact- 
ure grew  to  be  an  important  industry,  and  they 
were  widely  and  favorably  known. 

In  1880  he  purchased  the  flouring  mill  at 
Homewood,  which  he  overhauled,  converting  it 
into  a  modern  roller- process  mill,  of  seventy-five 
barrel  capacity.  He  continues  to  operate  this 
property,  but  at  the  same  time  his  inventive 
brain  has  been  busy  along  other  lines.  A  prac- 
tical farmer,  he  well  knew  the  labor  involved  in 
the  harvesting  of  the  immense  corn  crop  of  this 
country  and  knew  that  no  one  machine  would 


contribute  so  much  to  the  saving  of  labor  as  one 
that  would  harvest  the  crop,  dispensing  with  the 
slow  and  laborious  process  of  hand  husking. 
Accordingly,  after  repeated  attempts  and  failures, 
he  produced  a  small  hand  husking  machine, 
which  he  had  patented  and  which,  intended  to 
fasten  to  the  side  of  a  wagon,  proved  a  success, 
but  it  went  only  part  way.  He  was  constantly 
experimenting,  making,  however,  but  slow  prog- 
ress, to  produce  a  horse-power  machine. 
Finally,  after  years  of  trial  and  experiment,  in- 
volving great  expense  and  disappointment,  in 
1891  he  succeeded  in  more  nearly  realizing  his 
ambition,  and  knew  that  final  success  was  in  his 
grasp.  The  invention,  however,  demanded  many 
changes  and  further  improvement,  and  it  was  five 
years  before  he  produced  the  machine  that  he 
knew  would  do  the  intended  work. 

In  1897  he  placed  several  machines  on  the 
market  and  these  were  eagerly  bought  by  large 
farmers,  who  had  looked  and  hoped  for  years  for 
a  machine  that  would  perform  this  tedious  and 
laborious  farm  work.  Credentials  from  these  en- 
thusiastic farmers  speak  in  no  uncertain  terms  of 
the  success  achieved  and  testify  to  the  value  of 
the  machine  and  the  great  boon  that  has  been 
conferred  upon  the  agriculturist.  The  machine 
takes  up  a  row  of  corn,  strips  off  the  ear,  which 
is  then  denuded  of  the  husk  and  elevated  to  a 
wagon  which  is  alongside.  The  stalks  are  left  in 
the  field  and  in  much  better  condition  for  food  for 
the  stock  than  when  the  corn  is  husked  by  hand. 

The    machine  has  a  capacity  of  twelve  acres 


642 


C.  M.  BOBERG. 


per  day,  and  facilities  for  its  manufacture  on  a 
large  scale  are  completed  and  it  will  come  into 
extensive  use  on  the  large  corn  growing  farms  of 
the  West.  Mr.  Steiner  has  not  been  alone  in  ex- 
perimenting along  this  line.  Many  inventors 
have  turned  their  genius  in  this  direction  and 
several  large  manufacturers  of  harvesting  machin- 
ery have  used  sometimes  questionable  efforts  to 
secure  the  principle  used  by  Mr.  Steiner,  aud 
have  even  infringed  upon  his  patents  in  their 
anxiety  to  place  a  machine  on  the  market. 
While  the  above  mechanism  is  the  crowning  piece 
of  Mr.  Steiner's  inventive  faculties,  he  has  pro- 
duced other  valuable  patents,  one  being  the 
machine  for  tying  wire  used  in  bailing,  boxing 
and  so  forth.  This  he  sold  to  his  profit,  to  the 
Washburn-Moen  Company,  who  have  put  it 
into  extensive  use. 

A  careful  investor  and  manager  of  business  in- 


terest, Mr.  Steiner  has  accumulated  a  handsome 
property  and  owns  valuable  farm  lands,  some  of 
which  he  operates.  In  many  respects  he  stands 
as  one  of  the  influential  and  progressive  citizens  of 
Homewood.  He  is  not  an  aspirant  for  public 
honor,  though  his  friends  have  often  sought  his 
services  in  connection  with  direction  of  the 
schools,  trustee  of  the  township  or  highway 
commissioner. 

In  1861  Mr.  Steiner  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Eliza  Knapwurst,  also  of  German  birth. 
Their  family  consisted  of:  August,  junior,  who 
died  May  15,  1894,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight, 
Carl,  Henry,  Eliza  and  Minnie.  Reared  in 
the  church  of  his  fathers,  the  German  Lutheran, 
Mr.  Steiner  has  ever  taken  a  warm  and  active 
interest  in  it,  as  well  as  in  all  those  elements  of 
social  and  religious  development  that  tend  to 
advancement  of  individual  and  public  progress. 


CHARLES  M.  BOBERG. 


[7JHARLES  MAGNUS  BOBERG,  who  is 
I  (  among  the  retired  business  men  and  the 
\J  most  prominent  of  his  race  in  the  city  of 
Chicago,  was  born  April  22,  1831,  in  Stockholm, 
Sweden.  He  is  a  son  of  Hendrich  and  Anna 
Louise  (Ponsbach)  Boberg. 

Hendrich  Boberg  died  in  1835,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-six  years.  His  worthy  wife  and  helpmate 
died  June  14,  1878,  having  been  born  October  18, 
1807.  Her  children  were  named:  Hilda  Louise, 
Emma  Johanna  Theresa,  Charles  Magnus,  Anna 
Marie  and  Edward  Henry.  The  last-named  of 
these  came  to  America  during  the  Civil  War.  He 
enlisted  aud  was  killed  in  battle,  fighting  for  the 
country  in  which  he  had  lived  such  a  short  time, 
and  of  which  he  knew  comparatively  nothing. 
How  many  men  of  the  present  day  would  be  will- 
ing to  do  as  much? 


Charles  M.  Boberg  reached  New  York  January 
4,  1870,  and  began  to  work  at  his  trades,  those  of 
carpenter  and  painter.  In  May,  1880,  he  re- 
moved to  Chicago,  subsequently  again  removing 
to  northern  Michigan,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business.  In  1886  he  returned  to  Chi- 
cago and  since  that  time  has  been  practically 
retired.  In  1887  he  erected  his  present  residence, 
at  No.  1 145  Sixty-sixth  Street,  living  quietly  and 
at  peace  with  the  world. 

Mr.  Boberg  was  married  February  24,  1886,  to 
Miss  Anna  Nelson,  daughter  of  Nels  and  Anna 
(Hansen)  Anderson.  Mrs.  Boberg  was  born 
November  22,  1841,  in  Skona,  Sweden.  She 
makes  an  admirable  helpmate  and  is  beloved  by 
her  worthy  husband,  who  is  one  of  the  most 
highly  honored  of  the  citizens  of  that  portion  of 
the  city  and  is  a  man  with  whom  anyone  may  be 


COL.  C.  E.  SHELHAMER. 


643 


proud  to  be  connected.  He  is  a  Republican  as 
to  his  political  views  and  is  valuable  to  the  party, 
as  his  influence  is  great  among  those  who  know 
him,  being  a  man  of  stability  and  strength  of 


principle.  He  cherishes  the  faith  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  as  does  his  wife,  and  he  is  a  supporter 
of  Swedish  societies  of  that  sect  in  the  city  of 
Chicago. 


COL.  CHARLES  E.  SHELHAMER, 


EOL.  CHARLES  EDMUND  SHELHAMER 
is  a  highly  respected  citizen  and  a  well-known 
and  active  worker  in  Grand  Army  circles. 
He  had  the  blood  that  made  a  soldier  during  the 
perilous  days  of  our  Civil  War.  When  a  lad  in 
years  and  with  beardless  face  he  volunteered  his 
services  in  response  to  the  country's  call,  and 
with  the  bravery  of  a  man  of  mature  years  went 
forth  in  defense  of  his  flag,  to  help  uphold  the 
honor  of  his  land.  He  is  a  native  of  Luzerne 
County,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  June  30, 
1848.  He  passed  his  boyhood  there,  and  at  the 
age  of  seven  years,  in  1855,  his  parents  removed 
to  Chicago,  which  city  was  then  a  small  prairie 
town  with  only  a  few  thousand  people.  In  the 
public  schools  he  was  instructed  in  the  element- 
ary branches,  which  was  all  the  education  he 
was  ever  able  to  acquire.  He  was  patriotic  to  a 
large  degree  and  his  boyish  dream  and  ambition 
was  to  be  a  soldier. 

In  January,  1864,  he  enlisted  in  Company  E, 
Seventy-second  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  He 
was  taken  to  Camp  Yates,  where  for  six  weeks 
he  acted  as  assistant  hospital  steward  and  then 
joined  his  regiment  in  the  field,  then  attached  to 
the  Second  Division,  Seventeenth  Army  Corps, 
and  was  subsequently  transferred  to  the  Fourth 
Army  Corps,  which  was  commanded  by  General 
Thomas,  the  "Rock  of  Chickamauga."  Although 
entering  the  war  at  a  comparatively  late  period, 
he  participated  in  as  many  engagements  as  many 
others  who  saw  three  or  more  years  of  service. 
In  all  he  participated  in  sixteen  engagements, 


and  at  Island  No.  10  received  his  baptismal  fire. 
At  the  time  of  the  occurrence  he  was  on  a  boat 
en  route  for  the  location  of  his  regiment.  Among 
other  engagements  in  which  he  took  part  may  be 
mentioned  Jackson,  Mississippi;  Corinth,  Jeff 
Davis  Plantation,  Columbia,  Spring  Hill,  and 
Franklin,  Tennessee.  In  the  last-named  en- 
gagement he  received  a  wound  in  the  head  and 
was  reported  missing,  but  turned  up  after  thirty- 
six  hours,  in  time  to  share  in  the  decisive  and 
bloody  battle  of  Nashville.  His  regiment  was 
subsequently  sent  to  New  Orleans  and  in  the 
campaigning  that  followed  he  fought  at  Smith's 
Point,  Spanish  Fort,  Fort  Blakely  and  Mobile, 
and  the  many  sharp  encounters  that  were  fought 
between  the  last-mentioned  place  and  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama.  His  regiment  was  at  the 
close  of  the  war  sent  to  Vicksburg,  Mississippi, 
where  it  was  mustered  out  of  service.  His  ambi- 
tion to  be  a  soldier  had  been  thoroughly  grati- 
fied and  he  had  proven  faithful  at  all  times. 

Upon  his  return  to  civil  life  he  settled  in 
Chicago,  where  for  a  number  of  years  he  car- 
ried on  a  grocery  and  market  business.  He 
has  also  been  active  in  other  lines  of  employ- 
ment. Mr.  Shelhamer  is  a  charter  member  of 
Gen.  Silas  Casey  Post  No.  555,  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  in  the  organization  of  which  he 
took  an  active  part.  In  the  offices  of  the  post 
he  has  creditably  filled  the  positions  of  senior 
vice  commander,  adjutant  and  quartermaster. 
He  is  active  in  all  Grand  Army  work,  being  a 
potent  factor  in  pushing  any  enterprise  calculated 


644 


F.  J.  O.  TURN. 


to  bring  the  organization  to  the  highest  state  of 
efficiency.  In  1898  he  was  appointed  colonel  on 
the  staff  of  State  Commander  General  Shimpff. 
He  is  a  member  in  good  standing  in  Myrtle 
Lodge  No.  i ,  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  is  a  stanch 
Republican  and  takes  an  active  part  in  local  af- 
fairs. He  was  married  in  Chicago  in  1871  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Milligan,  who  is  the  mother  of 
two  children,  Helen  and  Agnes,  two  charming 
young  ladies  of  culture  and  pleasant  personalities. 
Mrs.  Shelhamer  vies  with  her  husband  in  further- 
ing the  usefulness  of  the  Grand  Army  organiza- 
tions. She  is  president  of  the  Silas  Casey  Relief 
Corps,  being  one  of  its  active  charter  members. 
Altogether  she  has  served  as  president  of  this  lodge 
four  years  and  has  also  filled  many  minor  offices 
of  the  corps,  which  now  boasts  sixty-seven  mem- 
bers in  good  standing.  The  corps  is  among  the 
best  in  the  city,  having  made  for  itself  under  the 
administration  of  its  cheerful  workers  a  reputa- 
tion more  than  local.  In  this  connection  it  may 
with  appropriateness  be  stated  that  to  Mrs. 
Adam  Hutchinson  belongs  much  of  the  honor 
of  bringing  of  the  corps  to  its  present  state  of 
perfection.  Her  husband  was  a  gallant  soldier 
in  the  Civil  War  and  is  one  of  the  seventeen  men 
who  tunneled  beneath  the  walls  of  Libby  Prison 
and  escaped. 


Mr.  Shelhamer  is  a  son  of  Abraham  W.  and 
Margaret  (Eyre)  Shelhamer,  natives  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  former  of  French  and  the  latter  of 
English  descent.  His  father  was  a  member  of 
the  same  regiment  and  company  as  himself,  and 
they  enlisted  at  the  same  time.  His  father  be- 
came hospital  steward  at  Camp  Yates  and  later 
was  sent  toVicksburg,  Mississippi,  where  he  died 
in  one  of  the  hospitals  of  that  town,  an  hour  or 
two  after  hearing  of  his  son's  wound,  received  at 
Franklin.  He  was  a  flouring  mill  operator  at 
Kankakee,  Illinois,  and  during  much 'of  the  war 
period  supplied  flour  on  contract.  Mrs.  Shel- 
hamer is  a  daughter  of  Edward  and  Helen 
(McCullough)  Milligan,  natives  of  Scotland  and 
eminently  worthy  and  respectable  people.  Upon 
coming  to  America  they  first  settled  in  Geneva, 
New  York,  and  in  1855  came  to  Chicago,  where 
both  died,  she  in  1856,  while  he  survived  his 
wife  until  1892.  Mr.  Milligan  had  reached  the 
age  of  eighty-three  years  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
He  was  a  man  typical  of  the  '  'Land  of  the  This- 
tle," stanch  in  character,  of  rugged  honesty  and 
unyielding  spirit. 

Mrs.  Shelhamer  partakes  of  her  father's  char- 
acteristics. She  is  a  pleasant  and  entertaining 
conversationalist,  well  informed  and  a  model  mis- 
tress in  her  home. 


FREDERICK  J.  O.  TURN. 


I""  REDERICK  JONAS  OLOF  TURN.  Many 
fft  of  the  most  sturdy  and  influential  of  our 
|  younger  citizens  to-day  boast  either  Scandin- 
avian birth  or  parentage.  The  Swedish-born  of 
the  citizens  of  Chicago  help  to  make  up  the 
strongholds  and  do  much  for  the  promotion  of  the 
best  interests  of  our  people  and  the  nation.  They 
are  a  race  who  are  dauntless  and  never-failing, 
and  give  up  to  nothing  which  can  be  conquered 


by  man.  Quiet  and  firm,  as  a  rule  they  create 
little  whirl,  but  are  decisive  in  their  actions  to 
the  end.  Frederick  J.  O.  Turn  was  born  May  3, 
1873,  in  the  city  of  Westervik,  Sweden,  and  his 
parents  were  John  and  Christina  Josephina  (San) 
Turn. 

Mr.  Turn  reached  Chicago  in  April,  1893,  and 
has  followed  the  occupation  of  stone-cutter, 
being  very  competent  at  his  chosen  trade.  He 


M.  A.  ARNOLD. 


645 


was  married  in  the  year  1897,  to  Maria  Johan- 
na Swenson.  Mrs.  Turn  is  a  daughter  of  Olof 
and  Johannah  (Helsing)  Swenson,  and  was  born 
August  6,  1873,  on  a  farm  near  the  city  of  Kris- 
tinehamn,  Sweden.  Her  father  was  a  tiller  of 
the  soil,  as  was  his  father  before  him.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Turn  have  one  child,  born  June  10,  1898, 
and  named  Edna  Holda  Johanna. 

Mr.  Turn   is  still   a  young  man  and  has  not 


resided  in  Chicago  many  years,  but  is  fast  becom- 
ing accustomed  to  the  ways  of  our  people  and 
moves  among  them  in  such  a  manner  that  none 
could  ascertain  his  nationality  without  the  neces- 
sary information  from  his  own  lips.  He  promises 
to  become  one  of  the  prominent  and  influential 
movers  among  our  citizens,  as  he  shows  a  remark- 
able interest  in  the  welfare  of  all  those  about 
him. 


MOSES  A.  ARNOLD. 


I  OSES  ANTHONY  ARNOLD,  who  is 
among  the  prominent  citizens  of  the 
portion  of  Chicago  in  which  he  resides,  is 
also  well  known  among  Free  Masons.  He  was 
bora  June  23,  1849,  in  Bedford  County,  Tennes- 
see, and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Marie  (Blackwell) 
Arnold. 

He  was  born  in  slavery  and  was  owned  first  by 
Smith  Arnold,  and  later  was  transferred  to  Wil- 
son Arnold.  After  four  years  with  the  last-men- 
tioned, he  was  taken  by  George  Cunningham 
two  years,  later  by  James  Sowell  one  year  and 
then  was  owned  by  William  McClain.  After  one 
year  with  Mr.  McClain,  the  Civil  War  being  in 
progress,  he  ran  away  and  entered  the  Union 
lines  at  Duck  River  Station,  Tennessee.  He  met 
a  Union  officer,  Samuel  Adams,  who  was  first 
lieutenant  of  Company  F,  One  Hundred  Fifth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  went  with  him 
to  Nashville,  as  body  servant.  This  was  in  the 
fall  of  the  year  1862,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  next 
year  he  went  with  his  brother  in  business  at 
Nashville.  His  brother,  John  Quincy  Adams 
Arnold,  had  engaged  in  business  before  that 
time,  and  Moses  A.  Arnold  was  with  him  until 
1865.  It  was  here  that  he  received  his  first 
wages  and  education.  In  1864  he  attended  pub- 


lic school  eight  months  and  studied  under  an 
officer's  wife,  later  attending  night  school  in 
Chicago. 

In  1865  Mr.  Arnold  removed  to  Chicago  and 
after  a  few  days  in  this  city  went  to  Huntley, 
Illinois,  where  he  worked  for  Sam  Adams  as  a 
shepherd.  He  returned  to  Chicago  and  was  em- 
ployed by  John  Adams,  who  had  a  market  on 
Lake  Street,  corner  of  Clinton  Street,  from  Octo- 
ber, 1865,  until  March,  1866.  March  26,  1866, 
he  went  into  the  Sherman  House  as  waiter  and 
remained  thus  occupied  until  1870.  He  then 
went  back  to  Tennessee  to  look  for  his  parents 
and,  after  finding  them,  placed  them  in  a  home 
and  returned  to  Chicago.  He  was  again  em- 
ployed at  the  Sherman  House  and  remained  until 
the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  was  opened,  May  i, 
1873,  continuing  there  until  May  i,  1895.  He 
was  laundryman  twenty-two  years  at  the  Grand 
Pacific  and  for  nine  years  carver.  He  is  now 
special  police  and  watchman  at  the  colored  peo- 
ple's Baptist  Church,  which  is  at  the  corner  of 
Twenty-seventh  and  Dearborn  Streets. 

In  1887  Mr.  Arnold  built  a  residence  at  No. 
6730  Champlain  Avenue,  where  he  has  since 
lived.  He  was  married  May  24,  1874,  to  Miss 
Mary  Lane.  She  was  born  at  Kamy  Springs, 


646 


AUGUST  GUSTAFSON. 


Marshall  County,  Tennessee,  and  her  children 
are  as  follows:  Marie  Delilah,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  years  and  five  mouths;  Emily;  John 
and  Eler  Frank.  The  last-named  died  young. 
Mrs.  Mary  (Lane)  Arnold  had  one  child  by  her 
first  marriage,  which  was  to  Harry  G.  Hudson 
(for  further  mention  of  whom  see  biography  of 
Harry  G.  Hudson).  Mrs.  Arnold  died  June  20, 
1893. 

Mr.  Arnold  was  married  the  second  time,  June 
10,  1894,  to  Mary  Payne,  who  was  born  in  March, 
1859,  in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  Moses  A.  Ar- 
nold was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Mt.  Hebron 
Lodge  No.  29,  and  is  connected  with  St.  Luke's 
Chapter  No.  5.  He  has  taken  the  thirty-third 
degree  in -Masonry,  and  is  connected  with  St. 
George  Commandery  No.  4,  and  the  Arabic 
Mystic  Shrine.  In  masonry  he  served  as  tyler 
eighteen  months  in  the  lodge  of  which  he  is  a 
charter  member  and  filled  all  the  offices  of  the 
chapter.  He  was  senior  warden  one  year,  treas- 
urer the  same  length  of  time,  and  master  two 
years.  In  the  commandery  he  has  served  in  all 
offices  except  Generalissimo  and  Captain  Gen- 
eral. In  Scottish  Rite  masonry  he  was  Hos- 
pitaler in  second  and  fourteenth  degree. 

Mr.  Arnold  has  been  a  member  of  the  colored 
Baptist  Church  since  1866  and  has  been  deacon 
since  1874.  He  was  chairman  of  the  board  ten 
years  and  trustee  one  year,  being  treasurer  for 


the  same  length  of  time.  He  is  interested  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Republican  party,  and  uses  his  influ- 
ence in  behalf  of  the  same,  but  never  seeks  pub- 
lic favor  in  the  form  of  any  office.  Mr.  Arnold's 
father  came  to  live  with  him  and  died  here  in 
April,  1894,  at  the  aSe  of  eighty-three  years. 
His  mother  died  in  Shelbyville,  Tennessee,  in 
1875,  at  the  age  of  about  seventy-five  years. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  Mr.  Arnold  was 
Andrew  Fogaman,  who  was  born  in  Maryland,  a 
free  man.  He  served  as  teamster  in  the  War  of 
1812  and  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  died  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  eight  years,  his  remains  being 
interred  at  Bellbuckle,  Tennessee.  His  wife,  Han- 
nah Fogaman,  was  also  born  a  free  woman,  but 
was  kidnapped  and  taken  South  into  slavery. 
Her  husband  followed  her  and  remained  with  her 
until  her  death,  and  her  body  was  interred  at 
Sinking  Creek,  Tennessee. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Arnold  was  born  in  Virginia 
and  his  ten  children  were  as  follows:  Hannah, 
Caroline,  Renna,  Harriet,  Andrew,  Jacob,  Moses 
and  three  others.  Mr.  Arnold,  of  this  sketch, 
was  the  youngest  of  his  father's  family.  He  is 
well  known  among  his  friends  and  acquaintances 
as  an  honorable  and  upright  man,  a  follower  in 
the  path  of  right  and  one  who  will  win  respect  and 
recognition  to  the  end  of  his  days.  He  is  beloved 
by  his  brethren  in  the  church  and  in  his  family 
his  word  is  law  and  his  name  shown  deference. 


AUGUST  GUSTAFSON. 


Gl  UGUST  GUSTAFSON,  who  is  one  of  Chi- 
I  I  cage's  worthy  and  prominent  citizens,  was 
/  I  born  July  4,  1860,  in  the  village  of  Sjokumla, 
Osterjutland,  Sweden.  He  is  one  of  that  nation 
of  hardy  constitutions,  stanch  minds  and  sterling 
characters,  which  make  the  man  fitted  for  the 
moral  and  physical  battles  of  life.  His  parents 


were  Gustav  and  Gustava  (Anderson)  Anderson, 
and  the  children  of  the  family  of  Gustav  Ander- 
son's parents  were  named:  Pryts,  Oak,  Brodd 
and  Gustav. 

Gustav  Anderson  was  born  October  25,  1827,  in 
Sweden.  He  was  a  carpenter  contractor.  Mrs. 
Anderson  was  born  October  n,  1825,  and  died 


OF  THE 
•VERSITY  OF  ILL!" 


CHARLES  KOTZENBERG. 


CHARLES  KOTZENBERG. 


647 


July  i,  1897.  Her  children  are  named:  Carl 
John,  Matilda,  Edla,  August,  David  (who  died 
at  the  age  of  three  years),  David  (who  resides 
in  Chicago),  Joseph,  who  died  at  the  age  of  three 
months;  and  Edla,  who  married  Carl  Magnuson 
and  lives  in  Kansas  City. 

August  Gustafson  came  to  Chicago  April  25, 
1880,  having  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter  in  his 
native  land.  He  was  employed  at  his  trade  in 
the  Rodling  Stock  Repair  Shops,  and  remained 
but  two  months.  He  then  became  occupied  a 
short  time  at  house  building  for  Mr.  Magnuson, 
but  subsequently  entered  the  shops  of  the  Garden 
City  Type  Company,  serving  two  years.  After 
spending  a  short  time  with  a  contractor,  he  re- 
turned to  the  employ  of  the  last-mentioned  com- 
pany, being  occupied  in  this  capacity  for  five 
years.  He  is  at  the  present  time  with  R.  &  S. 
Sollitt,  located  at  the  corner  of  Dearborn  and 


Madison  Streets.  Having  been  very  successful 
and  thrifty,  he  was  able,  in  1896,  to  erect  a  resi- 
dence at  No.  6608  Langley  Avenue. 

Mr.  Gustafson  was  married  August  23,  1883, 
to  Louise,  daughter  of  Andrew  and  Annie  Louise 
(Swanson)  Boberg.  Mrs.  Gustafson  was  born 
May  30,  1862,  in  Sweden,  and  came  to  America 
in  1882.  Her  children  are  as  follows:  Esther 
Louisa,  born  November  25,  1884;  Elsie  Matilda, 
May  i,  1886;  and  August  Robert,  July  25, 
1887. 

Mr.  Gustafson  joined  Apollo  Court  No.  96, 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  in  1889.  He  is 
not  a  party  man,  in  political  questions,  but  votes 
for  the  man  rather  than  to  be  prejudiced  by  party 
tenets.  He  is  a  man  of  high  principles  and 
strength  of  character,  honored  and  respected  by 
all  who  become  acquainted  with  his  straightfor- 
ward manner. 


CHARLES  KOTZENBERG. 


HARLES  KOTZENBERG  was  for  several 
(  years  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  vicinity  of 
\J  the  Union  Stock  Yards  of  Chicago  and 
prominent  among  business  men  of  that  locality. 
He  was  born  January  29,  1845,  at  Essen  Amt 
Wittlage,  near  Osnabrueck,  Prussia.  He  was  a 
son  of  William  Henry  and  Katharine  Kotzen- 
berg,  both  members  of  very  old  and  prominent 
families.  William  H.  Kotzenberg  was  a  mer- 
chant, and  both  he  and  his  wife  died  in  the  vil- 
lage where  Charles  was  born.  Of  their  family 
only  Rudolph  and  Charles  came  to  America, 
the  former  dying  two  years  after  his  arrival,  in 
1885.  Charles  received  a  good  education  in  his 
native  place  and  studied  pharmacy,  graduating 
from  the  University  of  Osnabrueck. 

In  the  spring  of   1864  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  remained  a  short  time  in  New  York, 


before  going  west.  Later  he  went  to  Arcadia, 
Missouri,  where  he  was  employed  in  the  high 
school  as  teacher  of  languages  and  music  for 
about  a  year.  He  drifted  to  New  Orleans,  and 
being  out  of  employment  and  money,  he  enlisted 
in  the  United  States  army.  After  the  fire  of 
1871  he  came  to  Chicago  November  i,  with  the 
Eighth  United  States  Infantry,  as  hospital 
steward.  April  29,  1872,  he  married  Miss  Mary, 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Margaret  Oswald,  very 
old  pioneers  of  Chicago. 

Accompanied  by  his  young  wife  he  started 
west,  after  his  marriage,  with  the  regiment,  con- 
tinuing to  Utah.  After  spending  a  couple  of 
months  there  they  went  to  Fort  Bridger,  Wyom- 
ing Territory.  His  time  of  service  expired  May 
8,  1874,  and  returning  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Kotzen- 
berg established  a  small  drug  store  at  the  Union 


648 


BASTIAN  STEENBERGEN. 


Stock  Yards.  Being  a  very  enterprising  and 
ambitious  man,  he  succeeded  in  the  business 
which  he  started,  and  soon  became  enabled  to 
begin  the  manufacture  of  paints  and  oils  and 
carried  on  a  wholesale  as  well  as  retail  trade. 
By  strict  attention  to  all  the  details  of  his  busi- 
ness and  fair  and  courteous  treatment  of  his  cus- 
tomers he  accumulated  a  valuable  property.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Democrat  and  prominent  in  the 
party  organization.  In  1884  he  was  candidate 
for  county  commissioner,  but  suffered  defeat  with 
the  rest  of  the  party.  He  was  three  times  elected 
assessor  of  the  Town  of  Lake  and  faithfully  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  that  office.  He  acquired 
the  distinction  of  being  the  "people's  assessor" 
and  his  work  in  that  office  was  highly  appreciated, 
as  was  attested  by  his  re-election  by  large  ma- 
jorities. He  was  a  generous  wholesouled  man, 
who  had  as  many  friends  as  acquaintances.  In 
social  and  fraternal  societies  he  took  a  lively  in- 
terest. He  was  a  charter  member  of  Mizpah 


Lodge,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  a 
member  of  Chicago  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons, 
and  Apollo  Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  and 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  the  Rising  Star  and  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

In  1890  he  built  the  beautiful  residence  on  the 
corner  of  Garfield  Boulevard  and  Peoria  Street, 
now  occupied  by  his  widow  and  family.  He  was 
a  great  lover  of  his  home  and  family  and  in  his 
domestic  life  was  exceedingly  happy.  He  died 
October  8,  1892.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kotzenberg 
were  born  nine  children,  three  of  whom  died  in 
childhood.  Those  living  are:  William  Joseph,  a 
pharmacist,  now  a  member  of  the  First  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry;  Katharine,  wife  of  Walter 
C.  Sanger,  of  Milwaukee;  Mary  H.,  wife  of 
Tracy  Holmes,  of  Chicago;  Bertha,  Charles  G. 
and  Thomas.  Mrs.  Kotzenberg  and  family  are 
members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Visit- 
ation, and  are  held  in  high  esteem  by  those  in 
the  community  in  which  they  live. 


BASTIAN  STEENBERGEN. 


BASTIAN  STEENBERGEN  has  been  among 
the  most  active  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States  since  the  time  he  adopted  it  for  his 
country.  He  was  born  in  1843,  in  the  city  of 
Dort,  Holland,  and  his  parents  were  John  Arie 
and  Mary  (Van  Ripe)  Steenbergen.  Arie  Steen- 
bergen,  brother  of  the  man  whose  name  heads 
this  article,  was  the  first  of  his  father's  family  to 
emigrate  from  his  native  land,  and  he  located  in 
Roseland,  Illinois,  and  now  lives  at  Harvey.  In 
1855  the  remainder  of  the  family,  including  the 
parents  and  four  children,  followed.  The  children 
were  as  follows:  John,  Nellie,  Bastian  and  Peter. 
The  last-named  is  constable  at  Kensington,  and 
John  also  resides  in  that  locality. 

Bastian  Steenbergen  concluded,  at  the  age  of 


sixteen  years,  to  strike  out  for  himself,  and  he 
left  the  Steenbergen  farm,  near  Riverdale,  which 
was  known  as  the  Pullman  Dairy  Farm,  at  that 
age.  He  then  started  to  follow  the  life  of  a  sailor 
on  the  schooner  "George  F.  Foster"  under  Cap- 
tain Smith.  He  was  second  officer  for  some  time 
on  the  schooner  "Dray ton,"  and  the  bark  "Sam- 
uel B.  Ward."  In  1871  he  left  the  lakes  and 
began  the  occupation  of  butcher,  at  the  Union 
Stock  Yards,  being  employed  successively  by 
several  firms.  He  is  at  present  with  Nelson 
Morris,  having  been  with  him  since  1891. 

Mr.  Steenbergen  built  a  residence  at  No.  6720 
Cottage  Grove  Avenue  in  1890,  and  has  since 
resided  at  this  location.  He  was  married  Novem- 
ber 18,  1871,  to  Zwaana  Vogel.  Mrs.  Steenber- 


T.  A.  DILLON. 


649 


gen  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Petronella 
(Blokland)  Vogel,  and  was  born  October  20, 
1848,  in  Nodlos,  Holland.  She  came  to  America 
in  1852.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Steen- 
bergen  are  as  follows:  Mary,  born  July  28,  1872; 


Nellie  May,  May  21,  1874;  John  Arthur,  July  28, 
1880;  and  Grace,  November  14,  1883.  Mr. 
Steenbergen  and  his  family  are  members  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  he  is  a  Republican 
in  politics. 


THOMAS  A.  DILLON. 


'HOMAS  ANDREW  DILLON,  one  of  the 
most  successful  and  popular  business  men 
of  Chicago,  was  taken  from  the  midst  of 
his  family,  friends  and  business  associates  by 
accidental  drowning  October  9,  1897.  He  was 
born  January  28,  1853,  in  the  city  of  Joliet,  and 
was  among  the  native  sons  of  the  city  who  have 
contributed  much  to  her  commercial  and  moral 
development.  His  father,  John  Dillon,  was 
among  the  pioneers  of  Illinois,  and  was  mayor  of 
Joliet  early  in  the  history  of  that  city. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  higher 
education  at  Notre  Dame  University,  graduating 
from  that  institution  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen 
years.  He  early  developed  a  talent  for  business, 
and  began  his  career,  after  graduation,  as  book- 
keeper for  the  Chicago  firm  of  Duraud  &  Com- 
pany. On  leaving  this  employment  he  acquired 
an  interest  in  a  distilling  firm,  which  was  then 
known  as  Kavanaugh,  Oliver  &  Dillon.  This 
connection  continued  until  1880,  when  Mr.  Dillon 
withdrew  to  become  associated  with  Andrew 
Riley,  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  in  the  operation  of 
an  extensive  distillery  in  that  city.  In  1891  he 
sold  out  this  interest  and  returned  to  Chicago. 
Resuming  an  interest  in  his  former  business  in 
this  city,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  firm  of 
Kavanaugh  &  Company,  which  position  he  held 
at  the  time  of  his  untimely  demise. 

Mr.  Dillon  was  married  in  Omaha,  November 
26,  1884,  to  Miss  Sadie  A.  Riley,  daughter  of 
Thomas  J.  Riley,  of  the  wholesale  distilling  firm 


of  Riley  Brothers,  of  that  city.  Besides  his 
widow,  Mr.  Dillon  left  two  children — Mary 
Liguori  and  Thomas  Andrew  Dillon — to  mourn 
an  irreparable  loss.  These  children  are  being 
carefully  reared  and  educated  by  an  intelligent 
and  capable  mother  and  will,  no  doubt,  prove  a 
credit  to  the  name  they  bear. 

Mr.  Dillon  suffered  from  ill  health  some  time 
before  his  death  and  had  visited  the  mineral 
springs  at  West  Baden,  Indiana,  in  hope  of  re- 
covery through  their  medicinal  virtues.  Two 
days  after  his  return,  while  walking  alone  on 
the  breakwater  at  the  foot  of  Ontario  Street, 
during  a  high  gale,  he  was  accidentally  swept 
from  his  footing  and  perished  many  hours  before 
the  fact  became  known.  He  was  an  exemplary 
gentleman,  of  large  benevolence  and  wide  popu- 
larity. His  place  in  the  circles  which  he  graced 
and  honored  can  never  be  filled.  As  a  neighbor, 
associate,  husband  and  father,  he  was  deeply 
lamented,  and  his  memory  will  ever  be  fondly 
cherished.  He  was  a  conspicuous  member  of  the 
Notre  Dame  Alumni,  the  Chicago  Athletic  Club 
and  of  Holy  Name  Cathedral  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  in  all  of  which  organizations 
his  absence  is  deeply  felt. 

Thomas  J.  Riley  was  born  in  Honesdale, 
Wayne  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  which  place 
his  mother  still  resides,  at  the  venerable  age  of 
eighty  years.  His  ancestors  were  among  the 
early  settlers  of  eastern  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Riley 
became  a  resident  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  in  1856, 


650 


A.  R.  ZEIS. 


was  elected  sheriff  of  Douglas  County  in  1862 
and  served  in  that  important  and  responsible  po- 
sition eight  consecutive  years.  In  the  early  days 
of  this  frontier  river  town,  the  office  of  sheriff 
was  no  sinecure.  His  wife,  Anna  Theresa  Riley 
(no  relative),  was  born  in  Tralee,  County  Kerry, 
Ireland,  and  came  to  America  with  a  brother  in 
1855,  and  was  married  to  Thomas  J.  Riley  at 
Omaha.  They  are  the  parents  of  seven  children. 
The  eldest  son,  Frank  J.  Riley,  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  Company  F,  Second  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  for  service  in  the  war  with  Spain  and 
died  in  the  service,  of  typhoid  pneumonia,  at 
Camp  Cuba  Libre,  near  Jacksonville,  Florida, 


July  4,  1898.  Thus  perished  in  the  flower 
of  youth  one  who  was  willing  to  give  his  life  for 
the  liberty  of  others.  It  was  a  most  noble  sacri- 
fice, and  his  name  will  ever  be  numbered  among 
the  heroes  who  promptly  responded  to  the  call 
for  troops  to  compel  Spain  to  liberate  the  oppressed 
Cubans  from  a  bondage  worse  than  serfdom. 
Whether  the  effort  was  successful  or  not,  no 
prouder  eulogy  can  be  given  to  a  soldier  than  the 
fact  that  he  sacrificed  his  life  to  ensure  liberty  to 
others.  Young  Riley  was  buried  with  military 
honors  at  Jacksonville,  and  his  body  will  ulti- 
mately be  taken  to  Omaha  and  deposited  in  Cal- 
vary Cemetery. 


ANDREW  R.  ZEIS. 


GJNDREW  REINHARD  ZEIS,  now  living 
LJ  retired,  is  an  honored  pioneer  of  Chicago. 
/I  He  was  born  July  29,  1833,  in  Kurssen, 
Hessen-Cassel,  Germany,  and  is  the  youngest 
son  of  John  Andrew  and  Margareta  Zeis,  who  had 
four  children,  the  first  of  whom,  Andrew,  died 
when  he  was  but  a  small  child.  The  oldest 
daughter  married,  but  died  in  Middletown,  New 
York,  leaving  no  family.  Falden  died  in  Ger- 
many. John  Andrew  Zeis  served  in  the  German 
army  and  fought  against  Napoleon,  dying  in  the 
army,  when  his  son,  Andrew  R.  of  this  sketch, 
was  but  thirteen  years  of  age.  Mrs.  J.  A.  Zeis 
died  in  Chicago  in  1870. 

Andrew  R.  Zeis  was  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sources at  a  very  early  age  and  was  forced  to 
make  his  own  way  in  the  world.  His  education 
was  limited,  as  he  had  to  divide  his  time  between 
work  and  obtaining  knowledge.  He  served  a 
regular  apprenticeship  at  the  trade  of  knifesmith, 
at  which  he  worked  while  in  the  Fatherland. 
May  10,  1851,  with  his  mother  and  sister  and 
mother-in-law  he  sailed  from  Bremen,  and  after 


fifty-two  days  landed  in  New  York,  where  his 
sister  and  her  husband  remained.  Andrew  R. 
and  his  mother  traveled  on  to  Milwaukee,  arriv- 
ing at  that  city  July  14.  His  first  occupation 
was  on  a  farm  twenty-one  miles  from  that  city, 
to  which  place  he  walked,  in  search  of  work. 

He  was  employed  at  this  location  two  and  one- 
half  months  at  six  dollars  and  one- half  per 
month.  He  then  returned  to  Milwaukee  and 
secured  a  position  with  a  blacksmith  at  four  dol- 
lars per  mouth.  He  came  to  Chicago  October  14, 

1851,  and  his  first  employment  was  with  a  black- 
smith on  Randolph  Street,  where  the  Sherman 
House  now  stands.     He  worked  until  February, 

1852,  receiving  for  his  services  his  board  and 
three   dollars   in   counterfeit   money.     For    two 
weeks  after  he  carried  water  for  his  board.     He 
then  secured  a  position  in  the  reaper  works  of 
Mr.  McCormick,  receiving  seventy-five  cents  per 
day  at  the  start.     By  1856  he  had  saved  some 
money  and  was  induced  to  go  to  Minnesota  to 
take  up  a  land  claim,  but  the  venture  proved  a 
failure  and  he  returned  to  Chicago  after  losing 


PETER  BRUST. 


651 


his  savings,  and  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Galena  Railroad  Company  as  blacksmith  helper. 
He  received  a  dollar  and  twelve  and  one-half 
cents  per  day  at  first  and  his  salary  was  later 
raised  to  a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  day. 
After  a  year  and  one-half  he  returned  to  the 
employ  of  McCormick.  In  all,  he  worked  for  the 
last-named  man  nine  years  and  he  changed  to  the 
service  of  Green  Brothers,  then  the  Northwestern 
Manufacturing  Company.  He  began  his  term  of 
service  with  this  concern  receiving  a  salary  of  a 
dollar  and  one-half  per  day  and  his  wages  were 
increased,  unsolicited  by  him,  until  at  the  end  of 
five  years,  when  he  left  the  service,  he  was  work- 
ing for  three  dollars  and  a  quarter  per  day.  The 
fact  just  related  is  enough  to  show  in  what  high 
appreciation  his  services  were  held  by  his  em- 
ployers. 

In  1867  Mr.  Zeis  established  a  grocery  and 
saloon  business  on  his  own  account  at  No.  386 
North  Avenue  and  prospered  at  this  location 
until  the  fire  of  1871,  when  his  property  was  de- 
stroyed and  he  received  only  thirty-five  dollars 
insurance  from  the  North  Side  Mutual  Insurance 


Company.  He  rebuilt  after  the  fire,  and  con- 
tinued until  1 88 1,  when  he  sold  out.  He  was 
subsequently  in  occupancy  of  a  position  in  the 
postoffice  for  four  years  and  four  months.  In  1884 
he  built  his  present  pleasant  residence  at  No.  23 
Lane  Court  and  since  this  time  he  has  lived  re- 
tired. His  first  vote  in  this  country  was  for  John 
C.  Fremont  and  he  has  since  that  time  supported 
the  Republican  party  in  national  affairs,  but  in 
local  affairs  selects  the  man  who  is  in  his  opinion 
best  fitted  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  people  in 
general. 

March  18,  1858,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Wil- 
helmiua  Kuppen,  a  native  of  Germany,  who 
came  to  Chicago  in  June,  1857.  They  were 
married  by  Dr.  Hartman,  pastor  of  St.  Paul's 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Zeis  became  the  parents  of  eight  children,  only 
one  of  whom  is  now  living,  Frank,  who  is  on 
the  police  force. 

The  members  of  the  family  are  connected  with 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  and  their  as- 
sistance is  valued  to  the  highest  degree  by  the 
others  of  the  congregation. 


PETER  BRUST. 


f^ETER  BRUST,  who  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
yr  decease,  one  of  the  most  industrious  and  ener- 
[3  getic  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago,  was  born 
March  8,  1833,  in  the  village  of  Ermenach, 
Prussia.  He  was  a  son  of  Mathias  and  Anna 
Marie  (Meurer)  Brust,  and  died  September  8, 
1893,  his  remains  being  interred  in  Graceland 
Cemetery.  Jacob  Brust,  an  older  member  of  the 
family,  emigrated  two  years  before  his  brother, 
Peter,  and  now  resides  in  New  Ulm,  Minnesota. 
Peter  Brust  emigrated  from  his  native  land 
in  1852.  He  had  become  proficient  in  the  trade 
of  harnessmaking  in  his  young  manhood,  but 


followed  this  occupation  but  little  after  reaching 
America.  He  was  employed  for  a  short  time  in 
Chicago  by  a  Mr.  Valentine,  and  by  the  same 
man  in  Clinton,  Illinois.  He  removed  to  Elgin, 
Illinois,  subsequently,  being  seven  years  in  the 
employ  of  this  man.  After  this  period  he  served 
the  interests  of  B.  Shipman,  a  white  lead 
manufacturer,  until  the  time  of  his  demise,  a 
period  of  twenty-nine  years,  in  Chicago.  He 
started  as  engineer  and  was  made  foreman  shortly 
afterward,  continuing  in  this  capacity  until  his 
death.  This  length  of  time  spent  in  one  position 
and  following  out  one  line  of  work  proves  the  in- 


652 


JOHN  WELANDER. 


tegrity  and  perseverance  of  the  man,  and  his  ex- 
ample is  one  that  may  profitably  be  followed  by 
the  youth  of  to-day. 

Mr.  Brust  was  married  October  16,  1854,  to 
Miss  Anna  Elizabeth  Brach,  daughter  of  John 
Peter  and  Susanna  Elizabeth  (Bertgess)  Brach. 
Mrs.  Brust  was  born  February  3,  1830,  in  the 
village  of  Letzbeuren,  Prussia.  Her  father  died 
in  1837,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four  years.  He  was 
twice  married,  Mrs.  Brust  being  a  child  of  the 
second  marriage.  The  children  of  Mr.  Brach  by 
his  first  wife  were  named:  Julia,  Mary  Elizabeth, 
Jacob,  Nicholas  and  Susanna  Marie.  Mary  was 
married  to  Peter  Golzer  and  Susanna  to  Jacob 
Fritsch,  and  both  sisters  reside  in  Brazil.  Jacob 
immigrated  to  America  and  died  in  Nebraska  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  1891.  The  others  remained 
in  Germany.  The  children  of  Mr.  Brach  by  his 
second  wife  were  named  as  follows:  Susanna, 
Emma,  Peter,  Anna  E.,  Mary  and  Michael. 
Peter  is  the  subject  of  a  biography  in  this  volume. 
Mary  married  Rudolph  Bowman,  a  wagon  maker, 
and  lives  in  Racine,  Wisconsin.  Their  children 
are:  Emma,  Clara,  Albert  and  Charles.  Michael 
married  Miss  Katherine  Thomas,  while  in  Ger- 


many, and  the  children  born  of  this  marriage  are 
Louisa  and  Arthur.  By  his  second  wife,  Annie 
Nelson,  Michael  Brach  became  the  parent  of  two 
children,  Leo  and  Ellis,  by  name.  He  is  propri- 
etor of  a  gentlemen's  furnishing  store  in  Racine. 
Mrs.  Peter  Brust  came  to  America  alone  in  1851, 
and  traveled  directly  to  Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  but 
two  years  later  removed  to  Chicago.  Her  elder 
sisters  died  in  their  native  land. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brust  are  ac- 
counted for  as  follows:  Charles  resides  in  Wood- 
lawn,  on  Sixty-third  Street,  near  Cottage  Grove 
Avenue,  Chicago;  Frank  lives  at  No.  6125  Ellis 
Avenue;  Louisa,  who  is  an  instructor  in  the  Ray- 
mond school,  lives  at  home;  Ellen  married  H.  R. 
Orriny,  further  mention  of  whom  appears  in  this 
volume;  Katy  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen  months; 
Mollie  married  Benjamin  Stitcher  and  lives  on 
Fullerton  Avenue;  Elizabeth  died  at  the  age  ol 
fourteen  months;  William  died  when  one  year 
old,  and  Edward  lives  at  home. 

Mr.  Brust  was  a  valuable  and  influential  mem- 
ber of  the  German  Lutheran  Church.  Although 
he  never  sought  public  office  he  was  a  strong  up- 
holder of  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party. 


JOHN  WELANDER. 


(lOHN  WELANDER,  who  was  born  of  the 
I  land  and  nation  of  health  and  strength,  is  a 
O  true  representative  of  his  native  country,  and 
still  has  a  worthy  regard  for  the  land  of  his  birth 
and  childhood  days.  He  was  born  November  i , 
1869,  in  the  factory  town,  Kungskogen,  Verm- 
land,  Sweden.  His  parents  were  Eric  and  Carrie 
(Olson)  Welander  and  his  father  emigrated  from 
his  native  laud  in  early  days,  intending  to  locate 
in  America.  His  fate  is  still  one  of  wonder,  as  he 
was  never  afterward  heard  from. 

John    Welander  was   the   first   of  his  father's 


family  to  emigrate  to  the  United  States.  He 
reached  New  Jersey  June  20,  1883,  and  went 
directly  to  Duluth,  Minnesota,  where  he  was 
employed  in  a  saw  mill  one  year.  He  then  went 
to  Ontario,  Canada,  and  for  two  years  worked  on 
the  completion  of  the  water  works,  in  that  city. 
He  returned  to  Duluth  for  one  year,  subsequent 
to  which  time  he  remained  two  years  in  Ontario. 
In  July,  1888,  he  located  in  Chicago,  his  first 
work  being  in  the  Goose  Island  stone  quarries. 
He  was  derrick  man  two  years.  He  then  opened 
a  grocery  and  milk  depot  at  No.  150  Milton 


NICHOLAS  SINGLER. 


653 


Avenue,  which  business  he  retained  eighteen 
months.  He  was  later  employed  at  the  depot  of 
the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad 
one  year,  and  has  since  been  repairer  for  this 
company.  He  is  a  valued  and  trusted  employe 
and  seeks  to  give  satisfaction  to  those  he  is  in 
the  service  of. 

Mr.    Welauder  was  married  July  5,   1890,  to 
Miss  Sophia,    daughter  of  Eric  and  Margareta 


(Swauson)  Ericsou.  Mrs.  Welander  was  born 
May  15,  1865,  in  the  factory  town  of  Long- 
banhyttan,  Vermland,  Sweden.  The  only  child 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Welander  is  Elmer  John 
Leonard,  who  was  born  September  28,  1891. 
Mr.  Welander  is  not  a  seeker  after  public  honors 
or  recognition  in  the  form  of  public  office,  but 
strongly  upholds  the  rights  and  principles  of  the 
Republican  party. 


NICHOLAS  SINGLER. 


JJJICHOLAS  SINGLER  was  a  well-known 
\j  florist  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  who  was  en- 
I LD  gaged  in  this  business  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  during  that  time  demonstrated  his 
knowledge  and  ability  to  the  tastes  of  all  lovers 
of  flowers  in  the  western  metropolis.  He  was 
born  May  23,  1846,  in  Altdorf,  Amt  (County)  of 
Attenheim,  Baden,  Germany,  and  was  a  son  of 
John  Baptist  and  Ursula  Singler,  who  were  de- 
scended from  old  Baden  families.  The  family, 
including  Nicholas,  who  was  eight  years  of  age 
at  this  time,  immigrated  to  the  United  States  in 
1859  and  settled  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  At  this 
location  the  parents  died.  For  many  years  the 
father  was  a  vegetable  gardener  in  Englewood. 
The  mother  died  in  1872,  in  the  last-named  sec- 
tion, and  the  father  in  April,  on  the  Wednesday 
previous  to  Easter  Sunday,  in  1897,  at  the  home 
of  his  son,  Nicholas. 

Nicholas  Singler  was  educated  in  the  public 
school  of  Englewood,  in  which  village  he  thor- 
oughly learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter.  He 
worked  in  shops  where-  cars  were  manufactured 
until  he  became  established  in  the  florist's  busi- 
and  was  successful  from  the  start.  His 


ness, 


wife  was  of  great  assistance  to  him,  being  an  eco- 
nomical and  careful  manager.     He  began  with 


two  greenhouses,  occupying  fifty  feet  of  ground, 
and  continued  at  the  carpenter's  trade  until  the 
increase  in  his  business  demanded  his  whole  at- 
tention. 

In  September,  1875,  he  removed  to  Morgan 
Park,  where  he  had  previously  purchased  three 
double  lots,  and  to  which  he  added  more  as  time 
progressed.  He  removed  the  material  of  his  old 
greenhouses,  with  which  he  helped  to  construct 
the  new  buildings,  and  he  owes  somewhat  of  his 
rapid  success  to  his  ability  as  a  carpenter.  He 
was  very  industrious  and  watched  his  plants 
grow,  careful  that  on  long  winter  nights  they 
were  not  subjected  to  frost.  He  even  sat  up,  to 
better  attend  the  fires  and  keep  his  treasures  from 
freezing.  The  family  is  continuing  the  business 
established  by  the  father  and  prospering. 

Mr.  Singler  chose  for  his  wife  and  helpmate 
Miss  Josephine,  daughter  of  Londoline  and  Sa- 
bina  (Kemph)Segar,  natives  of  Baden,  Germany. 
Mrs.  Singler  was  born  in  the  same  village  as  her 
husband  and  came  to  America  in  April,  1865, 
and  located  in  New  York  for  one  year.  After  re- 
siding in  Pennsylvania  four  years,  she  came  to 
Chicago  in  May,  1870.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Singler 
were  blessed  with  nine  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living  at  home,  with  her  mother.  They  were 


654 


MATTHIAS  THEOBALD. 


named  as  follows:  Joseph  Albert,  Lucy  Sylva, 
Henry  Kobert,  Sophia  Margaret,  Elizabeth  Lau- 
retta, Frank  Aloysius,  Edward,  Charles  and 
Rosalie. 

All  members  of  the  family  are  connected  with 
St.  Margaret's  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Wash- 
ington Heights.  Mr.  Singler  was  a  kind  hus- 
band and  father,  and  was  honored  and  respected, 
for  his  dealings  with  his  fellow-men  were  above 


reproach.  His  life  is  well  worthy  of  emulation 
by  the  generation  of  the  day,  and  he  was  alike 
beloved  by  friend  and  neighbor.  He  was  never  a 
seeker  for  public  office,  believing  he  could  better 
serve  his  country  as  a  private  citizen. 

A  short  time  previous  to  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred August  20,  1893,  Mr.  Singler  joined  the 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  and  was  held  in 
high  esteem  by  every  member  of  the  order. 


MATTHIAS  THEOBALD. 


IATTHIAS  THEOBALD.    Many  of  the 

most  enterprising  and  eminent  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  are  foreign  born 
and  bred  and  owe  much  of  their  success  to  the 
severe  teachings  and  stern  rearing  of  their  fathers. 
They  are  often  possessed  with  a  stubborn  will 
power  and  steadfastness  found  only  in  those 
taught  to  face  hardships  that  are  not  to  be  met 
with  in  this  land  of  ours.  The  German-born 
citizens  who  have  made  fame  and  fortunes  for 
themselves  are  a  good  example  for  the  youth  of 
the  United  States,  and  their  constitutions  are  to 
be  envied  them.  Matthias  Theobald  is  a  typical 
German- American  and  is  among  the  foremost  and 
active  of  the  young  men  of  Chicago.  He  was 
born  February  22,  1857,  in  the  village  of  St.  Barb, 
Alsace,  Germany,  and  his  parents  were  Johann 
and  Mary  (Cornelius)  Theobald. 

Mr.  Theobald  was  the  first  of  his  father's  fam- 
ily to  emigrate  from  his  native  land  and  came  to 
AmeYica  May  15,  1880.  He  came  by  way  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  to  Chicago.  He  had 
learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  in  the  land  of  his 
nativity  and  his  first  work  in  this  country  was 
done  for  Julius  Miller,  after  which  he  worked  for  a 
short  time  on  the  Keeley  Brewery  and  subse- 
quently on  the  South  Side  for  Mr.  Rosenthal. 


He  has  continued  to  be  employed  by  different 
men  since  that  time  and  is  at  present  in  the  serv- 
ice of  John  Bernreiter,  of  Burnside. 

He  was  at  Pullman  thirteen  months,  occupied 
on  buildings  in  that  locality,  and  has  built  a  num- 
ber of  residences  on  contract.  In  1892  he  erect- 
ed a  residence  for  his  own  use  at  No.  7439  Lang- 
ley  Avenue,  having  previously  built  one  at  Park- 
side,  which  he  sold. 

Johann  Theobald  died  in  1869,  at  the  age  of 
fifty  years,  having  been  a  stone  cutter.  His  wife 
died  in  1867,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years. 
Her  children  are  accounted  for  as  follows: 
George,  deceased;  Nicholas;  John,  deceased; 
Jacob;.  Mathias;  Katharine;  Peter;  Martin,  in 
Harrison,  New  Jersey;  Anton,  John  and  Michael 
in  New  Jersey,  also. 

Mathias  Theobald  was  married  October  23, 
1883,  to  Miss  Caroline,  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Caroline  (Reis)  Walker.  Mrs.  Theobald  was 
born  April  8,  1855,  in  Baden,  Germany,  and 
came  to  America  in  April,  1882.  The  members 
of  the  family  are  connected  with  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  and  Mr.  Theobald  belongs  to  the  Car- 
penter's Union.  He  has  never  taken  any  active 
part  in  politics,  but  votes  the  Democratic  ticket  at 
every  opportunity. 


C.  W.  WILLARD. 


655 


CHARLES  W.  WILLARD. 


EHARLES  WRIGHT  WILLARD  was  born 
January  31,  1826,  in  Deerfield,  Worcester 
County,  Massachusetts,  and  is  a  son  of  Hez- 
ekiah  and  Sultana  (Fisk)  Willard.  He  is  a  di- 
rect descendant  of  Maj.  Simon  Willard,  who  was 
born  at  Horsmonden,  England,  in  1605.  A  gen- 
ealogy of  the  Willard  family,  a  copy  of  which  is 
in  possession  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
compiled  by  Joseph  Willard  in  1858.  David 
Willard,  grandfather  of  C.  W.  Willard,  married 
Rebecca  Pratt,  a  native  of  Winchester,  New 
Hampshire,  and  had  the  following  children :  Hez- 
ekiah,  Amos,  Rebecca,  Thirsa,  Seraph  and  Olive. 

Hezekiah  Willard,  father  of  Charles  W.  Wil- 
lard, was  born  September  30,  1803,  in  Winchester, 
New  Hampshire.  Sultana  Fisk,  his  wife,  was 
born  December  21,  1792,  in  South  Deerfield,  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  was  of  Scotch  descent.  Their 
children  were:  Amos  Fisk,  Charles  Wright,  Hez- 
ekiah Oscar  and  John  Peters. 

The  business  life  of  Charles  W.  Willard  began 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  in  Alstead,  New 
Hampshire.  From  there  he  went  to  Nashua,  in 
the  same  state,  and  worked  as  a  blacksmith  two 
years.  Going  thence  to  Dorchester,  Massachu- 
setts, he  there  learned  the  trade  of  steam  forger, 
having  as  companion,  his  brother,  John  P.  Wil- 
lard. Together  they  went  to  Bridgewater,  Mas- 
sachusetts, where  they  worked  the  hammer  which 
turned  out  the  armor  for  the  first  monitor,  the 
old  Roanoke,  comprising  one  hundred  and  sixty 
tons  of  armor  plate.  They  subsequently  dupli- 
cated this  order  for  twenty-three  gunboats,  and 
also  filled  various  other  government  orders. 


In  1862  they  came  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in 
business  with  the  firm  of  Pynchon,  Willard  & 
Company.  They  established  a  forge  at  Archer 
Avenue  and  Twenty-fourth  Street,  which  was 
known  as  the  Chicago  Steam  Forge  Works.  Mr. 
John  Pynchon  was  the  recognized  head  of  the 
concern,  and  had  its  financial  management  until 
he  was  bought  out  by  Charles  W.  Willard.  They 
started  with  one  hammer,  and  by  the  help  of  in- 
ventions perfected  by  the  Willard  brothers,  and 
which  are  protected  by  patents,  the  volume  of 
business  was  increased  until  it  employed  ten 
hammers.  The  first  of  these  patents  covered  an 
improved  valve-gear,  and  the  next  invention, 
which  proved  the  more  valuable  of  the  two,  was 
an  iron-helve  hammer.  In  course  of  time  Mr. 
C.  W.  Willard  bought  out  all  his  partners,  the 
first  one  to  sell  being  Mr.  James  W.  Maxwell, 
who  left  the  firm  in  1868,  the  next  being  Mr. 
Willard's  brother,  and  the  last  Mr.  Pynchon. 

In  1878  a  charter  covering  the  business  was 
secured,  with  the  title  of  Willard  Sons  &  Bell 
Company.  The  plant  was  moved  to  South  Chi- 
cago and  located  on  the  Calumet  River,  fronting 
on  Ninety -eighth  Street,  in  1882,  at  which  time 
its  capacity  was  quadrupled.  The  product  con- 
sists chiefly  of  car  and  locomotive  axles,  and 
includes  all  kinds  of  forgings  for  railroad  work. 
Since  the  World's  Fair,  Mr.  Willard's  sons,  Frank 
and  Lemuel,  have  assumed  the  practical  manage- 
ment of  the  business,  thus  giving  the  father  a 
much-needed  rest  after  a  long  life  of  useful 
activity.  The  two  brothers,  Charles  W.  and 
John  P.  Willard,  are  now  enjoying  a  competency, 


656 


C.  F.  SODERBERG. 


which  they  have  earned  by  a  life  of  hard  labor 
and  honest  endeavor. 

September  28,  1846,  Charles  W.  Willard  was 
married  to  Miss  Martha  Ann  Babcock,  a  daughter 
of  Lemuel  E.  and  Sarah  Emmeline  (Buell)  Bab- 
cock.  Martha  A.  Babcock  was  born  October  22, 
1832,  in  Windsor,  Vermont,  and  died  September 
20,  1883,  at  South  Chicago.  She  was  the  mother 
of  eight  children.  The  eldest  of  these,  Charles 
Edward  Willard,  was  born  May  22,  1849,  at  Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts.  He  married  Ellen, 
daughter  of  Charles  E.  Felton,  of  Chicago,  and 
has  one  child,  named  George  Gale.  Martha  Emma 
Willard,  born  April  12,  1851,  at  Dorchester,  Mas- 
sachusetts, married  Kossuth  H.  Bell,  March  n, 
1879,  and  has  five  children. 

Frank  Eugene,  third  child  of  C.  W.  Willard, 
was  born  November  10,  1854,  m  East  Boston, 
Massachusetts.  In  March,  1885,  he  married 
Anna,  daughter  of  John  Moran,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  Their  children  are:  Frank  Valentine, 
born  February  14,  1894;  Dorothy,  April  26,  1895; 
and  Gladys,  March  22,  1896.  After  graduating 
from  the  Chicago  High  School  in  1870,  Mr.  Wil- 
lard was  employed  six  years  at  the  forge.  He 
then  went  into  the  offices  of  the  Chicago  Steam 
Forge  Works,  and  since  July  i,  1889,  he  has  had 
entire  charge  of  these  offices. 

Freddy  C.,  the  fourth  child  of  C.  W.  Willard, 
born  February  17,  1855,  in  Dorchester,  Massachu- 
setts, died  July  30,  1857.  Harriet  Emmeline, 
next,  was  born  May  30,  1859,  in  Bridgewater, 


Massachusetts,  and  died  in  Chicago  May  i,  1877, 
having  just  graduated  from  the  Chicago  High 
School. 

Lemuel  Clifton  Willard  was  born  October  17, 
1862,  in  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts.  December 
12,  1885,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ellen,  daugh- 
ter of  Anton  Kahl,  of  Chicago.  Their  children 
are:  Ella  Martha,  born  May  2,  1887;  Harriet 
Emmeline,  December  12,  1893;  and  Wright 
Clifton,  September  6,  1896.  At  the  age  of  six- 
teen years  he  left  school,  and  entered  his  father's 
employ.  In  1888  he  took  charge  of  the  mechanical 
portion  of  work  of  the  establishment,  and  has  con- 
tinued in  this  position  ever  since. 

The  last  two  children  of  C.  W.  Willard  and 
wife  were  twins,  Willie  and  Winnie,  born  in  Chi- 
cago, October  10,  1865.  The  former  died  on  the 
following  day,  and  the  latter  September  30,  1867. 

November  19,  1888,  Charles  W.  Willard  was 
^married  the  second  time,  the  bride  being  a  sister 
of  his  first  wife,  and  the  widow  of  his  younger 
brother,  H.  O.  Willard.  Hezekiah  Oscar  Wil- 
lard was  born  February  13,  1827,  in  Winchester, 
New  Hampshire,  and  died  March  22,  1886,  at 
Alstead,  in  the  same  state.  January  28,  1846, 
he  was  married  to  Sarah  Emmeline  Babcock,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  nine  children. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Willard  was  made  a  Mason,  at 
Bridgewater,  Massachusetts,  in  1861,  becoming  a 
member  of  Bridgewater  Lodge  of  that  city.  He 
is  a  steadfast  Republican  in  political  principle, 
but  has  never  aspired  to  political  offices  or  honors. 


CARL  F.  SODERBERG. 


EARL  FREDERICK  SODERBERG,  who  is 
one  of  Chicago's  representative  citizens,  is 
one  of  the  sturdy,  hardy  constitutioned  na- 
tives of  Sweden,  and  though  true  to  the  memory 
of  his  native  land,  he  is  loyal  to  the  interests  of 


his  adopted  country.     Born  in  the  city  of  Hede- 
mora,  province  of  Dalarne,  Sweden,  September  i, 
1838,   he  is  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Annie  (Ers- 
dotter)  Soderberg. 
His  father  died  in  1849,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three 


EDWARD  REEHOFF. 


657 


years.  He  was  a  dyer  and  learned  his  trade  in 
Turkey.  He  conducted  a  very  large  business 
and  his  son  inherited  the  same.  Mrs.  Andrew 
Soderberg  was  born  in  1800,  and  died  in  the 
year  1884.  Her  children  were:  Karin,  who  is 
married,  as  is  also  Andretta,  Carl  Frederick  and 
two  sisters  who  are  still  residents  of  their  native 
land. 

Carl  Frederick  Soderberg  conducted  the  busi- 
ness of  dyeing,  inherited  from  his  father,  while 
he  remained  in  his  native  land.  He  is  the  only 
one  of  the  family  who  came  to  America,  and 
reached  Chicago  May  17,  1880,  and  was  em- 
ployed by  the  South  Park  Board  for  some  time. 
He  has  spent  two  years  in  the  service  of  John 
Berg  &  Brother,  located  at  the  corner  of  Fiftieth 
Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  During  the  interval 
between  the  date  of  his  leaving  the  service  of  the 


South  Park  Board  and  entering  the  employment 
of  John  Berg  &  Brother,  he  was  fourteen  years 
in  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad 
Company's  shops. 

March  6,  1866,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Augusta 
Hockert.  Mrs.  Soderberg  was  born  January  18, 
1840,  in  Jefle,  Jestrikland,  Sweden. 

Her  children  are:  Gustav  Frederick  Julius, 
born  December  10,  1867,  and  died  August  9, 
1869;  Axel  Frederick,  born  November  13,  1870, 
and  died  April  19,  1872;  Anna  Rosa  Euphrosene, 
born  May  28,  1874,  and  is  now  the  wife  of  Carl 
Hammor,  and  resides  in  Pullman.  Mr.  Soder- 
berg resides  at  No.  5424  Weutworth  Avenue.  He 
is  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  is  honored  and  respected  by  all 
other  members  of  the  congregation.  In  political 
principle  he  is  a  Republican. 


EDWARD  REEHOFF. 


[TOWARD  REEHOFF  was  born  at  Copen- 
r3  hagen  October  26,  1860,  the  son  of  Edward 
I  and  Johanna  (Jensen)  Reehoff,  of  that  city. 
His  father  was  a  merchant  and  died  in  1878;  his 
mother  still  lives  in  that  city,  where  she  has 
passed  through  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  her  life, 
and  where  her  five  sons  and  five  daughters  were 
born.  Not  one  of  these  ten  children  has  passed 
away,  and  all  but  Edward  are  still  living  in  the 
old  country.  He  is  the  second  son  and  the  third 
child  in  order  of  birth. 

He  was  naturally  of  a  studious  disposition, 
and  his  parents,  recognizing  this  circumstance, 
as  well  as  his  native  mental  ability,  gave  him 
educational  opportunities  above  the  ordinary. 
He  received  diplomas  from  two  schools;  yet  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  found  himself  confronted  with 
the  stern  realities  of  life.  Not  so  stern  for  him, 


perhaps,  as  they  may  have  been  for  lads  of  his 
acquaintance,  for  he  entered  the  employ  of  his 
uncle,  a  wine  merchant,  who  undertook  to  teach 
him  the  business.  This  connection  lasted  for 
twelve  years.  The  young  man,  however,  was 
ambitious.  Life  in  Copenhagen  would  always 
be  the  same.  Others  had  succeeded  in  the  New 
World;  why  not  he?  So  in  1886  he  emigrated 
to  America.  From  New  York  he  went  to  Bay 
City,  Michigan,  where  he  remained  for  six 
months.  Then  he  started  out  for  the  lumber 
camps,  where  his  education  and  his  physical 
strength  stood  him  in  equally  good  stead.  He 
could  keep  books  or  chop  wood  with  like  facilit3% 
and  he  led  the  life  of  a  lumberman  for  two  years. 
Tiring  of  his  surroundings  he  came  to  Chicago. 
For  a  time  his  occupations  were  varied.  He  was 
bookkeeper  and  barkeeper,  a  waiter  in  a  restau- 


658 


ANDREW  JOHNSEN. 


rant,  and,  in  short,  a  man  of  general  utility. 
Finally  he  determined  to  make  a  new  departure. 
He  learned  to  pack  cigars.  After  three  years  of 
hard  work  in  this  line  he  was  able  to  buy  out  the 
Jacobson  cigar  factory,  at  No.  192  Grand  Avenue. 
Under  his  practical  skill  and  sound  judgment  the 
business  assumed  constantly  increasing  propor- 
tions. May  i,  1897,  he  moved  his  factory  to  No. 
843  West  Division  Street,  where  he  still  carries 
on  his  business.  His  success  has  been  pro- 
nounced as  it  is  deserved.  His  sales  (1899)  ag- 
gregate more  than  half  a  million  per  year,  and 
are  chiefly  of  a  good  quality.  The  "Pride"  and 


the  "Perfection"  are  his  leading  brands.  He 
may  well  be  proud  of  the  first  and  plume  himself 
on  the  perfection  of  the  second. 

In  1893  he  took  to  himself  a  wife,  a  Danish 
lady,  Miss  Sophia  Jacobsen.  Five  children  were 
born  to  them,  four  of  whom  are  yet  living: 
Edward,  Ellen,  George  and  Valborg. 

Mr.  Reehoff  takes  little  interest  in  politics,  be- 
ing thoroughly  independent  in  the  exercise  of  his 
franchise.  He  is,  however,  an  active  member  of 
several  societies  —  Denmark  Lodge  No.  112, 
Knights  of  Pythias;  of  the  Society  Dania;  and 
the  singing  society,  Harmonica. 


ANDREW  JOHNSEN. 


(31  NDREW  JOHNSEN,  who  conducts  a  flour- 
J  I  ishing  business  as  a  butcher  at  No.  658 
/  I  North  Campbell  Avenue,  is  a  native  of  Den- 
mark, having  been  born  at  Veiby,  in  that  king- 
dom, September  15,  1852.  The  death  of  his 
father  left  him  an  orphan  at  the  tender  age  of 
seven  months,  and  he  was  cared  for  and  reared  in 
the  family  of  Lars  Jensen.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen years  he  had  completed  the  ordinary  cur- 
riculum of  the  common  school,  and  it  was  thought 
best  that  he  should  go  to  work.  For  nearly  a 
year  after  leaving  school  he  worked  as  an  errand 
boy  in  a  news  store,  but  his  adventurous  inclina- 
tions could  not  be  thus  easily  tamed.  Accord- 
ingly he  shipped  "before  the  mast."  The  life, 
although  hard,  suited  him  so  well  that  he  followed 
it  twenty-five  years — for  five  years  as  second 
mate — sailing  over  nearly  the  entire  globe,  visit- 
ing not  only  the  ports  of  England,  France  and 
the  Mediterranean,  but  also  those  of  the  East  and 
West  Indies,  as  well  as  of  Africa  and  Oceanica, 
and  doubling  Cape  Horn. 

He  came  to  Chicago,  after  a  brief  visit  to  Den- 


mark, in  1882.  For  a  short  time  he  sailed  the 
lakes,  and  on  becoming  a  landsman  found  em- 
ployment with  the  leading  wholesale  firm  of 
Headstrom  &  Company,  dealers  in  coal,  as  fore- 
man. His  chief  duties  were  the  responsible  ones 
which  attach  to  the  loading  and  unloading  of 
coal,  and  for  four  years  he  discharged  them  with 
the  same  fidelity  with  which  he  has  met  all  the 
other  obligations  of  life. 

He  left  Headstrom  &  Company  to  engage  in 
business  for  himself.  He  opened  a  meat  market 
at  the  corner  of  North  Halsted  and  Ohio  Streets, 
which  he  continued  to  conduct  about  seven  years, 
building  up  a  large  and  profitable  trade.  In  1894 
he  erected  the  four-story  building  at  the  corner 
of  North  Campbell  and  Potomac  Avenues.  His 
shop  occupies  the  lower  floor,  the  upper  stories 
being  arranged  as  flats. 

Miss  Getta  Haavaldsen  became  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Johnsen  in  1886.  She  first  saw  the  light  of 
day  in  Norway.  They  have  one  daughter, 
Bertha. 

Mr.  Johnsen  is  a  strong  Republican  in  politics. 


P.  F.  ROFINOT. 


659 


He  was  initiated  into  the  Masonic  order  at  the 
little  town  of  Ardrossen,  Scotland,  and  is  an  act- 
ive member  of  Denmark  Lodge,  Knights  of 


Pythias,  in  which  he  has  attained  the  dignity  of 
Past  Chancellor.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 


PETER  F.  ROFINOT. 


QETER  FRANCOIS  ROFINOT,  who  comes 

yr  of  a  very  old  and  respected  family,  is  one  of 
\S  Chicago's  retired  citizens,  having  gained 
enough  of  this  world's  goods  to  satisfy  his  per- 
sonal demands  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  was  born  January  14,  1815,  in  the  village  of 
Dambelin,  France,  a  son  of  John  Francois  and 
Josette  (Contin)  Rofinot.  The  people  of  France 
are  well  known  to  be  a  race  of  happy,  graceful, 
refined  people,  genteel  and  proud  to  a  fault,  and, 
though  gay  and  dashing,  are  probably  the  most 
harmonious  and  contented  of  the  human  race. 

The  Rofinots  were  in  Napoleon  Bonaparte's 
army,  and  the  name  is  traced  back  many  gene- 
rations. The  grandfather  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  article,  Claude  Rofinot,  died  in 
1832,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight  years.  He  mar- 
ried for  his  first  wife  Cecile  Guenot,  and  her 
children  were:  Francis,  John  and  Ceretine.  By 
his  second  wife  he  became  the  father  of  one  child, 
Thomas.  None  of  this  family  ever  emigrated 
from  their  native  laud.  Claude  Rofinot  was  a 
contractor,  with  immense  business  interests,  and 
his  son,  John  Francois,  inherited  these  interests. 
The  maternal  grandfather  of  Peter  Francois 
Rofinot  was  Philip  Contin,  who  had  eleven  chil- 
dren, Josette  being  the  youngest.  Mr.  Contin 
was  of  a  very  aristocratic  family,  and  owned  and 
cultivated  extensive  lands. 

John  Francois  Rofinot  and  his  eleven  children 
emigrated  from  their  native  land  in  1834,  and 
reached  New  York  June  30  of  that  year,  having 
spent  seventy-two  days  on  the  trip.  After  ar- 
riving in  America  they  immediately  located  in 


Crogan,  Lewis  County,  New  York.  All  of  the 
children  settled  there  except  Virginia,  Julia,  Jo- 
sephine and  Peter  Francois,  who  stayed  in  New 
York  City.  J.  F.  Rofinot  purchased  two  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  in  Lewis  County,  and  after 
conducting  a  farm  for  some  time  retired  from  act- 
ive life.  He  remained  at  his  residence  there 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1887,  having 
reached  the  age  of  ninety-four  years.  He  was  a 
contractor  and  builder  in  his  native  land,  his 
business  being  mostly  with  public  buildings, 
schoolhouses  and  bridges.  He  was  a  large  man, 
weighing  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds, 
and  had  a  fine  education. 

The  mother  of  Peter  F.  Rofinot  died  at  the  age 
of  sixty-five  years,  in  1866.  She  was  also  born 
in  Dambelin,  France,  and  her  children  were 
named  as  follows:  Eugene  F.,  Virginia,  Julia, 
Josephine,  Peter  F.,  Augustus,  Rosalie,  Felicita, 
Joseph,  Victor  and  Adel.  Victor  is  the  only  one 
living  except  the  subject  of  this  biography,  and 
all  of  the  children  were  born  in  the  same  house 
in  Dambeliu,  France.  There  were  twelve  in  all, 
but  the  first-born  died  in  infancy. 

Peter  Francois  Rofinot  was  in  New  York  three 
months  and  then  went  to  Crogan,  New  York, 
and  built  a  sawmill.  After  a  short  time  he  dis- 
posed of  it  and  went  to  the  scene  of  the  digging 
of  the  Erie  Canal.  He  was  here  employed  as 
stone  cutter,  and  after  three  months  was  made 
foreman.  He  remained  in  this  capacity  until  he 
came  to  Chicago,  reaching  that  city  September 
14,  1840.  He  was  subsequently  made  foreman 
of  work  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  occu- 


66o 


H.  G.  F.  PAULY. 


pying  that  position  until  December,  1841.  In 
June,  1842,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  car- 
penter's trade,  and  continued  at  the  same  until 
August.  He  made  a  trip  to  Torold,  Canada,  but 
returned  to  Chicago  in  1845.  He  purchased  an 
interest  in  a  stone  quarry,  with  Robert  Cunning- 
ham for  partner,  at  Joliet,  and  brought  stone  to 
Chicago,  a  distance  of  forty  miles,  by  team,  and 
sold  it  for  five  dollars  per  ton. 

After  two  years  he  established  a  cut  stone  aud 
marble  store  in  Chicago,  on  the  alley  between 
Washington  and  Madison  Streets,  near  Clark 
Street.  He  continued  the  business  until  the  canal 
opened,  when  he  sold  out.  He  moved  his  build- 
ing to  Fifth  Avenue,  between  Polk  and  Harrison 
Streets,  opening  a  stone  yard  there,  and  this  be- 
came one  of  the  most  extensive  enterprises  in  the 
west  of  its  kind.  He  admitted  a  partner,  James 
K.  Polk,  and  closed  out  the  business  after  eight- 
een months,  losing  about  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  in  the  deal.  The  company  was 
organized  as  the  Great  Western  Stone  Company. 
Mr.  Rofinot  then  retired  from  active  business, 
this  being  at  the  time  of  the  great  crisis  of  1857. 

Peter  F.  Rofinot  was  married,  November  10, 
1841,  to  Mrs.  Delphine  Mueller,  n6e  Choulet, 
who  was  born  June  20,  1819,  in  Paris,  France. 
She  has  a  son,  Alexander  Choulet.  The  children 


of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rofiuot  were  nine  in  number. 
Amelia  Adele,  born  September  6,  1842,  married 
Joseph  Menard  July  3,  1862;  he  resides  in  Mc- 
Cook,  Red  Willow  County,  Nebraska,  with  his 
wife  and  children:  Delphine,  Ida,  Josephine  and 
Aimee,  aud  conducts  a  general  store.  John 
Francis  was  born  July  19,  1844.  Francis  Peter, 
born  June  30,  1846,  died  October  4,  1847.  A 
biography  of  Victor  Peter  Francis  appears  else- 
where in  this  volume.  Alfred  Morris  is  spoken 
of  on  another  page  of  this  work  also.  Louise 
Amelia,  born  October  31,  1852,  died  July  13, 
1853.  Aglie  Eugenie,  born  August  9,  1854, 
married  George  Frinier  April  22,  1872;  she  re- 
sides at  Redondo  Beach,  California,  and  her  chil- 
dren are:  Oliver,  Robert,  Genevieve  and  George. 
Joseph  Augustus,  born  July  31,  1856,  was  mar- 
ried, October  6,  1886,  to  Annie  Kelly;  he  is  a 
painter  by  occupation,  and  resides  at  No.  1909 
Indiana  Avenue.  Delphine  Felicite,  born  Febru- 
ary 2,  1859,  died  March  16,  1860. 

Mr.  Rofinot  has  always  adhered  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  He  was  three  terms  president 
of  the  French  Benevolent  Society,  and  is  also  a 
member  of  the  French  Pioneer  Society.  He  was 
a  Democrat  until  the  organization  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  served  as  South  Town  Super- 
visor one  term. 


HENRY  G.  F.  PAULY. 


HENRY  GEORGE  FREDERICK  PAULY. 
Nearly  six  decades   have   passed  since  this 
old  resident  of  Chicago,    hale  and  hearty, 
despite  his  years,    first    opened  his  eyes  in  the 
duchy  of  Schleswig-Holstein  September  4,  1839. 
He  is  the  oldest  son  (and  third  child)  of  Henry 
and  Christina  Pauly.     His  father  lived  to  the  age 
of  sixty -five  and  died  in  the  land  of  his  nativity, 
where  he  had  lead  the  life  of  a  tailor  and  farmer. 


After  an  early  training  in  the  common  schools, 
Henry  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter,  serving  an 
apprenticeship  of  seven  years,  and  becoming  a 
journeyman  at  the  age  of  twenty-two.  Then  he 
enlisted  in  the  military  service,  serving  almost 
continuously  from  1861  to  1864,  when  the  war 
between  Denmark  and  Germany  came  to  an  end. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  struggle,  having  received 
his  discharge  from  the  army,  he  went  to  Sonde- 


AXEL  HOCKERT. 


661 


verberg,  where  he  remained,  working  at  his  trade 
and  erecting  buildings,  among  them  the  court 
house  of  the  city.  Before  leaving  there  he  su- 
perintended the  erection  of  a  national  monument 
to  the  honor  of  the  victor  in  the  Danish- German 
war.  He  was  in  government  employ,  and  showed 
admirable  executive  capacity  in  the  handling  of 
large  numbers  of  men.  During  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian War  he  again  served  as  a  soldier,  fighting 
under  the  imperial  standard  of  William  I.  In 
1872  he  came  to  America,  settling  in  Chicago. 

For  two  years  after  reaching  this  city  he  worked 
at  his  trade  as  a  journeyman,  but  in  1874  started 
in  business  as  a  contractor.  His  first  field  of 
operations  was  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the 
city,  where  for  a  time  he  had  comparatively  lit- 
tle competition.  He  put  down  several  sidewalks, 
and  for  a  time  cultivated  a  patch  of  ground  near 
the  intersection  of  Harrison  and  Rockwell  Streets, 
lu  1876  he  started  a  milk  route,  but  disposed  of 
this  in  1880,  to  engage  in  the  clothing  business 


at  Nos.  206-210  Monroe  Street.  After  three  years 
he  again  returned  to  the  sale  of  milk,  establish- 
ing himself  at  No.  994  North  Rockwell  Street. 
He  prospered,  and  in  1894  determined  to  give 
up  the  sale  of  milk  from  wagons  and  to  open  a 
store  for  the  sale  of  milk  and  groceries.  This 
business  he  still  conducts  at  the  same  location. 

In  1870,  after  seeking  his  fortune  in  a  strange 
land,  he  married  Miss  Julia  Lund.  They  have 
reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living,  while  six  are  at  home.  Their  names 
are:  Sophia,  Henry,  George,  Bertha  (wife  of 
Caspar  Gundgraf,  of  Chicago),  Willie,  Charles 
and  Harry. 

Mr.  Pauly  was  reared  in  the  Lutheran  Church, 
and  adheres  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers.  Since  be- 
coming a  citizen  he  has  supported  the  Democratic 
party.  He  has  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances, 
among  whom  his  genially  and  sterling  worth 
have  earned  for  him  at  once  popularity  and  re- 
spect. 


AXEL   HOCKERT. 


(31  XEL  HOCKERT  is  a  representative  citizen, 
LJ  being  at  the  same  tijne  true  to  the  memory 
/I  of  his  native  land  and  loyal  to  the  country 
of  his  adoption.  He  was  born  December  19, 
1838,  in  the  town  of  Hammerby,  in  the  province 
of  Northland,  Sweden,  a  son  of  Gustav  and  Marie 
(Hammarstrom)  Hockert.  For  further  mention 
of  the  ancestry  of  Axel  Hockert  than  is  here 
given,  refer  to  the  biography  of  Francis  Hooker. 
The  paternal  grandfather  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  article,  Gustav  Hooker,  was 
born  in  Finland,  in  the  city  of  Tawastelus.  He 
removed  to  Sweden  when  about  sixteen  years  of 
age.  He  was  an  expert  gardener  and  handed 
down  his  taste  for  this  art  to  the  generations  to 
follow.  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  leav- 


ing two  children:  Gustav,  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  biography,  and  Johanna,  who  married 
Mr.  Burg. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  Axel  Hockert, 
Nicholas  Hammarstrom,  was  born  in  Sweden. 
He  was  a  gardener,  and  his  only  child  became 
Mrs.  Gustav  Hockert.  This  last-named  gentle- 
man, father  of  Axel  Hockert,  was  born  in  Stock- 
holm, Sweden,  in  1802.  He  studied  medicine, 
and  died  in  September,  1874.  He  followed  the 
profession  for  some  time.  His  life  partner  was 
born  in  1804,  in  Westmanland,  Sweden,  in  the 
town  of  Skattmansa,  and  she  died  in  April,  1871. 
Her  children  were  six  in  number.  Francis,  the 
oldest  of  this  family,  is  spoken  of  on  another 
page  of  this  work.  Ferdinand  is  married  and 


662 


H.  T.  WELLS. 


has  a  family  of  children  in  Sweden.  Matilda 
married  Carl  Osthund,  and  her  children  were 
named:  August,  Edla,  Lottie,  Augusta,  Lena, 
Emma,  Louisa  and  Julius.  Axel  is  the  next  in 
order  of  birth.  Augusta  located  in  America  in 
1880,  and  married  Carl  Soderberg.  They  reside 
at  No.  5242  La  Salle  Street.  Clara  emigrated 
from  her  native  land  with  her  sister,  Augusta. 
She  married  Claus  Swanson,  and  resides  at  No. 
656  Stephenson  Street,  Pullman. 

Axel  Hockert  learned  the  trade  of  gardener  in 
the  land  of  his  nativity,  in  the  town  of  Gefle. 
He  followed  this  occupation  five  years,  until  he 
was  twenty  years  of  age.  He  began  teaching 
public  school  at  the  age  of  thirty  years  and  took 
a  diploma  from  a  seminary  at  the  town  of  Heder- 
mora,  which  was  a  three-years'  course  certificate. 
He  instructed  ten  years  and  then  returned  to  the 


occupation  of  gardening,  which  he  followed  until 
the  time  he  emigrated  from  Sweden.  He  reached 
Chicago  May  15,  1880,  and  was  employed  as 
cabinet-maker,  in  which  he  was  very  successful 
and  in  which  he  is  still  interested. 

Mr.  Hockert  was  enabled,  in  1887,  to  erect  a 
residence  at  No.  6713  Rhodes  Avenue,  where  he 
has  since  been  located.  He  was  married  June 
24,  1866,  to  Miss  Johanna  Lof,  daughter  of  An- 
drew and  Katharine  (Johnsen)  Lof.  Mrs.  Hock- 
ert was  born  May  18,  1841,  in  the  town  of 
Hofors,  Sweden.  Her  only  child,  Marie  Johanna, 
resides  at  home  with  her  parents.  Mr.  Hockert 
was  reared  a  Lutheran  and  is  true  to  the  teaching 
of  his  father's  people.  He  is  independent  in 
political  views  and  is  very  influential  among 
the  citizens  of  the  portion  of  the  city  where  he 
resides. 


HENRY  T.  WELLS. 


HENRY  TRIMBLE  WELLS,  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  colored  population  of  the  city 
of  Chicago,  is  a  man  of  taste  and  refine- 
ment. He  is  accomplished  in  numerous  ways, 
being  owner  of  one  of  the  prettiest  houses  south 
of  Sixty-third  Street,  on  Evans  Avenue.  He  is 
to  be  admired  greatly  because  he  has  achieved 
success  and  his  present  position  through  hardest 
work,  and  comparatively  without  the  aid  of 
others,  his  own  exertions  being  his  sole  reliance. 
In  whatever  he  undertakes  he  shows  the  posses- 
sion of  taste,  and  this  was  especially  exhibited  in 
the  designing  of  his  own  house. 

Henry  Trimble  Wells,  born  February  22,  1858, 
is  a  son  of  Razobus  and  Ann  Wells,  who  resided 
in  Paris,  Kentucky,  at  the  time  of  his  birth.  He 
lived  in  the  place  of  his  birth  until  1869,  when 
he  embarked  on  the  sea  of  life  on  his  own  re- 
sources. He  went  through  public  school  and 


attended  high  school  one  year,  the  latter  being  in 
Cincinnati.  From  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was 
employed  five  years  on  a  steam  boat.  Subse- 
quently, and  until  August,  1877,  he  waited  on 
table  in  hotels  in  Cincinnati.  He  removed  to 
Chicago  and  was  occupied  at  the  same  vocation 
in  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  during  1877-78-79. 
He  later  worked  in  the  Arcadian  Club  House, 
located  at  No.  119  Dearborn  Street,  which  he 
left  for  a  short  time  to  become  a  steward  in  the 
Lacine  Club,  at  No.  103  Adams  Street,  returning 
again  to  the  Arcadian.  For  the  past  six  years 
he  has  been  steward  in  the  Hoffman  Club,  whose 
building  he  helped  to  fit  up  in  1891.  This  club 
house  is  located  at  No.  1 14  Monroe  Street. 

October  30,  1889,  Mr.  Wells  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  F.  Herndon,  a  native  of  Kansas  City. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Harry  and  Margaret  Hern- 
don. In  the  Grand  United  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 


J.  H.  VEITH. 


663 


lows  he  is  a  member  of  Hutchinson  Lodge  No. 
362.  He  has  been  through  the  chairs  and  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  respected  of  his 
brothers.  He  favors  the  Republican  party  with 
his  vote  and  arguments  in  politics. 

Added  to  the  accomplishments  already  men- 
tioned, Mr.  Wells  possessess  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  details  of  law.  He  received  a  diploma 


from  the  Sprague  Correspondence  School  of  Law 
September  10,  1896.  He  also  holds  a  diploma 
from  the  Chicago  Correspondence  School  of  Law, 
dated  1898,  and  is  now  taking  a  post-graduate 
course.  In  1891  Mr.  Wells  erected  a  residence 
at  No.  6459  Evans  Avenue,  where  he  has  since 
made  his  home.  His  is  the  first  house  in  the 
block  and  the  tenth  in  the  subdivision. 


JOHANN    H.  VEITH. 


(TOHANN  KEREN  VEITH,  who  is  a  repre- 
I  sentative  citizen  of  Chicago,  was  born  of  a 
Q)  very  old  and  respected  German  family.  He 
comes  of  a  race  of  energetic  men,  of  strong, 
muscular  constitutions  and  force  of  character. 
Being  typical  of  this  nation,  he  has  all  the 
qualities  which  assist  a  man  to  success  and  a 
good  name.  Born  October  n,  1834,  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Aardoffost,  Friesland,  Germany,  he  is  a 
son  of  Behrend  Heronomus  Thaden  and  Etta 
(Thaden)  Veith. 

His  paternal  grandfather,  Thade  Johnsen,  was 
the  father  of  Thade  and  two  daughters.  He  was 
a  tiller  of  the  soil  and  also  a  weaver  by  occupa- 
tion. The  maternal  grandfather  of  Johann  H. 
Veith  was  an  agriculturist,  and  his  children  were: 
John,  Nuka,  Thade,  Wipka,  and  some  others, 
the  whole  number  being  twelve. 

The  father  of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this 
article  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  and  died  about  1860, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years.  His  worthy  life 
companion  preceded  her  husband,  and  he  married 
for  his  second  wife  the  mother  of  J.  H.  Veith. 
She  also  died  before  he,  and  was  at  the  age  of 
forty-three  years  when  this  unhappy  event  oc- 
curred. Her  children  are  accounted  for  as  fol- 
lows: Thade  still  resides  in  the  Fatherland. 
Gesina  married  Wilhelm  Dierks  and  resides  in 
Nebraska.  Johann  Keren  is  the  next  in  order 


of  birth.  Onke  is  a  tailor  in  Berlin,  Germany. 
Marie  is  also  in  the  land  of  her  nativity.  The 
first  wife  of  Mr.  B.  H.  T.  Veith  was  named 
Tompke  and  her  children  were  Frederick  and 
Etta. 

Johann  H.  Veith  left  Germany  in  1858,  and 
located  in  London,  England,  where  he  was 
occupied  at  his  trade,  that  of  a  tailor,  for  some 
time.  In  1861  he  removed  to  Montreal,  Canada, 
and  in  1862  located  in  New  York.  He  remained 
in  that  city  until  he  came  to  Illinois,  in  1868. 
Since  that  time  he  has  been  a  citizen  of  Chicago. 
He  erected  a  residence  on  Wentworth  Avenue, 
where  he  lived  after  its  completion  until  1894, 
when  he  came  to  No.  6649  Champlain  Avenue, 
which  has  since  been  his  home.  He  has  been 
in  the  service  of  various  employers  and  in  what- 
ever he  undertakes,  or  becomes  interested,  he  is  a 
decided  success. 

In  December,  1858,  Mr.  Veith  was  married  to 
Miss  Henrietta  Fredericka,  daughter  of  Henry 
and  Christiana  Oppermann.  Mrs.  Veith  was  born 
August  19,  1832,  in  the  town  of  Herzberg  on  the 
Harz,  Hanover,  Germany.  Her  father  married 
at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  He  was  born  in  1802, 
and  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  1844.  He  was  a 
gun-worker.  His  wife  died  in  1875,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-five  years,  surviving  her  husband 
thirty-four  years.  Her  children  were  named: 


664 


J.  A.  A.  SCHULENBURG. 


Johanna,  Charlotte,  Minnie,  Heinrich,  Caroline, 
Henrietta,  August,  Augusta,  Louise,  Elizabeth, 
Ernst  and  Heinrich.  The  two  who  were  named 
Heinrich  are  deceased.  Caroline  came  to  America 
and  married  Carl  Kuster,  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and 
resides  in  Alabama. 

Mrs.    Veith's    maternal   grandfather   was  the 
father  of  Christiana,  Wilhelmiua,  Fredericka  and 


Henrietta.  Her  paternal  grandfather  had  the 
following  children:  Ludwig,  Caroline,  Henry 
and  two  daughters  whose  names  are  not  now 
known. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Veith  are,  Minnie, 
deceased,  and  Etta.  The  latter  is  the  wife  of 
J.  A.  A.  Schulenburg,  a  biography  of  whose 
life  follows. 


JOHN  A.  A.  SCHULENBURG. 


(JOHN  ANTON  ANDREAS  SCHULENBURG, 
I  who  is  one  of  the  prominent  and  energetic 
C/  business  men  in  the  section  of  Chicago  where 
he  is  located,  was  born  on  the  I4th  of  March, 
1849,  in  the  city  of  Quackennbriick,  Hannover, 
Germany.  He  comes  of  a  very  old  German 
family  and  his  parents  were  Henry  and  Katharine 
(Uchtmann)  Schulenburg.  His  paternal  grand- 
father, Henry  Schulenburg,  was  a  tiller  of  the 
soil,  and  was  the  father  of  many  children,  nearly 
all  of  whom  came  to  America  and  located  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  John  A.  A. 
Schulenburg  was  the  owner  of  many  small  farms, 
which  brought  him  considerable  wealth.  His 
children  are  accounted  for  as  follows:  John  H. 
was  a  merchant  in  Holland  and  is  now  deceased; 
Herman  is  also  deceased ;  Deidr'ch  is  a  crockery 
clerk,  now  in  hospital  at  No.  127  West  Polk 
Street,  Chicago;  Henry,  who  is  located  on  West 
Harrison  Street,  is  a  dealer  in  hides  and  leather; 
he  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  War.  Katharine  is 
the  mother  of  the  man  whose  name  heads  this 
article. 

Henry  Schulenburg  located  in  America  in 
1867,  bringing  with  him  his  wife  and  two  chil- 
dren— Henry  and  Walaska.  He  owned  a  farm 
in  his  native  land,  that  had  passed  down  through 


many  generations  of  owners  by  his  name.  He 
retired  from  active  life  on  his  arrival  in  America, 
and  remained  so  until  his  death.  His  wife  died 
in  1867,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six  years.  Her  chil- 
dren are  three  in  number.  John  Anton  Andreas 
is  the  eldest.  Walaska  married  William  Saul,  a 
painter,  who  is  a  native  of  Chicago.  They  reside 
at  No.  2225  Wentworth  Avenue.  Henry  Schulen- 
burg is  a  harness-maker,  at  No.  3144  State  Street, 
and  a  residence  at  No.  3623  Forest  Avenue. 

J.  A.  A.  Schulenburg  was  the  first  of  his 
father's  family  to  emigrate  from  his  native  land, 
and  reached  Chicago  in  July,  1866.  He  began 
life  in  this  city  as  clerk  for  P.  T.  Tiedemann,  on 
Milwaukee  Avenue,  near  Erie  Street,  and  con- 
tinued in  this  employ  three  years.  He  spent  the 
same  length  of  time  with  F.  Langbein,  located  at 
the  corner  of  Thirteenth  and  State  Streets.  He 
subsequently  established  a  dry-goods  store  at  No. 
630  State  Street,  next  door  to  his  old  employer. 
He  took  for  a  partner  Theodore  Wilken,  the  firm 
becoming  Schulenburg  &  Wilken.  They  con- 
tinued in  partnership  two  years  and  later  closed 
out  the  business.  For  two  years  Mr.  Schulen- 
burg was  clerk  for  Mr.  Rothschild,  at  the  corner 
of  Twenty-ninth  and  State  Streets,  and  for  three 
years  for  Sachn  Brothers,  at  the  corner  of  North 
Avenue  and  Orchard  Street.  He  later  opened 


J.  C.  GEBERT. 


665 


another  dry-goods  store  at  No.  3108  Wentworth 
Avenue,  the  firm  name  being  E.  G.  Schulenburg 
&  Company,  afterward  moved  to  No.  6340  Cottage 
Grove  Avenue. 

Five  years  ago  Veith  &  Schulenburg  erected 
a  residence  at  No.  6649  Champlain  Avenue, 
which  is  a  three-story,  stone  front  building  all 
occupied  by  them.  August  30,  1876,  Mr.  Schulen- 
burg married  Miss  Etta  Gesina,  daughter  of 
John  and  Henrietta  (Oppenrnann)  Veith.  Mrs. 


Schulenburg  was  born  January  24,  1859,  in 
London,  England.  Her  children  are  as  follows: 
Heinrich  Keren,  born  July  8,  1877,  resides  with 
his  parents;  Wilhelm  Adam,  born  January  20, 
1880,  died  May  8,  1880;  and  Henrietta  Johanna 
Katharine,  born  August  13,  1885. 

Mr.  Schulenburg  is  a  stanch  Republican,  as  to 
political  views,  and  at  all  favorable  opportunities 
presents  forcible  arguments  in  favor  of  the  party 
with  which  he  is  affiliated. 


JOHN  C.  GEBERT. 


(JOHN    CHRISTOPHER    GEBERT.      It  is 
proper  and  according  to  the  laws  of  justice 


that  the  life  history  of  a  man  of  the  charac- 
ter of  John  Christopher  Gebert,  should  be  regis- 
tered with  the  same  consideration  as  others  of  his 
contemporaries,  in  a  book  whose  pages  are  entirely 
devoted  to  this  purpose.  He  was  born  Septem- 
ber 26,  1842,  in  Mecklenburg,  Germany.  His 
parents  were  George  and  Dorothea  (Ruehl)  Ge- 
bert. 

George  Gebert,  brother  of  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  was  the  first  of  his  father's 
family  to  emigrate  from  his  native  land.  He 
arrived  in  the  United  States  in  1850,  and  died  in 
Chicago  September  14,  1898.  Charles  Gebert, 
of  whom  extended  mention  appears  elsewhere  in 
this  work,  came  to  America  in  1853.  Mary 
Gebert,  another  of  the  family  of  George  Gebert, 
Senior,  married  Henry  Sol  town. 

Mrs.  Gebert,  mother  of  John  C.,  came  to 
America  with  her  sons,  John  C.,  Henry  (see 
biography  headed  by  his  name,  in  this  work) , 
and  Fred  (whose  biography  also  appears  in  this 
work).  Fred  resides  at  the  corner  of  Twenty- 
first  Street  and  Wentworth  Avenue,  Chicago. 
Henry  died  and  his  widow  resides  at  No.  2952 
South  Park  Avenue. 


John  C.  Gebert  began  life  in  America  as  a  car- 
penter, being  employed  by  Sennitz,  on  Milwaukee 
Avenue,  two  years.  He  began  a  business  of 
teaming,  starting  with  one  team,  which  number, 
when  he  abandoned  the  occupation  in  1864,  had 
increased  to  four  teams.  His  home  was  first  on 
Thirtieth  Street,  between  Cottage  Grove  and 
Calumet  Avenues,  but  in  1864  he  built  a  resi- 
dence at  No.  27 10  Cottage  Grove  Avenue.  He 
established  a  store  on  Cottage  Grove  Avenue  and 
conducted  business  at  this  location  until  1886. 
He  retired  at  that  time  and  has  since  enjoyed  the 
fruits  of  his  labor,  having  lived  a  happy,  con- 
genial existence. 

September  23,  1865,  Mr.  Gebert  was  married 
to  Miss  Hannah  Wilhelmina,  daughter  of  Chris- 
tian and  Elizabeth  Heckelman.  George  Fred- 
erick, the  first  born  of  the  children  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  C.  Gebert,  is  spoken  of  in  a  biography 
which  treats  of  his  life,  on  another  page  of  this 
work.  Amelia  Dorothea  is  the  next  in  order  of 
birth  and  she  was  born  April  29,  1866.  She 
married  William  Conroy  and  resides  at  No.  6332 
Peoria  Street,  Chicago.  The  other  children  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gebert  are:  Elizabeth  Dorothea, 
born  September  25,  1870;  John,  March  28,  1872, 
died  at  the  age  of  one  year  and  eleven  months; 


666 


DUNCAN  McKICHAN. 


William  Frederick,  September  18,  1875;  Caroline 
Christina  Johanna,  January  15,  1878;  Lillian 
Wilhelmina  Elizabeth,  March  29,  1880;  Frederick 
Christian,  October  7,  1882;  Edward,  January  23, 
1885;  Ham  Ralph,  July  22,  1887;  and  Louise 
Selina,  July  9,  1890,  died  November  20,  1894. 
Mr.  Gebert  has  served  in  all  offices  of  Lincoln 


Lodge  No.  140,  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men. He  is  a  Republican  and  follows  the  teach- 
ings of  his  fathers,  in  adhering  to  the  belief  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  He  is  a  man  of  high 
honor,  strict  integrity,  and  is  beloved  and 
esteemed  by  all  who  come  in  contact  with  his 
genial  nature. 


DUNCAN  McKICHAN. 


0UNCAN  McKICHAN,  who  is  one  of  the 
valued  and  honored  citizens  of  the  portion 
of  Chicago  in  which  he  resides,  is  a  native 
of  Scotland,  and  his  nature  is  typical  of  the  sturdy 
and  energetic  Scotchman.  Born  October  u, 
1848,  in  Glasgow,  he  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Ann 
(McDougal)  McKichan.  The  family  is  an  old 
and  highly-respected  one  and  his  Christian  name 
is  one  which  many  of  his  surname  have  borne. 
His  paternal  grandfather  was  Duncan  McKichan, 
whose  family  included  three  sons,  John,  Peter  and 
Malcolm,  and  several  daughters.  One  of  the 
last-named  is  Ann,  and  she  still  resides  in  the 
land  of  her  birth,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
six  years. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  Duncan  Mc- 
Kichan, the  subject  of  this  article,  was  Alexander 
McDougal,  who  was  the  father  of  a  small  family. 
Peter  McKichan  and  four  children — Duncan, 
Catherine,  Jennie  and  Mary,  emigrated  to  Canada 
in  May,  1849,  and  purchased  one  hundred  acres 
of  land  in  Lager  Township,  eighteen  miles  west 
of  London,  Ontario.  In  1870  he  sold  this  prop- 
erty and  with  Peter,  John  and  Hugh,  removed  to 
Bad  Axe,  Michigan.  At  this  time  Mr.  McKichan 
retired  from  active  labor.  He  died  February  10, 
1896,  at  the  age  of  ninety-six  years,  and  his  re- 
mains were  interred  at  Bad  Axe.  He  was  a  car- 
penter by  trade,  and  practiced  this  in  his  birth- 
place, Greenock,  Scotland,  and  also  in  Glasgow, 


where  he  worked  for  fourteen  years  for  one  Mc- 
Pherson.  After  his  arrival  in  Canada  he  was  in 
the  service  of  a  cousin  of  his  former  employer, 
bearing  the  same  name,  in  London  for  a  period  of 
six  years. 

Mrs.  Peter  McKichan,  mother  of  the  man 
whose  name  heads  this  article,  died  January  12, 
1896,  at  the  age  of  eighty -six  years.  Her  re- 
mains were  interred  at  Bad  Axe,  Michigan.  She 
was  born  in  the  same  part  of  Scotland  as  her  hus- 
band, and  her  children  were  ten  in  number.  The 
first,  Sarah  Ann,  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
months.  Catherine  married  Joseph  Broomfield, 
and  resides  at  Bad  Axe,  Michigan.  Jennie  mar- 
ried Isaac  Davidson,  and  resides  at  Ravenswood, 
Canada.  Mary  is  the  wife  of  John  Miller,  and 
lives  in  Canada.  The  above  mentioned  and 
Duncan  were  born  in  Scotland.  Alexander  died 
in  Montana,  in  October,  1895,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
five  years.  He  remained  unmarried  to  the  end. 
Archibald  is  fifty-six  years  of  age  and  lives  in 
Dakota.  Peter  is  married  and  lives  in  Bad  Axe, 
Michigan.  John  also  lives  in  Bad  Axe;  and 
Hugh,  who  is  a  resident  of  that  city,  is  the  last 
of  the  five  born  there. 

Duncan  McKichan  lived  with  his  parents  until 
1870,  and  subsequently  operated  a  farm  for  a 
period  of  one  year.  He  then  removed  to  Michi- 
gan and  engaged  in  logging,  with  which  he  was 
occupied  seven  years.  During  three  years  of  this 


W.  J.  FENTON. 


667 


period  he  also  tilled  a  farm.  In  1876  he  first 
came  to  Chicago,  and  was  occupied  on  farms  near 
Elgin  for  three  years  thereafter.  On  his  return 
to  Chicago  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  South 
Park  Board  a  short  time.  He  was  occupied  in 
Oakwoods  Cemetery  two  years,  and  later  was 
interested  in  various  business  enterprises.  He 
cut  hay  for  a  time,  with  Carlton  Drake  for  a 
partner.  He  began  teaming  with  this  man,  but 
after  eighteen  months  decided  he  could  further 
his  interests  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner  by 
following  this  occupation  alone.  He  is  now  pos- 
sessed of  several  teams  and  has  a  successful  busi- 
ness. 


Mr.  McKichan  purchased  a  residence  at  No. 
6512  Champlain  Avenue,  in  1890,  and  in  1894 
erected  a  brick  barn.  He  was  married  Decem- 
ber 23,  1879,  to  Miss  Mary,  daughter  of  John  and 
Bridget  (Guerin)  Kane.  A  biography  of  Mr. 
Kane  will  be  found  in  this  work.  Mrs.  McKichan 
was  born  March  i,  1857,  m  Saratoga,  New  York, 
and  came  to  Chicago  in  1860  with  her  parents. 
Her  only  child,  Sarah  Ann,  was  born  January  2, 
1883.  Mr.  McKichan  is  a  man  of  great  influence 
and  ability.  He  is  a  stanch  Republican,  and  fol- 
lows the  teachings  of  his  fathers  in  religious 
matters,  as  represented  by  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 


WILLIAM  J.  FENTON. 


JOSEPH  FENTON,  one  of  the 
rising  and  influential  citizens  of  Chicago, 
was  born  September  19,  1858,  on  Twenty- 
third  Street  between  Calumet  and  South  Park 
Avenues.  He  is  a  son  of  Henry  and  Ann  (Rudd) 
Fenton,  who  were  earlier  residents  and  worthy 
citizens  of  the  city.  Henry  Fenton  was  born  in 
Kent,  England,  and  was  the  only  one  of  his 
father's  family  to  emigrate  to  America,  and  he 
arrived  in  1852. 

Being  of  a  thrifty  nature  he  invested  in  a  farm 
near  Elgin,  Illinois,  which  he  never  cultivated. 
He  located  in  Chicago  and  was  from  that  time 
until  his  death  manager  of  the  distillery  owned 
by  Busch  &  Curtis.  His  people  were  butchers 
by  occupation,  and  he  fattened  cattle  and  sold 
them  as  a  side  issue.  In  1856  he  was  married 
and  four  years  later  he  fell  off  a  wagon  and 
broke  his  neck,  which  was  a  sad  accident  and  a 
blow  to  his  beloved  wife.  He  was  forty  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  his  demise. 


Mrs.  Henry  Fenton,  mother  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  article,  was  born  in  County 
Wexford,  Ireland,  in  1827.  She  died  October 
24,  1889,  and  her  remains,  with  those  of  her  hus- 
band, were  laid  away  in  Graceland  Cemetery. 
Mrs.  Fenton  came  to  America  in  1855,  ar"d  her 
brother,  Thomas,  came  in  1853,  and  her  mother 
and  brother,  William,  came  in  1856.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Henry  Fenton  became  the  parents  of  two 
children,  of  whom  William  Joseph  is  the  younger. 
Charles  Henry,  born  June  7,  1857,  resides  at  No. 
6445  L,angley  Avenue.  Further  mention  is  made 
of  him  in  another  biography,  headed  by  his  name. 

William  Joseph  Fenton  attended  the  Mosley 
and  Douglas  schools  and  high  school  one  year. 
He  left  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  to  begin  the 
battle  of  life.  He  was  eight  and  one-half  years 
in  the  employ  of  Keith  Brothers,  entering  their 
service  as  general  errand  boy.  At  the  time  he 
left  Keith  Brothers  he  was  able  to  cut  shirts. 
September,  1882,  he  entered  the  service  of  C.  P. 


668 


PETER  MORTENSEN. 


Kellogg  &  Company,  and  is  a  cutter  with  this 
concern  at  the  present  time.  For  four  years  he 
has  had  charge  of  his  department  and  is  an 
appreciated  and  honored  employe. 

June  i,  1880,  Mr.  Fenton  was  married  to  Miss 
Katie,  daughter  of  Bernard  Callahan,  who  was 
born  in  Ireland  in  1861.  She  died  January  i, 
1885,  leaving  two  children:  William  Bernard, 
born  March  16,  1882,  and  Henry  James,  born 
September  6,  1884.  Mr.  Fenton  was  married  a 
second  time  to  Miss  Margaret,  daughter  of  Simon 
and  Susan  (Calliman)  O'Dea,  June  16,  1891. 
Mrs.  Fenton  was  born  June  29,  1871,  in  County 
Clare,  Ireland,  and  came  to  America  when  but 


five  years  of  age.  She  has  one  child,  Edna  Anna, 
born  September  25,  1892,  who  is  a  pleasing  and 
interesting  little  daughter. 

Mr.  Fenton  is  connected  with  Court  Energy, 
No.  19,  Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  and 
Englewood  Council  No.  2,  North  America  Union. 
He  is  loyal  at  all  times  to  the  Republican  party 
and  supports  the  candidates  with  his  vote,  as  well 
as  influence.  He  was  reared  an  Episcopalian 
and  was  the  first  person  christened  by  Bishop 
Cheney,  of  Chicago.  He  is  a  pleasant,  refined 
gentleman  and  his  everyday  existence  shows  that 
he  is  from  a  respected  lineage  and  is  a  credit  to 
the  name  he  bears. 


PETER  MORTENSEN. 


r\ETER  MORTENSEN  claims  Denmark  as 
LS  the  land  of  his  birth,  having  been  born  in  the 
J5  town  of  Nykjobing,  in  that  country,  April 
20,  1844.  He  is  the  son  of  Peter  Mortensen  and 
his  wife.  Else  Sorensen,  both  natives  of  Den- 
mark. His  mother  had  been  twice  married  and 
had  one  son  by  her  first  marriage,  Ole  Sorensen, 
who  is  now  a  resident  of  Minnesota.  The  family 
of  Mr.  Mortensen,  Senior,  consisted  of  Peter,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  and  Marinea,  who  is  the 
wife  of  Anders  Andersen  and  is  living  in  Den- 
mark. The  father  died  at  the  age  of  forty-eight 
years,  and  the  mother  survived  him  until  1881, 
when  she,  too,  passed  away,  aged  eighty-one 
years. 

Peter  Mortensen  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  his  native  town,  which  he  attended  until  he 
was  fourteen  years  old.  He  then  engaged  in  farm- 
ing until  he  reached  the  age  of  eighteen  years, 
when  he  went  to  Copenhagen  and  was  employed 
in  a  wholesale  silk  and  cloth  store  five  years. 

In  1890  he  came  to  New  York,  having  in  his 
possession  three  hundred  dollars,  which  amount 


was  his  entire  savings.  He  secured  work  at 
Albany  and  stayed  at  that  place  three  months, 
then  came  to  Illinois,  and  for  four  months  was 
employed  on  a  farm  near  Dixon.  Subsequently 
he  took  a  trip  South,  visiting  Alabama,  Tennes- 
see, Texas  and  Louisiana  and  returned  North  and 
came  to  Chicago  in  April,  1871.  He  was  again 
employed  in  farming  near  the  city  for  eight 
months,  when  he  became  a  permanent  resident  of 
Chicago  and  has  remained  here  ever  since. 

He  was  five  years  in  the  employ  of  W.  A. 
Butler,  in  the  dry-goods  department.  He  then 
secured  a  loan  from  a  friend  and  started  in  the 
notion  business.  At  the  end  of  one  year  he  sold 
out  and  for  a  short  time  was  employed  as  clerk. 
He  again  engaged  in  business  at  No.  1076  North 
Avenue.  In  1880  he  admitted  a  partner,  the 
firm  being  styled  P.  Mortensen  &  Company.  In 
1884  their  business  relations  were  dissolved,  Mr. 
Mortensen  buying  out  his  partner,  and  continu- 
ing the  business  at  the  same  place  where  he  is  at 
present  located,  on  Milwaukee  Avenue. 

Mr.  Mortensen  married  Miss  Ida  Larsen,  in 


JOHN  KUHL. 


669 


Chicago,  September  12,  1875.  She  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  E.  C.  and  M.  Amelia  Briefer,  both  natives 
of  Denmark.  Mrs.  Morteusen  is  their  fourth 
child  and  was  born  in  the  old  country,  coming  to 
America  in  1874.  She  made  the  journey  alone 
and  came  direct  to  Chicago.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Mortensen  are  the  parents  of  three  children. 
They  are:  Axel,  who  is  employed  as  a  typesetter; 
Olga,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Northwest  Divi- 
sion high  school  and  the  state  normal  course  and 


is  a  teacher  in  the  William  Penn  Nixon  school; 
and  Ida,  who  is  a  bookkeeper. 

Mr.  Mortensen  is  allied  with  the  following 
societies:  The  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen, 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Society  Dania.  He  is  a  good  example  of  the 
energy  and  business  ability  which  are  marked 
characteristics  of  the  natives  of  Denmark.  In 
his  power  to  rise  above  circumstance  lies  the 
secret  of  Mr.  Mortensen's  success. 


JOHN  KUHL. 


QOHN  KUHL.  Few  of  the  German-Ameri- 
can  citizens  of  Chicago  can  better  substanti- 
ate  their  claim  to  the  title  of  old  settler  than 
can  Mr.  Kuhl.  Born  at  Hanen,  Prussia,  in  1832, 
he  came  to  Chicago  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years, 
and  since  1845  this  citv  has  continuously  been 
his  home. 

His  father's  Christian  name  was  the  same  as 
his  own — John ;  his  mother  was  christened  Maria . 
The  elder  Kuhl  was  a  small  tenant-farmer  in 
Prussia,  eking  out  the  slender  return  from  the 
land  by  occasional  trips  to  Holland,  where  he 
certified  to  contracts  and  did  whatever  else  came 
to  hand.  To  himself  and  his  wife  were  born  five 
children,  of  whom  two  were  sons.  Mrs.  Kuhl, 
Senior,  died  in  Prussia,  and  her  husband  deter- 
mined to  emigrate  from  the  land  which  had 
yielded  him  but  little  and  where  his  home  was 
full  of  painful  memories. 

On  reaching  Chicago  he  found  employment  on 
the  Illinois  &  Michigan  canal,  and,  when  his  sav- 
ings would  allow,  bought  from  the  canal  trustees 
a  tract  of  ten  acres,  situated  along  what  is  now 
West  Chicago  Avenue.  The  land  lay  near  the 
intersection  of  Ashland  Avenue,  and  Mr.  Kuhl's 
house  was  the  first  built  in  that  locality  at  a  time 
when  no  one  supposed  that  the  little  town  would 


ever  expand  into  a  city  which  would  embrace  his 
modest  purchase.  However,  Mr.  Kuhl  spent 
some  money  by  way  of  improvement,  selling 
occasionally,  here  and  there,  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1889.  ,  He  was  a  man  re- 
spected alike  for  his  judgment  and  his  probity, 
and  always  ready  to  aid  immigrants  by  his  coun- 
sel and  from  his  purse.  Among  the  old  settlers 
he  was  held  in  high  repute,  and  among  all  classes 
his  genial  nature,  his  kindly  disposition,  and  his 
unfailing,  unostentatious  charity  won  him  many 
friends. 

It  was,  as  has  been  said,  in  1845,  that  John 
Kuhl,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  came  to  Chicago, 
brought  hither  by  his  uncle.  He  had  attended 
school  in  Prussia,  and  for  a  short  time  sought  to 
improve  his  education  here.  But  his  early  lot 
was  to  work  and  to  work  hard;  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  might  have  been  found  toiling  in  the 
blacksmith  shop  of  Henry  Weber,  on  Lake  Street. 
There  he  served  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years, 
and  for  the  four  years  following  worked  as  a 
journeyman.  Avoiding  self-indulgence  and  care- 
fully guarding  his  slender  savings,  he  then  found 
himself  able  to  open  a  shop  of  his  own  at  the 
corner  of  Desplaines  Street  and  Carroll  Avenue, 
in  company  with  Jacob  Press.  The  firm  of  Kuhl 


670 


G.  W.  WELFELT. 


&  Press  continued  from  1860  to  1866,  moving 
meanwhile  from  its  first  location  to  No.  23  (now 
145)  Milwaukee  Avenue.  In  1866  the  co-part- 
nership was  dissolved  by  mutual  consent,  Mr. 
Kuhl  retaining  the  business,  which  he  has  since 
conducted. 

It  may  be  readily  perceived  that,  while  his  life 
has  been  comparatively  uneventful,  it  has  been 
ennobled  by  that  toil  and  earnestness  which  con- 
stitute the  true  patent  of  nobility. 

In  1 86 1  he  married  Miss  Mary  Press,  a  sister 
of  his  former  partner,  who  was  born  in  Germany. 
She  died  two  years  after  her  marriage,  both  her 
children  having  preceded  her.  Two  years  after 
her  demise  he  married  her  sister,  Julia,  who  has 


borne  him  nine  children,  of  whom  eight  are  still 
living.  Their  oldest  son,  John,  met  his  death  by 
drowning  while  attending  a  picnic  at  Kankakee. 
The  names  of  those  living  are:  Mary,  Emma, 
Henry,  Edward,  Katharine,  Julia,  lyillie  and 
Harry. 

Mr.  Kuhl  is  a  member  of  no  church,  but  his 
integrity  in  the  business,  domestic  and  social  rela- 
tions of  life  has  endeared  him  to  all  who  are 
sufficiently  fortunate  to  call  him  friend.  In  poli- 
tics, as  in  religious  views,  he  is  broad  and  liberal. 
While  inclining  toward  the  Democratic  party,  he 
is  in  no  sense  a  partisan.  Of  only  one  political 
creed  does  he  really  boast — he  is  an  American, 
through  and  through. 


GEORGE  W.  WELFELT. 


0EORGE  WHITE  WELFELT,  who  is  one 
I  —  of  Chicago's  well-known  and  honored  citi- 
^|  zens,  comes  of  a  very  old  and  prominent 
family  of  ambitious  and  energetic  men.  He  was 
born  May  8,  1853,  in  Monroe  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  his  parents,  Adam  Overfield  and 
Sophia  (Fish)  Welfelt,  resided. 

December  16,  1880,  Mr.  Welfelt  was  married 
to  Miss  Olive  Rosena  McDole,  who  has  assisted 
in  the  management  of  his  home  and  helped  to 
make  his  life  a  happy  one.  The  father  of  Mrs. 
Welfelt,  Mr.  McDole,  was  born  June  14,  1827, 
on  a  farm  near  Poppenneauville,  Canada,  and 
died  April  14,  1898,  mourned  by  many  friends 
and  relatives.  March  17,  1852,  he  married  Miss 
Catherine  Emmy,  who  was  born  on  the  Rhine 
River,  Germany,  and  died  March  24,  1862.  Her 
remains  were  buried  at  Maine  City,  Michigan. 
Four  children  blessed  the  union  of  Mr.  McDole  and 
his  first  wife,  and  they  are  accounted  for  as  fol- 
lows: Charles  Edward,  born  January  12,  1853, 
is  an  engineer  in  Chicago;  an  extended  notice  of 


Alexander,  the  second,  appears  elsewhere  in  this 
work;  Olive  Rosena  was  born  August  30,  1858; 
Clara,  born  March  29,  1861,  resides  at  No.  1396 
Thirty-fourth  Street,  Chicago. 

Three  years  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife, 
February  i,  1865,  Mr.  McDole  contracted  a  sec- 
ond marriage,  the  bride  being  Miss  Mary  Donald- 
son. She  died  July  10,  1882,  and  her  remains 
were  interred  in  Oakwoods  Cemetery.  Her  only 
daughter,  Mary  Ida,  was  born  April  16,  1870, 
and  married  Thomas  Cartwright. 

George  W.  Welfelt  was  born  on  a  farm,  and 
was  deprived  of  his  right  arm.  He  entered  into 
life  in  the  city  of  Chicago  May  28,  1884,  and  has 
for  a  long  period  been  night  watchman  in  the 
employ  of  George  A.  Severns.  His  children  are: 
Emma  Clair,  born  January  3,  1882,  and  Clara 
Viola,  born  November  18,  1883. 

Mr.  Welfelt  has  never  sought  public  favor  in 
the  form  of  office,  and  is  a  stanch  and  true  Demo- 
crat. His  influence  is  ever  used  for  the  right  and 
he  is  recognized  as  a  conscientious  gentleman. 


THOMAS  BROWN. 


671 


THOMAS  BROWN. 


EAPT.  THOMAS  BROWN  was  born  in 
Crail,  Fifeshire,  Scotland,  October  28,  1823, 
a  son  of  Alexander  Brown.  The  latter  was 
born  in  Crail  in  1796,  and  was  reared  in  his  native 
place,  and  educated  in  such  schools  as  were  then 
in  vogue.  He  married  Margaret  Brown  (no 
relative)  in  1820,  and  April  6,  1834,  they,  with 
their  family,  took  passage  on  the  "Roger 
Stewart,"  a  sailing-vessel,  from  Greenock,  Scot- 
land, for  the  United  States.  The  good  ship  was 
five  weeks  and  two  days  in  plowing  her  way 
through  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  to  New  York, 
where  she  arrived  on  the  2d  of  May. 

Chicago  was  the  objective  point  and  thither 
they  traveled,  by  boat  up  the  Hudson  to  Albany, 
thence  by  canal  to  Buffalo,  where  passage  was 
taken  on  a  boat  to  Detroit.  From  that  place  they 
traveled  by  ox-team  and  wagon  across  Michigan 
to  St.  Joseph,  where  they  again  took  boat,  which 
landed  them  in  Chicago  June  8,  1834.  Mr.  Brown 
had  been  reared  to  farm  pursuits.  He  was  am- 
bitious for  the  future  welfare  of  his  children,  and 
not  wishing  to  change  his  vocation,  soon  after 
arriving  he  made  a  selection  of  a  quarter-section 
of  land  in  Niles  Township,  paying  one  hundred 
sixty  dollars  for  a  claim  upon  it  held  by  an- 
other. There  was  a  log  house  on  this  land,  and 
though  small  and  somewhat  uncomfortable,  it  was 
made  to  answer  the  purpose  of  the  family  domicile 
for  two  years.  He  was  a  hard-working  and  in- 
dustrious man,  and  with  such  assistance  as  his 
wife  and  young  children  could  render,  he  soon 
had  a  part  of  his  land  under  cultivation  and  was 
on  the  way  to  prosperity. 

When  the  land  came  into  market  he  bought 


four  hundred  acres  in  all,  at  government  prices. 
For  a  year  or  two  after  his  settlement  in  Niles, 
they  had  a  camp  of  Indians  for  near  neighbors, 
who  were  very  annoying  on  account  of  their 
largely  developed  thieving  propensities.  They 
were  only  dangerous  when  drunk,  at  which  times 
they  would  become  quarrelsome  and  murderous. 
Mr.  Brown  was  a  man  who  possessed  the  material 
which  makes  successful  pioneers.  He  was  hardy 
and  courageous.  No  hardship  daunted  him. 

He  served  as  justice  of  the  peace  a  great  many 
years,  and  was  universally  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him.  He  and  his  wife  were  Presbyterians 
and  among  the  strictest  of  their  faith.  Mr.  Brown 
took  an  active  and  leading  part  in  erecting  the 
first  church  in  the  township.  It  was  a  sort  of  a 
union  affair,  as  all  evangelical  denominations 
used  it.  He  took  a  keen  interest  in  political 
affairs,  and  was  an  adherent  of  the  Democratic 
party. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children  (five  of  whom  were  born  in  Scotland) , 
namely:  Andrew,  Thomas,  Alexander,  William, 
Isabella,  Grace,  James  and  John.  The  last  two 
were  born  in  Niles  Township,  and  Grace  was 
born  on  the  ocean.  Mr.  Brown  died  November 
30,  1854,  and  Mrs.  Brown  passed  to  her  final  re- 
ward in  April,  1849,  aged  fifty-one  years. 

Thomas  Brown  was  a  little  more  than  ten  years 
of  age  when  he  came  to  Chicago.  He  had  learned 
to  read  and  write  in  his  native  land.  There  were 
no  schools  here  when  the  family  arrived.  Such 
education  as  he  received  in  his  youth  was  ob- 
tained in  the  "Land  of  the  heather." 

In  August,   1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company  I, 


672 


RASMUS  RASMUSSEN. 


Eighty-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  Soon 
after,  he  with  his  regiment  was  transferred  to  the 
seat  of  war  in  Kentucky,  and  October  8  following, 
participated  in  the  battle  of  Perry  ville.  From 
this  time  on  his  command  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
fray,  and  fought  at  Stone  River,  Chickamauga  and 
Missionary  Ridge.  It  then  went  to  the  relief  of 
Knoxville  and  the  release  of  East  Tennessee  from 
threatened  rebel  dominion.  Subsequently,  when 
the  Atlanta  campaign  opened,  the  Eighty-eighth 
Regiment  took  an  active  and  aggressive  part,  sus- 
taining in  many  a  severe  conflict  its  well-known 
and  deserved  reputation  for  the  fighting  qualities 
of  its  men.  After  the  fall  of  Atlanta  the  regiment 
took  part  in  the  campaign  against  the  rebel  gen- 
eral, Hood,  acting  in  the  battles  of  Spring  Hill, 
Franklin  and  Nashville,  which  so  disastrously 
resulted  in  the  annihilation  of  Hood's  army. 
At  Spring  Hill  Mr.  Brown  received  a  slight 
wound,  which,  however,  did  not  deter  him  from 
accompanying  his  regiment  in  pursuit  of  Hood's 
flying  remnant,  in  which  large  stores  were  cap- 
tured. Subsequently  the  regiment  went  to  Hunts- 
ville,  Alabama,  where  it  enjoyed  for  two  months 
a  well-deserved  rest,  then  went  to  East  Tennes- 
see, and  after  Pittsburg  fell,  proceeded  to  Nash- 
ville, where  it  was  mustered  out  of  service  June 
24,  1864. 

Mr.  Brown  enlisted  and  was  mustered  in  as  a 


private,  and  soon  after  was  made  company  drill 
master;  later,  third  sergeant.  After  Stone  River 
was  fought  he  was  advanced  to  first  sergeant,  and 
after  the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mountain  he  received 
a  first  lieutenant's  commission.  A  little  later  he 
was  promoted  to  a  captaincy  and  assumed  com- 
mand of  his  company.  His  rise  in  rank  was  due 
entirely  to  the  soldierly  qualities  of  the  man. 
Brave  to  a  fault,  clear  of  sight,  decisive  of  action, 
qualities  indispensable  to  a  good  soldier,  he  won 
the  confidence  of  his  superiors  and  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  his  subordinate  followers,  whom 
he  so  gallantly  led  on  many  hard-fought  fields. 

When  the  war  was  over  Captain  Brown  re- 
turned to  Niles  Township,  and  in  the  following 
spring  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. He  was  married  June  30,  1849,  to  Miss 
Josephine  Schroeder,  who  was  born  on  Long 
Island,  New  York,  in  1833.  To  them  a  child  was 
born,  Margaret  Isabella,  now  Mrs.  A.  Caldwell 
Anderson,  of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Brown  came  to 
Chicago  with  her  mother,  Sarepta  Schroeder,  in 
1838. 

Aside  from  having  held  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  for  several  years,  Captain  Brown  has 
not  been  identified  with  public  affairs.  His  first 
presidential  vote  was  cast  for  Henry  Clay,  but 
since  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party  he 
has  been  a  stanch  supporter  of  its  principles. 


RASMUS  RASMUSSEN. 


QASMUS  RASMUSSEN  is  by  birth  a  Dane, 
r(  and  both  his  parents  were  natives  of  that 
r  \  little  kingdom  which  has  sent  so  many  of 
her  sons  and  daughters  across  the  ocean  to  be- 
come loyal  and  valued  citizens  of  the  great 
republic. 

His  father,  Rasmus  Christensen,  was  a  sailor 
and  himself  a  vessel  owner.     He  died  at  the  age 


of  fifty-five  years.  His  mother  still  lives,  a  resi- 
dent of  Chicago,  where  the  rush  and  whirl  of 
every-day  life  afford  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
peaceful  days  of  her  girlhood. 

Rasmus  Rasmussen  was  the  sixth  in  order  of 
birth  of  nine  children.  He  was  born  March  14, 
1859,  at  Stryno,  Denmark,  and  remained  in  his 
native  country  until,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he 


AUGUST  SENGER. 


673 


determined  to  seek  for  better  fortunes  in  what  is 
commonly  (although  erroneously)  termed  the 
"new  world."  Before  emigrating  to  America, 
however,  he  had  received  a  common  school 
education  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker. 
In  1877  he  lauded  on  these  shores,  and  acquired 
his  first  knowledge  of  American  customs  at 
Portland,  Maine,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade  for 
a  year.  The  year  following  he  came  to  Chicago. 
Here  he  first  obtained  employment  %vith  the  firm 
ofC.  M.  Henderson  &  Company,  at  the  corner 
of  Adams  and  Market  Streets,  and  has  been  in 
the  employ  of  that  concern  since,  although  in 


1891  he  opened  a  shoe  store  for  himself  at  No. 
275  West  Erie  Street.  This  he  still  conducts, 
doing  a  prosperous  business  while  still  continu- 
ing his  connection  with  the  above-mentioned 
wholesale  firm. 

In  1882  he  was  married  to  Miss  Jessie  Jensen, 
his  country-woman,  by  birth,  but  who  came  to 
Chicago  with  her  parents  when  only  two  years 
old.  Her  father,  William  Jensen,  resides  at  No. 
271  Cornell  Street.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rasmussen 
have  no  children.  He  is  a  member  of  the  National 
Union,  of  the  Society  Dania,  and  of  the  Danish 
Singing  Society  Harmonica. 


AUGUST  SENGER. 


Gl  UGUST  SENGER,  who  is  a  true  represen- 
|_|  tative  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago  to-day  who 
/  I  have  assisted  in  the  promotion  of  matters 
for  the  good  of  the  people,  is  a  middle-aged  man, 
of  all  the  sterling  qualities  of  his  race.  He  was 
born  August  30,  1852,  in  Jankendorf,  province  of 
Posen,  Germany,  and  is  a  son  of  Ludwig  Senger, 
a  farmer  of  that  place. 

August  Senger  followed  the  example  of  many 
of  his  countrymen  in  coming  to  the  United  States, 
believing  he  would  find  better  facilities  for  making 
fame  and  fortune  in  the  comparatively  new  and 
progressive  land.  He  arrived  in  Chicago  in 
August,  1879,  and  immediately  found  employ- 
ment with  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern 
Railroad  Company.  He  continued  thus  occupied, 
a  valued  and  respected  employe,  until  February, 
1885,  when  he  met  with  a  serious  accident,  which 
impaired  his  health  permanently.  He  is  now  in 
the  service  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  as  section  man. 

Conducive  to  the  success  and  general  welfare 
of  a  man,  is  a  pleasant  and  helpful  life  compan- 
ion, such  as  Mrs.  Senger  has  proved  to  be.  Jan- 


uary 5,  1883,  Mr.  Senger  was  married  to  Miss 
Paulina  Maddhes,  who  was  born  June  14,  1864, 
in  Sangjanglof,  Saxen-AHenburg,  Germany. 
Mrs.  Senger  came  to  Chicago  August  13,  1880. 
Her  parents,  Theodore  and  Caroline  (Batzu) 
Maddhes,  came  to  America  at  that  time,  bring- 
ing with  them  their  nine  children,  who  were 
named:  Franz,  Louis  (deceased),  Wilhelmina, 
Herman,  Paulina,  Minnie,  Henrietta,  Theresa, 
Julius  and  Anna  (deceased). 

Mr.  Maddhes  died  November  22,  1891,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-three  years.  He  survived  the  mother, 
who  died  in  March,  1882,  she  being  forty-six 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her  decease.  In  1890 
Mr.  Senger  raised  the  house  at  No.  216  West 
Forty-sixth  Place,  having  purchased  the  property 
and  made  the  building  what  it  now  is,  a  very 
pleasant  and  desirable  residence.  He  is  a  well- 
known  and  respected  citizen  in  the  vicinity  where 
he  resides  and  is  a  man  of  pleasant,  genial  man- 
ners. He  and  his  wife  have  been  ten  years 
identified  with  the  Evangelical  Amalisch  Geme- 
inde,  a  Lutheran  Church  Society,  worshipping  at 
Forty  sixth  and  Dearborn  Streets. 


674 


M.  L.  JONES. 


MAURICE  L.  JONES. 


IV  A  AURICE  LEWIS  JONES,  who  is  one  of 
IYI  Chicago's  well-known  retired  citizens,  is 
|y|  living  in  peaceful  comfort,  enjoying  the 
fruits  of  his  former  labor.  He  was  born  October 
i,  1843,  on  Duke  Street,  Old  Gate,  London,  Eng- 
land. His  parents  were  Lewis  and  Deborah 
(Abrahams)  Jones,  and  were  very  worthy  and 
honored  people. 

Lewis  Jones  died  July  28,  1860,  at  the  age  of 
forty-two  years,  at  his  home  in  Joliet,  Illinois. 
He  was  born  in  London,  England,  and  was  a 
manufacturer  of  gimp  and  cap  peaks  in  his  native 
land.  He  located  in  New  York  on  his  arrival 
in  America,  but  removed  to  Chicago  after  two 
years,  in  1850.  He  served  as  deputy  sheriff, 
under  Sheriff  Wilson,  during  John  Wentworth's 
administration  as  mayor  of  Chicago.  He  con- 
ducted a  hotel  at  Summit  for  some  time,  and 
subsequently  went  to  Joliet,  where  he  owned 
and  operated  the  Atlantic  House,  a  first-class 
hotel.  He  was  located  there  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

Mrs.  Lewis  Jones  was  a  suitable  helpmate  and 
worthy  of  the  office  assigned  her  by  her  marriage 
to  Mr.  Jones.  She  was  born  in  1826,  on  Free- 
man Street,  Tenterground,  Spitalfields,  London, 
England,  and  passed  away  in  that  city  October 
31,  1897.  She  came  to  America  in  1860,  and 
spent  two  years  in  the  United  States.  Her  re- 
mains were  interred  in  New  Cemetery,  London. 


After  the  death  of  her  first  husband  she  married 
her  cousin,  Jacob  Abrahams,  and  her  children 
were:  Barney  and  Sarah. 

The  children  of  Lewis  Jones  were  named  as 
follows:  Maurice  Lewis,  John  and  Esther.  The 
daughter  married  Michael  Harris,  and  resides  in 
London,  England.  John  married  Sarah  Voss, 
and  lives  in  Liverpool. 

Maurice  L.  Jones  reached  New  York  in  April, 
1857,  and  was  employed  by  W.  H.  Watts,  in  a 
tobacco  factory  for  eighteen  months,  in  New 
York.  In  May,  1860,  he  located  in  Chicago,  and 
was  nine  months  in  the  service  of  Solomon  & 
Oppenheimer,  cigar  manufacturers.  He  then 
established  a  business  for  himself  at  No.  132 
North  Halsted  Street.  He  subsequently  opened 
a  store  on  Archer  Avenue,  near  Halsted  Street, 
and  was  manufacturing  there,  also.  In  January, 
1875,  he  moved  to  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  and 
remained  one  year.  On  his  return  to  Chicago  he 
opened  a  store  in  the  City  Hotel  building,  on 
Sixteenth  Street,  between  State  Street  and 
Wabash  Avenue.  He  continued  successfully 
eight  years,  and  then  moved  across  the  street,  to 
remain  until  March,  1894,  when  he  retired  from 
active  business  life. 

September  14,  1870,  Mr.  Jones  was  married  to 
Miss  Rosie  Hass,  daughter  of  Moses  and  Sarah 
(Loeb)  Hass.  Mrs.  Jones  was  born  December 
20,  1848,  in  the  city  of  Trier,  Germany,  and 


F.  M.  KUMMEROW. 


675 


came  to  America  in  1865.  Her  children  are  as 
follows:  Emma,  born  Septembers,  1871;  Lewis 
Maurice,  August  26,  1873;  Harry  Moses,  August 
31,  1875,  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin;  Bella,  Sep- 
tember 23,  1877;  Alfred,  January  24,  1880;  Lillian, 
July  28,  1882;  Hattie  Gertrude,  April  n,  1885, 
and  Walter  Cerf,  February  16,  1889. 

Mr.   Jones  is   a  member   of  Maurice    Mayer 


Lodge  No.  105,  Independent  Order  of  Bnai 
Brith,  in  which  he  has  held  the  office  of  outside 
guardian.  He  is  a  Free  Mason,  and  is  connected 
with  Abraham  Lincoln  Lodge  No.  49,  Free  Sons 
of  Israel.  Though  never  a  seeker  after  public 
office,  he  votes  in  favor  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  is  ever  found  on  the  side  of  right,  in  all 
questions. 


FRED  M.  KUMMEROW. 


f~RED  MARTIN  KUMMEROW  is  one  of  the 
r^  best  known  and  most  highly  esteemed  mem- 
I  bers  of  a  profession  which  mitigates  the  hor- 
rors of  death,  ministers  to  the  sorrowing  hearts 
of  the  afflicted  and  performs  the  last  sad  rites  for 
those  who  have  entered  upon  the  sleep  that 
knows  no  waking.  He  is  a  member  of  the  un- 
dertaking firm  of  Kummerow  Brothers,  whose 
well-equipped  establishment  is  located  at  No. 
532  West  Chicago  Avenue. 

He  was  born  at  Breesen,  Mecklenburg-Schwe- 
rin,  Germany,  January  3,  1855.  His  parents, 
Frederick  and  Frederica  Kummerow,  were  the 
heads  of  a  family  of  eleven  children,  all  of  whom 
ultimately  became  residents  of  Chicago.  The 
eldest  (Sophia)  married  Christ  Dreyving  and 
with  her  husband  settled  here  in  1863.  Three 
years  later  she  died  here,  of  cholera.  Her  sister, 
Minnie,  came  with  her.  She  married  Henry 
Rossow,  but  is  now  deceased.  The  third  sister, 
Frederica,  married  Christoph  Kuehn,  in  Ger- 
many, came  to  Chicago  in  1865,  and  died  the  fol- 
lowing year. 

Brief  as  was  their  life  in  the  new  land  in  which 
they  had  found  homes,  these  noble  women  did 
not  fail  to  remember  the  dear  ones  whom  they 
had  left  behind.  Money  was  remitted,  and  in 
1866,  the  parents  crossed  the  ocean,  bringing 


with  them  the  eight  other  members  of  the  brood 
with  which  God  had  blessed  them. 

Frederick  Kummerow  began  his  life  in  Amer- 
ica as  a  laborer.  While  he  received  but  a  small 
stipend  for  his  daily  toil,  his  industry  and  thrift 
went  far  toward  compensating  him  for  a  mean 
remuneration.  Gradual  savings  resulted  in  rich 
accumulation,  and  finally  he  was  able  to  start  in 
business  for  himself.  To-day, at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five  years,  he  enjoys  the  rest  earned  by  the  con- 
joint labor  of  his  hands  and  brain.  Yet  he  lacks 
the  kindly  tendance  of  the  wife  of  his  youth,  who 
died  in  1885. 

Seven  of  his  children  are  still  living  (1899): 
Mary,  now  Mrs.  John  Mueller,  living  on  West 
Chicago  Avenue,  Chicago;  Charles;  Anna,  the 
wife  of  August  Harloff;  Dorothy,  now  Mrs. 
Peters,  of  No.  400  Noble  Street;  Christian  and 
Fred,  twins;  and  Christina,,  now  Mrs.  Herman 
Borck. 

Fred  M.  Kummerow  received  his  early  educa- 
tion at  the  parish  school  of  St.  John's  in  the  city 
of  Chicago.  This  training  was  supplemented  by 
attendance  upon  a  night  school,  and  in  due  course 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  trade.  His  choice  dic- 
tated that  of  hardwood  polishing,  and  at  this  he 
attained  remarkable  proficiency.  It  was  not 
until  1877,  after  he  had  been  for  many  years  a 


676 


V.  A.  DANIELSEN. 


resident  of  Chicago,  that  he  started  in  business 
for  himself.  His  partner  was  Fred  H.  Drake, 
and  the  firm  conducted  a  general  undertaking  and 
livery  business  for  nearly  a  year.  Then  Mr. 
Kummerow  began  to  perceive  that  undertaking 
was  a  profession,  rather  than  a  pursuit.  For 
two  years  he  studied  its  scientific  aspects,  re- 
ceiving a  diploma  at  the  end  of  each  examina- 
tion which  he  was  required  to  undergo. 

In  January,  1886,  he  received  into  partnership 
his  brother,  Charles,  the  business  having  been  since 
conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Kummerow 
Brothers.  The  present  extensive  building  oc- 
cupied by  them  was  erected  in  1895.  In  con- 
nection with  their  business  as  funeral  directors, 
the  brothers  also  carry  on  a  flourishing  livery 
business. 


In  politics  Mr.  Kummerow  is  an  ardent  Re- 
publican. In  1891  he  was  his  party's  candidate 
for  alderman  in  the  Thirteenth  Ward,  although 
not  successful.  He  is  a  stockholder  and  director 
in  the  Home  Building,  Loan  &  Savings  Associa- 
tion. 

The  story  of  his  life  would  be  imperfect,  how- 
ever, without  the  recital  of  the  tale  of  his  mar- 
riage. June  4,  1876,  he  married  Miss  Fred- 
erica  Louise  Kleinfeld.  Mrs.  Kummerow  was 
born  in  Germany.  She  bore  her  husband  five 
children.  Of  these  four  are  yet  living,  Minnie, 
Louis,  Ella  and  George. 

The  family  is  highly  esteemed  in  the  section 
of  the  city  where  it  resides.  Earnest  efforts  and 
patient  industry,  when  joined  to  unassailable  in- 
tegrity, always  command  respect. 


VIGGO  A.  DANIELSEN. 


QIIGGO  ALEXIUS  DANIELSEN,  supreme 

\  /  secretary  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood  of 
V  America  and  a  well-known  citizen  of  Chi- 
cago, was  born  in  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  July 
12,  1846.  He  is  the  youngest  of  the  nine  chil- 
dren of  Daniel  P.  and  Hennenge  (Hede)  Daniel- 
sen.  The  former  represented  an  important  fam- 
ily in  Copenhagen,  where  he  was  born.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  shoemaker  and  had  a  place 
of  business  in  his  native  city  for  many  years,  dy- 
ing at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years.  His  wife 
was  born  at  Nyhjobing,  Mors,  Denmark,  and 
died  in  Copenhagen,  at  the  age  of  forty-four 
years. 

Of  their  nine  children  only  two  are  living, 
Viggo  and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Thora  Hansen,  now 
a  resident  of  Slagelse,  Denmark.  Viggo  A. 
Danielsen  attended  the  schools  of  his  native  city 


until  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years.  He 
then  acquired  a  good  elementary  education  and 
entered  a  store  as  clerk.  He  showed  marked 
aptitude  for  the  work  and  soon  became  book- 
keeper for  a  large  mercantile  firm. 

In  1864  Viggo  A.  Danielsen  had  his  patriotism 
stirred  by  rumors  of  the  war  between  his  own 
country  and  Germany  and  he  entered  the  Danish 
army.  As  he  had  been  well  educated  in  music 
he  became  a  musician.  He  served  faithfully  three 
and  one-half  years  and  after  six  months  at  home 
re-enlisted.  He  served  in  all  about  fourteen  years. 
At  first  he  played  the  cornet  in  the  regimental 
band.  This  was  succeeded  by  the  trombone,  but 
he  was  able  to  play  any  instrument.  At  the  end 
of  his  military  career,  Mr.  Danielsen  again  took 
up  bookkeeping,  which  occupation  he  followed 
until  1882. 


GEORGE  LARSEN. 


677 


Believing  he  would  find  a  greater  field  of  ac- 
tivity in  America  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  ocean 
and  proceeded  to  Moline,  Illinois,  where  he  was 
engaged  by  the  Moline  Plow  Company  for  six- 
teen months.  In  1883  he  came  to  Chicago  and 
entered  the  factory  of  David  Bradley  Plow  Com- 
pany as  painter.  He  served  this  concern  until 
1892,  when  he  was  elected  supreme  secretary  of 
the  Danish  Brotherhood.  Since  that  time  the 
duties  of  that  office  have  occupied  a  large  part  of 
his  time  and  so  successful  has  been  his  execution 
of  the  duties  of  his  office  that  he  has  been  re- 
peatedly re-elected,  his  present  term  expiring  in 
1902. 

The  man  whose  name   heads  this  article   has 


also  taken  active  interest  in  the  proceedings  of 
various  other  societies.  He  was  president  of  the 
Danish  Veterans'  Society  three  terms  and  has 
always  held  some  office  in  the  society.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Society  Dania,  and  of  the 
Danish  Singing  Society,  Harmonien,  he  hav- 
ing been  trustee  of  the  latter.  He  is  active  in 
the  interests  of  the  Democratic  party,  being  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Scandinavian  Demo- 
cratic Club  of  Cook  County. 

In  1875  Mr.  Danielsen  was  married  in  Copen- 
hagen, to  Miss  Betty  Swanson,  a  native  of 
Sweden.  They  have  two  children  now  living, 
Axel, a  musician,  of  Chicago,  and  Betty,  residing 
with  her  parents. 


GEORGE  LARSEN. 


LARSEN,  dealer  in  wines  and 
|_  liquors  at  No.  239  Milwaukee  Avenue,  was 
V.J  born  at  Skjelskor,  Denmark,  November  27, 
1846.  His  father,  John  York  Larsen,  was  a 
prominent  mason  contractor  of  that  place,  where 
he  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years.  The 
elder  L,arsen  married  Maria  Petersen,  who  sur- 
vived him,  passing  away  in  her  sixty-third  year. 
Five  of  their  six  children  are  still  living.  George 
was  the  third  in  order  of  birth.  His  early  educa- 
tional advantages  were  the  best  that  the  locality 
afforded,  but  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  left 
school  to  assist  his  father  in  his  business.  For 
nine  years  thereafter  he  remained  at  home,  but 
in  1869,  an  overmastering  impulse  to  hew  out 
his  fortunes  in  a  strange  land  induced  him  to 
emigrate. 

Landing  at  New  York  in  1869,  he  came  at  once 
to  Chicago.  Among  his  fellow  passengers  from 
Denmark  were  Henry  Hertz  and  the  Thorsen 
family.  His  first  employment  was  found  upon  a 


farm,  and  later  he  worked  in  a  hotel.  In  1872 
he  started  in  business  as  proprietor  of  the  Aurora 
Hall,  located  on  Milwaukee  Avenue.  He  was 
genial  and  popular,  and  before  long  was  given 
the  sobriquet  of  "Aurora,"  from  his  connection 
with  that  place  of  resort.  He  was  also  the  foun- 
der of  one  of  the  earliest  Danish  newspapers 
published  in  the  city,  the  Sunday  Post.  This 
was  the  first  paper  in  Chicago  to  employ  illus- 
trations. 

He  remained  at  Aurora  Hall  but  a  short  time, 
when  he  sold  out  his  business.  During  the  next 
twenty-five  years  he  was  located  at  different 
points,  having  been  during  that  period  fifteen 
years  in  the  employ  of  Jacob  Wolfort  and  Mahler 
&  Gale  in  one  place.  Finally  he  again  opened 
an  establishment  of  his  own.  After  being  two 
years  on  Milwaukee  Avenue  he  removed  to 
Grand  Avenue,  near  Hoyne.  His  business  pros- 
pered, and  in  1891  he  built  a  handsome  home  at 
Cragin,  at  a  cost  of  five  thousand  dollars.  At 


678 


N.  C.  ANDERSEN. 


one  time  he  was  interested  in  a  patent  medicine 
and  electric  battery  business,  which  was  suc- 
cessful. 

Other  places  of  trust  which  he  has  filled  have 
been  a  clerkship  in  Judge  Bauer's  court  and  the 
post  of  manager  of  a  hotel  and  saloon  at  No.  219 
Milwaukee  Avenue,  for  the  owner,  Mrs.  Hansen, 
which  was  long  a  favorite  resort  for  the  Danish 
residents  of  Chicago.  In  1897  ^e  opened  his 
present  establishment,  a  finely  appointed  and 
well-conducted  wine  room. 

He  married,  in  1872,  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Meyer, 


who  is  also  a  native  of  Denmark,  born  in  Copen- 
hagen. Of  the  four  children  who  were  the  fruit 
of  this  marriage,  two  are  living,  Axel  and  Elsie. 

Mr.  Larsen  is  a  member  of  the  Denmark 
Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  of  the  Har- 
monien  Singing  Society.  Politically  he  is  a 
Democrat  of  the  strictest  faith,  being  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Harrison  Guards  and  of  the 
Scandinavian  Democratic  Association. 

Two  brothers  and  a  sister  reside  at  Copen- 
hagen, all  well-to-do  and  enjoying  desirable  posi- 
tions in  society. 


NIELS  C   ANDERSEN. 


CHRISTIAN  ANDERSEN,  grocer, 
nV  of  No.  234  North  Elizabeth  Street,  enjoys 
1/9  an  enviable  reputation  among  Danish- 
Americans  in  Chicago.  He  was  born  at  Jylland, 
Denmark,  on  December  8,  1861,  being  the  second 
child  and  second  son  of  Anders  P.  Jensen  and 
Anna  Catherine  I/arsdatter.  His  father,  who 
was  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  and  still  is,  a 
prosperous  farmer,  is  living  (1899),  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three  years.  Mrs.  Andersen,  Senior,  died 
at  the  age  of  thirty-five  years.  Eight  children 
were  born  of  this  marriage  and  all  reached  ma- 
turity. 

Mr.  Andersen's  childhood  and  early  youth 
were  spent  at  home,  his  time  being  divided  be- 
tween attending  school  in  the  summer  and  work- 
ing upon  the  farm  during  the  winter.  Indeed, 
he  first  began  to  assist  in  farm  work  when  he  was 
eight  years  old.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  years  he 
left  school,  and  a  year  later  began  earning  money 
for  himself.  By  the  time  he  was  eighteen  he 
had  accumulated  enough  money  to  enable  him  to 
emigrate  to  America,  and  on  April  25,  1880,  he 
walked  the  streets  of  Chicago  for  the  first  time. 


In  worldly  wealth  he  was  very  poor;  he  had  but 
two  cents  in  his  pocket.  But  he  was  rich  in  the 
qualities  which,  when  properly  employed,  count 
for  far  more  than  money — intelligence  and  grit. 

Fortune  favored  him,  and  he  soon  secured  em- 
ployment with  C.  F.  Rasmussen.  At  first  he 
received  but  eight  dollars  per  month,  but  his  em- 
ployer recognized  his  capability  and  integrity  by 
increasing  his  compensation  from  time  to  time, 
until,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  he  was  in  receipt 
of  thirty  dollars  per  month. 

With  his  savings  he  embarked  in  the  milk 
business  at  No.  22  Bismarck  Court,  and  con- 
tinued in  this  line  until  1894.  In  that  year  he 
disposed  of  his  route,  good  will,  wagons,  cans 
and  so  forth,  and  engaged  in  the  trade  of  a 
grocer,  although  still  selling  milk  in  connection 
with  his  other  commodities. 

Mr.  Andersen  has  been  twice  married.  His 
first  wife,  Matilda  Nelson,  died  February  25, 
1888.  One  daughter  was  born  to  them,  Aimie 
Catherine,  who  has  now  reached  the  age  of  four- 
teen years.  His  second  wife  was  Miss  Eliza 
Catherine  Hansen,  by  whom  he  has  had  one  son, 


JOHN  MERKI.— EDWARD  HANSEN. 


679 


Arthur  Christian,  born  in  1891.  He  is  a  past 
worthy  member  of  Wicker  Park  L,odge  No.  28, 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

In  every  essential  particular  Mr.  Andersen  is 
a  thoroughly  self-made  man.  His  capital  of  two 
cents  has  grown  and  multiplied,  until  the 
friendless  immigrant  has  become  the  prosperous 


man  of  business.  Yet  its  manifold  multiplication 
has  been  the  result  of  no  fortunate  speculation. 
No  wind  of  political  patronage  has  filled  the  sails 
of  his  business.  He  owes  his  success  to  that 
singleness  of  purpose  which  has  already  made  so 
many  of  his  countrymen  prominent  figures  in  the 
business  world. 


JOHN  MERKI. 


(JOHN   MERKI,   JUNIOR,  the  second  son  of 

I   John  and  Agatha  Merki,  was  born  at  Corn- 

G)  ing,   New  York,   September   17,    1854.      A 

sketch  of  the  lives  of  his  parents  may  be  found 

elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

When  he  was  two  years  old  the  family  removed 
to  Chicago.  John  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  city  and  at  Deyrenfurth  College. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  the 
trade  of  a  harness-maker,  and  served  the  pre- 
scribed period  of  three  years.  He  then  began 
work  as  a  journeyman,  but  after  two  years  so 
spent  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railway  Company,  as  a  laborer. 
Here  his  industry  and  fidelity  were  soon  recog- 
nized, and  gradual  promotion  in  the  company's 
service  followed,  he  being  at  present  general  fore- 


man of  the  freight  department  at  the  State  Street 
station.  This  steady  advancement  to  a  post  of 
such  great  responsibility,  and  one  which  calls 
for  a  high  order  of  integrity  and  executive  capac- 
ity, is  in  itself  a  convincing  proof  of  the  con- 
fidence felt  by  his  superiors  in  his  ability. 

December  30,  1876,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Emma  H.  Pauly,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Edward  H.  Pauly.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Merki 
have  been  born  two  sons,  Emil  and  John,  and  a 
daughter  who  bears  the  names  of  her  two  grand- 
mothers, Agatha  Ida. 

In  politics  Mr.  Merki  is  a  Democrat,  but  has 
at  no  time  either  sought  or  desired  office.  The 
members  of  the  family  are  connected  with  the 
Christian  Church,  and  are  highly  esteemed  in  the 
large  circle  of  friends  in  which  they  move. 


EDWARD  HANSEN. 


[~~DWARD  HANSEN,  now  deceased,  was, 
ry  during  his  lifetime,  a  man  known  and 
|__  esteemed  through  a  wide  circle  of  acquaint- 
ances. Born  near  Christiana,  Norway,  February 


22,  1860,  he  received  his  early  training  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  place.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  years  he  left  school  to  begin  work  for 
an  elder  brother.  While  yet  a  very  young  man 


68o 


J.  M.   PEDERSEN. 


he  was  imbued  with  a  desire  to  emigrate  to 
America;  and  as  soon  as  circumstances  favored, 
he  carried  his  project  into  execution. 

His  first  employment  in  this  country  was  in  a 
rolling  mill  at  Pittsburgh,  where  he  remained 
until  1882.  In  that  year  he  came  to  Chicago. 
For  three  years  after  reaching  this  city  he  worked 
in  the  Malleable  Iron  Works,  and  later  for  the 
McCormick  Harvester  Company  and  other  con- 
cerns, until  he  engaged  in  the  bakery  business. 
His  first  venture  in  this  line  was  on  Grand 
Avenue,  and  there  he  remained  until  1889,  in 
which  year  he  removed  to  Center  Avenue.  Two 
years  afterward  he  established  himself  at  No.  277 
West  Erie  Street.  His  death  occurred  in  1896, 
at  his  home  on  West  Superior  Street,  and  from 
there  his  remains  were  borne  to  Mount  Olivet 
Cemetery. 

His  demise  was  deeply  deplored.  All  over  the 
northwestern  section  of  the  city  his  recognized 
integrity  and  genial  disposition  had  won  him 


friends,  who  united  in  paying  him  a  last  sad 
tribute  of  affection.  One  of  his  friends  wrote  a 
commemorative  ode  which  was  sung  at  his  funeral. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  of 
one  of  the  workingmen's  societies,  in  the  councils 
of  both  of  which  he  took  a  prominent  part. 

His  widow,  Mrs.  Brunhilda  (Hulst)  Hansen, 
is  a  native  of  Norway,  having  been  born  at 
BodOe,  December  4,  1855.  She  was  educated  in 
the  schools  of  her  birthplace,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven  years  came  to  Chicago,  alone.  Here 
she  married  Mr.  Hansen  February  2,  1882.  The 
union  was  blessed  with  four  children:  Leif, 
Lillian,  Walter  and  Edward.  Mr.  Hansen  had 
an  adopted  daughter,  Hilda,  born  in  Norway, 
who  now  resides  with  her  foster  mother. 

Mrs.  Hansen  still  carries  on  the  business  of  her 
late  husband.  She  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Norwegian  Lutheran  Church,  and  an  earnest 
worker  in  the  Aid  Society  and  Children's  Home 
Society  of  that  body. 


JOHN  M.  PEDERSEN. 


(JOHN  MARTIN  PEDERSEN.  No  class  of 
I  men  is  more  deservedly  held  in  high  esteem 
(*/  than  are  the  competent  funeral  directors. 
To  the  house  of  death  they  come,  with  noiseless 
tread  and  with  the  look  and  word  of  sympathy, 
robbing  bereavement  of  its  exterior  gloom  and 
effacing,  with  their  skilful  touch,  the  incipient 
traces  of  decay.  With  this  highly  honorable 
and  honored  profession  John  M.  Pedersen  is  as- 
sociation. 

By  birth  he  is  a  Norwegian,  having  been  born 
at  Christianssund,  in  that  countr}',  February  25, 
1871,  and  is  the  only  child,  living,  of  the  three 
born  to  Peden  A.  and  Eliza  (Jensen)  Pedersen. 
His  mother  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-six  years, 
but  his  father  is  still  an  honored  resident  of  the 


place  where  he  was  born.  It  is  somewhat  a 
cause  for  surprise  that  he  did  not  become  a 
cooper,  his  paternal  ancestors  having  followed 
that  trade  through  three  generations,  and  the  fa- 
ther of  John  M.  being  yet  a  skilful  workman. 
On  leaving  school,  however  (at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen years  and  eight  months),  he  entered  the 
employ  of  a  merchant  and  exporter  of  his  native 
town  named  Christian  Johnson,  in  whose  service 
he  continued  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
Following  the  family  tradition,  he  then  com- 
menced to  learn  the  trade  of  cooper,  working  in 
the  same  factory  with  his  father.  But  his  natural 
tastes  led  him  in  other  directions.  He  attended 
a  technical  school  and  a  business  college,  and  in 
1892  he  took  a  new  departure.  In  other  words  he 


HENRY  PETERS. 


681 


bade  adieu  to  Norway,  its  forests  and  its  cooper 
shops,  and  came  to  Chicago.  His  first  employ- 
ment here,  extending  over  five  months,  was  as 
a  janitor  at  No.  155  Washington  Street.  His 
next  was  with  the  Chicago  Coffin  Company,  with 
which  concern  he  remained  for  six  years.  Mean- 
while he  studied  embalming  under  the  well- 
known  Professor  Clarke,  of  Springfield,  Ohio, 
and  having  successfully  passed  the  examination 
prescribed  by  the  State  Board  of  Health  Ex- 
aminers, at  Chicago,  was  awarded  a  diploma 


December  12,  1898,  together  with  a  license. 
Within  a  few  weeks  thereafter  he  opened  an  es- 
tablishment at  No.  884  Armitage  Aveuue,  where 
he  conducts  a  prosperous  and  growing  business. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Good  Templars  since  he  was  twelve  years  old, 
and  has  filled  all  the  offices  in  the  order  in  the 
subordinate  lodge.  For  the  past  four  years  he 
has  belonged  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation and  is  also  connected  with  the  Knights 
of  the  Maccabees. 


HENRY  PETERS. 


HENRY  PETERS.    Among  the  many  citizens 
of  German  birth  who  have  aided  in  making 
Chicago  what  it  is,    the  name  of  Henry 
Peters  deserves  especial  mention.    For  forty- two 
years  he  has  lived  here,  always  attached  to  the 
city  of  his  adoption  and  ever  ready  to  do  all  that 
in  him  lay  to  advance  her  best  interests. 

He  is  the  son  of  John  and  Louisa  Peters,  of 
Netzschow,  Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  Germany, 
where  he  was  born  November  28,  1833.  Both 
his  parents  are  at  rest  in  the  Fatherland,  where 
all  their  children  reside  with  the  exception  of 
Henry  and  his  brother,  Joachim.  The  latter 
emigrated  from  Germany  to  America  in  1866, 
and  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  yet  resides, 
having  retired  from  active  business.  His  home 
is  at  the  corner  of  Oakley  Avenue  and  Potomac 
Street. 

Henry  Peters  received  his  early  education  at 
the  parish  school  at  Netzschow,  leaving  that  in- 
stitution after  receiving  confirmation,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen  years.  His  father  apprenticed  him  to 
a  blacksmith  and  he  learned  that  manly  trade. 
After  qualifying  himself  as  a  journeyman,  he 
traveled  through  various  cities,  working  at  his 
trade,  until  1857,  when  he  took  passage  on  a 


steam  packet  from  Hamburg  for  New  York.  The 
voyage  consumed  eleven  days,  and  immediately 
upon  lauding  he  set  out  for  Chicago,  reaching  his 
point  of  destination  September  18. 

He  found  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  work. 
While  the  city  then  was  far  different  from  the 
Chicago  of  to-day,  it  was  active  and  bustling, 
and  then,  as  now,  intent  on  forging  to  the  front. 
Good  mechanics  were  in  demand,  and  Mr.  Peters 
was  a  skilled  workman.  His  industry  and  thrift 
enabled  him  to  purchase,  in  1871,  property  at 
No.  400  Noble  Street.  Here  he  lived  until  1884, 
when  he  erected  his  present  handsome  flat  build- 
ing, on  the  same  site,  which  contains  apartments 
for  four  families.  For  the  past  six  years  he  has 
abandoned  toil.  He  is  nearing  his  seventieth 
year  and  while  still  a  robust  and  vigorous  man, 
he  feels  that  his  useful,  well-spent  life  has  earned 
for  him  a  right  to  rest. 

November  7,  1869,  he  was  married  to  Dorothy, 
daughter  of  Frederick  Kummerow,  whose  biog- 
raphy may  be  found  on  another  page.  Six  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  them:  Elizabeth,  now  Mrs. 
Theodore  H.  Jeschke;  William,  Henry,  Anna, 
Minnie  and  Edward.  The  family  is  connected 
with  St.  John's  Lutheran  Church. 


682 


G.  F.  GEBERT.— L.  M.  HOFFENBLAD. 


GEORGE  F.  GEBERT. 


CJEORGE  FREDERICK  GEBERT,  who  is 
|_  one  of  the  most  respected  and  highly 
U  esteemed  citizens  of  that  portion  of  Chicago 
where  he  resides,  was  born  October  8,  1866,  at 
the  corner  of  Twenty-seventh  Street  and  South 
Park  Avenue,  Chicago.  His  parents  were  John 
and  Hannah  (Heckleman)  Gebert. 

George  F.  Gebert  attended  the  Calumet  public 
school  until  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years, 
and  during  his  spare  time  while  in  school  and 
the  whole  of  his  time  after  leaving,  until  eighteen 
years  of  age,  he  drove  a  team  for  his  father.  He 
then  started  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  gas-fitter, 
under  the  supervision  of  T.  C.  Boyd.  He  re- 
mained thus  occupied  three  years  and  then  con- 
tinued as  a  journeyman.  In  September,  1897,  ne 
entered  the  service  of  Hawley  &  Sons,  and  one 
year  later  engaged  in  the  express  business  on  his 
own  account. 

November  27,  1890,  Mr.  Gebert  married  Miss 


Selina,  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Winholdt) 
Nitzche.  Mrs.  Gebert  was  born  February  i, 
1866,  in  Dasheim,  Saxony,  Germany,  and  is  con- 
ducive in  every  manner  to  the  uplifting  of  the 
minds  of  those  about  her,  aiding  her  husband  to 
make  a  financial  success,  as  well  as  moral,  of  his 
life.  Their  children  are:  Lily  Lauretta,  born 
October  3,  1891;  Elsie  Mildred,  January  3,  1896; 
and  Harold,  November  9,  1898. 

Mr.  Gebert  is  connected  with  Lincoln  Council, 
No.  68,  National  Union.  Though  stanch  and 
loyal  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party, 
he  has  never  sought  an  office.  He  has  been 
ambitious  and  energetic  and  has  acquired  con- 
siderable of  this  world's  goods,  having  for  the 
past  three  years  owned  a  very  pleasant  home  at 
No.  6507  Champlain  Avenue.  He  comes  of  a 
family  of  strong  characteristics  and  is  true  to  the 
teachings  of  his  fathers,  gaining  the  admiration 
and  respect  of  all  who  come  in  contact  with  him. 


LUDVIG   M.  HOFFENBLAD. 


j  UDVIG  MARTINUS  HOFFENBLAD  was 
1C  born  at  Thisted,  Denmark,  July  20,  1840. 
1^)  His  father  was  Frederick  C.  Hoffenblad,  a 
rope-maker,  and  worked  in  a  large  manufactory. 
For  thirty  years  he  followed  the  pursuit,  becom- 


ing well  and  favorably  known  all  through  the 
district  in  which  he  lived.  He  died  at  Thisted, 
Denmark,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years.  Mr. 
Hofienblad's  mother  was  Mette  Freshild,  who 
passed  away  in  her  sixty-eighth  year.  To  this 


ALEXANDER   MILLAR. 


683 


couple  were  born  five  children,  of  whom  two  grew 
to  maturity.  Ludvig  was  the  fourth  child  and 
third  son. 

He  left  school  in  his  fifteenth  year  and  was 
apprenticed  by  his  father  to  a  cabinet-maker. 
After  spending  five  years  in  apprenticeship  the 
allotted  term  under  Danish  trade  usage,  and  be- 
coming a  journeyman,  he  followed  his  trade, 
traveling  through  various  cities  of  Denmark, 
among  them  Copenhagen,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  years  enlisted  in  the  army,  joining 
the  first  company  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment.  After 
two  years  in  military  service,  during  1862-64,  he 
returned  home  and  resumed  work  at  his  trade. 
In  February,  1868,  he  started  in  business  for 
himself  as  a  cabinet-maker,  at  Nykjobing,  Morso. 
Here  he  continued  for  five  years,  and  in  1 873 
emigrated  to  the  United  States,  settling  in 
Chicago. 

For  eighteen  years  he  followed  his  trade  in 
this  city,  and  in  1892  he  was  elected  janitor  for 
a  lodge  of  the  Society  Dania.  He  had  been 
chosen  superintendent  and  secretary  for  the  order 
in  America  in  1887,  and  has  held  the  office  of 


secretary  ever  since.  Under  his  wise  and  careful 
direction  the  membership  of  the  organization  has 
increased  from  nine  individuals  to  more  than 
fifteen  hundred.  As  supreme  secretary  of  the 
order,  his  duties  engross  his  whole  time  and  at- 
tention. 

He  is  also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Society  of 
Daniel,  of  which  body  he  was  president  for  one 
year.  He  is  a  trustee  for  the  Society  of  Dania, 
besides  being  actively  interested  in  the  Danish 
Brotherhood  of  America,  and  a  leading  member 
of  other  organizations. 

He  was  married  May  8,  1868,  before  leaving 
Denmark,  to  Caroline  Carlsen.  Mrs.  Hofienblad 
was  born  June  10,  1843.  She  is  the  only  daugh- 
ter of  Nicholai  and  Maren  Carlsen.  They  have 
been  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  six 
are  yet  living:  Eunice;  Annie,  wife  of  Christ  An- 
dersen, of  Chicago;  Mary,  wife  of  Peter  Ander- 
sen; Frida  and  Ella. 

Mr.  Hoffenblad's  father  and  two  brothers  were, 
beside  himself,  the  only  ones  in  Denmark  bearing 
the  name,  nor  does  he  know  of  any  others  any- 
where in  the  world. 


ALEXANDER  MILLAR. 


GlLEXANDER  MILLAR.  Of  all  sturdy, 
I  I  healthy  people,  the  Highlanders  of  Scot- 
/  I  land  are  the  most  hardy  and  rugged  of  both 
mind  and  body.  He  is  able  to  endure  the  coldest 
weather  and  in  his  native  land  spends  a  great 
deal  of  time  out  of  doors.  Alexander  Millar  was 
born  November  30,  1837,  in  the  village  of  Drey- 
man,  Scotland,  a  son  of  Alexander  and  Isabella 
(Dick)  Millar.  His  grandfather,  John  Millar, 
was  a  stone  mason  and  father  of  James,  William 
and  Alexander  Millar  and  three  daughters. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  Alexander  Millar, 
John  Dick,  was  father  of  four  children — George, 


John,  Elizabeth  and  Isabella.  He  was  a  cooper, 
and  died  in  1855,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 
Alexander  Millar,  father  of  the  man  whose  name 
heads  this  article,  died  in  Scotland,  at  the  age  of 
ninety  years.  He  was  a  gardener  and  took  a 
great  interest  in  this  occupation.  His  wife  died 
in  1847,  being  but  thirty  years  of  age.  Her  chil- 
dren are  named:  John,  Alexander,  George,  Janet, 
James  and  Isabella.  All  except  Alexander  are 
living  in  their  native  land.  Mr.  Millar's  second 
wife  was  Mary  Marshall,  whose  only  child  is 
named  Richard.  She  departed  this  life  in  the 
year  1880. 


684 


JACOB  LEONARD. 


Alexander  Millar,  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
employed  eight  years  in  bleach  and  print  work  in 
a  calico  factory  in  the  town  of  his  nativity.  He 
subsequently  sought  to  better  his  circumstances 
in  the  city  of  Glasgow  and  was  employed  there 
until  the  date  of  his  emigration.  He  reached 
Chicago  in  November,  1870,  and  was  occupied 
in  packing  houses  for  various  companies  until 
1878,  when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  E.  K. 
Pond  Packing  Company  and  has  charge  of  the 
canning  department  of  that  concern  at  the  present 


time.  He  holds  a  very  responsible  position  and 
his  services  are  valued  by  the  company  and  rec- 
ompensed accordingly. 

In  1891  Mr.  Millar  took  up  his  residence  at 
No.  6312  St.  Lawrence  Avenue,  where  he  has 
since  been  located.  He  is  beloved  by  friends  and 
admired  by  all  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  en- 
joy his  genial  society.  He  has  never  been  a 
seeker  after  public  offices  and  is  independent  in 
casting  his  vote,  believing  in  the  support  of  prin- 
ciple, rather  than  of  party. 


JACOB  LEONARD. 


(JACOB  LEONARD,  a  native  of  Germany, 
I  was  born  March  12,  1843,  and  came  to  this 
G)  country  with  his  brother,  Michael,  in  1862. 
For  further  genealogical  data  refer  to  the  biog- 
raphy of  Michael  Leonard.  Jacob  Leonard  served 
an  apprenticeship  at  the  lithographing  trade  and 
when  he  came  to  America  was  capable  of  com- 
manding journeyman's  salary,  as  a  first-class 
lithographer. 

His  first  employer  in  Chicago  was  Edward 
Mandel,  under  whom  he  was  occupied  at  his 
trade  six  months.  He  then  went  to  Buffalo, 
New  York,  and  for  four  years  was  in  the  service 
of  H.  Saget  &  Sons,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Chicago  and  was  engaged  by  Louis  Nelky,  the 
lithographer,  then  located  at  No.  14  South  Clark 
Street.  Mr.  Leonard  was  then  with  this  concern 
three  years  and  left,  to  return  and  remain  with  it 
one  year  longer. 

Mr.  Leonard  then  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Western  Bank  Note  Engraving  Company,  and 
remained  with  it  one  year.  Several  years  later 
he  returned  to  this  service  for  one  year.  The 
Chicago  Engraving  Company  was  located  on 


Clark  Street,  near  Monroe  Street,  before  the  fire 
of  1871,  and  having  lost  everything  in  that  dis- 
aster, located  on  Jefferson  Street,  where  it  was  to 
be  found  six  months,  and  then  removed  to  Monroe 
Street.  Mr.  Leonard  was  with  this  company  at 
the  time  of  the  fire  and  remained  there  for  a 
period  of  four  months  after  the  location  of  the 
concern  on  Monroe  Street. 

He  went  to  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  and  spent 
two  years  in  the  service  of  the  American  Auto- 
graph Company.  He  returned  to  Chicago  and 
for  the  same  length  of  time  was  in  the  employ  of 
the  lithographers,  Shober  &  Carqueville,  located 
on  Clark  Street,  near  Adams.  Returning  to  Mil- 
waukee he  re-entered  the  employ  of  H.  Gorbler  & 
Sons,  and  was  with  this  concern  five  years 
altogether.  For  six  months  he  was  identified 
with  the  Chicago  Lithographing  Company  and 
then  entered  the  service  of  Charles  Goss  &  Com- 
pany, with  whom  he  spent  eighteen  months. 
After  a  short  time  with  Frank  Kirting,  located 
on  Dearborn  Street,  he  worked  for  the  Central 
Lithographing  Company  three  years.  Since  1887 
Mr.  Leonard  has  been  pressman  for  the  Pictorial 


H.  K.  WEEKS.— HANS  WOODRICH. 


685 


Printing  Company,  at  No.  1245  State  Street.  He 
lias  occupied  that  position  for  the  past  ten  years, 
and  is  a  valued  and  respected  employe. 

Mr.  Leonard  was  married  March  27,  1863,  to 
Miss  Barbara  Lickle,  daughter  of  Anthony 
Francis  Lickle.  They  have  one  child,  whose 


name  is  Jacob  Anthony,  who  makes  his  home 
with  his  parents  and  is  an  accomplished  litho- 
graphic artist.  Mr.  Leonard  is  a  member  of 
Richard  Yates  Council  No.  967,  Royal  Arcanum. 
He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics  and  is  loyal  to  his 
party  and  his  adopted  country  at  all  times. 


HARRY  K.  WEEKS. 


HARRY  KNOWLES  WEEKS,  who  is  of  a 
very  well-known  and  respected  family,  was 
born  April  21,  1872,  at  No.  2731  Armour 
Avenue,  Chicago.  For  ancestry  of  Harry  Knowles 
Weeks,  refer  to  biography  of  W.  S.  Weeks,  on 
another  page  of  this  work.  An  attendant  of  the 
South  Division  High  School,  for  two  years,  he 
went,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  into  the  office 
of  Bell  &  Swift,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
Since  that  time  he  has  been  occupied  in  the  map 
department,  posting  atlases  and  entering  new 
sub-divisions,  beginning  this  work  on  the  3d  of 
May,  1893. 

Mr.  Weeks  secured  an  amiable  and  happy  dis- 
positioned  lady  for  a  life  partner,  which  counts 


for  so  much  in  the  forming  of  a  man's  character. 
His  wife  was  Miss  Lucy  Vinton  Laughlin,  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  Laughlin.  They  were  married 
September  i,  1897.  Mrs.  Weeks  is  a  native  of 
Chicago. 

H.  K.  Weeks  is  connected  with  Ben  Hur 
Chapter  No.  1041,  Royal  Arcanum,  being  very 
popular  with  his  brothers  in  the  lodge.  He  is, 
withal,  a  very  promising  young  man,  bound  to 
make  a  success  of  life,  no  matter  what  obstacles 
appear  in  his  way.  He  is  of  a  highly  honored 
name  and  does  credit  in  every  instance  to  the 
name  he  bears.  His  wife  is  a  pleasant,  genial, 
young  woman  and  is  a  blessing  to  her  beloved 
husband. 


HANS  WOODRICH. 


HANS  WOODRICH  was  a  resident  of  Chicago 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.     He 
was  born  January  3,   in  the  year  1814,  so 
pregnant  with  great  events,   at  Dallen,  in  Meck- 
lenburg, Germany.     His  early  manhood  was  not 
without  exciting  features,  he  having  been  called 
upon  to  render  his  full  meed  of  military  service — 


three  years.  His  faithfulness  to  every  duty  as  a 
soldier  attested  by  the  paper  which  certifies  to  his 
honorable  discharge,  in  which  it  is  set  forth  that 
his  record  was  absolutely  free  from  any  shadow 
of  blame. 

On  reaching  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  resolved 
to  marry,  if  he  could  persuade  the  right  kind  of 


686 


PEDER  KRISTENSEN. 


woman  to  accept  him.  He  found  her  in  Marie 
Consar,  who  had  been  born  in  the  same  village 
as  himself.  Of  their  four  children  two  died 
before  they  set  out  on  their  long  voyage  across 
the  ocean  in  1851.  Joachim  came  with  them, 
and  Minnie  was  born  in  Chicago.  Soon  after 
reaching  Chicago  (which  was  his  objective  point), 
Mr.  Woodrich  purchased,  from  John  Kuhl,  a  lot 
at  No.  163  Fry  Street.  There  he  erected  a  small 
house  (the  first  built  on  Fry  Street).  The  struc- 
ture still  stands,  and  is  the  property  of  Mr. 
Charles  Kummerow. 

In  this  humble  home  his  son  died  (1860)  and 
there  Mr.  Woodrich  himself  passed  away  July  i, 
1878.  His  daughter,  Minnie,  still  lives,  the  wife 
of  Mr.  Charles  Kummerow,  whose  biography 


may  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  Mrs. 
Woodrich  survived  him  and  makes  her  home 
with  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Kummerow,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-three  years. 

Mr.  Woodrich  had  one  of  those  rare  natures 
which  attract  affection  as  readily  as  the  grass 
absorbs  the  dew.  Industrious  at  work,  his  truest 
happiness  was  found  in  his  home  and  his  church. 
He  was  a  devoted  husband,  a  tender  father  and 
an  earnest  Christian.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  St.  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church, 
and  always  a  liberal  contributor  to  its  support. 
He  was  an  earnest  worker  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
his  gentle  nature  and  kindly  heart  endearing 
children  to  him,  while  his  charity  was  best  known 
to  those  who  were  his  beneficiaries. 


PEDER  KRISTENSEN. 


QEDER  KRISTENSEN,  who  conducts  a 

LX  itable  business  as  a  dealer  in  milk  and 
[3  cream  at  No.  521  West  Superior  Street,  is  a 
native  of  Stavnstrup,  Jutland,  Denmark.  He  is 
the  fourth  child  of  A.  Kristensen  and  his  wife, 
Ane,  both  natives  of  Denmark,  and  was  born 
March  i,  1865.  Mr.  Kristensen,  Senior,  who 
was  a  tailor,  died  in  his  fiftieth  year.  His  wife 
survived  him  by  many  years,  passing  away  in 
the  village  where  she  had  been  reared,  known 
and  universally  respected,  in  1889. 

The  first  twenty -one  years  of  Peder's  life  were 
passed  among  the  scenes  and  associations  of  his 
childhood.  After  quitting  school  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  a  cabinet-maker.  He  duly  served  an 
apprenticeship  of  four  years  and  after  a  few  years' 
work  as  a  journeyman  resolved  to  see  if  better 
fortune  awaited  him  among  his  countrymen  who 
had  found  homes  in  America.  The  best  solution 
to  the  question  is  to  be  found  in  the  success 
which  he  has  achieved  through  his  own  unaided 


efforts.  He  arrived  in  Chicago  without  financial 
resources,  but  he  had  what  often  counts  for  more 
in  the  long  run — pluck,  a  trade  and  native 
honesty.  After  seven  years'  toil  and  thrift, 
during  which  his  handicraft  had  been  his  main 
source  of  income,  he  was  able,  in  1893,  to  buy 
out  a  milk  business,  and  established  himself  in  a 
more  remunerative  line  of  industry. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Andersen,  a  native  of  Denmark 
like  himself,  gave  him  her  hand  in  marriage  in 
1888,  at  Chicago.  Their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  two  children:  Dagny  and  Holger. 

Mr.  Kristensen  has  been  an  active  and  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Society  Dania,  having  served 
as  vice-president,  secretary  and  two  years  as 
president.  He  served  two  years  as  treasurer  of 
the  central  committee  of  the  Danish  Societies  of 
Chicago.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Danish 
Young  People's  Society,  and  is  independent  in 
political  matters,  though  he  frequently  supports 
the  Democratic  ticket. 


OF  THE 
IVERSITV  OF 


(From  Photo  by  W.  J.  ROOT.) 


LORNS  WALTER 


LORNS   WALTER. 


687 


LORNS  WALTER. 


I  ORNS  WALTER.  This  old  settler  and 
It  early  fireman  of  Chicago,  which  city  has 
[~f  been  his  home  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
has  passed  the  seventy-fifth  milestone  in  life's 
pathway,  and  is  passing  the  declining  years  of 
life  in  a  well  earned  repose.  He  was  born  De- 
cember 30,  1823,  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  while  that 
province  was  under  French  dominion.  He  is  the 
son  of  Diebold  and  Katherine  Walter,  and  his 
father  was  an  overseer  of  forests.  In  1832  the 
family,  which' then  consisted  of  the  parents  and 
five  children,  emigrated  from  France  to  the 
United  States,  settling  at  Buffalo,  New  York. 
There  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter  resided  until  their 
death,  the  husband  dying  about  1856,  and  his 
widow  surviving  him  nearly  twenty  years.  Five 
more  children  were  born  to  them  in  their  new 
home.  Of  their  large  family  of  ten  only  three 
are  now  living:  Lorns,  at  Chicago;  Rockhills,  of 
Dubuque,  Iowa;  and  John  J.,  who  still  lives  in 
Buffalo. 

Until  he  was  seventeen  years  old  Lorns  Walter 
attended  the  Buffalo  public  schools,  and  on  leav- 
ing school  was  apprenticed  for  three  years  to 
learn  the  trade  of  cigar-making.  After  serving 
his  term  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1848  and  began 
working  as  a  journeyman.  After  some  years  he 
was  given  charge  of  the  shop  of  Mills  &  Com- 
pany, the  senior  member  of  which  firm  was  the 
father  of  the  distinguished  attorney,  Luther  Laf- 
lin  Mills.  He  continued  in  this  employment  for 
about  six  years,  and  then  embarked  in  business 
on  his  own  account,  in  a  modest  way,  at  No.  144 
Dearborn  avenue.  Fortunately  for  himself,  he 
abandoned  business  shortly  before  the  holocaust 


of  1871,  which  caused  him  comparatively  little 
loss,  there  remaining  in  his  hands  only  a  little 
raw  material  and  not  much  of  the  manufactured 
products.  Since  that  year  he  has  never  engaged 
in  trade. 

The  same  year  in  which  he  came  to  Chicago 
he  joined  the  old  Volunteer  Fire  Department. 
In  1859  the  paid  department  was  organized  and 
he  at  once  enlisted  in  that  branch  of  the  city's 
service.  The  excitement  of  the  life  possessed  a 
fascination  for  him,  while  the  opportunities 
which  were  offered  for  the  exercise  and  manifes- 
tation of  that  personal  heroism  which  was  innate 
to  his  nature  constituted  another  and  potent  at- 
traction. In  1865  he  was  made  assistant  mar- 
shal, a  position  which  he  held  until  after  the 
great  fire.  He  was  then  appointed  captain  of 
Engine  Company  No.  33.  His  record  while  fill- 
ing this  post  was  one  of  intrepid  service  and  dar- 
ing bravery  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  In  1896, 
having  reached  the  age  of  seventy-three  years, 
his  hair  silvered,  and  bearing  on  his  body  the 
scars  of  years  of  gallant  service,  he  was  retired 
upon  a  pension. 

A  singular  mark  of  high  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held  by  his  brother  firemen,  who  have  had  the 
best  and  broadest  opportunities  for  gauging  his 
character  and  capability,  is  afforded  by  the  fact 
that  he  holds  the  position  of  treasurer  in  the  ben- 
efit association  formed  under  the  old  and  new  re- 
gimes. 

He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order,  being  affili- 
ated with  Kilwinnig  Lodge  No.  311,  Ancient, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons. 

He  married  Elizabeth  Bills  in  1849.     She  was 


688 


S.  G.   HOOKER. 


born  in  Germany,  and  a  daughter  of  Conrad  and 
Mary  Bills,  both  of  whom  died  at  Akron,  Ohio. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter  have  had  a  family  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  four  are  living:  Frank  W.,  a 
fireman;  Charles  H.,  proprietor  of  a  paint  shop 
on  Michigan  Street;  John  H.,  a  manufacturer  of 
cigars;  and  Josephine.  Both  parents  and  chil- 
dren ar.e  communicants  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church. 


Mr.  Walter  is  at  present  enjoying  the  repose 
which  comes  to  him  who  has  met  every  duty  as 
it  was  encountered  and  never  flinched  in  the  face 
of  obligation.  During  his  fifty  years  residence 
in  Chicago  he  has  seen  changes  which  rival  the 
transmutation  wrought  by  Aladdin's  lamp,  and 
in  their  accomplishment  he  has  played  no  unim- 
portant part.  He  can  look  back  without  shame, 
and  forward  without  fear. 


STEPHEN  G.  HOOKER. 


(3TEPHEN  GARDNER  HOOKER.  To  Mr. 
?\  Hooker  belongs  the  distinction  of  being  one 
C*y  of  Chicago's  early  settlers,  he  having  settled 
here  in  1853,  and  having  been  a  continual  resi- 
dent ever  since.  He  comes  of  sturdy  New  Eng- 
land ancestry,  claiming  Brandon,  Vermont,  as 
his  birthplace.  His  family  is  of  English  origin, 
and  he  himself  came  into  the  world  May  20, 
1824.  The  physician  who  first  looked  into  his 
face  was  Doctor  Douglas,  the  father  of  the  "L,ittle 
Giant,"  to  whose  memory- Illinois  yet  pays  rev- 
erence. 

Mr.  Hooker's  father  was  also  named  Stephen. 
He  was  born  in  New  England,  but  moved  to 
Cattaraugus  County,  New  York,  where  he  died 
in  1874,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year,  being  buried  at 
Gowanda,  in  that  state.  He  married  Abigail 
Goss,  a  daughter  of  Chester  Goss,  who  was  a 
farmer  and  a  pioneer  hotelkeeper  in  the  town  of 
Brandon,  where  he  was  a  prominent  and  respected 
citizen.  Mr.  Hooker  was  the  fourth  of  a  family 
of  seven  children. 

Stephen  G.  Hooker  learned  the  carpenter's 
trade  and  while  a  young  man  of  twenty-five  he 
went  to  Springville,  Erie  County,  New  York, 
where,  June  12,  1849,  he  was  married  to  Helen 
N.  Norton,  a  school  girl,  eighteen  years  old. 
Her  father  was  Borroughs  Norton,  of  Bridgeport, 


Massachusetts,  who  removed  from  that  state  to 
Otsego  County,  New  York,  and  it  was  in  Rich- 
field Springs,  in  that  county,  that  his  daughter, 
Helen,  was  born.  His  wife  was  Margaret  Weber, 
Her  family  was  of  Dutch  origin,  and  among  the 
early  settlers  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  and  Mrs. 
Norton's  father  owned  the  site  of  the  present  vil- 
lage of  Frankfort,  New  York,  which  was  laid  out 
on  what  was  once  the  Weber  farm. 

Mr.  Hooker  brought  his  young  wife  to  Chicago 
in  1853,  and  his  first  home  stood  within  the  limits 
of  the  block  on  which  the  new  Government  build- 
ing is  being  erected.  There  he  lived  two  years, 
when  he  moved  to  No.  61  Oak  Street,  where  he 
lived  sixteen  years,  and  where  he  was  burned  out 
in  the  great  fire  of  1871.  His  next  home  was  at 
No.  426  Fullerton  Avenue,  where  they  lived 
eleven  years,  removing  from  there  to  No.  300 
Webster  Avenue,  where  they  have  resided  ever 
since. 

Mr.  Hooker  begap  his  business  career  in  Chi- 
cago as  a  building  contractor,  but  is  best  known 
in  commercial  circles  through  his  connection  with 
the  Board  of  Trade.  He  became  agent  for  the 
Howe  scales,  and  in  his  efforts  to  introduce  their 
use  in  place  of  the  Fairbank  he  became  well  ac- 
quainted with  grain  dealers,  and  in  1860  bought 
a  seat  on  the  Board  for  five  dollars,  for  which  he 


P.  A.  KAUSTRUP. 


689 


was  afterward  offered  five  thousand  dollars.  He 
became  famous  all  over  the  country  and  even  in 
England,  through  a  "corner"  in  lard  which  he 
once  manipulated,  with  the  backing  of  the  two 
directors  of  the  Bank  of  Montreal.  The  story  of 
the  deal,  as  told  by  himself,  is  of  interest.  "In 
November,  they  ordered  me  to  get  ten  thousand 
tierces  of  lard"  said  Mr.  Hooker.  "That  was  a 
big  order  at  the  time,  and  would  affect  the  market 
now.  I  bought  ten  thousand  a  week  for  the 
next  month,  and  I  went  along  until  I  bought  forty 
thousand  tierces,  paying  for  every  option.  I  had 
it  in  private  warehouses,  with  the  receipts  in  the 
bank.  That  was  the  first  time  a  corner  was  ever 
run  with  everything  paid  for  in  cash.  The  time 
finally  came  when  they  found  I  had  a  corner  on 
lard.  N.  K.  Fairbank  had  to  get  lard.  My 
broker  was  bidding  at  twelve  cents.  Fairbank 
had  sold  me  short  and  called  me.  Finally  he  bid 
twelve  and  one-half  cents  on  five  thousand,  and  I 
gave  it  to  him.  That  broke  the  market.  They 
thought  I  was  "busted"  and  sold  short.  I 


bought  seven  thousand  more  tierces.  Lard  went 
to  sixteen  cents,  and  I  sold  everything.  My 
backers  made  over  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
That  was  the  only  successful  lard  corner  ever 
made." 

Mr.  Hooker's  politics  are  strongly  Republican. 
In  the  ante-bellum  days  he  was  an  abolitionist 
of  the  most  radical  type,  voting — to  quote  his 
own  language — "the  abolition  ticket  in  Chicago, 
when  it  was  worse  than  being  an  anarchist." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hooker  have  five  children  and 
ten  grandchildren.  The  children  are:  Mrs.  H. 
E.  Wadsworth,  of  No.  1870  Michigan  Boulevard; 
Edward  C.  Hooker,  foreman  of  the  registry  de- 
partment of  the  postoffice,  and  living  in  Austin; 
Mrs.  Edward  Ringberg,  the  wife  of  a  nobleman 
in  Norrkoping,  Sweden;  Chester  H.  and  George 
C.  Hooker,  who  are  unmarried  and  live  with 
their  parents.  June  12,  1899,  the  parents  cele- 
brated their  golden  wedding,  receiving  the  heart- 
felt expressions  of  kind  wishes  from  the  hosts  of 
friends  who  know  and  honor  them. 


PAUL  A.  KAUSTRUP. 


HAUL  ANDREASEN  KAUSTRUP.  Of  the 
yf  many  Danish-American  citizens  who  have 
\S  contributed,  if  not  to  the  upbuilding,  at  least 
to  the  development,  of  Chicago,  the  name  of 
Paul  A.  Kaustrup  will  be  long  cherished  by  the 
men  and  women  of  his  own  day  and  generation. 
His  father  was  Andrew  Nielsen  Kaustrup  and 
his  mother,  before  her  marriage,  Elsie  Paulsen. 
His  grandfather,  Niels  Andreasen  Kaustrup  was 
a  man  of  more  or  less  local  distinction,  and  for 
several  years  filled  the  office  of  tax  collector  and 
sheriff.  He  died  in  1870.  His  only  son,  An- 
drew Nielsen  Kaustrup,  was  born  in  1818,  and 
was  considered,  in  his  time,  a  large  land-owner. 


He  was  the  proprietor  of  three  farms,  which  still 
bear  the  name  of  Kaustrupgard.  His  wife,  whose 
name,  as  has  been  said,  was  Elsie  Paulsen,  was 
born  in  1828,  and  came  of  a  highly-respected 
family.  The  fruit  of  their  union  was  thirteen 
children,  seven  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Three 
daughters  and  three  sons  reached  maturity,  and 
of  these  one  has  since  died. 

Paul  A.  Kaustrup  was  the  ninth  of  this  large 
family.  Like  most  youths  of  his  native  place,  he 
passed  through  the  routine  course  prescribed  for 
the  common  school  pupils,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen years  began  life's  battle  with  such  weapons 
as  were  furnished  him  by  his  limited  experience. 


6go 


K.  R.  KNUDSEN. 


He  had,  however,  the  advantage  of  the  better 
equipment  afforded  by  eighteen  months  attend- 
ance upon  the  high  school.  He  was  apprenticed 
to  the  trade  of  a  baker  and  confectioner,  becom- 
ing a  journeyman  in  1882.  In  1886  he  sailed  for 
America,  and  proceeded  from  New  York  forth- 
with to  Chicago,  reaching  this  city  May  5,  the 
date  of  the  Anarchist  riot  at  Haymarket  square. 
From  Chicago  he  went  to  Stonebank,  Waukesha 
County,  Wisconsin,  where  for  a  year  and  a-half 
he  ran  a  steam-launch,  at  the  same  time  driving 
a  coach  for  W.  H.  Bradley.  From  there  he  went 
to  Milwaukee,  where  he  became  coachman  for 
E.  D.  Matthews,  remaining  with  him  three  /years. 


Returning  to  Chicago  he  became  coachman  for 
the  late  P.  C.  Hanford,  after  whose  death  he 
took  a  similiar  position  with  James  Christian 
Hansen,  in  whose  service  he  continued  until  the 
close  of  the  World's  Fair.  About  1894  he  became 
coachman  for  Edson  Keith,  and  has  continued  in 
the  employ  of  the  Keith  family  until  the  present. 
Mr.  Kaustrup  has  never  married.  Among  the 
members  of  his  race  in  Chicago  he  has  wide  ac- 
quaintance, and  is  held  in  high  repute  for  his 
sound  sense,  keen  judgment  and  unswerving 
probity.  He  is  at  once  astute,  yet  affable,  gen- 
erous but  just.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Walhalla  Society. 


KNUD  R.  KNUDSEN. 


RNUD  RASMUS  KNUDSEN  is  of  Danish 
birth  and  parentage,  having  been  born  in 
Aarhus,  •  Jutland,  December  9,  1864.  He 
enjoys  the  unique  distinction  of  being  the  six- 
teenth of  a  family  of  twenty-three  children  born 
of  one  mother,  of  whom  sixteen  grew  to  manhood 
and  womanhood,  and  eight  are  now  living.  His 
father  was  Rasmus  Knudsen,  for  many  years  a 
stock  dealer,  but  now  retired  from  active  busi- 
ness. He  was  a  soldier  during  the  war  of  1848- 
1850,  serving  with  distinction,  and  a  man  of  no 
little  local  prominence.  His  wife's  maiden  name 
was  Anna  Martens,  a  daughter  of  an  officer  who 
served  gallantly  throughout  the  same  war.  She 
died  in  1898. 

Knud  R.  Knudsen  was  apprenticed  to  the  tin- 
ner's trade  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  after  serving 
a  term  of  five  years  worked  for  about  a  year  in  his 
native  country,  as  a  journeyman.  He  then  went 
to  Germany,  where  he  traveled  extensively,  and 
from  there  to  Paris,  all  the  time  supporting  him- 
self by  working  at  his  trade.  After  a  short  so- 
journ in  Paris,  he  returned  to  Denmark,  where 


he  soon  afterward  engaged  in  business  for  him- 
self at  the  town  of  Aarhus.  There  he  remained 
two  years  and,  in  1888,  emigrated  to  America, 
coming  at  once  to  Chicago. 

After  arriving  here,  and  while  seeking  employ- 
ment at  his  trade,  he  willingly  turned  his  hand  to 
any  honest  labor  that  presented  itself.  He  final- 
ly secured  a  journeyman  tinner's  position,  and 
was  in  the  employ  of  one  concern  three  years. 
By  1894  he  had,  through  industry,  perseverance 
and  thrift,  accumulated  sufficient  means  to  enable 
him  to  engage  in  business  on  his  own  account. 
He  opened  a  hardware  store  and  in  connection 
therewith,  a  shop  for 'the  manufacture  of  cornices 
at  No.  3446  Cottage  Grove  Avenue.  Later  he 
removed  to  No.  3450,  in  the  same  street,  where 
he  yet  remains. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Knudsen  stamps  him  as  a 
man  of  intelligence,  enterprise  and  integrity. 
He  reached  Chicago,  unknown  and  friendless, 
with  but  little  more  than  twenty  dollars  in  his 
pocket.  From  this  slender  capital  he  has  devel- 
oped, through  his  own  handiwork  and  by  the 


CHARLES  MARTENS. 


691 


exercise  of  his  brains,  his  present  profitable  busi- 
ness, in  which,  at  times,  he  employs  as  many  as 
fifteen  men.  As  he  looks  back  upon  his  gradual 
rise  from  the  position  of  the  almost  penniless 
immigrant,  he  may  well  be  pardoned  if  he  feels  a 
glow  of  honest  pride  at  the  thought  that  his  suc- 


cess is  due  to  his  own  efforts.  He  has  been  an 
active  member  of  the  Walhalla  Society  since  1891. 
In  1888  he  married,  in  Denmark,  Christina 
Nelsen,  who  has  borne  him  four  children:  Jens, 
who  died  in  infancy;  Anna,  Nels  and  Frederik. 
The  family  attends  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church. 


CHARLES  MARTENS. 


EHARLES  MARTENS.  Mr.  Martens'  bap- 
tismal name  was  much  longer  than  the 
abbreviation  of  the  same  by  which  he  is  gen- 
erally known.  He  was  christened  Karl  August 
Gunther,  at  Gartow,  Germany,  where  he  was 
born  October  20,  1827.  His  father  was  Charles 
Christian  Martens  and  his  mother's  name  before 
marriage  was  Dorothea  Dankert.  Gartow  is  a 
picturesque  Hanoverian  village,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  about  eight  hundred  souls,  situated  on 
what  was  then  the  Prussian  frontier,  and  distant 
some  eighteen  miles  from  Hamburg. 

The  birthplace  of  the  elder  Martens  was  Quarn- 
stadt,  near  Gartow,  where  he  first  opened  his 
eyes  September  15,  1799.  He  lived  to  the  age  of 
seventy-seven  years,  and  died  in  Cook  County 
July  i,  1876.  He  emigrated  to  the  United  States, 
with  his  wife  and  four  children,  in  1847,  taking 
passage  in  a  sailing  vessel  leaving  Hamburg  Au- 
gust 15  of  that  year.  Sixty-seven  wearisome 
days  elapsed  before  the  little  party  landed  at  New 
York,  October  4,  1847.  The  father's  objective 
point  was  Chicago,  where  he  had  a  friend  and 
compatriot,  Frederick  Preusner,  whose  widow  is 
still  living,  at  Manchester,  Iowa.  For  six  weeks 
he  remained  in  the  city,  during  which  time  his 
friend  busied  himself  in  making  him  familiar 
with  the  outlying  country. 

The  result  of  his  investigation  was,  that  at  the 
end  of  that  time  he  bought,  from  one  W.  H. 
Boyle,  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land, 


•eighty  on  the  north  half  of  the  northwest  quarter 
of  section  27,  and  forty  on  the  southwest  quarter 
of  section  22,  in  Leyden  Township.  A  small 
house.worth  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
stood  upon  the  land,  and  the  price  paid  was  seven 
hundred  dollars.  About  ten  acres  had  been  pre- 
pared for  cultivation,  but  no  plowing  had  been 
done  for  several  years.  He  built  a  house  some 
four  hundred  yards  west  of  the  present  residence 
of  Louis  Schierhorn,  the  site  now  being  marked 
by  a  solitary  elm,  the  sole  survivor  of  what  was 
once  a  fine  grove.  Here  he  lived  until  his  death. 
He  sleeps  in  Graceland  Cemetery.  By  trade  he 
was  a  tailor,  having  served  an  apprenticeship  of 
three  years,  and  in  Gartow  he  owned  a  shop  and 
employed  workmen,  but  he  never  worked  at  it  in 
this  country,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  weeks 
in  Chicago.  He  was  a  man  of  large  physique 
and  well  proportioned,  about  five  feet  nine  inches 
in  height  and  weighing  one  hundred  and  seventy 
pounds.  Politically  he  was  a  Republican.  His 
religious  faith  was  that  of  the  German  Lutheran 
Church,  of  which  he  was  a  consistent  member. 
His  wife,  the  mother  of  Charles  Martens,  was 
born  at  Gartow,  December  i,  1798,  and  died  De- 
cember 24,  1872.  She  rests  beside  her  husband 
at  Graceland. 

Besides  Charles,  their  children  were:  Charlotte 
Marie  Dorothea,  born  July  7,  1824,  who  married 
John  Ruh,  in  1846.  Her  husband  was  a  native 
of  Brerstadt,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany,  where 


692 


CHARLES  MARTENS. 


he  was  born  Novembers,  1821.  He  came  to  Chi- 
cago in  1844.  By  trade  he  was  a  tailor,  and  he 
followed  that  occupation  for  a  time,  and  later  en- 
gaged in  the  insurance  brokerage  business,  which 
he  pursued  until  his  death.  His  widow  is  still 
living,  at  No.  548  Wells  Street,  Chicago.  Her 
life  presented  some  features  of  unusual  interest. 
She  left  home  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  intent 
upon  learning  the  trade  of  a  professional  cook  at 
Hamburg.  So  proficient  did  she  become  in  her 
chosen  calling,  that  she  was  employed  in  a  noble- 
man's family,  but  abandoned  her  position  to  join 
her  people  in  their  emigration  to  a  strange  land. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ruh's  children  were:  John,  born 
September  18,  1847,  an(^  died  in  infancy;  Carrie, 
born  October  21,  1849,  and  married  to  Otto  Af- 
feld,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York;  George,  born  Oc- 
tober 4,  1851,  and  died  at  the  age  of  three  weeks, 
and  Louise  Fredericka,  born  November  23,  1856, 
now  Mrs.  L.  A.  Kohtz,  of  No.  650  Fullerton  Ave- 
nue, Chicago.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Affeld 
with  the  date  of  their  respective  births,  are  as 
follows:  Charlotta  Louise,  September  25,  1873; 
Otto,  October  10,  1875;  Louise,  April  19,  1876; 
Antoinette,  August  23,  1879;  Carrie,  November 
29,  1880;  Ida  Ernestina,  July  7,  1885.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kohtz  are  the  parents  of  three  children,  Ida 
Louise,  born  October  17,  1879;  Louis,  June  21, 
1888;  and  Elsie,  January  6,  1889.  The  second 
child  of  the  Martens  family  was  christened  Henry 
Christian,  whose  biography  may  be  found  on  an- 
other page.  The  fourth  (Charles  being  the 
third)  and  youngest  was  Fredericka  Charlotta, 
who  was  born  October  4,  1835.  On  her  twentieth 
birthday  she  married  Valentine  Ruh,  who  was 
born  April  27,  1833,  in  Brerstadt,  Germany.  He 
learned  the  plumber's  trade  with  Wilson  & 
Hughes,  then  located  at  Lake  Street  and  Fifth 
Avenue,  and  subsequently  opened  a  shop  of  his 
own  on  North  Wells  Street,  which  is  still  con- 
ducted by  his  son,  Frank.  He  was  a  volunteer 
fireman,  and  a  member  of  the  famous  "Red 
Jacket"  Company,  which  was  officially  known  as 
No.  4.  He  was  also  a  man  of  considerable  promi- 
nence in  municipal  affairs,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  council  during  the  terms  of  Mayors  Rice  and 
Sherman.  He  started  in  business  in  1872  and 


was  active  and  successful  until  1889,  when  he  re- 
tired. He  died  December  i,  1895,  and  his  grave 
is  at  Graceland.  Mrs.  Ruh  survives  him,  mak- 
ing her  home  at  Franklin  Park.  Four  children 
were  the  fruit  of  this  marriage.  The  eldest, 
Frank  Edward,  was  born  July  15,  1856;  Henry, 
the  second  son,  was  born  May  9,  1859,  and  died 
July  18,  1866;  George  was  born  March  10,  1861, 
and  died  August  31,  1862;  Edmund,  born  April 
7,  1866,  married  Clara  Hartman,  September  18, 
1895,  by  whom  he  is  the  father  of  Harriet 
Frances,  who  was  born  November  10,  1896. 

The  grandfather  of  Charles  Martens  was  named 
Johan  Joachim  Christian  Martens.  He  was  born 
at  Quarnstadt,  about  five  minutes' walk  from  Gar- 
tow.  He  was  a  tenant  and  gardener  upon  the 
estate  of  Graff,  Earl  of  Barnstorf.  Johan  Joachim 
Martens  married  Marie  Schultz.  Their  children 
were:  Charles,  the  father  of  the  gentleman  whose 
name  appears  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  and  a 
summary  of  whose  life  has  been  already  given; 
August,  a  tailor  by  trade,  who  removed  to  Lon- 
don, England,  where  he  married  and  whence, 
after  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  emigrated  to  New 
York;  and  Detlow,  a  carpenter,  of  whom  all 
trace  has  been  lost  since  his  leaving  the  Father- 
land. The  Martens  family  was  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  respected  in  Gartow,  and  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  Barnstorf  estate  for  many  genera- 
tions. 

Charles  Martens'  maternal  grandfather  was 
William  Dankert.  He  was  a  coachman  for  the 
Earl  and  married  a  Miss  Schultz,  by  whom  he 
had  two  children,  Dorothea  (the  mother  of 
Charles)  and  William,  who  went  to  Paris,  where 
he  learned  the  trade  of  a  piano-maker,  and  where 
he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days,  dying  un- 
married. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  Charles  Martens 
remained  on  the  farm,  which  he  continued  to 
cultivate,  and  to  which  he  added  forty  acres  of 
prairie  land,  on  the  southeast  quarter  of  section 
2 1 ,  and  ten  acres  of  timber.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  but  twenty-four  years  when  he  took 
charge  of  the  property,  but  he  was  strong,  active, 
energetic  and  keenly  alive  to  the  responsibilities 
of  his  position.  In  the  winter  of  1868  and  1869, 


C.   J.  CLAUSEN. 


693 


he  built  the  house  being  now  occupied  by  J.  J. 
Martens,  of  whom  a  brief  sketch  may  be  found  on 
another  page. 

In  1883  Mr.  Martens  divided  his  property 
among  his  children,  and  has  since  then  led  a  life 
of  retirement,  richly  earned.  His  wife's  maiden 
name  was  Fredericka  Schultz,  to  whom  he  was 
married  March  u,  1851.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Jochetn  and  Caroline  (Kalow)  Schultz.  She 
was  born  August  27,  1829,  in  the  village  of 
Rechenzien,  Prussia,  and  crossed  the  ocean  alone 
in  1851.  Within  six  weeks  after  her  arrival  at 
Chicago  she  had  met,  loved  and  married  Mr. 
Martens,  and  the  .following  year  her  parents, 
with  their  three  other  children,  emigrated.  Her 
father  bought  forty  acres  of  land  in  Proviso  Town- 
ship, which  he  afterward  sold,  taking  up  his  resi- 
dence on  the  site  where  his  son,  John  Schultz; 
now  lives,  on  section  22,  of  Ley  den  Township. 
By  trade  he  was  a  tailor,  but  he  did  not  follow  the 
occupation  after  coming  to  America.  He  died  in 
1869,  aged  sixty-five  years.  His  wife,  Mrs.  Mar- 
tens' mother,  died  October  8,  1879,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-four  years.  Their  children 
were  as  follows:  Dorothea,  wife  of  Frederick 
Volberding,  whose  husband  is  still  living  on  sec- 
tion 30,  of  Proviso  Township;  John  resides  in  the 
same  township,  and  is  mentioned  in  an  article 
headed  by  his  name,  on  another  page  of  this 
volume. 

Mrs.  Martens'  paternal  grandfather  married 
MissBrinkman.  Their  children  were:  Frederick, 
Jochem  and  Elizabeth,  all  born  in  Germany. 
Frederick  settled  in  Proviso,  and  his  son,  Fred- 


erick, is  still  living  on  section  29,  of  that  town- 
ship. Elizabeth  married  Mr-  Prill,  and  remained 
in  her  native  land.  Mr.  Schultz  was  a  farmer. 
The  maternal  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Martens-'was 
the  father  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Mr.  Voss.  Caro- 
line and  George  never  emigrated. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Mar- 
tens are:  Louise,  who  married  H.  A.  Draper, 
whose  biography  appears  elsewhere  in  this  vol- 
ume; Caroline,  now  Mrs.  William  Polzin,  of  No. 
39  State  Street,  Chicago;  John  J.,  Charles  and 
Henry,  whose  biographies  are  to  be  found  in  this 
work;  and  two  children  died  in  infancy.  The 
family  attends  the  German  Lutheran  Church. 

Mr.  Martens  is  a  stanch  Republican,  and  has 
held  the  office  of  collector  for  two  years,  and  of 
school  director  nine  years.  In  casting  the  eye 
back  over  this  necessarily  imperfect  sketch  of  his 
life,  one  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  native, 
rugged  worth  of  his  character.  Beginning  life 
as  a  pioneer  in  a  new  country,  he  permitted  no 
obstacle  to  daunt  him,  he  knew  not  the  meaning 
of  the  word  "failure."  With  resolute  will  and 
steady  perseverance  he  hewed  out  his  own  path 
to  success,  as  the  pioneer  blazes  a  way  through 
the  forest.  He  is  now  Hearing  life's  sunset,  but 
for  him  the  coming  shade  of  nightfall  has  no  ter- 
rors. The  love  of  family,  the  respect  of  his 
fellow-men  and  the  serene  confidence  inspired  by 
Christian  hope  will  illumine  the  crossing  of  the 
river,  just  as  the  recollection  of  a  life  of  honorable 
industry,  of  unflinching  fidelity  to  duty  and  of 
spontaneous  generosity  enable  him  to  review  the 
past  without  regret. 


GLAUS  J.  CLAUSEN. 


ELAUS  JOHANSEN  CLAUSEN  is  the  senior 
member  of  the   firm  of  Clausen  &  Stone, 
sprinklers  of  No.  81  Twenty-second  Street. 
He  was  born  July  3,  1847,  in  Koerrup,  Schleswig- 


Holstein,  and  is  the  fourth  child  and  third  son  of 
Andrew  Clausen  and  Elizabeth  Nielsen.  His 
parents  reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  five  of 
whom  are  living.  Andrew  Clausen  was  a  farmer, 


694 


MARTIN  COLBY. 


and  died  when  about  seventy  years  old,  but  his 
wife  is  yet  alive  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years. 

Claus  J.  Clausen  emigrated  from  Denmark 
when  a  youth  of  eighteen  years.  His  life  up  to 
that  time  had  not  greatly  differed  from  that  of 
other  Danish  boys  of  his  class,  he  having  attended 
the  public  schools  until  he  was  fourteen  years  of 
age,  and  for  four  years  worked  upon  a  farm.  He 
first  went  to  Australia  to  prospect  for  gold.  For 
five  years  he  was  in  the  mining  camps,  when  he 
returned  to  his  native  country,  but  only  to  re- 
main about  four  months.  His  next  departure 
was  for  America,  and  his  first  employment  after 
reaching  this  country  was  as  a  farm  hand  at  Clif- 
ton, Illinois.  After  five  months  he  removed  to 
Chicago.  Here  he  engaged  with  Rasmus  T. 
Bertlesen  to  learn  the  carpenter's  trade.  This 
occupation  he  followed  about  ten  months,  when 
the  Chicago  fire  occurred.  Seeing  that  teaming 
was  likely  to  prove  profitable,  he  purchased  a 


team  and  embarked  in  that  business.  Two  years 
later  he  entered  the  employ  of  a  gentlemen  on 
Prairie  Avenue  near  Twentieth  Street,  and  from 
there  entered  the  service  of  William  H.  Mitchell, 
a  banker,  with  whom  he  remained  fourteen 
years.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  he  formed 
a  partnership  with  Andrew  Clausen,  under  the 
name  of  Clausen  Brothers,  to  engage  in  the 
sprinkling  business,  which  he  has  since  followed. 
He  is  now  associated  with  F.  L,.  Stone. 

Mr.  Clausen  married  Miss  Marie  Larsen  in 
1891,  and  is  the  father  of  two  children,  Elizabeth 
J.  and  Andrew  R. 

He  has  been  for  several  years  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  Walhalla  Society,  and  has  infused  new 
life  into  the  order,  among  whose  members  he  is 
widely  known  and  universally  esteemed. 

He  has  been  moderately  successful  in  business 
and  owes  all  that  he  has  to  his  own  hard  work, 
grit  and  gumption. 


MARTIN  COLBY. 


IV  A  ARTIN  COLBY,  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Yl    Colby   Brothers,    at  No.  1200  West  Fifty- 

101  ninth  Street  and  No.  6757  South  Halsted 
Street,  was  born  at  Aalborg,  Denmark,  August 
19,  1868.  For  a  detailed  history  of  his  parentage 
and  family  relations,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
biography  of  John  Colby,  on  another  page  of  this 
work. 

Like  his  brother,  Martin  Colby  received  his 
early  training  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
village.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  grocer,  serving  a  term  of  four 
years.  He  worked  at  this  business,  after  com- 
pleting his  apprenticeship,  until  1889.  In  that 
year  he  followed  his  brother  to  Chicago.  For 
the  first  six  months  after  reaching  the  United 
States  he  worked  as  a  farm  hand,  and  for  about 
four  months  he  worked  as  a  wood  chopper. 


He  first  found  employment  in  Chicago  as  a 
coachman,  which  pursuit  he  followed  eighteen 
months.  During  the  next  two  years  he  worked 
as  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  at  No.  82  Oak  Street, 
when  he  resumed  his  seat  upon  the  box  and  his 
handling  of  the  reins  for  three  months.  His  next 
situation  was  with  a  Mr.  Johnson,  a  grocer  on 
Fifty-ninth  Street,  and  in  1894  ne  entered  into 
partnership  with  his  brother  John.  The  steady 
success  of  the  firm  from  the  day  of  its  inception 
has  been  already  told.  On  the  opening  of  the 
HalstedStreet  branch,  Martin  was  made  manager. 

He  was  married,  in  1894,10  Miss  Mary  Petersen, 
a  young  lady  born  in  Denmark.  Their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  three  children — Roy, 
Norma  and  Baby. 

Mr.  Colby  is  a  member  of  Ben  Hur  Court  of 
the  Royal  Arcanum. 


LIBRARY 


REV.  HEINRICH  WOLF 


REV.  HEINRICH  WOLF. 


695 


REV.  HEINRICH  WOLF. 


REV.  HEINRICH   WOLF.     The  subject  of 
this  sketch  is  the  son  of  Carl  and  Salome 
Elisabeth   (Friedly)    Wolf,    and  was   born 
December  31,   1855,  on  a  farm  called  Kreithof, 
near  the  village  of  Penzing,  Bezirksamt  Lands- 
berg,    Oberbayern,    kingdom   of    Bavaria,  Ger- 
many. 

His  great-grandfather,  Bartholomaeus  Wolf, 
born  June  20,  1768,  in  the  vicinity  of  Zweibrueck- 
en,  Rheinpfalz,  Bavaria,  died  May  28,  1828,  on 
the  farm  which  he  owned  and  cultivated.  He 
married  MissSauermilch,  whose  brother  migrated 
to  England,  where  he  became  quite  wealthy  and 
died  childless.  The  only  descendant  of  Barth- 
olomaeus Wolf  was  a  son  named  Martin,  who 
was  born  at  the  same  place  in  the  Rheinpfalz  in 
1789. 

Martin  Wolf,  the  paternal  grandfather  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  twice  married,  first  to 
Elisabeth  Ritterspach.  Of  this  marriage  the  fol- 
lowing named  children  were  born:  Michael,  born 
1811,  died  January  14,  1877;  Heinrich,  born  June 
20,  1817,  died  July  14,  1888,  and  Jakob,  born 
1820,  died  1864.  All  of  these  sons  were  large 
farmers  and  lived  in  Bavaria.  Mr.  Wolfs  sec- 
ond wife  was  Caroline  Kraemer,  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  the  year  1823.  She  died  October  31, 
1860.  Her  children  were:  Carl,  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  born  1824,  died  November 
16,  1860;  Philippine,  born  1826,  died  1857; 
Magdalena,  born  in  1828,  married;  Louise,  born 
in  1830,  married,  died  May  24,  1871. 

About  1830  Martin  Wolf  sold  his  homestead  in 
the  Rheinpfalz  and  bought  a  farm  near  Dachau, in 
Oberbayern,  Bavaria,  and  settled  thereon  with  his 
family.  Afterward  he  purchased  the  farm  named 
Kreithof,  near  Penzing,  which  contained  about 
two  hundred  acres,  settled  thereon  and  lived  there 


with  his  son  Carl  until  the  death  of  the  latter  in 
1860,  after  which  time  he  made  his  home  with  his 
older  son,  Heinrich,  who  owned  a  farm  and  brick 
yard  at  Bobingen,  near  Augsburg,  Bavaria, 
where  he  died  June  26,  1871.  Physically  Mar- 
tin Wolf  was  tall  and  slim  and  retained  his  vigor 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  a  short  time  before 
which  he  walked  three  miles  to  church.  •  He  was 
good  natured  and  very  religious.  He  was  a 
farmer  all  his  life  and  his  financial  condition  was 
good. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  the  man  whose 
name  heads  this  article  was  Georg  Friedly;  by 
his  first  wife  he  hao  three  children:  Georg,  Jakob 
and  Friedrich.  His  second  wife,  Eva  Koester, 
born  in  1814,  bore  him  three  children  also:  Sa- 
lome Elisabeth,  in  1836;  Eva,  in  1838,  and  David, 
in  1840.  Georg  Friedly  died  in  1842.  His  widow 
afterwards  died  as  the  wife  of  the  above  men- 
tioned Heinrich  Wolf,  in  1875.  Jakob  Friedly 
with  his  family  came  to  America  in  1872,  with 
members  of  the  Wolf  family,  and  settled  at  Buf- 
falo, New  York.  The  Friedly s  were  farmers  in 
Bavaria.  The  eldest  daughter  of  Georg  Friedly, 
the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Elisa- 
beth Salome  Friedly,  was  born  September  30, 
1836,  at  the  village  of  Kleinschwabhausen,  Bezir- 
ksamt Dachau,  Oberbayern,  Bavaria. 

Carl  Wolf,  the  father  of  Heinrich,  was  born  in 
1824,  in  the  Rheinpfalz,  Bavaria,  settled  with  his 
father  on  the  Kreithof,  in  Oberbayern,  and  in 
1847  was  first  married  to  Magdalena  Schwarz, 
who  became  the  mother  of  the  following  children: 
Rosina,  who  was  born  1848  and  died  in  1872. 
Carl,  born  September  n,  1850,  married  Mar- 
garetha  Herget,  and  resides  at  Inningen,  near 
Augsburg,  Bavaria,  where  he  owns  and  operates  a 
large  brickyard.  He  is  the  father  often  children, 


6g6 


REV.  HEINRICH  WOLF. 


five  sons  and  five  daughters.  Michael,  born  No- 
vember 21,  1852,  died  January  27,  1887,  was  a 
farmer,  married  and  lived  at  Koenigsbrtinn,  near 
Augsburg,  Bavaria,  where  he  left  his  widow  and 
two  children.  Magdalena,  the  wife  of  Carl 
Wolf,  died  at  the  Kreithof  in  1854.  He  mar- 
ried his  second  wife,  Elisabeth  Salome  Friedly,  in 
1855.  The  children  of  this  union  were  three  in 
number.  Heiurich,  born  December  31,  1855, is  the 
subject  of  this  notice;  Georg,  born  December  19, 
1857,  married  Caroline  Kautz,  of  West  Chicago, 
Illinois,  and  lives  near  Little  River,  Kansas,  on 
his  farm;  he  has  six  daughters  and  one  son.  Au- 
gust was  born  Novembers,  1859,  an<^  resides  at 
Buffalo,  New  York,  where  he  is  engaged  in  rail- 
road business.  He  married  Lena  Hoffmann.  They 
are  the  parents  of  two  daughters  and  six  sons. 

Heinrich  Wolfs  father,  Carl  Wolf,  died  at  the 
Kreithof  November  16,  1860,  and  was  buried 
at  Lang-Erringen,  Bavaria.  Heinrich  Wolfs 
mother  was  married  after  the  death  of  her  first 
husband  to  Johann  Georg  Maurer,  April  2,  1861. 
The  children  of  this  marriage  were:  Maria, 
born  March  24,  1863,  who  married  W.  B.  Wat- 
son, of  Little  River,  Kansas,  by  whom  she  has 
four  sons;  Carolina,  born  December  16,  1864, 
married  Georg  R.  Wolf,  is  the  mother  of  two  sons 
and  three  daughters  and  lives  on  the  farm  near 
Nardin,  Oklahoma  Territory;  Gottfried,  born  Oc- 
tober 12,  1867,  married  Miss  Mitchel,  is  the  fa- 
ther of  two  children  and  also  lives  on  his  farm 
near  Nardin,  Oklahoma;  Rosina,  born  January 
26,  1870,  married  John  Beyer,  a  farmer,  lives  in 
Oklahoma,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  children; 
Johann,  born  April  2,  1874,  and  Jakob,  born 
May  26,  1877,  who  live  at  home  with  their  father 
near  Little  River,  Kansas.  Mr.  Maurer  came  to 
Buffalo,  New  York,  in  November,  1871,  where 
he  was  joined  by  his  wife  and  her  seven  children 
June  14,  1872.  In  1875  the  family  removed  to  a 
farm  near  Detroit,  Michigan,  where  they  re- 
mained until  1880,  when  they  moved  to  a  home- 
stead near  Little  River,  Kansas.  There  Hein- 
rich Woli's  mother,  Mrs.  E.  Salome  Maurer, 
died  November  17,  1895,  as  the  age  of  fifty-nine 
years.  Her  body  found  its  last  resting  place  in 
the  Bean  Cemetery  at  Little  River,  Kansas. 


Heinrich  Wolf  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  city  of  Augsburg,  Bavaria,  while 
his  parents  lived  on  their  farm  and  brickyard  at 
Bobingen,  near  that  city.  Augsburg  is  one  of 
the  oldest  cities  in  Germany,  its  origin  being 
the  Roman  Fort '  'Augusta  Vindelicorum' '  erected 
anno  13  before  Christ,  it  is  also  famous  by  the 
Reichstag,  which  was  called  by  Kaiser  Carl  V.  in 
1530  to  that  city,  where  the  Protestants  delivered 
and  defended  their  confession  of  Evangelical 
faith.  In  March,  1868,  Heinrich  Wolf  entered  the 
gymnasium  of  St.  Anna  high  school,  in  that  city, 
and  studied  until  1870.  He  then  enrolled  him- 
self at  the  gymnasium  in  Newburg  (at  the  Dan- 
ube River) ,  Bavaria,  in  which  he  remained  until 
April,  1872,  when  he  emigrated  to  America.  He 
next  attended  the  Evangelical  Pro-Seminary  at 
Elmhurst,  Illinois,  from  April  8,  1873, until  June, 
1874.  In  August,  1874,  he  entered  upon  a  theo- 
logical course  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Marjhasville,  Missouri,  where  he  finished  his 
studies  May  8,  1877. 

After  having  passed  the  examination  for  the 
ministry  he  was  sent  to  Peotone,  Will  County, 
Illinois,  where  he  served  as  substitute  for  Rev. 
G.  D.  Wobus,  who  for  his  health  made  a  visit  to 
Switzerland,  Europe.  He  remained  there  six 
months  in  charge  of  the  spiritual  interests  of  the 
German  Evangelical  Immanuel's  Congregation. 
Following  this  he  was  called  to  the  charge  of 
St.  Michael's  congregation  at  Turner,  Du  Page 
County,  Illinois,  now  known  as  West  Chicago, 
where  he  remained  from  February  10,  1878, 
until  January,  1881.  He  was  next  called  by  the 
Evangelical  St.  Peter's  congregation  of  Niles 
Center,  Cook  County,  Illinois,  where  he  served 
as  minister  and  teacher  from  January  17,  1881, 
until  September,  1889.  He  then  responded  to  a 
call  by  the  Evangelical  St.  Johannes  congrega- 
tion at  the  town  of  Addisou,  near  Bensenville, 
Du  Page  County,  Illinois,  where  he  has  remained 
since  September  3,  1889.  At  his  present  loca- 
tion the  secular  and  religious  instruction  to  the 
children  of  the  congregagtion  is  given  by  a 
parochial  teacher.  Mr.  Wolf  was  ordained  a 
minister  of  the  Evangelical  Church  May  21, 
1877,  at  Peotone,  Illinois,  by  Rev.  Win.  Boer- 


A.  P.  ANDERSEN. 


697 


ner,  assisted  by  Rev.  G.  D.  Wobus  and  Rev.  H. 
Stamer.  He  became  a  member  of  the  German 
Evangelical  Synod  of  the  West  in  June,  1877, 
at  the  conference  of  the  Fifth  District  of  said 
synod,  held  at  Keokuk,  Iowa.  He  was  made 
secretary  of  this  district  in  1883  and  served  until 
1890,  when  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Nord 
Illinois,  district  of  said  synod,  in  which  capacity 
he  served  until  1894.  In  1885  he  also  was  called 
member  of  the  board  of  overseers  of  the  college 
at  Elmhurst,  Illinois,  he  which  he  served  as  sec- 
retary for  six  years  and  as  chairman  since  1892, 
which  position  he  still  occupies.  In  1886  the 
synod  elected  him  member  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors of  its  college  at  Elmhurst,  Illinois,  and 
its  Theological  Seminary  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
where  he  is  still  serving.  Anno  1882  H.  Wolf 
became  a  charter  member  and  secretary  of  the 
German  Evangelical  Colonization  Society  of  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  by  which,  in  1883,  a  large  German 
colony  at  New  Salem,  Morton  County,  North 
Dakota,  was  established,  which  is  now  in  a  pros, 
perous  condition.  In  the  year  1894  Rev.  Hein- 
rich  Wolf  with  others  organized  the  German 
Evangelical  Orphans'  and  Old  People's  Home  As- 
sociation of  North  Illinois.  He  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  said  association  and  chairman  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  Orphans'  and  Old  Peo- 
ple's Home  at  Bensenville,  Illinois,  which  was 
erected  and  dedicated  in  1895.  Since  that  time 
he  also  served  as  secretary  of  the  board  of  over- 
seers of  this  institution,  and  still  retains  the  above 
positions. 

Rev.  H.  Wolf  was  married  May  18,  1881,  to 
Miss  Louise  Wurtz,  daughter  of  Jakob  and  Sa- 
lome (Schoch)  Wurtz.  Mrs.  Wolf  was  born  No- 


vember 8,  1862,  on  the  homestead  farm  of  her 
parents  in  Town  Winfield,  near  Turner  Junction, 
Du  Page  County,  Illinois.  The  children  of  this 
union  are:  Theodor  Heinrich  M.  G.,  born  Oc- 
tober 13,  1882,  at  Niles  Center,  Illinois;  Adelheid 
Salome  M.,  born  Septembers,  1884,  died  October 
19,  1884;  Otto  Fr.  Paul,  born  September  15, 
1885;  Heinrich  Gustav  Adolph,  born  January  8, 
1888;  Alfred  Philipp  Adolph,  born  May  18,  1890, 
at  Town  Addison,  Du  Page  County,  Illinois;  Ru- 
dolph Edward  Daniel,  born  November  28,  1892; 
Reinhard  Wilhelm  Georg,  born  January  4,  1896; 
and  Hermann  Heinrich,  born  March  21,  1898. 

Rev.  Heinrich  Wolf,  as  his  biography  shows, 
has  been  a  man  of  industry  and  untiring  energy. 
From  the  date  of  his  entering  school  until  his 
graduation  he  was  constantly  busy  in  preparing 
himself  for  future  usefulness.  He  was  a  close 
student,  made  the  most  of  his  opportunities  and 
succeeded  in  whatever  he  undertook.  Since  his 
entrance  in  the  church  work  he  has  been  ever 
busy  in  ministering  to  the  needs  of  his  congrega- 
tion, striving  to  do  his  utmost  as  a  teacher,  in 
both  secular  and  religious  matters.  That  he  is  a 
man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  and  that  his 
efforts  have  been  crowned  with  more  than  or- 
dinary success,  is  made  evident  by  the  number 
and  importance  of  the  positions,  to  which  he  has 
been  called.  In  1879  he  made  application  for 
naturalization  at  the  court  of  Tazewell  Coun- 
ty, at  Pekin,  Illinois,  and  was  declared  citizen  of 
the  United  States  June  30,  1879.  As  he  regards 
the  Republican  party  as  the  one  through  which 
the  greatest  good  may  be  brought  to  the  people 
of  this  government  he  has  bent  his  energies  to 
the  promotion  of  the  policy  of  that  party. 


ANDREW  P.  ANDERSEN. 


Gl  NDREW  PETER  ANDERSEN  is  of  Swe- 
J  I  dish  parentage  and  birth.  His  parents 
/  |  were  natives  of  Sodermandlin,  where  he, 
too,  was  born,  January  31,  1853.  His  father, 


Andrew  Larson,  was  a  carpenter,  and  died  at  his 
birthplace  at  the  age  of  forty-two  years.  His 
mother,  Johanna,  survived  her  husband  many 
years,  passing  away  after  reaching  her  sixty- 


698 


W.  N.  STANLEY. 


sixth  year.  The  two  sons  and  three  daughters 
born  to  them  are  still  living,  Andrew  Peter  An- 
dersen being  the  eldest,  and  only  one  who  has 
sought  fortune  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He 
left  school  when  a  lad  of  twelve  to  become  an 
errand  boy,  and  worked  at  various  callings  in 
his  native  place  until  1880,  when  he  determined 
on  coming  to  America  and  to  Chicago. 

On  reaching  that  city,  not  being  a  skilled  me- 
chanic, he  found  it  necessary  to  accept  the  first 
employment  that  offered.  He  found  it  in  a  lum- 
ber yard,  where  he  worked  two  months.  After 
two  months  he  went  to  Iowa,  where,  for  a  short 
time,  he  worked  in  a  "  section  gang,"  on  a  rail- 
road. He  returned  to  Chicago,  and  from  there 
went  to  Arkansas,  but  again  gravitated  to  the 
.city  which  was  ultimately  to  be  his  home.  In 
1883  he  obtained  a  position  as  driver  of  a  milk 
wagon,  and  this  was  the  inception  of  his  present 
business,  he  opening  a  route  of  his  own  two 
years  later,  in  the  North  Division  of  the  city. 
For  seven  years  he  prospered,  through  industry, 
thrift  and  uprightness,  and  in  1890  he  bought 


the  site  of  his  present  home,  at  No.  1 1 1 1  West 
Fifty-ninth  street,  and  erected  a  building.  The 
same  success  attended  him.  He  added  No.  1113 
to  his  holdings,  and  at  present  runs  three  wagons 
and  does  a  remunerative  and  growing  business. 
For  such  men  there  is  no  such  word  as  fail. 

In.  1888  he  married  Miss  Eva. Louise  Johnson, 
a  native  of  Smoland,  Sweden,  where  she  was 
born  March  i,  1856.  Mrs.  Anderson  is  the  sec- 
ond child  of  John  Peter  and  Ulrica  Petersen. 
She  came  to  America  in  1881,  and  to  Chicago  in 
1883.  Four  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Andersen — Levi  Emanuel,  Edwin  Nathan- 
iel, David  Theodore  and  Alice  Elvira  Victoria. 
The  family  attends  the  Swedish  Mission  Church, 
of  which  the  parents  are  members,  and  in  which 
they  are  active  workers. 

Mr.  Andersen  has  received  no  outside  aid  in 
building  up  his  success.  On  reaching  Chicago 
he  had  but  forty-two  dollars.  All  that  he  has 
accumulated  since  he  owes  to  his  own  patient 
thrift.  Of  such  a  record  he  may  well  feel  very 
proud. 


WILLIAM  N.  STANLEY. 


(ILLIAM  NEWTH  STANLEY,  a  pioneer 

settler  of  Chicago,  and  a  veteran  of  the 
Civil  war,  is  a  native  of  Purton,  Wiltshire, 
England.  He  was  born  May  22,  1842.  His 
parents  were  John  and  Jane  (Newth)  Stanley. 

May  i,  1852,  the  parents,  with  their  seven 
children,  embarked  at  Liverpool,  in  the  sailing 
ship  '  'Western  World, ' '  then  said  to  be  the  largest 
vessel  afloat,  and  after  a  voyage  of  about  six 
weeks,  landed  at  New  York.  From  there  they 
came  direct  to  Chicago,  which  they  reached 
July  12. 

John  Stanley  was  successful  in  business  and 
accumulated  considerable  property.  He  was  en- 


gaged in  the  marketing  of  meat  and  vegetables 
until  about  1875.  He  then  retired  from  business 
and,  owing  to  his  wife's  poor  health,  went  to 
Europe,  spending  the  summer  of  1873  abroad. 
The  next  spring  they  went  to  Colorado  Springs, 
where  Mrs.  Stanley  died  in  1877.  Mr.  Stanley 
survived  his  wife  about  sixteen  years,  and  died 
in  Florida  about  1893.  The  following  named 
children  were  born  to  this  couple:  John,  now  de- 
ceased, William  N.,  James,  Lucy,  wife  of  O.  P. 
Hopkins,  of  Colorado  Springs;  Giles  A.,  of  Chi- 
cago; Robert  V.,  of  Chicago;  Nellie,  wife  of  a 
Mr.  Jones,  of  Colorado  Springs,  and  one  other 
who  died  in  childhood. 


JOHN  GLAMBECK. 


699 


William  N.  Stanley  was  educated  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Chicago,  and  later  learned  the  trade 
of  butcher.  He  was  engaged  in  business  for  him- 
self on  the  West  Side  when  the  Civil  War  broke 
out,  and  sold  out  his  business  to  enlist  in  the 
army,  in  June,  1861.  He  became  a  member  of 
Company  D,  Sixty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry.  The  term  of  enlistment  was  for  three 
months,  but  Mr.  Stanley  served  about  four 
months,  when,  owing  to  sickness,  he  was  unable 
to  re-enlist.  Returning  to  Chicago  he  resumed 
business,  which  he  carried  on  successfully  about 
twenty  years.  From  the  profits  of  trade  he  took 
money  to  invest  in  real  estate  and  through  the 
increase  in  value  thereof  became  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial men  of  the  West  Side.  It  is  now  nearly 
twenty  years  since  he  went  out  of  business.  In 
his  long  business  career  he  always  fulfilled  faith- 
fully every  obligation.  During  this  period  of 
leisure  he  has  devoted  a  large  portion  of  his  time 


to  travel,  although  closely  caring  for  his  property 
interests  in  different  states.  He  cast  his  first 
presidential  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1864, 
and  has  been  a  consistent  member  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  from  that  time  to  the  present.  Be- 
ginning with  the  year  1855  he  served  as  a  vol- 
unteer fireman  until  the  paid  department  was 
established.  During  this  period  he  saw  much 
arduous  service  and  had  some  very  narrow  escapes 
from  death. 

In  1867  he  married  Maria  L.  Bowman,  a  native 
ofOswego,  New  York,  and  daughter  of  William 
and  Maria  Bowman,  of  Scotch  nativity.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Stanley  are  the  parents  of  two  children: 
William  A.,  a  grocer  of  Chicago,  and  Emma,  wife 
of  John  E.  Dickinson,  of  Burlington,  Kansas. 
Two  children  John  and  Thomas, died  of  diphtheria 
in  1877,  aged  respectively  eight  and  four  and 
one-half  years.  In  religious  faith  the  parents  are 
Presbyterians. 


JOHN  GLAMBECK. 


(|OHN  GLAMBECK  is  the  eldest  of  seven 
I  children  of  Jorgen  and  Maren  (Hansen) 
O  Glatnbeck,  of  the  Island  of  Fuen,  Denmark. 
His  father,  who  served  in  the  Danish-German 
war  of  1864,  is  by  occupation  a  hand  loom  weav- 
er, and  both  his  parents  are  still  living  in  Den- 
mark. Indeed,  Mr.  Glambeck  is  the  only  mem- 
ber of  the  family  to  cross  the  water  to  the  New 
World. 

He  was  born  July  12,  1863,  and  until  his 
eighteenth  year  he  led  the  usual  uneventful  life 
of  the  Danish  youth  of  his  class.  After  leaving 
school  he  worked  on  a  farm,  and  in  1882  he  came 
to  America.  His  first  home  after  reaching  this 
country  was  at  Canton,  Ohio,  where  he  found 
employment  in  a  brick  yard  for  a  period  of  six 
months.  From  there  he  went  to  Saint  Croix 


County,  Wisconsin,  where  he  had  an  opportunity 
to  attend  school  in  the  winter.  The  following 
summer  he  went  still  further  west,  working  for 
some  months  in  Montana,  for  the  Northern  Pa- 
cific Railway  Company,  and  later  in  the  harvest 
fields  of  the  (then)  Dakota  Territory. 

Returning  to  Wisconsin,  he  bought  a  small 
farm  in  Saint  Croix  County,  and  again  began  at- 
tending school  during  the  winter  months,  when 
farm  work  was  practically  at  a  standstill.  After 
a  short  time,  however,  he  once  more  took  up 
work  on  a  railroad,  first  at  Knapp,  Wisconsin, 
and  later  at  Monticello,  Illinois.  From  the  lat- 
ter place  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  ever 
since  resided,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  months 
in  1888,  which  he  spent  in  his  native  land. 

His  first  employment  here  was  in   a  grocery 


yoo 


NIELS  CHRISTENSEN. 


store  at  the  corner  of  Cottage  Grove  Avenue  and 
Twenty-fifth  Street,  but  on  his  return  from  Den- 
mark he  engaged  in  the  sale  of  teas,  coffees  and 
similar  goods.  From  1894  t°  1896  he  was  again 
a  grocer's  clerk.  In  the  latter  year  he  became 
reporter  for  "Arbejderen,"  a  journal  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  Scandinavian  working  men,  and 
in  1897  was  chosen  its  editor.  He  held  this  po- 
sition some  eighteen  months,  when  he  again  em- 
barked in  business  as  dealer  in  teas  and  coffees. 
In  August,  1899,  he  again  became  editor  of  the 
same  journal,  now  published  at  No.  36  North 
Clark  Street,  Chicago.  He  resides  at  No.  6023 
Sangamon  Street. 

In  politics  Mr.  Glambeck  is  an  ardent  Socialist, 


having  taken  an  active  part  in  the  council  of  the 
Socialist  Labor  party  since  it  was  organized  in 
1886.  He  has  served  as  secretary  of  the  state 
committee  and  has  always  been  a  leader.  In 
1895  he  married  Miss  Katherine  Nielsen,  a  lady 
born  in  Denmark.  They  have  two  children,  Ag- 
nes and  George. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood 
and  of  the  Socialist  Labor  party.  He  organized 
the  first  Danish  branch  of  the  latter  society  in 
Chicago  in  1891.  In  fact  the  Chicago  branch 
was  the  first  Danish  branch  to  be  organized  in  the 
United  States.  For  the  first  six  months  he  was 
its  secretary.  He  is  now  president  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian Branch  No.  i. 


NIELS  CHRISTENSEN. 


PJ)IELS  CHRISTENSEN  was  born  at  Thy, 
|  /  Denmark,  December  n,  1863.  He  is  a  son 
|/9  of  Paul  Christensen,  a  master  blacksmith  of 
that  place,  and  who  is  still  living  there;  his  moth- 
er's maiden  name  was  Mattie  Nielsen.  Paul 
Christensen  served  as  a  private  soldier  in  the 
Danish-German  war,  and  is  a  popular  and  influ- 
ential man  in  his  native  village. 

Niels  is  the  first  of  four  children — two  sons  and 
two  daughters — all  of  whom  are  living.  He  and 
one  sister,  Johanna,  are  the  only  ones  living  in 
this  country.  Like  most  boys  of  his  class  in  his 
native  country  he  went  to  work  early.  Leaving 
school  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  was  ap- 
prenticed to  the  painter's  trade,  and  after  serving 
a  term  of  four  years  emigrated  to  the  United 
States.  This  was  in  1881,  when  he  was  a  mere 
youth  of  eighteen,  but  he  had  within  him  those 
traits  of  industry  and  perseverance  which  have 
characterized  his  later  years,  and  which  consti- 
tute the  elements  of  success. 


On  reaching  America  he  came  at  once  to  Chicago. 
He  experienced  no  difficulty  in  finding  work  at 
his  trade,  as  a  journeyman,  and  such  were  his 
energy  and  thrift  that  two  years  later  he  was  able 
to  open  a  shop  of  his  own.  His  business  steadily 
grew  until  he  employed  seven,  and  sometimes 
eight  men,  and  he  continued  to  conduct  it  five 
years.  In  1888  he  opened  a  store  for  the  sale  of 
general  hardware  in  the  same  block  where  his 
present  establishment  is  situated.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  erected  a  building  of  his  own  at 
No.  1223  Fifty-ninth  Street,  and  in  1891  another 
at  No.  1 149,  in  the  same  street,  which  he  still 
owns.  In  1895  he  built  his  present  store  on  the 
adjoining  premises,  Nos.  1145  and  1147.  He 
has  largely  increased  his  stock  of  hardware  and 
added  thereto  a  line  of  glassware,  china  and  house 
furnishing  goods. 

Mr.  Christensen  is  in  every  sense  a  self-made 
man.  Arriving  at  Chicago  with  a  capital  of  not 
more  than  thirty-seven  cents  he  has  risen,  step 


WILLIAM  SCHROEDER. 


701 


by  step,  through  his  own  unaided  exertions,  to 
the  possession  of  a  well  earned  competence,  and 
in  the  position  of  a  successful,  substantial  busi- 
ness man.  The  story  of  such  a  life  is,  in  itself,  a 
sermon. 

He  was  marrried  in  1886  to  Miss  Meba   Han- 


daughter  of  a  gallant  Danish  soldier,  who  was 
made  prisoner  by  the  Germans  during  the  war 
of  1864.  A  daughter,  Mamie,  was  born  to  them 
in  1888. 

Mr.  Christensen  is  a  member  of  John  Ericksen 
Lodge  No.  361,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Pel- 


sen,  born  in  Schleswig-Holstein,  in  1863,  and  the     lows. 


WILLIAM  SCHROEDER. 


fDQlLLIAM    SCHROEDER  for  a  period  of 

\  A  /  forty-seven  years  Mr.  Schroeder  has  been  a 
V  V  resident  of  Cook  County  and  during  a  great 
part  of  that  time  a  citizen  of.  Chicago.  It  is  in 
that  city  that  he  has  accumulated  a  competence, 
through  his  own  labor,  and  to  it  he  is  sincerely 
attached.  He  was  born  near  Grabow,  Mecklen- 
burg, Germany,  August  12,  1828.  He  and  his 
brother,  Henry  C.,  were  the  only  children  of 
Christian  and  Katharine  Schroeder,  and  are  mem- 
bers of  a  family  well  known  and  highly  respected 
in  the  Fatherland.  The  father,  who  was  a  farm- 
er, died  in  Germany,  in  1854,  and  the  mother, 
who  crossed  the  water  to  her  sons  the  following 
year,  passed  away  in  Chicago  in  1880. 

William  Schroeder  was  educated  at  the  parochi- 
al schools,  and  worked  on  a  farm  until  drafted  into 
the  German  army.  After  performing  military  ser- 
vice for  the  prescribed  period,  he  determined  to 
join  his  brother  Henry,  who  had  come  to  Chicago 
in  1851.  Accordingly,  in  1852,  he  took  passage 
from  Hamburg  to  New  York,  in  a  sailing  vessel, 
and  after  a  voyage  of  nine  weeks,  reached  his 
port  of  destination. 

He  pursued  his  journey  to  Chicago,  then  a  very 
different  place  from  the  metropolitan  city  of  to- 
day, and  first  found  employment  as  a  farm  hand 
for  a  Mr.  Talcott,  at  Desplaines.  After  eighteen 
months  he  returned  to  the  city  to  begin  work  for 


the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad  Company, 
now  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern,  with  which 
corporation  he  remained  eighteen  years,  or  until 
just  before  the  conflagration  of  1871.  By  that 
time,  through  industry  and  frugality,  he  had  ac 
quired  sufficient  means  to  enable  him  to  engage  in 
business  for  himself,  and  he  opened  a  grocery  at 
the  corner  -of  West  Chicago  Avenue  and  Noble 
Street.  Trade  prospered  with  him;  hard  work 
and  honesty  brought  their  reward;  and  in  1883 
he  sold  out  his  business  and  retired. 

While  not  in  any  sense  of  the  word  a  politician 
Mr.  Schroeder  is  a  strong  Republican  in  political 
faith,  having  cast  his  first  vote  for  Fremont  and 
having  been 'affiliated  with  that  party  ever  since. 
In  religious  belief  he  is  a  Lutheran.  He  is  a 
member  of  Robert  Blum  Lodge,  No.  58,  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  of  Germania  En- 
campment in  the  same  order. 

July  5,  1856,  he  married  Miss  Louise  Stier, 
who  is  like  himself  of  German  birth.  Their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  two  daughters, 
Louise  and  Carrie.  The  former  married  J.  C. 
Borgwardt  and  the  latter  is  the  wife  of  R.  O. 
Krueger.  Mrs.  Schroeder  entered  into  rest  Jan- 
uary 5,  1889,  and  her  grave  is  at  Waldheim  Ceme- 
tery. 

Mr.  Schroeder  has  passed  the  limit  of  three  score 
years  and  ten  allotted  by  the  Psalmist  as  the  span 


702 


ANTON  PAULSEN. 


of  human  life  and  is  spending  his  declining  years 
deprived  of  the  society  and  comfort  of  the  wife  of 
his  younger  days,  yet  he  can  look  back  upon  a 
life  well  spent — a  life  of  usefulness,  of  integrity 


and  of  success.  A  kind  and  generous  husband 
and  father  and  a  good  citizen,  he  has  furnished 
an  example  of  domestic  and  civic  virtue  well 
worthy  of  emulation. 


ANTON  PAULSEN. 


G|  NTON  PAULSEN  is  a  member  of  the  fra- 
LJ  ternity  of  blacksmiths,  his  trade  being  one 
/  )  which  developes  brawny  muscles  and  at  the 
same  time  enlarges  the  mental  perception.  The 
natural  tendency  of  men  and  women  is  to  rev- 
erence great  physical  strength;  yet  the  average 
member  of  the  community  utterly  fails  to  com- 
prehend the  truism  that  the  perfect  man  is  not 
only  the  highest  type  of  animal  life,  but  that, 
linked  to  his  immense  muscular  power,  govern- 
ing and  controlling  it,  is  a  well  disciplined  mind 
and  a  tender  heart.  Poets  have  made  the  black- 
smith the  subject  of  their  song,  and  artists  have 
delighted  to  depict  him  on  their  canvas. 

Mr.  Paulsen,  in  his  own  person,  presents  one 
of  the  highest  types  of  his  honorable  craft.  He 
is  still  a  young  man,  in  the  prime  of  his  early 
manhood,  yet  he  has  already  accomplished  much, 
while  the  future  holds  out  bright  promise  of 
future  achievement.  He  was  born  in  Jutland, 
Denmark,  May  17,  1872.  His  father,  Paul 
Paulsen,  was  a  man  who  walked  in  a  humble 
path.  He  was  a  laborer  by  occupation,  but 
straightforward  and  conscientious.  He  still  lives 
in  Denmark,  as  does  also  his  wife,  Johanna  Soren- 
sen.  They  are  the  parents  of  four  children,  two 
of  whom  they  mourn  as  dead.  Anton  is  the  third, 
and  the  only  one  who  has  made  his  home  in  the 
New  World. 

Like  most  Danish  youths  of   his  class,  it  was 


considered  necessary  that  he  should  learn  a  trade, 
and  after  leaving  school,  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  blacksmith.  Four 
years  elapsed  before  he  was  admitted  to  the  ranks 
of  the  journeymen,  and  in  1892,  his  trade  ac- 
quired, he  set  sail  for  New  York.  His  first  halt- 
ing place  on  American  soil  was  Newburgh,  New 
York.  From  there  he  proceeded  to  Quincy,  Illi- 
nois, where  he  worked  at  his  trade  some  three 
years.  He  spent  a  short  time  at  St.  Louis,  and 
in  1895  came  to  Chicago. 

His  first  year  here  was  spent  as  a  journeyman, 
working  for  daily  wages,  but  at  the  expiration  of 
that  period  he  found  himself  able  to  begin  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account.  His  patient  industry 
and  judicious  economy  had  borne  their  legitimate 
fruit.  His  first  shop  was  located  at  the  corner 
of  State  and  Thirty-eighth  Streets.  He  makes  a 
specialty  of  horseshoeing,  although  doing  all 
descriptions  of  smithy  work  as  well.  He  is  well 
known  and  universally  respected  in  the  locality 
where  he  lives,  and  has  built  up  a  remunerative 
business. 

Mr.  Paulsen  has  been  a  member  of  the  Wal- 
halla  Society  for  two  years,  and  has  shown  con- 
siderable interest  in  promoting  its  growth  and 
welfare.  In  1897  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Margaret  Braateu,  a  young  lady  born  in  Nor- 
way. Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  one 
daughter,  Johanna. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 
DIVERSITY  OF  ILLI' 


DR.  THEODORE  NIELSEN 


THEODORE  NIELSEN. 


703 


THEODORE  NIELSEN. 


'HEODORE  NIELSEN,  M.  D.,  resides  at 

No.  395  West  Chicago  Avenue,  and  is  well 
known  and  highly  esteemed  among  the 
Danish  people  of  Chicago.  His  father  is  Rev. 
A.  S.  Nielsen,  who  is  a  native  of  Denmark  and 
was  for  many  years  pastor  of  the  oldest  Danish 
Lutheran  Church  in  Chicago.  This  venerable 
divine  is  still  living,  his  home  being  in  Wiscon- 
sin. Two  years  ago  he  was  honored  by  being 
given  the  title  of  Knight  of  the  White  Cross,  by 
the  present  king — Christian — of  Denmark.  Dr. 
Nielsen's  mother,  who  is  still  living,  was,  before 
marriage,  Johanna  Paulsen.  They  were  the 
parents  of  eight  children,  the  doctor  being  the 
second  in  order  of  birth. 

Dr.  Theodore  Nielsen  was  born  at  Saby,  Den- 
mark, April  3,  1863.  He  began  attending  school 
in  his  native  country,  but  his  parents  came  to 
America  when  he  was  but  eight  years  old.  The 
family  first  settled  at  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  where 
young  Theodore  passed  through  public  schools, 
subsequently  attending  the  Iowa  State  Normal 
School.  In  1881  he  accompanied  his  parents  to 
Chicago  and  began  the  study  of  medicine,  to 
which  he  devoted  himself  for  three  years.  He 
next  matriculated  at  the  Chicago  Medical  College, 
and  after  taking  a  course  of  four  years  at  that 
institution,  graduated.  Since  then  he  has  been 
in  active  practice,  although  for  a  period  of  nine 
years  he  also  conducted  a  drug  store  in  partner- 
ship with  his  brother.  He  is  a  member  of  the 


Chicago  Medical  Society  and  of  the  Illinois  State 
Medical  Association. 

In  1885  he  became  the  husband  of  Miss  Anne 
Jensen,  a  young  lady  born  in  Chicago,  but  of 
Danish  parentage.  Mrs.  Nielsen's  parents  may 
be  reckoned  among  the  city's  early  settlers,  hav- 
ing settled  here  before  the  holocaust  of  1 87 1 .  Dr. 
Nielsen's  marriage  has  been  blessed  with  three 
children,  of  whom  one,  Ethel,  died  at  the  age  of 
six  years.  Those  surviving,  Theodore  and 
Esther,  are  aged,  respectively,  nine  and  six  years. 

The  doctor  is  a  member  of  various  benevolent 
and  fraternal  organizations — the  Society  Dania, 
the  singing  society  "Harmonica,"  the  Danish 
Brotherhood,  Danish  Young  People's  Association 
of  Chicago  and  the  United  Danish  Brotherhood. 
Of  some  of  these  societies,  which  embrace  the 
feature  of  insurance,  he  is  the  examining  physi- 
cian. As  a  musician  and  amateur  actor  he  has 
attained  no  little  reputation  in  Danish  circles, 
where  his  ability  as  a  delineator,  elocutionist  and 
musician  is  highly  esteemed.  He  is  at  the  head 
of  a  dramatic  and  musical  association  of  which  he 
is  the  organizer.  He  is  also  a  constant  contrib- 
utor to  the  Scandinavian  press,  among  whose 
patrons  his  articles  are  always  eagerly  read. 

He  has  also  associated  with  himself,  in  profes- 
sional life,  his  old  friend,  Dr.  J.  A.  Hinrichsen, 
who  attends  to  the  outside  practice  of  the  firm, 
Dr.  Neilsen  chiefly  confining  himself  to  office 
work. 


704 


C.  F.  SORENSEN. 


CHARLES  F.  SORENSEN. 


CJHARLES  F.  SORENSEN.  Born  in  the 
1 1  southern  part  of  Sj aland,  Denmark,  Novetn- 
V.J  ber  3,  1862,  Mr.  Sorensen  came  to  the 
United  States  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  has 
been  a  resident  of  Chicago  for  twenty  years.  His 
parents  were  both  natives  of  the  same  place, 
where  they  died,  his  father  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four  and  his  mother  at  eighty-two.  His  father, 
Paul  Nielsen  Pohl,  was  a  prominent  architect  and 
contractor,  well  known  and  highly  esteemed  in 
that  part  of  Denmark  where  he  conducted  a  suc- 
cessful business.  His  mother  was  Bodil  Sorens- 
datter.  She  bore  to  her  husband  three  children, 
of  whom  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  third, 
the  elder  two  being  Carl  and  Christine  Nielsen, 
who  still  reside  in  the  country  of  their  birth. 

Mr.  Sorensen  attended  the  common  and  high 
schools  of  his  native  place,  graduating  from  the 
latter  in  1878  with  a  fair  knowledge  of  both  Ger- 
man and  English,  in  addition  to  the  training 
which  he  had  received  in  other  branches.  After 
leaving  school  he  spent  a  year  in  Sweden,  where 
he  was  employed  by  a  brick  mason,  and  in  1879 
sailed  for  America,  coming  at  once  to  this  city. 

His  first  venture  was  to  purchase  an  interest 
in  an  ice  business  at  the  corner  of  Lake  Street  and 
Forty-eighth  Avenue.  Eighteen  months  later  he 
embarked  in  the  stationery  trade  on  West  Indiana 
Street,  where  he  continued  for  three  years,  when 
he  disposed  of  his  store  and  for  a  time  worked  at 


bricklaying.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before 
he  began  making  contracts  on  his  own  account, 
and  after  four  years  of  that  work  he  opened  an 
architect's  office.  In  this  profession  he  has  since 
continued,  having  attained  a  large  measure  of 
success. 

Mr.  Sorensen  had  learned  the  art  of  a  drafts- 
man at  the  high  school  in  Denmark,  and  when 
but  sixteen  years  old  had  been  awarded  a  diploma 
for  a  proficiency  which  he  owed  in  great  measure 
to  his  natural  aptitude.  He  has  erected  some 
three  hundred  buildings  in  this  city,  including 
stores,  residences  and  churches,  and  has  at  times 
employed  a  large  force  of  men.  Among  some  of 
the  handsome  structures  of  which  he  has  been  the 
designer  may  be  named  the  following:  Gustave 
A.  Mueller's  residence,  No.  719  Pine  Grove  Ave- 
nue, Norwegian  Lutheran  Church,  at  the  corner 
of  Artesian  and  Potomac  Avenues,  the  Stockholm 
Hotel,  No.  56  East  Chicago  Avenue, a  fine  three- 
story  building  on  Maplewood  Avenue,  near 
Potomac,  and  an  apartment  house  at  the  corner 
of  Oakley  and  Potomac  Avenues. 

In  1886,  at  Chicago,  Mr.  Sorensen  was  mar- 
ried to  a  Danish  lady,  Miss  Leontine  Ohlin,  who 
came  to  America  at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  Of 
the  four  children  born  to  them  two  are  still  living, 
Carl  and  Lillie. 

He  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Second  Regi- 
ment, Illinois  National  Guard,  in  1886  and 


E.  L.  TAUBERT.— CHRIST  HANSEN. 


7°5 


served  three  years,  being  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  sergeant.  He  is  a  member  of  Covenant  Lodge 
No.  526,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  of  Nor- 


den  Lodge  No.  699,  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  In  the  last-named  lodge  he  has  held 
all  the  offices,  and  is  at  present  secretary. 


EDWARD  L.  TAUBERT. 


|~~DWARD  LAWRENCE  TAUBERT  is 
1^  prominent  among  the  younger  citizens  of 
L_  Chicago  who  by  their  own  efforts  alone 
have  been  able  to  make  a  showing  in  the  vast 
and  motley  people  of  this  city.  He  was  born 
April  12,  1870,  at  No.  518  Sedgwick  Street,  and 
has  lived  nearly  all  his  days  inside  the  great 
metropolis  of  the  West.  His  parents  were  Con- 
rad and  Mary  (Muther)  Taubert,  who  are  men- 
tioned elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

Edward  Lawrence  Taubert  attended  the  La 
Salle  public  school  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  when  he  began  to  learn  the  wood 
carver's  business.  For  five  years  he  remained  in 
this  capacity  with  Burnlike  &  Wick,  on  Division 
Street.  He  changed  to  the  service  of  the  Chi- 
cago Fringe  Works,  on  the  corner  ofQuincy 
Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  where  .he  continued 


three  years.  For  the  past  nine  years  he  has  been 
employed  in  the  interest  of  E.  L.  Mansure  & 
Company,  at  No.  45  Randolph  Street.  He  is  a 
valued  and  honored  employe  and  is  devoted  to  his 
occupation. 

September  14,  1892,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Jennie  Schwartz,  a  daughter  of  Martin  Schwartz, 
They  became  the  parents  of  two  children,  Walter 
John,  born  August  26,  1895,  an(^  Edmund 
George,  born  November  26,  1897.  Mr.  Taubert 
is  enterprising  and  independent  of  character, 
thoughtful  of  the  rights  of  others,  but  ready  to 
defend  his  own.  He  will  succeed  as  only  those, 
of  his  calibre  can  succeed,  and  will  not  be  afraid, 
at  any  time  of  his  life,  to  be  reminded  of  his  past. 
His  influence  is  for  good  and  his  mind  is  strong 
and  pure.  He  is  a  kind  and  loving  husband, 
and  true,  stanch  friend. 


CHRIST  HANSEN. 


OHRIST  HANSEN,  the  son  of  Christian 
1 1  Christiansen  and  Maria  Hansen,  was  born 
\^J  at  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  December  22, 
1855.  Both  of  his  parents  were  natives  of  that 
country,  where  they  also  died.  Mr.  Hansen 
comes  of  stalwart  stock,  his  father  having  been  a 
laborer  and  attaining  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy- 


five  years.  The  subject  of  this  article  was  one  of 
a  family  of  ten  children,  of  whom  only  two  were 
sons,  he  himself  being  the  younger. 

His  childhood  and  youth  were  spent  at  Copen- 
hagen, where  he  attended  the  common  schools 
until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years, 
when  his  parents  deemed  it  best  for  him  to  turn 


706 


ANTON  CHRISTENSEN. 


his  attention  to  a  more  active  life.  Accordingly, 
when  he  was  fifteen  years  old  he  was  duly  ap- 
prenticed to  a  blacksmith  to  learn  that  laborious 
but  manly  trade.  After  serving  an  apprentice- 
ship of  four  years  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  in 
his  native  city  until  he  came  to  America  in  1893. 
On  reaching  this  country  he  came  at  once  to 
this  city,  which  has  since  been  his  home,  and 
where,  through  industry  and  thrift,  he  has  ac- 
quired a  competence.  For  two  years  after  his 
arrival  here  he  worked  by  the  day,  but  in  1895 
he  opened  a  shop  of  his  own  and  started  in  busi- 
ness for  himself  at  No.  1442  West  North  Avenue. 


There  he  remained  for  a  year,  when  he  removed 
to  Wabansia  Avenue.  Two  years  later  he  es- 
tablished himself  at  No.  741  West  Chicago  Ave- 
nue, where  he  now  conducts  the  manufacture  of 
carriages,  wagons  and  trucks,  besides  carrying 
on  an  extensive  repairing  and  general  black- 
smithing  business. 

He  was  married  in  Denmark  to  Miss  Alma 
Hansen,  who,  like  himself,  is  of  Danish  birth. 
They  have  one  daughter,  Maria,  who  lives  at 
home.  Mr.  Hansen  is  a  member  of  the  order  of 
the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  He  subscribes  to 
the  faith  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 


ANTON  CHRISTENSEN. 


Gl  NTON  CHRISTENSEN,  one  of  the  most 
I  I  popular  citizens  and  business  men  of  the 
/  I  Seventeenth  Ward  of  Chicago,  was  born  in 
the  kingdom  of  Denmark,  September  27,  1862. 
He  spent  his  boyhood  in  his  native  place  and 
attended  the  common  schools  until  he  reached 
the  age  of  fourteen  years.  After  that  time  he 
supported  himself,  apprenticing  himself  to  a 
cabinet-maker.  He  mastered  the  trade  in  four 
years,  and  then  traveled  as  a  journeyman  in 
Denmark  and  Germany.  At  the  age  of  twenty 
years  he  left  Europe  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
new  world,  going  first  to  Liverpool,  England, 
whence  he  embarked  for  the  island  of  Cuba.  He 
remained  there  but  two  months  and  then  crossed 
to  New  Orleans,  where  he  found  work  at  his 
trade  for  some  months. 

In  1883  he  decided  he  would  be  more  at  home 
in  the  temperate  climate  of  the  North,  and  accord- 
ingly located  in  Chicago.  For  three  years  he 
worked  in  the  factory  of  the  Chicago  Desk  Manu- 
facturing Company,  saving  as  much  as  possible 
of  his  earnings.  He  then  engaged  in  the  milk 
business,  and  soon  built  up  a  good  retail  trade, 


later  opening  a  wholesale  depot  also.  In  1894 
he  disposed  of  this  business,  which,  however,  had 
proved  very  lucrative.  His  genial  manners  and 
fair  dealing  had  won  him  many  friends  among  all 
classes,  and  he  concluded  that  he  would  be 
equally  successful  in  some  other  line  of  business. 
He  therefore  opened  the  Royal  Hotel,  with  sample 
room  and  restaurant,  at  No.  341  Milwaukee 
Avenue.  In  this  business  he  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful, and  in  supplying  the  wants  of  his  many 
patrons  he  finds  his  greatest  satisfaction.  His 
largely  increasing  trade  shows  how  well  his  efforts 
have  been  received  and  proves  that  in  catering  to 
the  inner  wants  of  his  fellow-men  he  has  found 
his  proper  calling. 

Since  becoming  a  citizen  Mr.  Christensen  has 
taken  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs,  fulfilling 
his  duty  as  a  citizen  with  commendable  thorough- 
ness. He  has  always  supported  the  Democratic 
party  and  has  become  a  representative  man  of  his 
ward,  his  counsel  having  great  weight  whenever 
important  political  actions  are  under  considera- 
tion. He  is  an  influential  member  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Ward  Democratic  Club.  Coming  as  he 


MARTIN  LARSEN.— C.  H.  FENTON. 


707 


does  from  the  common  people  and  having  gained 
his  way  in  the  world  in  the  face  of  many  dif- 
ficulties, he  is  able  to  appreciate  their  feelings  on 
public  questions.  Mr.  Christensen  has  been  a 


member  of  Wicker  Park  Lodge  No.  81,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  of  the  Sing- 
ing Society  Harmonien.  He  was  married  in 
Chicago  in  1893. 


MARTIN  LARSEN. 


I ARTIN  LARSEN  was  born  in  Langland, 
Denmark,  April  5,  1845,  being  the  third  of 
a  family  of  four  children  born  to  Christ 
Larsen  and  his  wife.  Both  his  parents  are  de- 
ceased, his  father,  who  was  a  wagon-maker,  dying 
when  Martin  was  but  two  years  old. 

Until  he  reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  he 
attended  the  common  schools,  on  leaving  which 
he  worked  five  years  in  a  grocery,  receiving  by 
way  of  remuneration  therefor  nothing  save  his 
board  and  clothes.  After  serving  his  apprentice- 
ship he  was  made  a  clerk,  and  filled  that  position 
until  he  came  to  America  in  1872.  Chicago  was 
his  objective  point,  but  he  did  not  long  remain 
here.  Going  to  the  northern  peninsula  of  Michi- 
gan, he  obtained  work  in  the  iron  mills  in  that 
section,  but  returned  to  this  city  in  about  a  year. 
For  the  next  two  years  he  worked  at  any  sort  of 
honest  toil  that  came  to  hand,  and  then  embarked 
in  the  milk  business,  establishing  himself  on  Erie 
Street.  In  this  pursuit  he  continued  some  seven- 


teen years,  when  he  opened  a  grocery  store. 
After  changing  location  several  times,  in  1893  he 
erected  a  three-story  brick  building,  containing 
a  store  and  flats,  at  No.  745  North  Tallman 
Avenue  and  removed  his  business  to  that  point, 
where  he  has  since  remained,  commanding  a 
remunerative  trade  and  enjoying  the  respect  of 
his  neighbors  and  customers. 

Mr.  Larsen  has  been  twice  married.  His  first 
wife,  Mary  Nielsen,  to  whom  he  was  united  in 
August,  1879,  died  some  three  years  after  mar- 
riage. Subsequently  he  married  Miss  Matilda 
Petersen,  a  native  of  Norway.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Larsen  have  eight  children,  Josie,  Louis,  Francis, 
Mary,  Lillie,  Fred,  Alma  and  James,  all  of  whom 
live  at  home. 

Mr.  Larsen  is  a  member  of  the  Society  Dania 
and  was  at  one  time  its  president;  of  the  Danish 
Brotherhood,  of  which,  also,  he  has  been  chief 
executive  officer,  and  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat. 


CHARLES  H.  FENTON. 


HARLES  HENRY  FENTON,  who  is  truly  sponsible  position  of  foreman  in  its  tin  depart - 

a  well-established  citizen  of  Chicago,  is  a  ment.     He  was  born  June  7,  1857,  on  Twenty- 

valued  and  respected  employe  of  the  firm  of  third  Street,  between  South   Park  and  Calumet 

N.  K.  Fairbank  &  Company,  occupying  the  re-  Avenues.     His   parents   were    Henry   and  Ann 


7o8 


H.  J.  P.  GEBERT. 


(Rudd)Fenton,  natives  of  Kent  County,  England. 
Henry  Fenton  met  a  sad  death,  being  thrown  from 
his  wagon  and  killed,  his  neck  being  broken. 

Until  seventeen  years  of  age  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  attended  school,  after  which  time  he  was 
with  Keith  Brothers  three  years,  being  subse- 
quently for  the  same  length  of  time  with  Field  & 
Leiter.  He  returned  to  the  service  of  Keith 
Brothers,  and  spent  a  like  period  in  the  employ 
of  that  concern.  During  the  past  fourteen  years 
he  has  been  identified  with  N.  K.  Fairbank  & 
Company,  rising  from  under-foreman  to  the  posi- 
tion he  now  occupies.  The  length  of  time  his 
services  have  been  retained  by  the  concern  proves 


the  fact  that  he  is  esteemed  above  the  average, 
and  his  ambition  and  stability  of  purpose  are  to 
be  admired. 

May  15, 1889,  he  married  Miss  Mary,  daughter 
of  Henry  Burmeister.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fenton  are 
the  parents  of  one  child,  Harold,  born  Septem- 
ber 2,  1891.  Mrs.  Henry  Fenton,  mother  of  the 
man  whose  name  heads  this  article,  resides  at 
No.  4615  Arnold  Avenue.  She,  with  her  hus- 
band, were  descended  from  a  long  line  of  Prot- 
estants, Charles  H.  Fenton  being  true  to  the 
teachings  of  his  fathers.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias. 


HENRY  J.  P.  GEBERT. 


HENRY  JOHN  PETER  GEBERT,  who  was 
at  one  time  one  of  the  prominent  and  valued 
citizens  of  the  community  where  he  resided, 
was  born  October  3,   1834,  in  Germany.      His 
parents  were    George  and  Dorothea   (Rohlke) 
Gebert,  and  he  passed  away,  peacefully,  April  2, 
1895,  mourned  by  his  family  and  friends,  and  all 
who  were  acquainted  with  his  generous,  manly 
nature. 

Mr.  Gebert  came  to  America  in  1857,  an(i 
having  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  was  em- 
ployed in  this  capacity  by  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company.  He  was  married  June  18, 
1865,  to  Miss  Fredericka  Carolina  Lozette,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Lena  (Tilke)  Steinberg.  He 
continued  in  the  interests  of  the  same  concern 
thirty  years,  proving  the  stability  and  persever- 
ance of  his  character  and  the  fine  opinion  of  those 
who  employed  him.  For  a  period  of  one  year  he 
conducted  a  grocery  store  at  No.  4735  State 
Street,  in  1875.  He  then  returned  to  his  former 
position,  with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, until  1893.  He  was  enabled,  in  1865,  to 


erect  a  residence  at  No.  2952  South  Park  Avenue, 
and  for  ten  years  he  lived  at  No.  4735  State 
Street,  where  he  built  a  house  in  1875. 

John  Steinberg  died  in  1870,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-five  years,  never  emigrating  from  his  na- 
tive land.  His  wife  died  in  1894,  aged  eighty- 
six  years.  She  came  to  America  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  in  1874.  Mr.  Steinberg  was  mar- 
ried twice,  and  by  his  first  wife  became  the  father 
of  the  following  children:  Mary,  Sophia,  Dora, 
Louisa  and  John.  The  second  Mrs.  Steinberg  was 
the  mother  of  the  following  children:  a  son  who 
died  in  infancy;  Louisa,  Minnie,  Lena,  Elizabeth, 
Joseph,  Frederick,  Fredericka,  Peter,  Mary, 
Seek  and  Lizetta. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gebert  were  blessed  with  eight 
children.  Frank  Charles  Frederick,  born  Jan- 
uary 9,  1866,  is  mentioned  further  on  another 
page  of  this  work;  Ida  Mary  Sophie,  born  August 
14,  1867,  married  Henry  Crone,  March  6,  1889, 
and  their  only  child,  Earl  Henty,  was  born  Jan- 
uary 5,  1891.  Henry  George  Frederick,  born 
October  2,  1869,  is  married  and  resides  at  No. 


F.  C.  F.  GEBERT.—  V.  F.  ROFINOT. 


709 


1531  Wabash  Avenue.  William  Charles  Fred- 
erick, born  December  18,  1871,  is  a  fireman  and 
resides  at  home.  Clara  Mary  Augusta,  born 
March  20,  1873,  is  employed  at  Marshall  Field 
&  Company's  store  and  resides  at  home.  Anna 
Augusta,  born  February  27,  1875,  is  a  book- 
keeper with  Smith  Brothers.  Matie  M.  Fred- 
ericka,  born  February  22,  1877,  is  a  dressmaker. 


Edward  George  Frederick,  born  November  22, 
1 880,  resides  with  his  widowed  mother. 

Mr.  Gebert  was  a  Republican,  and  a  member 
of  the  Sons  of  Hermann.  He  was  connected  with 
the  German  Evangelical  Church  and  was  ever  to 
be  found  on  the  side  of  right.  He  was  beloved 
and  honored,  and  his  memory  will  not  fail  to  live 
in  the  hearts  of  men. 


FRANK  C    F.  GEBERT. 


r~RANK  CHARLES  FREDERICK  GEBERT, 
r3  who  is  one  of  Chicago's  representative  citi- 
|  '  zens,  comes  of  a  well-known  and  honored 
family.  He  was  born  January  9,  1866,  in  Chi- 
cago, and  is  a  son  of  Henry  and  Fredericka 
(Steinberg)  Gebert,  who  are  mentioned  at  length 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  He  attended  school  at 
the  corner  of  Dearborn  and  Forty-seventh  Streets, 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  twelve  years. 

He  was  subsequently  employed  by  the  Wilson 
Sewing  Machine  Company  one  year,  after  which 
he  was  in  the  service  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,  at  the  Twenty-sixth  Street  shops, 
four  years.  He  was  at  the  shops  of  the  same 
company  at  Sixteenth  Street  two  years,  and  then 
spent  two  years  with  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 


and  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  Since  1889  he 
has  been  a  conductor  on  the  Chicago  City  Rail- 
way, and  his  services  are  highly  valued  by  his 
employers. 

Mr.  Gebert  was  married,  November  12,  1891, 
to  Miss  Mary  Theresa,  daughter  of  William  and 
Mary  (Hasemeyer)  Schultz.  Mrs.  Gebert  was 
born  at  Monee,  Illinois,  May  17,  1866,  and  came 
to  Chicago  about  the  year  1884.  Her  two  chil- 
dren  are  Margure  Josephine,  born  January  19, 
1894,  and  Fern  Hermann,  born  April  19,  1899. 
Mr.  Gebert  is  independent  in  political  views,  pre- 
ferring to  vote  for  the  man  best  fitted  for  office, 
rather  than  for  party.  He  is  a  consistent  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  his  influ- 
ence is  ever  used  in  favor  of  the  right. 


VICTOR  F.  ROFINOT. 


PJlCTOR  FRANCIS  ROFINOT,  who  comes 
\  /  of  an  old  and  highly  respected  family,  is  in 
V  the  employ  of  the  fire  department  of  the 
city  of  Chicago.  He  was  born  August  28,  1848, 
on  Clark  Street,  between  Washington  and  Madi- 


son Streets,  near  Board  of  Trade  Alley.  For 
biographical  mention  of  his  father's  family,  please 
refer  to  the  sketch  of  Peter  F.  Rofinot  in  this 
volume. 

Mr.  Rofinot  was  born  and  bred  in  the  city  of 


7io 


MATTHIAS  BISCHLER. 


Chicago,  and  is  a  true  and  loyal  citizen.  He  at- 
tended the  Jones  school  and  later  the  Hosier 
school.  At  the  end  of  his  school  life  he  entered 
the  sash,  door  and  blind  factory  of  Herman  Hand, 
located  on  Clinton  Street,  near  Randolph  Street. 
Two  years  afterward  he  was  employed  by  F.  W. 
Harvey,  at  his  mill  on  Beach  Street,  eighteen 
months.  For  two  years  he  was  at  Frazee's 
mill,  at  the  corner  of  Fisk  and  Twenty-second 
Streets;  the  same  length  of  time  with  Palmer  & 
Fuller,  corner  of  Union  and  Twenty-second  Streets ; 
and  three  years  under  his  father,  who  was  con- 
tractor for  building  pavements.  He  went  to 
Hayes  City,  Kansas,  and  spent  six  months  with 
Rogers  &  Jenjins  Colonizing  Company. 

On  his  return  to  Chicago  he  drove  a  team  for 
Owen  W.  Guthrie  one  year,  and  June  2,  1876, 
he  became  a  fireman  in  the  service  of  the  city. 
He  was  first  given  charge  of  Engine  No.  10,  but 
after  little  less  than  a  week  was  placed  on  No. 
17,  in  which  capacity  he  remained  one  year.  He 
was  given  No.  i,  which  he  held  five  years,  and 
No.  4  he  had  one  year  less.  He  left  the  fire 
department  to  again  interest  himself  in  his  father's 


business,  and  was  in  his  father's  paint  store,  at 
No.  2215  Archer  Avenue,  two  years.  He  pur- 
chased the  business  and  conducted  it  successfully 
five  years.  He  returned  to  the  fire  department 
November  28,  1893,  and  was  given  charge  of 
Engine  No.  73,  which  he  retained  until  July  25, 
1896.  He  has  since  that  time  been  in  charge  of 
No.  63. 

Next  to  a  man's  common  sense  and  strength  of 
character,  which  establish  his  moral  state,  is  the 
influence  of  a  good  woman  for  a  life  partner. 
Mr.  Rofinot  was  married,  November  28,  1870,  to 
Miss  Emma  Frances  Bennett,  a  daughter  of  Ben- 
jamin and  Susan  Marinda  (Luce)  Bennett.  Mrs. 
Rofinot  was  born  November  28,  1851,  in  Ver- 
mont. Her  mother  resides  in  the  city  at  No. 
6354  Langley  Avenue. 

Mr.  aud  Mrs.  Rofinot  have  been  blessed  with 
three  children:  Emma  Marinda,  born  June  30, 
1872;  Eugene  Gertrude,  February  14,  1874,  who 
died  February  5,  1896;  and  Victor  Elwin,  born 
July  14,  1876.  Mr.  Rofinot  was  reared  a  Roman 
Catholic,  but  his  family  adhere  to  the  teachings 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


MATTHIAS  BISCHLER. 


IATTHIAS   BISCHLER,  a 

builder  in  the  vicinity  where  he  resides, 
was  born  July  12,  1846,  in  Trier,  Ger- 
many. His  parents  were  Theodore  and  Mar- 
garet (Oik)  Bischler,  and  they  immigrated  to 
America  with  their  family  of  nine  children,  ar- 
riving in  Chicago  June  2,  1864. 

Mr.  Bischler  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter, 
but  for  a  short  time  was  employed  in  a  tannery 
and  for  a  period  of  eighteen  months  worked  in  a 
wagon  factory.  He  then  resumed  his  trade  and 
was  in  the  service  of  Peter  Dester  seven  years. 
He  contracted  under  the  management  of  Theo- 


dore Weber,  subsequently  being  in  the  employ  of 
Adam  Boss  six  years.  He  was  eight  years  with 
Michael  Bender  and  two  years  with  John  Round- 
prentice.  He  is  at  the  present  time  occupied  in 
the  interest  of  Herbert  Trimiller.  He  acted  as 
foreman  with  nearly  all  his  employers,  and  is  re- 
garded as  a  very  competent  man  to  have  in 
authority. 

December  7,  1875,  Mr.  Bischler  was  married 
to  Margaret  Kotz,  who  was  born  July  16,  1858. 
Her  father  was  Bartholomew  Kotz,  who  died  Au- 
gust 8,  1879,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years.  His 
wife  was  born  October  2,  1827,  and  they  were 


ALFRED  RASMUSSEN.— c.  R.  RASMUSSEN. 


711 


married  August  8,  1852.  Their  children  were 
five  in  number.  Margaret,born  September  3,1853, 
married  Matthew  Scheets,  and  her  children  were 
named:  Maggie,  Matthew  and  Joseph.  Of  Bern- 
hard,  the  next  in  order  of  birth,  extended  men- 
tion is  made  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  Michael, 
born  October  6,  1856,  died  July  5,  1876.  Mar- 
garet is  the  wife  of  the  man  whose  name  heads 
this  article.  Cecelia  died  at  the  age  of  three 


years.  Mrs.  Kotz  married  for  her  second  husband 
Christian  Baer,  in  June,  1881.  He  died  August 
28,  1889. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bischler  are  as 
follows:  Annie  Mary  Josephine,  born  March  8, 
1877;  William  Henry,  May  23,  1878;  John 
Bertram,  March  28,  1880;  Joseph,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  four  weeks;  Theodore,  born  March 
23,  1884. 


ALFRED  RASMUSSEN. 


<3|  LFRED  RASMUSSEN.  Born  in  Lolland, 
LJ  Denmark,  October  20,  1869,  Mr.  Rasmussen 
/  I  is  one  of  his  many  compatriots  who  have 
won  success  in  Chicago  through  industry,  hon- 
esty and  grit.  His  father,  Rasmus  Hansen,  was 
a  workman,  and  still  lives  in  his  native  land,  en- 
joying a  hale,  serene  old  age.  His  mother, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Maria  Niel,  is  also  liv- 
ing, to  minister  to  the  husband  of  her  youth. 
Nine  children  were  born  to  them,  all  of  whom 
are  still  living.  Alfred  was  the  fifth  in  order  of 
birth. 

Mr.  Rasmussen  attended  the  Danish  common 
schools  until  he  was  fourteen  and  after  leaving 
school  began  life  on  a  farm.  At  twenty  years  he 
tired  of  the  routine  life,  as  full  of  toil  as  it  was 


destitute  of  excitement,  and  determined  to  try 
life  in  Chicago,  where  numbers  of  his  country- 
men had  already  succeeded.  He  reached  this  city 
in  1889,  and  for  eight  years  worked  patiently 
and  faithfully  at  any  honest  labor  that  presented 
itself  to  him.  In  1897,  a  favorable  opportunity 
offering,  he  embarked  in  the  retail  wine  and 
liquor  business,  at  No.  2802  Milwaukee  Avenue, 
and  there  he  has  since  remained,  conducting  a 
prosperous  establishment. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Foresters,  Maplewood  Ix>dge  No.  71,  and  of  the 
Danish  Sharpshooters,  a  club  which  meets  on 
West  North  Avenue.  His  neighbors  hold  him 
in  regard,  and  his  prospects  of  advancement  are 
bright. 


CHRISTIAN  R.  RASMUSSEN. 


EHRISTIAN  REINERT  RASMUSSEN.  The 
late  C.  R.  Rasmussen  was  a  native  of  Nor- 
way,  having  been  born  near  Flekkefjord, 
April  5,  1840.     He  was  naturally  fond  of  study 


and  early  determined  to  become  an  instructor. 
Having  passed  through  the  grammar  and  higher 
grades  required  in  his  native  country,  he  was 
authorized  to  teach  when  he  reached  the  age  of 


712 


W.  C.  F.  PETERSEN. 


seventeen  years,  and  followed  this  calling  until 
lie  immigrated  to  America,  in  1864.  His  objec- 
tive point,  on  reaching  this  country,  was  Chicago, 
but  he  did  not  long  remain  here,  being  attracted 
by  the  copper  mines  in  the  Lake  Superior  region. 
He  did  not  remain  long,  however,  in  that  section, 
soon  returning  to  Chicago,  where  he  began  busi- 
ness as  a  builder  and  contractor. 

He  erected  many  buildings  in  various  parts  of 
the  city,  among  them  being  four  for  Martin  Olsen, 
at  the  corner  of  Potomac  and  Oakley  Avenues. 

Mr.  Rasmussen  had  an  extensive  acquaintance, 
not  only  in  Chicago,  but  also  throughout  the 
Northwest,  and  numbered  many  prominent  men 
among  his  friends.  Few  men  were  more  highly 
esteemed  by  those  who  knew  him.  Honesty  and 
fidelity  were  among  his  chief  characteristics  and 
his  word  was  known  to  be  as  good  as  his  bond. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Norwegian  Old  Set- 
tlers' Society,  in  which  he  cherished  a  deep 
interest,  and  in  whose  work  he  took  an  active 


part,  having  served  as  one  of  its  directors  and  as 
president.  In  politics  he  was  a  strong  Repub- 
lican, and  was  always  an  earnest  worker  for  the 
success  of  his  party. 

In  1886  Mr.  Rasmussen  revisited  the  land  of 
his  birth,  inspired  by  a  filial  desire  to  behold  once 
more  the  face  of  his  aged  mother,  who,  he  be- 
lieved, would  be  soon  called  home.  She  was 
then  seventy-six  years  of  age,  yet  to-day  that  old 
mother,  now  ninety  years  of  age,  mourns  the  loss 
of  her  son,  whom  she  still  survives.  Mr.  Ras- 
mussen's  trip  was  a  stormy  one,  and  during  the 
pitching  of  the  vessel  his  hip  was  fractured, 
although  he  finally  recovered  from  this  injury. 
He  died  January  19,  1898,  and  his  remains  were 
buried  at  Mount  Olivet  Cemetery. 

His  widow  and  six  children  survive  him.  Mrs. 
Rasmussen's  maiden  name  was  Caroline  C.  Gun- 
derson,  and  she  was  born  in  Norway,  not  far 
from  the  birthplace  of  her  husband,  on  Decem- 
ber 20,  1841. 


WILLIAM  C    F.  PETERSEN. 


ft)  GJlLLIAM  CHARLES  FREDERICK  PETERSEN 
\  A  I  is  well  known  among  the  residents  of  the 
y  Y  northwestern  portion  of  Chicago  as  the 
proprietor  of  the  establishment  at  No.  231  North 
Ashland  Avenue.  Although  scarcely  more  than 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  has  already  built  up 
a  prosperous  business  and  gained  an  enviable 
reputation. 

He  was  born  at  Lolland,  Denmark,  January 
31,  1871,  both  of  his  parents  being  of  Danish 
birth.  His  father,  Betel  Petersen,  was  a  hat 
maker,  and  died  in  the  village  where  he  was  born, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  years.  His  mother, 
whose  maiden  name  Mary  Petersdatter,  still  sur- 
vives and  is  yet  a  resident  of  the  Fatherland. 
The  subject  of  this  article  was  the  youngest  of 


seven  children,  all  but  one  of  whom  attained 
maturity. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  young  Petersen 
left  school;  and  after  two  years  spent  in  farming, 
he  came  to  the  United  States,  settling  in  Chicago. 
For  a  time  he  found  life  hard;  but  success  usually 
comes  to  the  man  who  patiently  waits,  refusing 
to  be  disheartened  by  temporary  disappointment, 
and  who  is  determined  to  "  know  no  such  word 
as  fail."  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  barber,  and 
followed  it  for  eight  years,  during  seven  years 
managing  his  own  shop  at  No.  226  North  Ash- 
land Avenue. 

In  1 897  he  resolved  to  embark  in  another  line 
of  business.  Accordingly,  he  added  to  his  barber 
establishment  by  buying  a  confectionery  at  No. 


E.  MEILSTRUP.— C.  A.  NIELSEN. 


363  Erie  Street,  which  he  operated  in  connection 
with  the  barber  shop.  In  July,  1898,  he  sold  out 
and  the  following  month  bought  his  present  busi- 
ness, at  No.  231  North  Ashland  Avenue. 

In  March,  1896,  Mr.  Petersen  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Fannie  Handrichsen,  whose 
birthplace  was  in  Denmark,  but  who  became  a 
resident  of  Chicago  in  1892.  One  son  has  been 
born  to  them,  and  named  Leo  Quincy. 


Mr.  Petersen  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  aud  is 
a  member  of  Denmark  Lodge  No.  112,  Knights 
of  Pythias.  It  is  such  resolute  perseverance  as 
his  that  has  brought  his  countrymen  into  so 
enviable  a  place  among  the  foreign-born  citizens 
of  the  great  northwest.  Coming  to  Chicago  a 
penniless*  boy,  he  has  been  the  architect  of  his 
own  fortunes,  which  he  has  reared  upon  an  en- 
during basis. 


EMIL  MEILSTRUP. 


IT  MEILSTRUP  is  well  known  and  highly 
1^  esteemed  among  the  younger  members  of 
L_  the  Danish  colony  in  Chicago.  He  is  yet 
in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  his  early  manhood, 
having  been  born  at  Copenhagen,  September  5, 
1869.  His  parents  were  Henry  Meilstrup  and 
Henrietta  Andersen,  both  native  Danes,  and  the 
parents  of  nine  children,  of  whom  the  subject  of 
this  brief  sketch  is  the  seventh  in  order  of  birth 
and  the  fourth  son.  His  father  was  a  prominent 
carpenter  and  contractor  at  Copenhagen,  where 
he  conducted  an  extensive  and  prosperous  busi- 
ness until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixty,  when  his 
labors  were  ended  by  death.  His  widow  sur- 
vived him  and  is  still  living  at  Copenhagen. 


Mr.  Meilstrup  left  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
and  for  five  years  thereafter  served  an  apprentice- 
ship at  the  trade  of  carpenter  and  cabinet-maker. 
For  some  two  years  he  worked  as  a  journeyman 
in  his  native  country,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1891,  settling  at  Chicago.  For  a  skil- 
ful workman,  such  as  he  was,  there  was  little 
difficulty  in  finding  employment  at  his  chosen 
trade,  and  he  has  followed  it,  in  this  city,  ever 
since.  For  the  past  year  (1898-99)  he  has  been 
connected  with  the  Western  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  Meilstrup  is  a  member  of  Denmark  Lodge 
No.  112,  Knights  of  Pythias,  in  which  he  holds 
office,  and  of  the  Knights  of  Honor  and  the 
Western  Benevolent  Association. 


C   A.  NIELSEN. 


EARL  AUGUST  NIELSEN,  whose  popular- 
ity among  his  fellow-citizens  of  Danish  birth 
and  descent  has  led  to  his  election  to  the 
presidency  of  the  Society  Dania,  resides  at  No. 


1022  North  Forty-first  Court.  His  birthplace  is 
Copenhagen,  his  parents  being  Peter  Nielsen  and 
Anna  Adrian.  His  father,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  fifty-eight  years,  was  a  contractor  on  the  little 


CLEMEN   MOLBO. 


island  of  Fyen,  off  the  Danish  coast.  The  elder 
Mrs.  Nielsen  is  still  living  in  the  old  country, 
her  hair  silvered  by  the  touch  of  seventy-six 
winters.  Of  their  six  children  two  attained  years 
of  maturity,  Carl  Nielsen  and  his  sister  Lydia, 
the  wife  of  Charles  L.  Wilde,  of  No.  1098  North 
Forty-second  Avenue.  Mr.  Wilde  is  a  brick 
layer  and  the  business  agent  of  the  Bricklayers' 
Union  and  president  of  the  Pleasure  Club, 
Haabel. 

Carl  A.  Nielsen  was  born  October  6,  1864,  and 
spent  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  in 
Denmark.  Leaving  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  he  first  served  an  apprenticeship  of  four 
years  at  the  book  binding  trade,  and  next  a  term 


of  one  year  in  the  Danish  army.  After  his  dis- 
charge from  military  service  he  worked  as  a 
journeyman  until  1889.  In  that  year  he  came  to 
Chicago,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided,  work- 
ing at  his  trade,  and  is  now  a  valued  employe  of 
Rand,  McNally  &  Company. 

He  was  married  shortly  before  leaving  his  na- 
tive country  to  Miss  Marline  Sorensen,  who  was 
also  born  and  educated  at  Copenhagen.  They 
have  one  son,  Harold,  born  in  Chicago  in  1893. 

Mr.  Nielsen  was  chosen  president  of  the  So- 
ciety Dania  in  the  year  1898,  after  having  served 
a  period  two  years  as  secretary  of  the  organiza- 
tion. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Bookbinders' 
Union. 


CLEMEN  MOLBO, 


ELEMEN   MOLBO   has  been   a   resident   of 
Chicago  since  August,  1880,  and  by  industry 
and  thrift  has  achieved  substantial  success. 
He  was  born  June  21,  1859,  at  Semso,  Denmark, 
and  is  the  youngest  of  the  four  children  of  Jergen 
Molbo,  a  bricklayer  and  stonecutter,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  eighty-one  years. 

As  a  boy  Clemen  attended  the  common  schools 
of  the  country  where  he  lived,  and  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  was  apprenticed  to  learn  the  horse  shoe- 
ing trade.  He  faithfully  served  his  term  of  five 
years,  as  required  by  the  Danish  usage,  and  at 
its  completion  received  a  certificate  of  competence 
from  the  authorities,  having  been  required  to 
undergo  a  theoretical  and  practical  examination 
as  to  his  capability.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  he  came  to  this  country,  alone  and  with  no 
capital  beyond  his  trade,  his  strength,  his  health 
and  his  manly  courage.  As  has  been  said  above, 
he  reached  this  city  in  August,  1880. 

The  first  work  that  he  secured  here  was  in 
assisting  in  running  an  elevator  in  the  James  S. 


Kirk  soap  factory.  After  two  months  he  went  to 
Pullman,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  laborer, 
but  before  long  secured  work  at  his  trade,  with 
the  Deering  Harvesting  Company,  with  which 
concern  he  remained  some  eighteen  months. 
Later  he  was  employed  in  other  shops  at  horse- 
shoeing, and  in  1886  he  made  a  trip  to  the 
Pacific  coast,  visiting  Omaha,  Denver,  Salt  Lake 
City,  Sacramento  and  San  Francisco.  Returning 
by  way  of  Kansas  City  to  Chicago,  he  deter- 
mined to  revisit  his  native  country.  After  spend- 
ing some  seven  months  among  the  scenes  and 
friends  of  his  youth,  he  again  gravitated  back  to 
Chicago  and  resumed  work  at  his  trade  as  a 
journeyman  until  1889. 

In  that  year  he  started  in  business  for  himself 
at  No.  219  North  Sangamon  Street.  He  sub- 
sequently purchased  ground  and  built  a  shop 
and  residence  at  No.  226,  same  thoroughfare, 
where  has  prospered  and  still  conducts  a  profit- 
able business. 

In   1888  he  married  Miss  Anne  M.  Kramer,  a 


C.  L.  HANSEN.— J.  A.  JENSEN. 


native  of  Denmark,  but  a  resident  of  Chicago. 
Two  children  have  been  born  to  them,  Mandel 
B.  J.  and  Rosa  G.  K. 

Mr.  Molbo  is  a  member  of  the  following  so- 
cieties,  in  all  of  which  he  has  taken  an  active 


interest,  and  in  several  of  which  he  has  held 
office:  Society  Dania,  Danish  Brotherhood,  Court 
Elite,  No.  258,  Independent  Order  of  Foresters, 
the  Boss  Horseshoers'  Association  and  the  Danish 
Singing  Society  "Harmonien." 


CHARLES  L,   HANSEN. 


EHARLES  L.  HANSEN.    The  subject  of  this 
article   was  born   in  Trondhjem,    Norway, 
July  18, 1856.   His  father,  Hans  E.  Schoyen, 
was  a  stone  mason,  and  a  man  of  rugged  con- 
stitution, dying  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine,  in  the 
village  where  he  was  born. 

The  first  sixteen  years  of  Charles  L.  Hansen's 
life  were  spent  at  home.  Until  fourteen  years  of 
age  he  attended  school,  and  afterward  served  as 
errand  boy  in  a  general  store  for  about  two  and 
one-half  years.  In  1874  he  left  Norway  for 
America.  After  landing  in  this  country  he  came 
at  once  to  Chicago.  For  a  year  he  lived  with 
his  brother,  and  after  that  found  employment  as  a 
cook  on  a  lake  vessel  plying  between  this  city 
and  the  lumber  regions  and  the  northwest.  For 


seven  seasons  he  held  the  same  position,  finding 
work  in  the  restaurants  during  the  months  that 
navigation  was  closed.  In  1884  he  entered  the 
employ  of  his  brother,  Hans  A.  Hansen,  as  bar- 
keeper in  the  latter's  saloon  at  No.  324  Milwau- 
kee Avenue.  In  1890  he  started  in  business  at 
his  present  location,  No.  324  Milwaukee  Avenue. 

He  married,  at  Chicago,  in  1881,  Miss  Con- 
stance Olsen,  who,  like  himself,  claims  Norway 
as  her  birthplace.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hansen  have 
five  children,  all  of  whom  yet  live  at  home,  with 
their  parents.  They  are  named:  Frank,  Blanche, 
Grace,  Florence  and  Ethel. 

Mr.  Hansen  has  been  a  Knight  of  Honor  for 
sixteen  years,  and  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Norwegian  Singing  Society. 


JENS  A,  JENSEN. 


3 ENS  ANDERS  JENSEN.     The  gentleman 
whose  name  is  given  above  was  born  at  For- 
boy,   Denmark,   December   10,    1840,  being 
the  son  of  Andres  and  Annslein  Jensen,  both  na- 
tives of  Denmark.     His  father  was  by  occupa- 
tion a  tinsmith  and  glazier,  and  died  at  the  age 


of  fifty-three  years.  His  mother  passed  the 
eighty-sixth  milestone  in  her  life's  path  before 
she  was  laid  to  rest,  by  the  husband  of  her  youth, 
in  the  soil  of  their  native  land. 

Andres  Jensen  was  the  father  of  five  children, 
of  whom  two  are  yet  living.     The  subject  of  this 


7i6 


J.  P.  ANDERSEN. 


article  was  the  second  in  order  of  birth.  After 
attending  school  until  his  fourteenth  year  he  en- 
tered upon  a  five  years'  apprenticeship  to  the 
cabinet-making  trade.  After  serving  his  term 
he  began  work  as  a  journeyman,  but  at  the  age 
of  twenty -two  years  was  drafted  into  the  military 
service,  where  he  was  employed  for  nineteen 
months.  He  received  his  discharge  in  1864,  and 
thereupon  went  to  Germany,  where  he  worked 
at  his  trade  about  two  years. 

In  July,  1866,  he  came  to  America,  settling  in 
Chicago.  He  therefore  takes  pride  in  calling 
himself  one  of  the  early  Danish  settlers  of  the 
western  metropolis.  Without  other  resources 
than  a  hardy  constitution,  a  willing  disposition 
and  skilled  hands,  he  cast  about  to  earn  a  liveli- 
hood in  a  strange  land.  He  soon  secured  em- 
ployment at  his  trade,  and  for  twenty-two  years 
he  worked  at  manufacturing  furniture  for  others. 


By  the  end  of  these  long  years  of  waiting  he  had 
accumulated  enough,  through  industry  and  thrift, 
to  embark  in  business  for  himself.  His  venture 
proved  unsuccessful,  and  after  two  years  he  once 
more  went  back  to  the  bench  for  a  daily  wage. 
In  1898  he  again  tried  the  experiment  of  estab- 
lishing himself  in  his  own  place.  He  opened  a 
shop  at  No.  340  Chicago  Avenue,  his  business 
prospering  from  the  outset  and  steadily  growing. 
Mr.  Jensen  has  been  twice  married.  He  was 
united  to  his  first  wife,  Miss  Minnie  Christian- 
sen, a  Danish  lady,  in  1866,  and  by  her  was  the 
father  of  one  daughter,  Ella.  The  first  Mrs. 
Jensen  died  in  1872.  His  second  wife  was  Miss 
Mary  Bems,  who  was  born  in  Germany.  They 
have  one  son,  Otto,  who  lives  at  home.  Ella, 
the  daughter  of  the  first  Mrs.  Jensen,  is  the  wife 
of  Herman  Schultz,  a  jeweler,  and  resides  at  No. 
934  Milwaukee  Avenue. 


JOHN  P.  ANDERSEN. 


(TOHN  PETER  ANDERSEN  is  a  manufac- 
1  turer  of  clothing  at  No.  893  North  Campbell 
G/  Avenue,  and  has  resided  in  Chicago  for 
seventeen  years.  His  birthplace  is  Fyen,  Den- 
mark, where  he  opened  his  eyes  upon  the  world 
May  16,  1851.  He  is  the  fourth  in  a  family  of 
five  children  born  to  Anders  Jergensen,  a  ship 
carpenter,  who  emigrated  from  Denmark  and  set- 
tled in  Dakota,  coming  to  Chicago  in  1890.  He 
still  lives  in  this  city. 

John  P.  Andersen  attended  school  at  his  native 
town  until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  when  he 
went  to  work  upon  a  farm  on  a  stipend  to  be 
paid  half  yearly.  In  1871  he  tired  of  farm  life 
and  entered  upon  the  acquiring  of  the  ship  car- 
penter's trade.  For  four  years  he  served  as  an 
apprentice,  and  afterward  supplemented  his  train- 
ing by  learning  the  craft  of  a  house  carpenter  as 


well.  He  remained  in  Denmark,  working  as  a 
carpenter,  until  1882,  when  he  determined  to 
emigrate  to  the  United  States. 

Six  years  before  that  he  had  married  Hansene 
Jensen,  his  schoolmate  in  boyhood,  and  he 
brought  his  family  with  him  to  the  new  world. 
At  that  time  he  was  the  father  of  four  children. 

For  some  three  years  after  coming  to  this  city 
he  followed  his  trade  as  a  house  carpenter,  and 
then  started  out  in  business  as  a  contractor,  and 
for  two  years  was  reasonably  successful,  erecting 
many  houses,  chiefly  in  the  northwestern  part  of 
the  city.  Not  being  altogether  satisfied,  how- 
ever, he  turned  his  attention  toward  the  manufac- 
ture of  clothing,  in  which  he  believed  he  saw  a 
more  promising  field  for  effort.  Accordingly  he 
bought  out  an  establishment  in  that  line  at  No. 
690  West  North  Avenue.  The  venture  proved 


FREDERICK  KIENZLE.— MARTIN  AXELSON. 


717 


so  remunerative  that  within  a  year  he  built  a 
factory  for  himself  on  Campbell  Avenue,  as  above 
mentioned,  where  he  has  ever  since  conducted  a 
prosperous  business,  giving  employment  to  some 
forty  people  during  the  busy  seasons  of  the  year. 
In  1896  he  was  burnt  out,  but  soon  rebuilt. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andersen  have  seven  children 
living  (1899),  named  as  follows:  Magnus,  Jens, 
Alvilda,  Arthur,  Kathy,  Waldow  and  Thomas. 
Mr.  Andersen  is  an  active  member  of  the  Danish 
Brotherhood,  and  has  served  as  president  of  the 
order.  In  political  principle  he  is  a  Republican. 


FREDERICK  KIENZLE. 


f~REDERICK  KIENZLE,  deceased,  was  a 
ry  resident  of  Chicago  for  nearly  a  score  of 
I  years  and  was  widely  known  and  highly 
esteemed  by  his  German  fellow-citizens. 

He  was  born  October  16, 1827,  in  Wurtemberg, 
Germany,  where  he  received  his  primary  educa- 
tion in  the  parish  school,  and  where  he  lived 
until  early  manhood.  In  1854  he  immigrated  to 
America,  settling  first  in  Lee  County,  Michigan, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming.  He  followed  that 
pursuit  eleven  years,  and  in  1865  sold  his  farm 
and  removed  to  Chicago.  A  year  later  he  opened 
a  saloon  at  the  corner  of  Clybourn  Avenue  and 
Larrabee  Street.  He  conducted  this  establish- 
ment until  his  death,  which  occurred  July  2,  1884, 
after  eighteen  years  of  successful  business.  For 
a  year  following  the  family  continued  to  conduct 


the  place,  but  disposed  of  it  in  1885.  Mr.  Kienzle 
was  a  man  of  simple  tastes  and  unassuming  man- 
ners, genial  and  generous,  attentive  to  business 
and  of  strong  domestic  affections. 

January  i,  1855,  ne  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Christina  Siehler,  a  native  of  Wurtemberg, 
like  himself.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Frederick 
Siehler  and  Johanna  Britt,  who  came  to  America 
in  1855.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kienzle  were  blessed 
with  seven  children,  of  whom  one  died  in  infancy. 
The  six  who  yet  survive  (1899)  are:  William  F. ; 
Julia,  wife  of  Henry  Raungartz;  Henry;  Louise, 
married  to  William  Hunsinger;  Frederick  and 
IClly. 

The  family  is  connected  with  St.  Paul's 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  and  held  in  high 
esteem  among  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances. 


MARTIN   AXELSON. 


IV /lARTlN   AXELSON,  who  resides  at  No. 

I  Y  I  947  North  Forty-second  Avenue,  was  born 
\(S\  of  Danish  parents  at  Schlauerg,  Denmark, 
April  28,  1861.  His  father  was  S.  N.  Axelson, 


Axelson  was  a  blacksmith  and  conducted  an  ex- 
tensive business,  employing  a  number  of  men. 
He  died  in  Denmark  at  the  age  of  sixty-two. 
His  widow  passed  away  at  her  son's  home,  in 


and   his  mother   Maria    Petersen.      The    elder     Chicago,    March  13,  1898.     Of  their  family  of 


7i8 


NIELS  NIELSEN. 


nine  children,  two  sons  and  four  daughters  grew 
to  maturity,  Martin  being  the  eighth  child  and 
fourth  son. 

His  early  educational  training  was  received  at 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  place,  and  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  began  active  life  on  a  farm. 
After  four  years  spent  in  this  occupation  he  re- 
solved to  emigrate,  and  in  1880  set  out  for  Chi- 
cago. His  first  employment  in  this  city  was  in 
a  store  on  Grand  Avenue,  where  he  worked  for 
three  months,  when  he  began  to  learn  the  tailor's 
trade  as  an  apprentice.  Tiring  of  this,  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  West  Division  Street  Railway 
Company,  as  a  conductor.  For  two  years  he 
held  this  position,  and  on  quitting  the  company 
engaged  in  business  for  himself  as  a  manufactur- 
ing tailor.  His  first  location  was  at  Nos.  325-327 
West  Ohio  Street,  where  he  remained  for  about 
four  years,  when  he  removed  to  his  present 


quarters  at  No.  472  North  Hermitage  Avenue. 
Here  he  carries  on  a  flourishing  business,  em- 
ploying about  forty  people. 

In  1888  he  married,  at  Chicago,  one  of  his 
countrywomen,  Miss  Cecilia  Petersen,  who  came 
to  America  in  1866.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Axelson  have 
three  sons:  Walter,  Arthur  and  Lester,  and  one 
daughter,  Alice. 

Mr.  Axelson' s  political  affiliations  are  strongly 
Republican.  He  is  a  member  of  Norden  Lodge 
No.  699,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
has  filled  every  office  in  the  subordinate  lodge, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  He  is  of  a  genial 
disposition  and  has  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances, 
among  whom  he  is  exceedingly  popular.  He  has 
been  the  architect  of  his  own  fortunes,  and  while 
not  yet  forty  years  old  has  accumulated  a  com- 
petence through  industry  and  attention  to  busi- 
ness. 


NIELS  NIELSEN. 


NIELSEN  is  the  oldest  of  four  sons 
|  /  born  to  John  Nielsen  and  Caren  Laursen, 
|/9  of  Jutland,  Denmark.  His  father  is  a  farmer, 
and  still  lives  on  the  same  farm  where  himself 
and  his  children  were  born.  His  mother  died 
October  17,  1878,  when  Niels  was  but  thirteen 
years  old. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  September 
18,  1865.  After  devoting  to  school  the  years 
usual  among  Danish  youth  he  began  work  in 
earnest  upon  his  father's  farm.  As  the  years 
went  by  young  Nielsen  heard  of  the  adventures 
and,  not  infrequently,  the  successes  of  his  coun- 
trymen across  the  Atlantic,  and  determined  to 
try  his  own  fortune  in  a  strange  land,  where 
others  had  already  earned  a  competence.  In 
1891  he  bade  adieu  to  the  scenes  of  his  youth, 
and  turning  his  back  upon  the  farm  where  he 
had  been  born,  sailed  away  for  America. 


His  first  two  years  after  landing  on  these 
shores  were  spent  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  1893  he 
came  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  made  his 
home.  For  a  year  after  reaching  this  city  he 
worked  for  his  brother,  at  No.  816  Cortland 
Street,  and  in  1894  started  in  business  for  him- 
self, as  a  dealer  in  milk  and  cream,  locating  first 
on  Washtenaw  Avenue,  later  at  No.  785  North 
Campbell  Avenue,  and  is  now  at  No.  896  Mozart 
Street.  Here  he  carried  a  stock  of  groceries  and 
delicacies,  in  addition  to  his  milk  business. 

Mr.  Nielsen  was  married  in  1897  to  Miss 
Susette  Hourberg,  who  was  born  at  Copenhagen, 
but  came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
He  is  a  member  of  Denmark  Lodge  No.  112, 
Knights  of  Honor,  and  has  rendered  valuable 
service  to  that  body  as  a  member  of  the  commit- 
tee charged  with  the  care  of  the  sick  members  of 
the  order. 


J.  F.  WOLFF. 


719 


JOHN  F.  WOLFF. 


(JOHN  FREDERICK  WOLFF  was  bora  Sep- 
I  tember  23,  1839,  in  the  village  of  Leuzer,  on 
Q)  the  Elbe  River,  in  Brandenburg,  Germany. 
His  parents  were  Frederick  and  Charlotta  (Ku- 
kuk)  Wolff.  His  father  was  born  September  4, 
1 798.  The  latter  was  a  man  of  large  stature,  weigh- 
ing one  hundred  and  sixty  or  seventy  pounds;  a 
tailor  by  trade  and  a  Lutheran  in  religious  faith. 
He  emigrated  from  Germany  to  the  United  States 
in  1854,  with  his  wife  and  five  children,  and  died 
at  Chicago,  June  3,  1861,  and  was  interred  in  the 
old  Lincoln  Park  burial  ground,  his  remains  being 
afterwards  removed  to  Graceland  Cemetery .  Fred- 
erick Wolff's  mother  was  born  May  3,  1802,  in 
Westphalia,  Germany,  and  passed  away  at  Chi- 
cago, May  9,  1888.  Her  father,  William  Kukuk, 
was  a  native  of  Amsterdam  and  member  of  a  fami- 
ly noted  for  its  tall  and  well-formed  proportions. 
The  issue  of  her  marriage  was  nine  children  who 
reached  maturity.  John  Frederick  was  the  sev- 
enth. 

Of  the  Wolff  family,  Bertha,  Henry  and  Theresa 
were  the  first  to  seek  a  home  in  America.  They 
emigrated  from  Germany  in  1851.  John  Fred- 
erick, as  has  been  said,  came  with  his  parents  in 
1854.  In  1865  he  embarked  in  the  grocery  and 
commission  business,  in  connection  with  his  bro- 
ther, Otto,  at  No.  332  Milwaukee  Avenue.  After 
two  years  John  Frederick  purchased  his  brother's 
interest  and  for  a  time  conducted  a  saloon  on  the 
premises.  This  he  subsequently  sold,  but  later 
re-entered  the  business  and  continued  in  that  line 


of  trade  until  his  death.  In  1872  he  erected  the 
handsome  building  known  as  Wolff's  Hall  at  No. 
432  Milwaukee  Avenue.  The  upper  floors  were 
originally  designed  as  a  private  residence,  but  the 
top  floor  was  later  converted  into  a  club-house 
and  rented  for  private  parties.  The  first  floor  is 
used  as  a  store.  Mr.  Wolff's  widow  and  chil- 
dren have  their  home  on  the  second  floor. 

In  1872  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  in- 
terior wood  finish  for  buildings  together  with  sash, 
blinds  and  doors.  In  this  enterprise  his  brothers, 
Adolph  and  Otto,  were  associated  with  him  and 
the  business  was  conducted  under  the  title  of 
Wolff  Brothers.  In  1888  Otto  sold  out  his  inter- 
est and  the  concern  was  incorporated  under  the 
name  of  Wolff  Brothers  &  Company.  The  busi- 
ness was  a  success  for  many  years,  but  was  closed 
out  ten  years  after  the  death  of  its  founder,  Fred- 
erick Wolff. 

May  6,  1864,  he  married  Louise  Kolze,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Henry  and  Katharina  (Haverbach) 
Kolze.  She  was  born  March  6,  1844.  Her  grand- 
father, Kurth  Henry  Kolze,  who  spent  all  his  days 
in  the  Fatherland,  married  Anna  Marie  Luehrs 
and  had  three  sons,  Frederick,  John  Henry  and 
Diederich  Henry. 

John  Henry  Kolze  emigrated  to  America  in 
1848,  leaving  Germany  in  October  and  spending 
twelve  weeks  on  the  water.  With  his  wife  and 
five  children  he  proceeded  at  once  to  Chicago,  and 
though  he  had  been  a  merchant  tailor  in  his  own 
land,  he  resolved  to  take  up  farming  in  America, 


720 


O.  F.  SELVIG. 


as  greater  profits  were  promised  those  entering 
that  calling.  He  therefore  established  himself  in 
Leyden  Township,  where  he  acquired  two  hundred 
acres  of  land.  He  was  five  feet  eight  inches  high 
and  weighed  between  one  hundred  and  fifty  and 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church  and  helped  build 
Saint  John's  Church  of  that  denomination  in 
Leyden.  In  politics  he  was  a  Republican.  He 
died  August  i,  1873,  having  been  preceded  but 
eight  days  by  his  wife.  Thus  after  journeying 
for  many  years  on  earth  together,  they  departed 
together  for  the  better  land.  Their  children  were 


as  follows:  Mary,  wife  of  H.  Mesenbrink,  Henry, 
William,  Frederick  and  Louisa,  now  Mrs.  Walbb. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wolff  were  born  eight  chil- 
dren: Otto,  Adolph,  Frank,  Maltilda  Louise, 
Amanda  Marie,  Louise,  Frederick  Otto  and  Ber- 
tha Frederika.  Of  these  four  are  now  living, 
Tillie,  Amanda,  Fred  and  Bertha.  Mr.  Wolff 
was  a  member  of  Goethe  Lodge,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  the  Sons  of  Herman 
and  the  Red  Men.  In  religious  belief  he  was  a 
German  Lutheran;  in  politics  a  Republican.  He 
died  July  8,  1887,  and  was  mourned  by  his  many 
friends  and  relatives. 


OCTAVIUS  F.  SELVIG. 


0CTAVIUS    FREDERIK  SELVIG.     Fred- 
erik  Selvig,   father  of  Octavius  F.,  was  a 
shoemaker,  of  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  who 
carried  on  business  on  his  account,  and  was  for 
half  a  century  well  known  among  business  men 
in  his  own  line  of  trade.     He  has  retired  from 
active  business,  spending  his  declining  years  in 
a  retirement  and  rest  richly  earned  by  a  busy  and 
useful  life.     He  did  good  service  as  a  soldier  in 
.  the  war  of  1864,  and  is  held  in  high  esteem  in 
the  city  of  his  birth.     He  married   Octavia  Ha- 
geiisen,   also  born  in  Copenhagen,   who  is  de- 
scending  life's   hill  with   the    husband   of    her 
youth.     Nine  children  were  born  to  them,  all  of 
whom  are  yet  living. 

O.  F.  Selvig  is  the  third  of  this  large  family, 
and  its  only  representative  in  the  United  States. 
He  received  a  good  rudimentary  and  business 
education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  city,  and  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  years  began  his  commercial 
experience  as  a  clerk  and  book-keeper  for  a  Co- 
penhagen firm,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  four 
and  one-half  years.  For  two  years  he  was  a 


policeman  in  the  Danish  capital,  but  finally  re- 
solved to  emigrate  to  a  land  where  there  was 
promise  of  wider  opportunities. 

He  landed  at  New  York  in  1890,  and  proceeded 
at  once  from  the  seaboard  to  the  western  metrop- 
olis. On  reaching  Chicago  his  first  situation  was 
in  the  saloon  of  J.  C.  Hansen,  now  a  resident  of 
Quincy,  Illinois.  He  remained  in  Mr.  Hansen's 
employ  about  six  years  and  then  opened  a  saloon 
of  his  own  at  No.  483  Thirty-seventh  Street.  He 
began  business  for  himself  in  February,  1898, 
and  still  remains  at  his  original  location.  At 
the  outset  he  had  a  partner,  Albert  Marbaker, 
whose  interest  in  the  business  Mr.  Selvig  pur- 
chased January  i,  1899. 

Since  that  date  he  has  conducted  the  business 
alone,  and  his  success  may  be  justly  attributed  to 
his  own  unaided  efforts.  He  is  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Walhalla  Society  and  of  the  Dan- 
ish Brotherhood,  and  well  known  and  deservedly 
popular  among  his  fellow-citizens,  both  natural- 
ized and  native  born. 

He  married  Johanna  Hansen  in   1888,  at  Co- 


M.  C.  JORGENSEN.— CARL  UJNDBERG. 


721 


penhagen,  the  city  of  her  birth.  Five  children 
have  blessed  this  union,  one  of  whom  died  in 
infancy.  The  eldest  of  the  four  yet  living,  Ida 
Octavia,  first  opened  her  eyes  at  Copenhagen. 


The  three  younger  were  born  in  this  country, 
Jes  Marinus,  Gerthy  Hansine  and  Violet  Johanna 
A.,  being  the  names  of  the  children  born  in 
America. 


MARIUS  C.  JORGENSEN. 


C.  JORGENSEN  is  the  sixth  of  a 
I V I  family  of  eleven  children  born  to  Jurgen 
It) I  Christensen,  in  Langeland,  Denmark,  of 
whom  all  grew  to  maturity.  Ten  are  yet  living 
and  eight  are  residents  of  the  United  States.  The 
father  of  this  large  family  was  well  known  and 
highly  esteemed  throughout  the  neighborhood 
where  he  was  born.  He  did  gallant  service  as  a 
soldier  in  the  army  of  Denmark  during  the  war 
between  that  country  and  Germany  in  1864,  and 
was  a  man  of  remarkable  mechanical  ability, 
being  well  skilled  in  two  essentially  manly  trades 
— blacksmithing  and  marble  cutting.  He  emi- 
grated from  Denmark  to  Chicago  in  1892,  and 
died  here  four  years  later,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of 
sixty-eight  years. 

Marius  C.  Jorgensen  first  opened  his  eyes  on 
September  i,  1862.  Until  he  was  fourteen  years 
old  he  attended  school,  and  for  the  five  years  fol- 


lowing worked  as  a  farm  laborer.  In  1881  he 
followed  where  so  many  of  his  earnest,  stalwart 
countrymen  had  already  led  the  way,  and  turned 
his  face  toward  the  western  world.  For  two 
years  he  remained  in  Chicago,  when,  feeling  dis- 
satisfied, he  returned  to  Europe,  only  to  come 
back  to  Chicago  in  1883.  On  his  return  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  P.  D.  Armour  &  Company, 
as  a  machinist,  and  has  remained  with  that  firm 
ever  since. 

January  14,  1888,  he  was  married  at  Chicago, 
to  Augusta  Shmith,  a  native  of  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein.  They  have  been  blessed  with  four  chil- 
dren— Christina,  Emma,  Waldemar  and  Roy. 
He*  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Walhalla,  and  of 
the  Danish  Brotherhood.  Formerly  he  was  con- 
nected with  other  societies,  but  found  his  time  so 
thoroughly  occupied  with  business  and  other  cares 
that  he  has  abandoned  his  membership  in  them. 


CARL  LUNDBERG. 


EARL    LUNDBERG,    the    fourth    son    and 
youngest  child  of  Olof  Johnson,  of  Kalman, 
Sweden,  was  born  in  that  town  on  May  20, 
1868.     Mr.  Johnson  was  a  building  contractor, 
and  a  man  of  some  prominence  in  his  native  land, 


where  he  yet  resides,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two 
years,  having  retired  from  business  to  enjoy  a 
well  earned  rest.  Mr.  Lundberg's  mother  was 
Anna  Gustofson,  who  is  also  yet  living. 

Of  Carl  Lundberg's  six  brothers  and  sisters, 


722 


N.  P.  JOHANSEN. 


two  (sisters)  are  residents  of  Chicago,  two  live  in 
Sweden,  and  two  are  deceased.  He  received  a 
rudimentary  education  in  the  public  schools,  and, 
when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years, 
went  to  work  for  his  father  at  a  carpenter's 
bench.  After  two  years  thus  spent  he  left 
Sweden  for  Chicago,  where  he  found  work  as  a 
carpenter  for  three  years,  and,  during  the  last 
year,  put  up  buildings,  which  he  sold. 

In  1889  he  formed  a  copertnership  with  his 
brother,  Gustave  Lundberg,  to  conduct  a  real 
estate  business.  The  firm  was  successful,  but 
the  death  of  Gustav,  in  1895,  left  Mr.  Carl  Lund- 
berg  to  manage  the  business  alone.  He  also 
does  a  general  insurance  business  and  is  a  notary 
public,  having  been  commissioned  by  Governor 
Altgeld.  He  has  met  with  great  success,  but  can 
contemplate  his  steady  upward  progress  with  the 


proud  thought  that  he  has  been  the  architect  ot 
his  own  fortune. 

He  is  of  a  genial,  social  disposition,  and  a 
member  of  various  orders  and  societies,  among 
which  may  be  named  the  following:  John  Erick- 
son  Lodge  No.  361,  Independent  Order  Odd  Fel- 
lows, being  one  of  the  charter  members  and  for 
six  years  its  treasurer;  King  Oscar  Lodge  No. 
855,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons;  the 
Scandinavian  Iduna  sick  benefit  society;  Me- 
chanics' Tent,  Knights  of  the  Maccabees;  the 
North  American  Union,  and  the  Englewood 
Building  and  Loan  Association,  of  which  he  is  a 
director.  In  politics  he  is  an  ardent  and  active 
Republican,  taking  a  deep  interest  in  his  party's 
success  and  working  hard  to  promote  it.  He 
has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  office,  but  in  1896 
was  elected  Supervisor  of  the  Town  of  Lake. 


NIELS  P.  JOHANSEN. 


PETER  JOHANSEN.  The  life  and 
|  /  business  success  of  Mr.  Johansen  affords  an 
|/)  illustration  of  what  may  be  accomplished 
by  earnest  effort  and  unflinching  courage. 

He  was  born  March  7,  1866,  at  Bjerreby,  in 
Tasinge,  Denmark,  the  son  of  a  blacksmith  named 
Andreas  Johansen,  whose  sturdy  biceps  and  keen 
eye  are  still  at  his  command  in  the  conduct  of  his 
shop  in  his  native  place.  His  mother  was  Anna 
Sophia  Hansen,  and  she  is  also  still  living  in  the 
land  which  gave  her  birth.  From  her  marriage 
were  born  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  yet 
living.  Of  this  large  progeny  (rarely  known  in 
the  annals  of  our  American  homes)  Niels  P. 
Johansen  was  the  first  born. 

Mr.  Johansen' s  life  was  much  the  same  as  that 
of  the  boys  with  whom  he  attended  school.  In 
fact,  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  almost  the  regu- 


lation life  of  the  Danish  youth;  namely,  school 
until  fourteen  to  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  after 
that  labor,  either  on  the  farm  or  at  a  trade.  He 
left  school  when  fourteen,  and  for  four  years  fol- 
lowing served  an  apprentice  as  a  blacksmith. 
Dissatisfied  with  the  prospects  which  he  saw  be- 
fore him  at  home,  he  determined  on  a  new  depart- 
ure, and  the  year  1887  saw  him  a  freshly  arrived 
emigrant  at  the  port  of  New  York.  His  first 
permanent  stopping  place  after  leaving  the  sea 
board  was  Clinton,  Iowa.  There  and  at  other 
points  in  that  state  he  spent  some  two  and  one- 
half  years.  In  1890,  however,  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  venture  success  or  failure  in  Chicago; 
he  came  hither,  and  of  the  success  or  failure  of 
the  venture  the  succeeding  narrative  will  speak. 
One  year  after  coming  to  Chicago — in  1891 — 
he  started  in  business  for  himself,  at  No.  3757 


F.  L.  STONE.— C.  L.  BERNTH. 


723 


State  Street.  After  eight  months  he  moved  to 
No.  3159  Cottage  Grove  Avenue,  and  May  i, 
1898,  he  opened  an  establishment  at  No.  341 
Wabash  Avenue,  whence  he  removed  the  next 
year  across  the  alley  to  the  rear  of  No.  349  State 
Street.  Here  he  carried  on  a  business,  chiefly 
in  the  line  of  repairs,  which  has  brought  him  a 
fair  income  for  the  simple  yet  obvious  reason 


that  honest  effort  always  commands  a  reward  of 
its  own. 

While  a  loyal  American  citizen,  Mr.  Johansen 
has  not  forgotten  the  land  of  his  birth  in  respect 
of  the  fraternal  societies  with  which  he  has  con- 
nected himself,  being  an  active  member  of  the 
Walhalla  Society,  in  which  so  many  of  his  coun- 
trymen are  enrolled. 


F.  L   STONE. 


j~~  REDERICK  LARSEN  STONE,  member  of 
r^  the  firm  of  Clausen  &  Company,  is  the 
|  youngest  of  a  family  of  seven  children  born 
to  Lars  H.  Stone  and  his  wife,  Maria  Jorgensen, 
at  Sollested,  on  the  island  of  Lolland,  Denmark. 
Both  parents  are  deceased,  the  father  dying  at 
the  age  of  about  eighty  years,  and  his  mother  at 
about  sixty-seven;  both  rest  in  their  native  land. 
Of  their  large  family  all  but  one  are  yet  living; 
and  of  the  six  who  survive,  Fred  L.  is  the  only 
one  residing  in  this  country. 

He  came  into  the  world  February  7,  1865, 
attended  the  common  and  high  schools  of  his 
birthplace  until  he  was  fourteen  years  old;  and 
afterwards  learned  the  dairy  business,  his  father 


being  a  farmer.  He  first  touched  American  soil 
in  1884,  coming  at  once  from  the  seaboard  to 
Chicago.  For  a  little  more  than  nine  years  he 
was  employed  as  a  coachman;  and  in  the  spring 
of  1894  formed  a  partnership  with  Claus  J.  Clau- 
sen to  conduct  the  sprinkling  business,  in  which 
he  is  still  interested. 

Mr.  Stone  was  married,  in  1890,  to  Miss  Caro- 
line Jorgensen,  a  native  of  Denmark,  but  resi- 
dent of  Chicago.  Two  children — Paulina  and 
Harry — have  blessed  their  union.  Mr.  Stone  is 
a  member  of  the  Walhalla  Society,  and  is  well 
known  and  highly  esteemed  in  the  section  of  the 
city  in  which  he  resides.  His  place  of  business 
is  at  No.  8 1  Twenty-second  Street. 


C    L.  BERNTH. 


EHRISTIAN  LARSEN  BERNTH  was  born 
on  the  peninsula  of  Jutland,  Denmark,  Oc- 
tober 31,  1854.     His  father,  Svend  Larsen 
Bernth,  was  a  shoe-maker,  and  died  at  his  home 


in  Jutland,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years.  His 
wife,  who  bore  him  seventeen  children,  and  is 
yet  living,  was  named  Caroline  Jensen.  She  has 
reached  her  seventy-third  year,  but  is  still  hale 


724 


LARS  POULSEN. 


and  well  preserved.  Twelve  of  her  offspring, 
six  sons  and  six  daughters,  are  still  living  to  pay 
her  filial  reverence.  Of  these  five  have  found 
homes  in  America.  A  daughter,  Berentine,  is 
the  wife  of  Carl  Rasmussen,  a  carpenter,  whose 
home  is  at  No.  502  West  Erie  Street,  Chicago;  and 
three  sons  are  in  Nebraska. 

Christian  L.  is  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth. 
His  educational  advantages  in  boyhood  were  con- 
fined to  attendance  upon  the  public  schools  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  and  then 
he  began  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker.  His 
legal  apprenticeship  was  passed  in  the  shop  of  his 
father;  and  after  becoming  a  journeyman,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  years,  he  found  employment  as 
opportunity  or  inclination  dictated.  For  eleven 
years  he  was  employed  in  one  of  the  suburbs  of 
Copenhagen,  and  in  1892  he  emigrated. 

On   his  arrival  on  American  shores  he  at  once 


started  to  Chicago,  where  so  many  of  his  coun- 
trymen and  countrywomen  had  already  found 
homes  and  happiness.  For  a  time  he  supported 
himself  by  a  casual  employment  at  any  line 
of  work  he  chanced  to  have  presented  to  him,  but 
in  1894  he  opened  a  modest  shop  of  his  own,  at 
the  corner  of  Wentworth  Avenue  and  Thirty- 
seventh  Street.  For  five  years  he  remained  there, 
and  in  1899  removed  to  his  present  location,  at 
No.  3646  Wentworth  Avenue. 

In  1878,  at  Copenhagen,  he  married  Caroline 
Nielson,  who  was  born  in  Sweden.  Four  of  their 
six  children  were  born  at  Copenhagen,  and  two 
in  Chicago.  Their  names  are,  in  order  of  birth, 
as  follows:  Fatma,  Vanda,  Viola,  Vargenie,  Al- 
bert and  Carl.  Mr.  Bernth  is  a  member  of  the 
Walhalla  and  Danish  Socialist  Societies.  He  is 
widely  known  and  most  highly  esteemed  by  those 
who  know  him  best. 


LARS  POULSEN. 


j     ARS  POULSEN.     The  father  of  Mr.  Poul- 

1 1  sen,  Christen  Christensen,  was  a  native  of 

12  the  village  of  Buchel,  Schleswig-Holstein, 
Denmark,  as  was  also  his  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Margaret  Petersen.     His  father  was  a 
man  of  not  a  little  prominence  in  the  community. 
He  was  an  expert  accountant,  by  profession,  and 
was  the  leader  and  manager  of  a  Danish  colony 
which  settled  in  Kansas  in  1867.     He  died  in 
that  State  in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood,  having 
scarcely  passed  the  age  of  fifty  years.     His  wife 
followed  him   to  America  in    1881,   and  passed 
away  some  fifteen  years  later,  after  reaching  her 
seventy-second  birthday. 

Lars  Poulsen  is  one  of  a  family  of  nine  children 
born  to  them,  seven  of  whom  grew  to  be  men 
and  women  and  are  still  living.  He  himself  is 
the  third  child  and  second  son,  and  first  opened 


his  eyes  May  21,  1851.  The  first  sixteen  years 
of  his  life  were  spent  in  Schleswig-Holstein,  in 
the  common  schools  of  which  province  he  received 
his  early  education. 

In  1867  he  crossed  the  water,  and  at  once  took 
up  his  residence  in  Cook  County,  Illinois.  For 
two  months  he  worked  upon  a  farm,  and  then 
began  business  as  a  peddler.  That  pursuit  he 
followed  five  years,  and  then  learned  the  cabinet- 
maker's trade.  In  this  he  was  engaged  eighteen 
years,  and  during  most  of  the  time  on  his  own 
account.  He  was  located  at  different  points  in 
the  South  Division  of  the  city,  employing  from 
four  to  twelve  men,  as  business  proved  more  or 
less  brisk. 

In  1888  he  went  to  Oakland,  California,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  trade  for  a 
period  of  six  years.  While  on  the  Pacific  slope 


J.  P.  HOLDT.— MATTHEW  FLEMING. 


725 


he  familiarized  himself  with  the  cigar  business, 
which  he  conducted  successfully  for  a  few  years. 
In  1898  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  began  man- 
ufacturing cigars.  He  has  brought  to  the  busi- 
ness the  same  energy,  push  and  perseverance 
that  have  characterized  him  since  boyhood,  and 
it  is  unnecessary  to  say  he  has  succeeded.  His 


factory  is  at  No.  4036  Armour  Avenue,  and  his 
especial  brands  are  well  known  to  the  trade  and 
smokers.  While  in  California  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Society  Dania,  with  which  he  is 
still  connected.  He  is  a  Freethinker;  is  inde- 
pendent of  party  control  in  political  matters,  and 
believes  thoroughly  in  socialism. 


J.  P.  HOLDT. 


(]  OHN  PETERSEN  HOLDT  is  one  of  thoee 
I  citizens  of  Scandinavian  birth,  whose  career 
(•/  reflects  credit  alike  upon  the  land  of  their 
nativity  and  on  the  country  of  their  adoption. 
He  was  born  in  Baulund,  Schlwig,  Denmark, 
August  28,  1865.  His  father,  Niels  Holdt,  was 
born  in  Kalgaar,  in  the  same  province,  and  his 
mother,  Marie  Thomark,  was  a  native  of  Baulund. 
Both  parents  are  now  living  in  Chicago,  at  No. 
38 1 6  Aldine  Court.  John  P.  Holdt  is  their  fourth 
child  and  eldest  son,  all  of  their  six  children 
being  yet  alive  and  prosperous.  His  boyhood 
and  youth  were  passed  in  his  native  land,  and  his 
early  educational  advantages  were  limited  to  an 
attendance  upon  the  public  schools  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years. 

After  leaving  school  he  began  working  on  a 


farm,  which  occupation  he  followed  until  1891, 
when  he  bade  adieu  to  the  scenes  and  associa- 
tions of  his  youth,  to  seek  better  fortune  in  a 
foreign  land  and  among  people  of  a  strange 
tongue.  Immediately  upon  landing  on  American 
shores  he  turned  his  face  toward  the  west  and  set 
out  for  Chicago,  which  has  ever  since  been  his 
home.  Before  emigrating,  however,  in  1890,  he 
married  Margaretta  Christiansen,  a  damsel  of  his 
own  native  village,  whom  he  had  known  since 
childhood.  Three  children  have  blessed  their 
union — Mattie,  Niels  and  Marie.  The  two 
younger  were  born  in  Chicago.  Since  his  arrival 
here  Mr.  Holdt  has  been  a  member  of  the  Wal- 
halla  Society,  in  which  he  takes  a  lively  interest. 
His  home  is  at  No.  3013  Prairie  Avenue,  and  he 
is  engaged  in  expressing  and  janitor  work. 


MATTHEW  FLEMING. 


IV^ATTHEW  FLEMING   was    born   in   the 

lYI    Parish   of  Latin,    County  Tipperary,    Ire- 

\(y\   land,  September  4,  1829,  and  is  the  son  of 

James  and    Honora    (Nash)    Fleming,    both   of 


whom  sprang  from  old  and  respected  families,  and 
lived  and  died  in  Ireland.  Matthew  Fleming 
has  a  good  education,  which  he  received  in  a 
private  school  and  in  the  high  schools  which  he 


726 


OLE  RASMUSSEN. 


attended  until*  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  came 
to  America  in  1850,  making  the  ocean  voyage 
from  Liverpool  to  New  York  in  thirty  days.  In 
the  latter  city  he  spent  a  period  of  two  years, 
part  of  the  time  as  an  employe  in  a  chair  fac- 
tory. 

In  September,  1852,  became  to  Chicago,  and 
was  employed  as  a  laborer  for  five  years.  He 
was  elected  constable  in  1857,  an<i  served  con- 
tinuously twenty-seven  years.  He  always  took 
a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs  aud  was  active 
in  support  of  the  Democratic  party.  He  was  at 
one  time  a  candidate  for  alderman  of  the  Seventh 
Ward,  but  was  not  seated,  though  he  and  his 
friends  think  that  he  would  have  been  if  the  vote s 
had  been  fairly  counted. 

Mr.  Fleming  invested  his  savings  in  real  estate 
and  has  become  wealthy.  He  has  occasionally 
dealt  in  real  estate  as  a  speculation  and  is  still 
doing  a  little  business  in  that  line.  He  was  an 


early  settler  on  the  West  Side,  having  located  on 
Liberty  Street  in  1854.  In  l89§  he  erected  the 
building  on  Twelfth  Street,  near  Homan  Avenue, 
in  which  he  now  resides. 

In  December,  1849,  Mr.  Fleming  married  Miss 
Bridget  O'Brien,  a  native  of  the  same  town  as 
himself.  They  have  six  children  as  follows: 
Clarence,  a  brick  mason;  Norah,  wife  of  John 
Duffy,  a  baker  of  Chicago;  Mary;  James,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Assessors;  John,  a  member  of 
one  of  the  city  fire  companies.;  and  Thomas,  who 
is  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business.  The  fam- 
ily is  connected  with  St.  Agatha's  Roman 
Catholic  Church. 

Industry  has  its  reward,  and  as  continual  drop- 
ping wears  away  a  stone,  so  continued  saving 
produces  a  fortune.  Mr.  Fleming  is  one  of  those 
industrious  pioneers  of  the  West  Side  who  from 
small  beginning  have  built  it  up  to  its  present 
condition  of  wealth  and  prosperity. 


OLE  RASMUSSEN. 


|LE  RASMUSSEN  first  saw  the  light  on 
July  8,  1853,  in  Jutland,  Denmark.  His 
father  was  Rasmus  Rasmussen,  and  his 
mother  Annie  Christensen.  The  elder  Rasmus- 
sen  was  a  laborer.  He  was  born  in  1814,  served 
during  the  war  of  1848,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five  years.  He  and  his  wife  were  the  par- 
ents of  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  whom 
are  living  and  married. 

Ole  was  the  firstborn.  During  his  early  man- 
hood he  was  a  farmer  in  his  native  country,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years  left  Denmark  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  America.  He  landed  in  1881, 
and  at  once  set  out  for  the  West.  After  a  stop 
of  a  fortnight  at  Fowler,  Indiana,  he  proceeded 
to  Chicago.  For  the  first  year  he  worked  as  a 
laborer  on  a  railroad,  and  his  next  employment 


was  with  W.  R.  Martin,  a  dealer  in  flour,  feed 
and  coal,  whose  place  of  business  was  on  Thirty- 
fifth  Street.  He  remained  with  Mr.  Martin  five 
years,  when  he  bought  the  necessary  equipment 
and  began  business  on  his  own  account  as  a 
teamster.  At  first  he  had  but  one  team,  but  from 
this  modest  beginning  his  business  has  steadily 
grown,  its  development  being  the  result  of  his 
unwearied  industry,  his  tireless  energy,  his  pru- 
dence and  his  integrity.  He  now  has  several 
teams  in  almost  constant  use,  and  in  1898  he 
added  to  his  business  the  sale  of  coal  and  wood. 
At  this  time  he  opened  his  present  office  at  No. 
342  Root  Street. 

The  same  year  in  which  he  left  Denmark 
(1881)  he  married  Mary  Larsen,  who  had  been 
reared  in  the  same  neighborhood  with  himself. 


C.    E.  KIRCHHOFF.— H.  H.  BOESENBERG. 


727 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rasmussen  have  had  three  chil- 
dren: The  first  died  in  infancy,  and  those  living 
are  named  Emma  and  Christina.  All  were  born 
in  Chicago. 

Mr.    Rasmussen  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Walhalla  Society  twelve   years,    and  has  many 


friends  among  the  Danish  colony  in  Chicago,  as 
well  as  among  business  men  generally.  He  is 
regarded  as  a  man  to  be  trusted  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life,  and  his  patient,  yet  successful,  up- 
building of  his  own  success  is  proof  positive  of 
his  native  strength  and  perseverance. 


CARL  E.  KIRCHHOFF. 


EARL  EDWARD  KIRCHHOFF.    Although 
a  young  man  of  scarcely  more  than  twenty- 
one  years,  Mr.  Kirchhoff  is  wide-awake  and 
progressive,    and  has   already   displayed,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  those  traits  of  moral  character, 
as  well  as  the  qualities  of  mind,  which  are  the 
salient  characteristics  of  the  successful  man. 

He  was  born  March  30,  1878,  in  Ley  den 
Township,  this  county,  and  in  the  memoir  of  his 
father,  Henry  Kirchhoff,  may  be  found  an  ac- 
count of  his  family  antecedents  and  relations. 
After  obtaining  a  good  foundation  of  general  ed- 
ucation in  the  grammar  schools  he  pursued  his 
studies  for  two  years  at  the  Metropolitan  Busi- 
ness College,  where  he  became  thoroughly 
grounded  in  those  branches  of  knowledge  which 
are  pre-eminently  necessary  to  a  business  man. 


Among  these  was  stenography,  and  for  the  first 
eight  months  after  leaving  the  Metropolitan  he 
was  employed  as  stenographer  for  the  Monthly 
Bulletin  of  the  National  Wool  Growers'  Associa- 
tion, whose  headquarters  were  at  No.  4166  South 
Halsted Street.  From  the  office  of  the  "Bulletin," 
he  went  into  the  employ  of  Lemley  &  Schultz, 
manufacturers  of  machinery  and  special  tools,  at 
Nos.  31-33  Indiana  Street,  where  he  yet  remains. 
He  was  christened  in  the  faith  of  the  German 
Evangelical  Church,  and  united  with  Saint  John's 
Church,  of  that  denomination  at  Addison,  Du 
Page  County,  and  is  still  connected  with  that 
body.  He  is  also  an  active  member  of  the  Cen- 
tral Branch  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation of  Chicago,  and  of  Franklin  Park  Council 
No.  107,  Royal  League. 


HENRY  H.  BOESENBERG. 


HENRY  HERMAN  BOESENBERG,  the  son 
of    George   A.    and    Dorothy    (Seimann) 
Boesenberg,  was  born  at  Chicago,  January 
24,  1853.     (A  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Boesen- 
berg,Senior,  may  be  found  on  another  page. )  His 


early  education  was  of  a  character  well  calculated 
to  fit  him  for  the  career  of  a  practical  business 
man,  while  at  the  same  time  inculcating  the  prin- 
ciples of  a  sound  and  enlightened  morality.  It 
was  obtained  at  the  parish  school  of  St.  Peter's 


728 


RASMUSS  JENSEN. 


Lutheran  Church  and  at  the  Washington  public 
school,  being  completed  by  a  course  at  Bryant  & 
Stratton's  Business  College.  His  first  business 
experience  was  as  a  grocer's  clerk,  a  position 
which  he  filled  for  seven  years.  At  the  end  of 
that  time  he  opened  a  grocery  of  his  own  at  No. 
279  West  Chicago  Avenue,  which  he  sold  in  two 
years,  to  engage  in  the  real  estate  and  insurance 
business.  He  opened  an  office  at  the  corner  of 
North  Ashland  Avenue  and  Toll  Place,  where 
he  is  still  located.  He  has,  however,  discon- 
tinued dealing  in  real  estate,  and  devotes  his  en- 
tire attention  to  insurance.  He  has  been  a  mem- 
ber and  director  of  the  Home  Mutual  Loan  As- 
sociation since  its  organization,  in  1884,  and  its 
second  president,  having  filled  the  last  named 
position  from  1890  to  1892.  On  the  expiration 
of  his  term  as  president  he  was  chosen  secretary, 
and  has  filled  that  office  since.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  success  of  the  association  is 
largely  due  to  Mr.  Boesenberg's  capable  and  busi- 
ness-like administration  of  its  affairs. 


He  cast  his  first  vote  for  the  Republican  ticket, 
and  has  been  a  stanch  member  of  that  party  ever 
since.  He  takes  a  keen  interest,  not  only  in  pub- 
lic affairs,  but  yi  party  politics  as  well,  and  has 
been  an  active  and  influential  worker  in  his 
party's  ranks.  He  is  a  member  of  Covenant 
Lodge,  No.  526,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons; of  Goethe  Lodge,  No.  329,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows;  of  the  Royal  League,  and 
of  the  North  American  Union. 

He  was  married  November  5,  1876,  to  Miss 
Dorothy  Behrens,  who  was  born  in  Germany. 
The  issue  of  this  marriage  has  been  five  children, 
Henry,  Walter,  Louise,  Oscar  and  Emma. 

Mr.  Boesenberg  is  not  a  member  of  any  church, 
but  is  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  with  a  high 
moral  standard.  He  is  clear  sighted  and  shrewd, 
yet  generous  and  just.  His  temperament  is 
genial,  his  manners  courteous  and  frank,  and  his 
disposition  kindly.  He  easily  wins  friends 
through  his  presence  and  address;  he  retains 
them  through  his  capability  and  worth. 


RASMUSS  JENSEN. 


|~)  ASMUSS  JENSEN.  As  his  name  indicates 
Y\  Mr.  Jensen  is  a  Dane.  He  is  the  son  of 
r\  Torkild  and  Elizabeth  (Larsen)  Jensen, 
and  was  born  on  a  farm  about  twelve  Danish 
miles  from  Copenhagen.  His  father  was  a 
farmer,  and  both  his  parents  are  still  living 
(1899)  in  Denmark.  He  is  the  third  of  a  family 
of  nine  children,  all  of  whom  reached  adult  age, 
and  only  one  of  whom  has  passed  away. 

Rasmuss  Jensen,  as  did  the  other  boys  of  the 
neighborhood  in  which  he  was  reared,  received 
his  early  education  at  the  common  schools.  At 
the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  began  life's  battle 
for  himself,  and  when  he  was  twenty-two  years 
old  he  turned  his  back  upon  birthplace  and  kin- 


dred and  set  his  face  toward  the  western  world. 
He  came  at  once  to  Chicago,  after  reaching  this 
country,  and  here  he  turned  his  hand  readily  to 
any  work  that  presented  itself.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  add  that  his  labor  was  not  usually  of  the 
easiest  description,  hod  carrying  and  coal  shovel- 
ing being  among  his  first  occupations.  In  1887 
he  began  to  learn  the  business  of  a  stationary 
engineer,  and  being  apt,  sober  and  industrious, 
soon  qualified  himself.  He  still  follows  this  pur- 
suit, having  been  for  the  past  five  years  employed 
as  an  engineer  by  Armour  &  Company. 

He  married  Miss  Christina  Jorgensen  in  1891. 
She  is  a  countrywoman  of  his,  but  was  a  resident 
of  Chicago  at  the  time  of  her  marriage.  The 


ALBERT  NIELSEN.— GUSTAVE  OLSON. 


729 


issue  of  the  marriage  has  been  three  children, 
Elizabeth,  Ida  and  Rosa. 

Mr.  Jensen  is  a  member  of  Lodge  No.  35,  of  the 
Danish  Brotherhood,  and  was  at  one  time  presid- 
ing officer  of  D'Orlen  Lodge  No.  35,  of  which 


organization  he  is  one  of  the  organizers  and  char- 
ter members.  He  is  of  a  social  disposition, 
affable,  courteous  and  liberal.  Among  his  fellow- 
countrymen  in  Chicago  he  is  at  once  esteemed 
and  popular. 


ALBERT  NIELSEN. 


Gl  LBERT  NIELSEN  is  the  son  of  Niels  Jor- 
LJ  gensen  and  Maren  Johnson,  of  Fyen,  Den- 
/  I  mark,  where  he  himself  was  born  March  14, 
1863.  Niels  Jorgensen  is  a  musician  of  consider- 
able local  celebrity,  and  served  in  the  army  in 
that  capacity  during  the  war  of  1864.  In  1893 
he  crossed  the  water  to  visit  the  World's  Fair  at 
Chicago,  where  he  played  in  an  orchestra.  He 
returned  to  his  native  land  in  1895,  and  is  yet 
living,  having  been  the  leader  of  a  band  at 
Odense.  Mrs.  Jorgensen  died  in  1890.  She 
bore  her  husband  twelve  children,  all  of  whom 
reached  mature  years,  and  eight  are  yet  living 
(1899).  Peter  is  a  miner  in  Australia.  John  is 
in  the  employ  of  Armour  &  Company,  of  Chi- 
cago. Carl  is  a  composer  of  music  for  the  King's 
Opera  Company,  at  Copenhagen.  Andrew  is  a 
painter  and  decorator  at  No.  34  University  Place, 
Chicago.  Louisa  and  Julia  are  also  residents  of 
Chicago,  the  former  being  the  wife  of  Mr.  Peter- 


sen,  of  No.  196  West  Chicago  Avenue,  a  foreman 
in  the  repair  department  of  the  Lyon  &  Healy 
Company.  Torwald  lives  with  Mr.  Nielsen. 

Mr.  Albert  Nielsen  is  the  third  child  born  to 
his  parents.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he 
was  taken  from  school  and  sent  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  painter  but  was  permitted  to  attend  school  in 
the  evenings.  While  yet  very  young  he  devel- 
oped a  surprising  fondness  and  capacity  for  art, 
and  for  a  time  was  a  student  at  the  Art  School  at 
Copenhagen.  For  nine  months  he  did  duty  as  a 
soldier,  and  in  1884  came  to  the  United  States, 
settling  in  Chicago.  For  six  years  he  worked  as 
a  house  decorator,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time 
began  business  as  a  portrait  painter,  which  pro- 
fession he  has  followed  ever  since,  with  marked 
success.  He  not  only  conducts  business  on  his 
own  account,  but  his  recognized  artistic  skill 
brings  him  many  orders  from  other  Chicago 
firms. 


GUSTAVE  OLSON. 


OLSON,  who  was  born  in  Skane, 
I—  Sweden,  December  7,  1869,  is  the  son  of 
U  Olof  Person,  a  native  of  the  same  county, 
by  occupation  a  farmer.  Olof  Person  is  a  well- 


known  citizen  of  his  country,  and  though  some- 
what advanced  in  years  is  still  engaged  in  tilling 
the  soil.  The  name  of  the  mother  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  Aserine  Steudecker  before  her 


73° 


H.  S.  PETERSEN. 


marriage.  She  is  still  living  in  her  native  land. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Person  are  the  parents  of  nine 
children,  of  whom  Gustave  is  the  fourth.  Five  of 
these  children  are  living. 

Mr.  Olson  grew  to  manhood  in  his  native 
country  and  attended  the  public  schools  until 
thirteen  years  of  age.  He  assisted  his  father  on 
the  farm  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  when 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  blacksmith,  with  whom 
he  served  three  years.  In  the  year  1891,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  he  settled  in  Chicago, 
where  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  smith  until 
the  spring  of  1899.  He  then  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Peder  Erickson,  and  opened  a  horse- 
shoeing shop  at  No.  370  Twenty-fourth  Street. 
On  September  i,  following,  Mr.  Olson  purchased 
his  partner's  interest,  and  is  now  sole  proprietor 
of  the  establishment. 

Mr.    Olson   has   a   deep   interest   in    fraternal 


societies  and  has  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  time 
to  the  acquirement  of  the  mysteries  of  the  secret 
society,  in  several  of  which  he  has  become  a 
prominent  and  leading  member.  He  became  a 
member  of  John  Erickson  Lodge  No.  361,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  of  Illinois,  in 
1892.  He  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  the  subor- 
dinate lodge,  and  was  representative  to  the 
Grand  Lodge  in  1895.  He  was  captain  of  the 
degree  staff  for  three  years,  from  which  he  re- 
signed in  1899  on  account  of  the  demands  of  his 
business.  In  1896  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  takes  an  active  interest 
in  that  order.  He  also  holds  membership  in  the 
Odd  Fellows  Encampment  and  Rebekah  degree, 
where  he  is  prominent.  He  is  independent  in 
politics,  preferring  to  vote  for  the  men  he  has 
confidence  in  rather  than  to  follow  the  lead  of  any 
party. 


HANS  S.  PETERSEN. 


NANS  SMITH  PETERSEN  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Chicago  since  1887,  when  he  emi- 
grated to  this  country  from  Denmark,  where 
he  was  born  August  i,  1865,  having  entered  the 
world  in  Jutland.  His  father,  Rasnien  Petersen, 
was  a  tailor  and  is  still  engaged  in  that  trade 
in  his  native  land,  where  he  enjoys  the  un- 
alloyed respect  due  to  his  advanced  age  and  the 
reputation  which  he  has  gained  through  a  long 
life  of  unquestionable  honesty.  Mr.  Petersen' s 
mother  is  also  yet  living.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Caroline  Smith.  All  the  five  sons  and  two 
daughters 'born  to  this  couple  (whose  well  run 
race  is  now,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature, 
Hearing  its  goal)  are  yet  living.  Hans  S.  is  the 
oldest  son  and  second  child.  His  next  youngest 
brother,  Hallen,  who  is  a  baker  by  trade,  works 
for  him  at  his  place  at  No.  3638  State  Street. 


Another  brother,  Skor,  is  a  laundry  man.  A  sis- 
ter, Katherine,  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  Kniner, 
of  Denmark.  The  remaining  children  live  at 
home. 

The  first  twenty-two  years  of  Mr.  Petersen's 
life  were  passed  in  Demark.  He  left  school  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  years,  and  for  five  years  worked 
for  a  grocer,  receiving  but  slender  compensation, 
being  virtually  an  apprentice.  For  eight  months 
he  served  in  the  army  and  for  nine  months  was  a 
grocer's  clerk.  Then  at  the  age  of  twenty-two 
he  came  to  America,  reaching  Chicago  in  1887, 
with  but  nine  dollars  in  his  pocket.  For  a  period 
of  nine  months  after  his  arrival  he  worked  on 
a  farm  in  Blue  Island,  for  ten  dollars  per  month. 
After  coming  back  to  Chicago  his  experience  was 
decidedly  varied;  he  was  by  turns  a  dish-washer 
in  a  restaurant,  an  assistant  bridge-tender  at  Clark 


CHRISTIAN  THORSMARK.-L.  H.  HOLDT. 


Street,  an  employe  of  Andrew  Olsen  in  the  coal 
and  wood  business  and  the  driver  of  a  laundry 
wagon  for  George  Falkenberg.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  pursuit  last  named  for  some  six  years,  and 
in  1896  entered  the  employ  of  A.  Burkhard,  with 
whom  he  still  remains. 

In  1 894  he  purchased  the  bakery  business  then 
being  conducted  at  No.  3630  State  Street,  and 
began  to  do  his  own  baking.  In  1899  he  changed 
his  location  to  his  present  quarters,  at  No.  3638 


State  Street,  where  he  also  carries  on  a  confec- 
tionery business.  He  gives  the  establishment  his 
personal  attention  only  during  the  evening,  as 
has  been  said,  being  employed  during  the  day. 

Seven  years  ago  (in  1892),  he  married  Chris- 
tine Nansen,  choosing  for  his  wife,  a  lady  from 
his  native  land.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Petersen  have 
three  children,  Christina,  Walter  and  Lillie.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Walhalla  Society  since 
1889,  and  also  belongs  to  a  singing  society. 


CHRISTIAN  THORSMARK. 


CHRISTIAN  THORSMARK,  the  youngest 
1 1  of  the  four  children  of  Peter  and  Maria 
U  (Langelund)  Thorsmark,  was  born  in  Bau- 
lund,  Schleswig-Holstein,  Germany,  May  24, 
1866.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  died  at  the 
age  of  sixty-three  years.  His  mother  attained 
the  age  of  fifty-six  years. 

Christian  Thorsmark  attended  school  until  he 
was  fourteen  years  of  age.  In  1889,  being  then 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica and  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  was  first  em- 
ployed on  the  streets,  about  Prairie  Avenue.  Fol- 
lowing this  he  was  a  coachman  for  three  years, 
working  for  Andrew  Skau,  in  the  livery  business, 
for  a  time.  In  1897  he  engaged  in  the  milk  and 
cream  business,  on  Vernon  Avenue,  where  he 
remained  two  years.  He  then  removed  to  No.  1 28 
Twenty-ninth  Street,  where  he  is  now  located. 
In  1896  Mr.  Thorsmark  married  Clara  Thomp- 


son, a  daughter  of  David  and  Sarah  (Saunders) 
Thompson,  who  was  born  in  Fountain,  Indiana, 
June  10,  1871.  At  the  age  of  three  years  she 
removed  west,  with  her  parents,  and  has  been  a 
resident  of  Chicago  since  1890.  Mr.  Thorsmark 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Walhalla  Danish  So- 
ciety since  1890. 

The  population  of  all  American  cities  is  made 
up  largely  of  citizens  who  were  raised  in  the 
country,  many  of  them  being  of  foreign  birth 
and  speaking  a  strange  language.  Mr.  Thors- 
mark is  one  of  these.  Born  and  raised  on  a  farm 
where  the  hours  are  long  and  toilsome,  he  early 
learned  the  value  of  time  and  money,  and  that  a 
penny  saved  is  a  penny  earned.  He  made  a 
practical  use  of  his  knowledge.-  Starting  in  pov- 
erty, with  nothing  but  a  strong  will  and  sturdy 
arms,  he  has  slowly  worked  his  way  upward  to 
the  point  where  success  seems  assured. 


LARS  H.  HOLDT. 


I     ARS    H.   HOLDT.      This  well-known   and  sketches    of  whom    appear    elsewhere    in    this 

1C    highly    respected   young    business   man   of  volume. 

l~)  the  south  division  of  the  city  is  a  brother  Lars  H.  Holdt  was  born  in  Schleswig-Holstein 

of  John   P.   and  Jacob   H.  Holdt,  biographical  on  October  7,  1867.     He  was  the  second  son  and 


732 


H.  P.  CLAUSEN. 


fifth  child  of  his  parents.  For  a  more  detailed 
account  of  his  family  relations  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  the  narrative  history  of  his  brothers, 
above  mentioned.  He  left  school  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  and  worked  on  a  farm  until  he 
was  twenty-three  years  old,  when  he  resolved  to 
emigrate  to  America.  He  crossed  the  ocean  in 
1891,  and  came  from  the  sea  coast  directly  to 
Chicago. 

His  first  situation  was  that  of  a  coachman  and 
he  continued  in  that  walk  of  life  until  1894,  when 
he  engaged  in  the  milk  business  on  his  own  ac- 


count. His  first  venture  in  this  line  was  under- 
taken at  No.  3013  Prairie  Avenue.  From  that 
location  he  moved  to  No.  2914  Vernon  Avenue, 
and  from  thence  to  No.  3816  Aldine  Place,  and 
later  to  his  present  place  of  business,  at  No. 
3619  Indiana  Avenue.  He  is  unmarried.  En- 
ergy, perseverance  and  frugality  have  been  the 
cornerstones  of  his  success,  and  his  outlook  for 
the  future  is  bright.  For  eight  years  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Walhalla  Society,  and  was 
at  one  time  connected  with  the  Knights  of  the 
Maccabees. 


HENRY  P.  CLAUSEN. 


HENRY  PETER  CLAUSEN.  The  gentle- 
man whose  name  appears  at  the  head  of 
this  brief  sketch  was  born  in  Sonderbule, 
Schlasvig,  Jutland,  January  i,  1867.  His  fa- 
ther, Henry  Clausen,  was  a  native  of  the  same 
place;  by  trade  a  painter,  but  engaged  in  busi- 
ness for  himself,  and  is  still  actively  and  pros- 
perously engaged  in  the  same  line  of  work  in  the 
land  of  his  birth.  He  is  a  man  of  prominence 
and  repute,  and  has  a  distinguished  military 
record,  having  served  in  the  wars  of  1866  and 
1871.  Mr.  Clausen's  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Louisa  Nissen,  was  also  born  in  Jut- 
land, but  passed  away  in  1868,  while  scarcely 
more  than  thirty-two  years  of  age.  Mr.  Clausen 
is  the  youngest  of  their  four  children,  the  others 
being  Harman,  who  died  in  Jutland;  and  Louisa 
and  Wilhelmina,  who  are  still  living  in  the  old 
country. 

Mr.  Clausen's  mother  died  when  he  was  but 
eight  years  old,  but  his  boyhood  was  well  cared 
for.  Until  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he 
attended  school,  but  then  necessity  compelled 
him  to  seek  some  employment  through  which  he 
might  later  battle  with  the  world.  For  four 


years  he  was  a  butcher's  apprentice,  and,  after 
reaching  the  prescribed  age  for  military  service, 
entered  the  army  as  a  private  soldier,  serving 
three  years. 

In  1890  he  came  to  America,  where  so  many 
of  his  countrymen,  through  industry,  thrift  and 
perseverance,  had  bettered  their  fortunes.  Im- 
mediately upon  landing  he  took  transportation 
for  Chicago,  which  city  has  ever  since  been  his 
home.  He  began  his  career  in  the  humble  capa- 
city of  a  hostler.  With  the  toil  and  compensa- 
tion he  was  content  for  four  years.  By  economy 
and  patience  he  saved  money,  and  in  1894  he 
was  able  to  open  a  boarding  and  livery  stable  of 
his  own.  His  beginning  was  made  on  the  site  of 
his  present  establishment,  Nos.  3133-39  South 
Park  Avenue,  but  it  has  steadily  grown,  and  he 
has  materially  added,  year  by  year,  not  only  to 
the  capacity  of  the  stable,  but  also  to  his  own  in- 
come. He  owes  his  surprising  success  to  pluck 
and  perseverance,  integrity  and  industry. 

In  March,  1891,  he  became  the  husband  of  a 
Danish  maiden,  named  Christina  Nielsen.  Three 
children  have  been  born  to  them,  Louisa,  Claus 
and  Anna.  Mr.  Clausen  is  an  active  and  promi- 


JENS   NIELSEN.— ANDREW  SKAU. 


733 


nent  member  of  Walhalla,  of  the  Verein  Dents- 
chen,  Waffauhassael  of  Chicago,  and  takes  an 
especial  interest  in  the  society  last  named.  He 


is  affable,  sociable  and  generous,  widely  known 
and  highly  esteemed  among  his  fellow-citizens, 
of  both  native  and  foreign  descent. 


JENS   NIELSEN. 


(lENS  NIELSEN  is  a  native  of  Denmark, 
I  having  been  born  in  the  town  of  Als,  Jut- 
G/  land,  July  12,  1867.  While  he  has  barely 
completed  his  thirty-second  year,  he  has  already 
achieved  success,  besides  winning  for  himself  an 
enviable  reputation  in  the  city  which  he  has 
chosen  for  hjs  home. 

Both  his  parents  sleep  in  the  quiet  churchyard 
of  the  little  village  of  Als,  where  they  were  born 
and  battled  with  the  world,  and  where  they  died, 
his  father  at  the  age  of  fifty  and  his  mother  in  her 
fifty-seventh  year.  His  father,  Niels  C.  Nielsen, 
was  a  laborer;  his  mother's  name  before  marriage 
was  Carrie  Jensen.  Jens  was  one  of  four  children 
born  to  this  couple,  only  two  of  whom  are  living. 
The  first  twenty-two  years  of  his  life  were 
spent  in  his  native  country.  Until  he  reached 
the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  attended  school,  and 
after  that  he  worked  upon  the  farm,  under  condi- 
tions which  American  laborers  would  regard  as, 


to  say  the  least,  decidedly  disadvantageous.  In 
1889  he  determined  to  learn  the  best  or  the  worst 
which  a  strange  country  might  have  in  store  for 
him.  He  came  to  America  and  directed  his  steps 
straight  from  the  seaboard  to  Chicago.  On  reach- 
ing this  city  he  found  life  far  from  being  a  para- 
dise. His  first  employment  was  as  a  hod  carrier; 
but  he  was  afraid  of  no  honest  toil  and  cheerfully 
carried  bricks  up  the  narrow  planks  to  the  skilled 
artisan  who  laid  them  in  their  course.  Yet  he 
persevered  and  since  1893  he  has  continued  in 
business  as  a  coal  dealer  at  his  original  location, 
No.  3852  Armour  Avenue,  his  trade  gradually  in- 
creasing and  his  prosperity  growing,  year  after 
year.  He  has  never  married. 

He  is  an  active  member  of  the  Danish  Brother- 
hood and  prominent  in  its  councils,  having  been 
vice-president  of  Lodge  No.  35  for  some  two 
years.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Society  of  Pleasure. 


ANDREW  SKAU. 


NDREW  SKAU  is  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  highly  respected  Danish-Ameri- 
cans of  Chicago,  where  he  has  lived  for 
eighteen  years.  He  is  the  second  child  of  Christ 
Fritz  Skau  and  his  wife,  Anna  B.  Andersen,  and 
was  born  in  Bedsted,  Schleswig,  Denmark,  Jan- 


uary 7,  1854.  His  father,  who  was  a  laborer, 
was  born  in  1817,  and  died  in  his  native  place,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  His  mother  died 
in  her  seventy-third  year.  Of  the  five  children 
of  this  couple,  three  attained  maturity. 

Andrew    Skau    was    educated   in    the   public 


734 


H.  G.  KIRCHHOFF. 


schools,  which  he  attended  until  he  was  fifteen 
years  old.  He  then  began  working  as  a  farm 
hand,  which  occupation  he  followed  until  he  en- 
tered the  army  at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  His 
term  of  military  service  was  two  years,  and  on  its 
completion  he  returned  to  farming.  In  1881  he 
determined  to  emigrate  to  America,  and  bidding 
adieu  to  parents  and  Fatherland,  he  set  out  for 
Chicago,  a  city  of  which  he  knew  little  but  had 
heard  much,  and  where  he  was  destined  to 
achieve  that  success  which  rightfully  belongs  to 
men  of  brain  and  nerve,  of  energy  and  probity. 
For  the  first  eighteen  months  after  reaching  Chi- 
cago he  worked  in  a  lath  factory,  and  in  1884  he 
opened  a  livery  and  boarding  stable  at  No.  2814 
Calumet  Avenue.  From  there  he  removed  to 
No.  2843  Indiana  Avenue  and  thence  to  No.  128 


Thirtieth  Street,  and  later  to  No.  159,  on  the 
same  thoroughfare.  He  remained  at  the  last 
mentioned  location  five  years,  when  he  made  an- 
other removal,  taking  possession  of  the  premises 
in  the  rear  of  No.  3020  Calumet  Avenue,  which 
he  still  occupies. 

In  1883  he  was  married  to  Anna  Maria  Holdt, 
who  came  from  Denmark  to  America  on  the 
same  vessel  with  himself.  Four  sons  and  a 
daughter  have  been  born  to  them:  Christian 
Fritz,  Niels,  Anna,  Charles  and  George.  The 
eldest  is  in  the  employ  of  Madigan  Brothers,  dry 
goods  merchants. 

Mr.  vSkau  is  a  member  of  the  Walhalla  Society, 
having  joined  that  organization  while  it  was  in 
its  infancy,  and  of  the  Independent  Order  of  For- 
esters. 


HENRY  G.  KIRCHHOFF. 


HENRY  GEORGE  KIRCHHOFF.  The  gen- 
tleman whose  name  appears  above  is  a  son 
of  Henry  Kirchhoff,  in  whose  biography  the 
reader  may  find  an  interesting  account  of  his 
genealogical  and  collateral  family  connections. 
He  was  born  July  19,  1866,  in  Leyden  Township, 
Cook  County,  and  shortly  after  leaving  school, 
in  1886,  he  went  to  work  for  the  well-known 
wholesale  paper  house  of  Thomas  Brothers,  now 
of  Nos.  96-98  West  Randolph  Street,  but  former- 
ly of  Nos.  43-45  West  Lake  Street.  He  entered 
their  employ  as  a  driver,  and  continued  in  that 
capacity  for  six  months.  From  this  position  he 
was  promoted  to  be  shipping  clerk,  and  in  1893 
was  given  a  position  as  city  salesman.  He  is 
still  with  the  same  firm,  and  their  estimate  of  his 
worth  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
course  of  twelve  years  he  has  risen  from  so 
humble  a  position  to  become  one  of  their  confi- 
dential and  most  trusted  employes. 


April  9,  1888,  Mr.  Kirchhoff  was  married  to 
Miss  Grace  Katerbau,  who  was  born  in  Chicago, 
June  14,  1867.  They  have  one  child,  Herbert 
Matthew,  born  December  10,  1889.  His  home 
is  one  of  refinement,  suited  to  the  tastes  and  pur- 
suits of  a  Christian  gentleman,  as  Mr.  Kirchhoff 
is  recognized  to  be  by  all  who  have  the  honor  of 
his  acquaintance,  and  by  none  so  thoroughly  as 
by  those  who  know  him  best.  The  residence  is 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  handsome  suburb  of 
Franklin  Park. 

His  fellow-townsmen,  recognizing  his  personal 
and  civic  worth,  have  shown  him  many  marks  of 
their  confidence  and  esteem.  He  was  director  of 
school  district  No.  9,  in  Leyden  Township,  from 
1893  to  1896,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Village  Trustees  since  1895,  having 
been  chosen  President  in  1899. 

He  is  a  member  of  Franklin  Park  Council  No. 
107,  of  the  Royal  League.  He  is  also  connected 


MARTIN  HANSEN.— W.  H.  KIRCHHOFF. 


735 


with  several  fraternal  organizations  in  the  city  of 
Chicago:  the  Royal  Arcanum,  Council  No.  1,540 
of  Ben  Hur,  and  Council  No.  26  of  the  North 
American  Union. 


has  been  prominent  in  church  and  charitable  work 
and  is  an  active  member  of  the  Young  People's 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  In  social  pleas- 
ures he  finds  much  enjoyment,  and  in  the  social 


In  politics  Mr.  Kirchhoffisa  Republican.     He     life  of  Franklin  Park  he  is  one  of  the  leaders. 


MARTIN  HANSEN. 


iy/1  ARTIN  HANSEN  is  a  native  of  Haden-lev, 
I V I  North  Schleswig,  Denmark,  as  were  also 
l(y|  his  parents.  He  was  born  November  i, 
1866,  and  is  one  of  a  family  of  three  daughters 
and  three  sons  born  to  James  and  Christina 
(Scott)  Hansen,  being  the  youngest  sou  and  the 
fifth  in  order  of  birth.  His  father  was  an  express- 
man by  occupation,  and  died  in  the  land  of  his 
birth,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years.  Mrs.  Han- 
sen,  Senior,  is  still  living  and  makes  her  home  at 
Lake  View,  Iowa. 

Martin  Hausen  left  school  when  he  was  four- 
teen years  old  and  for  the  next  three  years 
worked  in  a  grocery  store.  In  1883,  when  but  a 
boy  of  seventeen,  he  bade  adieu  to  his  native 
shores  and  to  his  kindred,  to  venture  for  him- 
self in  a  strange  land.  Immediately  on  reaching 
America  he  set  out  for  Chicago.  Here  he  first 
found  employment  as  a  coach  driver,  and  con- 


tinued to  follow  that  pursuit  until,  through  in- 
dustry, sobriety  and  thrift,  he  had  accumulated 
sufficient  capital  to  enable  him  to  embark  in  the 
coal,  wood  and  feed  business.  In  this  line  of  trade 
he  has  since  continued,  his  present  place  of  busi- 
ness being  located  at  No.  3454  Halsted  Street. 

He  was  married  January  4,  1888,  to  a  Danish 
lady  who  came  to  this  country  at  about  the  same 
time  as  himself,  Miss  Hannah  Christensen,  who 
was  at  the  time  of  their  union  a  resident  of  Chi- 
cago. She  has  borne  him  two  daughters,  Jennie 
and  Mabel. 

Mr.  Hansen  was  among  the  earliest  members 
of  the  order  of  Walhalla,  and  has  always  taken 
an  active  part  in  promoting  the  interests  of  the 
organization.  He  is  a  member  of  Faith  Mission, 
a  Baptist  society,  with  house  of  worship  near  his 
home.  He  supports  the  political  principles  of  the 
Republican  party. 


W.  H.  KIRCHHOFF. 


P  QlLLIAM  H.  KIRCHHOFF,  a  son  of  Henry  Franklin  Park.     A  course  of  training  at  the  pub- 

\  A  I    Kirchhoff,    was  born   January    24,    1868,  lie    schools   was   supplemented  "by  a   course   at 

VV    within  the  walls  of  the  old  homestead  in  Bryant  &  Stratum's  Business  College  in  Chicago, 

L,eyden   Township,  now  a  part  of  the  village  of  and   in   1887  he  entered  upon  the  real  work  of 


736 


PETER  LAWSON. 


life  as  an  employe  of  the  L.H.  Thomas  Company, 
at  Rogers  Park,  Illinois.  In  1889  he  resigned 
his  position  with  that  concern  to  connect  himself 
with  the  Davis  Sewing  Machine  Company,  in 
whose  employ  he  continued  about  three  years. 
The  year  following  his  leaving  the  Davis  Com- 
pany was  passed  in  the  service  of  the  Machinists' 
Supply  Company  as  correspondent,  and  during 
the  next  five  years  he  was  assistant  purchasing 
agent  for  the  Crane  Company. 

His  next  move  was  in  the  direction  of  starting 
in  business  on  his  own  account.  He  became  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Steel  &  Iron  Metal  Coat- 
ing Company,  of  West  Chicago,  of  which  com- 
pany he  was  made  treasurer.  The  company  has 
a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  and  a 
plant  located  at  West  Chicago,  Illnois.  It  con- 
trols some  valuable  patents  for  the  coating  of  iron 


and  steel  with  an  aluminum  alloy,  and  enjoys  the 
distinction  of  being  the  only  concern  of  the  kind 
in  the  world. 

Mr.  Kirchhoff  was  married  to  Miss  Alice  Mar- 
garet Martens,  October  22,  1893.  She  was  born 
in  Chicago  September  14,  1873.  For  detailed  ac- 
count of  Mrs.  KirchhofPs  parentage  and  family 
connections  see  sketch  of  her  father,  Henry  Mar- 
tens. Three  children  were  born  to  them:  Eleanor 
Alice,  July  3,  1894;  William  Martens,  May  26, 
1897;  and  Elizabeth  Louise,  on  the  5th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1898. 

Mr.  KirchhofPs  religious  affiliation  is  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Franklin 
Park;  in  his  political  creed  is  a  Republican.  He 
is  a  member  of  Court  America,  No.  873,  United 
Order  of  Foresters,  Chicago,  and  of  Franklin 
Park  Council,  No.  107,  Royal  League. 


PETER  LAWSON. 


F^ETER  LAWSON,  at  one  time  in  command 
LX  of  Engine  Company  No.  70,  is  one  of  Chica- 
[S  go's  life  residents.  He  also  enjoys  the  en- 
viable distinction  of  having  earned  an  honorable 
record  as  a  fireman,  through  thirty  years  of  .un- 
selfish, gallant  and  heroic  service.  It  is  difficult 
to  bestow  too  high  encomium  upon  the  mere  risk 
of  personal  safety,  home,  happiness,  life  itself, 
through  devotion  to  duty  and  paramount  anxiety 
to  save  the  lives  of  others.  It  is  of  this  class 
that  the  Captain  is  an  exponent. 

To  the  credit  of  Cook  County,  it  may  be  said 
that  he  was  born  within  its  limits,  the  date  of  his 
birth  having  been  November  7,  1847.  John 
Lawson  was  his  father,  and  his  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Ann  Pierson,  both  being  natives  of 
Norway,  from  which  country  they  came  to  Chi- 
cago in  1836.  They  settled  upon  a  farm  in  the 
town  of  Thornton,  Cook  County,  and  reared  a 


family  of  six  children,  only  two  of  whom — Peter 
and  Albert — are  living.  The  mother  died  Janu- 
ary 13,  1882,  and  Mr.  Lawson,  Senior,  on  the 
same  date  in  1887.  The  coincidence  is  rendered 
yet  more  striking  by  the  fact  that  both  died  at 
nearly  the  same  hour  of  the  day. 

Peter  Larson's  early  education  was  obtained  at 
a  country  school  house,  and  through  a  brief  at- 
tendance at  one  of  the  Chicago  public  schools. 
He  learned  the  trades  of  carpenter  and  roofer, 
but  April  8,  1869,  he  joined  the  city  fire  depart- 
ment, and  has  ever  since  followed  the  perilous 
life  of  a  fireman.  He  was  made  lieutenant  in 
1880,  and  in  1892  promoted  to  the  captaincy  of 
Engine  Company  No.  70,  of  Ravenswood,  being 
its  first  Captain.  In  1897  he  was  transferred  to 
his  present  post,  and  made  Captain  of  Company 
No.  79. 

His  record  as  an  officer  is  one  of  personal 


RASMUS  JENSEN. 


737 


courage  and  marked  executive  efficiency,  as  a 
long  series  of  promotions  attest.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Firemen's  Benevolent  Association  and  of 
the  Mutual  Aid  Society.  He  takes  comparative- 
ly little  interest  in  politics  and  usually  votes  in- 
dependently of  party  lines.  In  religious  belief 
he  is  a  Lutheran. 

In  1870  he  was  married  to  Catherine  Roze, 


daughter  of  Charles  and  Catherine  Roze,  natives 
of  Germany,  who  came  to  Chicago  in  1852. 
The  latter  is  still  living  here.  Mrs.  Lawson  was 
a  native  of  this  city,  and  became  the  mother  of  five 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Ella  and  Vic- 
tor. Mrs.  Lawson  died  in  1894,  and  October  27, 
1897,  he  married  Carrie  M.  Sprecht,  who  was 
born  in  Chicago,  of  German  parents. 


RASMUS  JENSEN. 


RASMUS  JENSEN  was  left  an  orphan  while 
yet  a  child  of  very  tender  years,  his  mother 
dying  when  he  was  but  three  years  old,  and 
his  father  two  years  later.  Both  his  parents 
were  natives  of  Sjelland,  Denmark,  where  he  was 
born  August  25,  1840.  His  father,  whose  bap- 
tismal name  was  Hans,  was  a  small  farmer, 
widely  known  and  universally  respected,  who 
served  with  distinction  during  the  war  of  1807. 

After  the  death  of  his  parents,  Rasmus  Jensen 
was  reared  by  an  elder  sister  until  he  reached 
the  age  of  eleven  years.  Since  that  time  he  has 
buffeted  with  the  world  alone.  That  he  has  suc- 
cessfully resisted  the  manifold  temptations  and 
overcome  the  innumerable  obstacles  that  beset 
the  pathway  of  boys  and  young  men  thus  situ- 
ated, is  due  to  his  indomitable  pluck  and  his  high 
moral  sense.  He  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the 
public  school  until  he  reached  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  although  during  two  years  he  was  forced 
to  attend  evening  sessions,  being  compelled  to 
earn  his  own  daily  bread  and  nightly  shelter. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  quit  the  farm 
where  he  had  been  employed  and  worked  at  any- 
thing he  could  find  to  do  until  1864,' when  he 
entered  the  army,  and  took  part  in  that  memor- 
able struggle  between  Denmark  and  Germany. 
On  his  return  to  Copenhagen  he  took  ship  for 
Greenland,  where  for  one  year  he  was  employed 


in  a  mill,  and  from  that  land  of  perpetual  snow 
and  frost  he  came  to  America,  settling  first  at 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  Two  years  later,  in 
1870,  he  resolved  to  go  further  west,  and  came 
as  far  in  that  direction  as  Chicago,  which  has 
been  his  home  since  that  time.  For  four  years 
he  had  no  steady  employment,  working  for  a 
contractor  on  carpenter  work,  and  again  at  any 
honest  toil  that  offered. 

In  1874  he  obtained  a  position  with  the  late 
James  H.  Rice,  from  whom  the  present  James  H. 
Rice  Glass  Company  takes  its  name.  For  eleven 
years  he  remained  in  Mr.  Rice's  employ,  and  in 
1882  he  started  in  business  for  himself  at  No. 
5716  Wentworth  Avenue,  where  he  still  remains. 
He  has,  however,  replaced  the  old  structure  by 
a  handsome,  two-story  building,  the  upper  floor 
of  which  he  occupies  as  a  dwelling.  He  carries 
a  general  line  of  hardware,  as  well  as  lamps  and 
other  household  necessities. 

August  4,  1872,  he  became  the  husband  of 
Christiana  Andersen,  a  resident  of  Chicago,  but 
a  native  of  Denmark.  Four  daughters  have 
been  the  fruit  of  their  union:  Maria,  now  Mrs. 
August  Moller,  of  Chicago;  Annie,  the  wife  of 
Louis  Oppel,  of  the  same  city;  Lizzie  and  Hattie, 
who  live  at  home. 

Mr.  Jansen  has  had  his  home  in  Chicago  for 
nearly  thirty  years,  and  may  be  properly  called 


738 


JOHANNES  TOPP.—  OLE  NIELSEN. 


an  old  settler.  Here  it  is  that  he  married  and 
reared  his  offspring,  and  here  he  has  valiantly 
fought  his  own  way  to  financial  success,  and, 


which  he  values  more  highly,  to  the  sincere 
respect  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  North  Congregational  Church  of  Englewood. 


JOHANNES  TOPP. 


(JOHANNES  TOPP,  who  is  commonly  known 
I  as  James  Topp,  was  born  at  Copenhagen, 
Q)  Denmark,  January  26,  1871,  and  is  the  only 
child  of  Jacob  and  Marsine  (Ditlewsen)  Topp, 
both  of  whom  were  born  in  that  city.  His  father 
was  a  well-known  photographer,  and  served  in 
his  country's  army  during  the  war  with  Germany 
in  1864.  He  died  in  Copenhagen  at  the  age  of 
forty  years,  his  widow  is  still  living,  and  makes 
her  home  with  her  son  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Topp  left  school  when  he  was  fourteen 
years  old,  and  was  apprenticed  for  four  years  to 
a  grocer  of  Kjoga,  Denmark,  to  learn  the  busi- 
ness. On  leaving  his  employer  he  opened  a 
store  of  his  own  in  another  town,  but  after  a 
year  he  concluded  to  emigrate  to  America.  In 
1890  he  reached  these  shores  and  went  at  once  to 
Clinton,  Iowa,  where  he  began  work  in  a  saw 
mill.  In  1892  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  found 
employment  in  a  coal  yard.  Mr.  Topp  looks 
back  upon  these  days  as  the  darkest  in  his  life, 


but  his  is  not  a  nature  to  succumb  before  difficul- 
ties such  as  might  easily  dishearten  a  weaker 
nature.  He  next  secured  the  position  of  wagon 
driver  for  the  Chicago  Public  Library,  his  work 
being  the  delivery  and  collection  of  books  to  and 
from  stations.  This  occupation  he  followed  for 
three  years,  and  then  engaged  in  the  sale  of  oil, 
which  he  carried  on  for  two  years  and  one-half. 

He  was  married  in  1899  to  Miss  Christine 
Hendricksen,  who,  like  himself,  is  a  native  of 
Denmark.  At  the  same  time  he  engaged  in  his 
present  business,  that  of  expressage,  in  connec- 
tion with  conducting  a  place  for  the  sale  of  coal 
and  feed.  His  business  is  prosperous,  and  he 
runs  four  wagons  for  moving  furniture  and  the 
delivery  of  coal  and  express  matter. 

He  is  a  member  of  Atlas  Lodge  No.  261,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  of  the  Wal- 
halla  Society.  He  has  a  wide  circle  of  acquain- 
tances and  is  highly  respected  by  all  who  know 
him. 


OLE  NIELSEN. 


0LE  NIELSEN,   the  son  of  Jens  and  Petrea 
(Smith)  Nielsen,  is  a  native  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein,   having   been  born  at   Skjobeck, 
September  14,  1865.     He  inherits  his  rare  musi- 


cal talent  from  his  father,  who  was  for  twenty- 
five  years  director  of  a  band  in  the  Danish  army, 
and  a  musician  of  recognized  ability.  He  (the 
elder  Nielsen)  is  still  living  in  the  land  of  his 


J.  C.  H.  SMITH. 


739 


birth,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-five  years, 
as  is  also  his  wife,  mother  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  whose  hair  has  been  silvered  by  the  frosts 
of  eighty  winters. 

Of  the  six  children  born  to  this  couple,  two 
sons  and  a  daughter  are  yet  living:  Ole  Nielsen, 
a  brief  sketch  of  whose  life  is  here  given;  Niels 
A.,  a  resident  of  Pontiac,  Illinois;  and  Bodil 
Aliene  Sydicksen,  whose  home  is  still  in  the  old 
country.  Ole  is  the  fourth  child  and  second  son. 

Until  twelve  years  old  Ole  Nielsen  attended 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  village,  acquir- 
ing the  rudiments  of  a  general  education.  His 
musical  genius  having  early  begun  to  manifest 
itself,  his  father  then  sent  him  to  Copenhagen  to 
study  music  under  better  masters  than  were  to 
be  found  in  the  country  districts  of  Denmark. 
For  a  year  he  was  a  pupil  of  Professor  Forup, 
and  then  resolved  to  cross  the  ocean  and  seek  a 
home  in  another  hemisphere.  He  was  but  thir- 
teen years  of  age  when  he  landed  in  New  York. 
From  that  city  he  went  at  once  to  Chicago;  and 
after  a  brief  stay  there,  to  Decatur,  Illinois,  and 
later  to  Dwight,  in  this  state.  There  he  re- 


mained four  years,  during  which  time  he  passed 
through  the  grades  of  the  grammar  school.  From 
Dwight  he  went  to  Elkhorn,  Iowa,  where  for  a 
year  he  was  a  pupil  in  the  high  school;  and  then 
returned  to  Chicago. 

His  natural  bent  led  him  to  seek  employment 
as  a  musician,  and  this,  skill — native  and  culti- 
vated— soon  secured.  For  several  years  he  played 
in  various  bands,  and  in  1889  he  organized  one 
himself,  becoming  its  director.  Since  then  he 
has  continued  in  this  line  of  professional  work,  in 
which,  although  not  yet  thirty-four  years  of  age, 
he  has  already  won  distinction.  The  organiza- 
tion of  which  he  is  at  present  (1899)  the  head  is 
a  handsomely  uniformed,  well  equipped  body, 
allied  with  the  Federation  of  Labor,  and  its  serv- 
ices are  in  constant  request,  because  of  its  justly 
earned  reputation. 

In  1899  Mr.  Nielsen  was  married  to  Miss 
Laura  Andersen.  Mrs.  Nielsen  was  born  in 
Denmark,  but  her  girlhood  was  passed  in  Clinton, 
Iowa.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the  Walhalla 
Society  and  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood,  No.  35. 
In  the  latter  body  he  has  served  as  trustee. 


JOHN  C.  H.  SMITH. 


(JOHN  CHARLES  HENRY  SMITH  was  born 
I  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  December  i,  1848. 
G)  His  parents,  Theodore  and  Mary  Schmitz, 
were  natives  of  Prussia  and  settled  in  Southport, 
now  Kenosha,  the  year  before  his  birth.  The  fa- 
ther carried  on  gardening  there  until  he  removed 
to  Chicago,  where  he  died,  in  1896,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six  years. 

Mr.  Smith's  boyhood  was  passed  in  assisting 
his  father  and  attending  the  district  school,  and 
at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  and  two  months  he  en- 
listed in  Company  B,  Seventeenth  Wisconsin  In- 
fantry Volunteers.  His  regiment  was  attached 


to  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  and  followed  Sher- 
man to  the  sea,  participating  in  the  siege  of  At- 
lanta and  many  of  the  engagements  which  pre- 
ceded. He  was  mustered  out  July  18,  1865,  and 
returned  to  Keuosha. 

When  he  reached  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he 
learned  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith,  and  later  found 
work  in  the  wagon  factory  of  E.  Bain,  until 
1875,  when  he  decided  to  remove  to  Chicago.  On 
arriving  here  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his 
brother,  A.  A.  Smith,  and  opened  a  grocery  at 
the  corner  of  Ohio  and  Noble  Streets.  Their 
business  prospered,  and  three  years  later  they 


740 


S.  P.  PKTERSEN. 


built  a  store  at  the  corner  of  Cornell  and  Holt 
Streets,  and  two  years  afterward  Mr.  Smith  sold 
his  interest  to  his  brother.  He  next  opened  a 
grocery  and  saloon  at  the  corner  of  Paulina 
Street  and  Chicago  Avenue,  which  he  conducted 
seven  years.  His  next  move  was  to  his  present 
place  of  business,  at  the  corner  of  Chicago  Ave- 
nue and  Robey  Street,  where  he  has  built  up  an 
extensive  and  profitable  trade  in  liquors  and  also 
in  horses.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  sportsman  and 
expert  in  the  use  of  the  rifle. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  but  although  an 
active  party  worker,  he  has  never  been  an  as- 
pirant for  office.  In  religious  faith  he  is  a  Ro- 


man Catholic.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  of  Winfield  Scott  Post,  No.  445, 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  In  the  year  1872 
he  was  elected  an  alderman  in  Kenosha,  being 
the  first  native  resident  to  receive  an  elective 
office  in  that  city,  and  said  to  be  the  first  native 
American. 

He  was  married  August  3,  1872,  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Neiderprim.  She  was  born  in  New  York 
State,  of  German  parents,  who  removed  to  Keno- 
sha when  she  was  a  child.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith 
have  had  three  children,  one  of  whom  died  at  the 
age  of  two  years.  The  names  of  those  yet  living 
are:  John  T.  and  Mary  K. 


SORN  P.  PETERSEN. 


(3ORN  P.  PETERSEN  is  one  of  those  Danish - 
?\  American  citizens  whose  success  attests  at 
\£)  once  their  capability  and  the  rugged  persis- 
tence which  seems  to  be  inherent  in  the  rugged, 
resolute  Scandinavian  character.  He  was  born 
on  the  peninsula  of  Jutland,  April  8,  1869.  His 
father,  Andrew  Petersen,  was  a  common  laborer, 
and  young  Sorn's  educational  advantages  were 
no  greater  that  his  father's  purse  allowed.  The 
elder  Petersen  died  in  Denmark,  at  the  age  of 
forty-four  years.  Sorn's  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Marie  Christine  Christensen.  She  survived 
her  husband,  and  is  still  living  in  Denmark,  aged 
fifty-nine  years  (1899).  Nine  children  were 
born  to  them,  of  whom  Sorn  P.  was  the  fourth 
in  order  of  birth,  and  the  only  son. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  was  duly  ap- 
prenticed to  the  miller's  trade,  and  after  serving 
a  term  of  three  years  resolved  to  emigrate  to  a 
land  where  better  opportunities  offered  themselves 
to  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  capitalist  and  the 
mechanic.  In  1888  he  landed  on  these  shores, 
and  his  first  halting  place  was  at  Oconto,  Wis- 


consin. For  three  years  he  worked  there  as  a 
common  laborer,  and  in  1891  came  to  Chicago. 
For  some  time  he  found  little  better  here,  but  be- 
fore long  he  began  handling  the  beer  of  several 
breweries  as  a  commission  merchant.  In  1899, 
such  had  been  his  success,  and  so  thoroughly 
had  he  demonstrated  his  ability,  industry  and  in- 
tegrity, that  he  was  given  the  general  agency  of 
the  Monarch  Brewing  Company  for  the  Wood- 
lawn  district.  He  also  does  general  teaming  on 
his  individual  account. 

In  1895,  at  Chicago,  he  married  Kittie  Ag- 
holm,  a  native  of  Denmark,  like  himself.  She 
crossed  the  ocean  in  1891,  and  settled  in  Chicago 
the  same  year.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Maennerchor,  and  has  been  president  of  the 
Danish  Brotherhood,  as  well  as  treasurer  of  that 
order.  For  two  years  he  was  a  trustee,  and  he 
has  also  served  on  many  important  local  com- 
mittees. At  one  time  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Walhalla  Society. 

Mr.  Petersen's  success  is  the  result  of  his  own 
untiring  effort.  Throughout  his  entire  life  he 


JAMES  SMITH.— J.  A.  KNUDSEN. 


has  been  an  industrious,  indefatigable  worker. 
While  young  in  years,  he  has  achieved  an  expe- 
rience of  rare  practical  worth,  and  in  the  broad 


school  of  experience  he  has  more  than  compen- , 
sated   for  any   latent    deficiencies   in   his    early 
scholastic  training. 


JAMES   SMITH 


(I  AMES  SMITH,  a  respected  member  of  the 
I  Danish- American  colony  in  Chicago,  is  the 
(2/  eldest  child  of  Jacob  and  Sophia  Smidt,  of 
Schleswig-Holstein,  in  which  principality  he  was 
born  September  7,  1841.  His  father  was  a  tin- 
ner by  trade,  and  served  in  the  Danish  army  dur- 
ing the  war  of  1848.  He  died  in  his  native  coun- 
try at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  leaving  a  widow  and 
children,  and  the  former  still  survives.  To  this 
couple  were  born  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

James'  early  life  did  not  greatly  differ  from 
that  of  most  youths  of  his  native  place.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  he  had  completed  his  scholastic 
training  and  for  eight  years  thereafter  he  worked 
upon  a  farm.  In  1864  he  formed  the  resolution 
to  begin  a  new  career  across  the  sea,  where  num- 
bers of  his  countrymen  had  already  found  a  home 
and  competence.  From  New  York  he  came  at 
once  to  Chicago,  and  here  his  first  employment 
was  as  a  common  laborer  in  connection  with  the 
building  trades.  He  was  industrious,  willing 


and  observant,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  had 
mastered  the  details  of  the  plasterer's  trade,  which 
he  yet  follows.  That  he  has  succeeded  is  due  to 
his  own  unaided  efforts.  He  also  mastered  the 
intricacies  of  brick  laying  and  is  at  present  a 
prosperous  contractor. 

He  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was 
Martha  Nielsen,  to  whom  he  was  united  in  1870. 
She  bore  him  four  children  who  are  now  deceased. 
After  her  death  he  married  Anna  Bundesen,  a 
native  of  North  Schleswig,  Denmark.  By  her  he 
became  the  father  of  nine  children,  six  of  whom 
are  yet  living — Andrew,  John,  Charles,  Arthur 
Jens  and  Anna.  All  were  born  in  Chicago  and 
still  reside  in  this  city. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Republican  and  in  religious 
faith  a  Presbyterian. 

He  ranks  among  the  old  settlers  of  Chicago, 
hardy  men  and  women  who  are  rapidly  passing 
away.  Perseverance,  pluck,  probity  and  indus- 
try have  been  the  guiding  principles  of  his  life. 


JENS  A.  KNUDSEN. 


(TENS    ANDERS    KNUDSEN   was   born   in 
I    Aarhus,  Jutland.  Denmark,  October  6,  1868. 
O  For  a  somewhat  detailed  account  of  his  par- 
entage and  family  relations  the  reader  is  referred  to 


the  biographical  sketch  of  his  brother,  Knud  R. 
Knudsen,  which  may  be  found  upon  another 
page.  He  is  the  youngest  living  child  of  a  fam- 
ily of  twenty-three  born  to  Rasmus  and  Anna 


742 


CHRISTIAN  STERNDORF. 


(Martens)  Knudsen.  On  leaving  school  he  en- 
tered upon  an  apprenticeship  of  five  years  to  the 
butcher's  trade.  After  serving  his  full  term  he 
went  to  Germany,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade 
at  various  places  four  years.  He  then  returned 
to  Denmark,  but  once  again  visited  Germany 
and  sailed  from  that  country  for  America  in 
1890. 

Chicago  was  his  first  objective  point,  and 
thence  he  went  to  Hammond,  where  he  worked 
for  a  time  at  his  trade,  and  later  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Swift  &  Company,  at  the  Union  Stock 
Yards.  In  1896  he  formed  a  partnership  with  a 
Mr.  Schmoor,  and  embarked  in  business  for  him- 
self. After  twenty-one  months  Mr.  Knudsen 
bought  his  partner's  interest  and  has  since  then 
conducted  the  business  alone,  being  the  proprie- 


tor of  a  grocery  and  market  at  No.  3140  Cottage 
Grove  avenue,  where  he  has  built  up  a  remuner- 
ative trade  through  integrity  and  strict  attention 
to  business. 

He  is  well  known  in  both  business  and  social 
circles,  and  enjoys  an  enviable  reputation  for 
honesty  in  his  dealings,  as  well  as  for  his  fidelity 
to  his  friends.  He  has  been  the  architect  of  his 
own  fortunes,  and  has  been  in  every  way  success- 
ful. He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Walhalla  So- 
ciety since  1891. 

In  1892  he  married  Miss  Olivia  Larsen,  who 
was  born  and  reared  in  Copenhagen,  but  came  to 
Chicago  to  reside  in  1888.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Knud- 
sen are  the  parents  of  two  children — Harry  and 
Walter — both  of  whom  were  born  in  the  city  of 
Chicago. 


.CHRISTIAN  STERNDORF. 


EHRISTIAN  STERNDORF,  one  of  the  old 
settlers  of  Chicago,  residing  at  No.  2932 
Calumet  Avenue,  was  born  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  Denmark — since  become  a  part  of  Ger- 
many— December  3,  1846.  He  is  the  son  of 
Hans  and  Anna  K.  (Damp)  Sterndorf.  Hans 
Sterndorf  served  as  a  coachman  many  years  and 
was  also  in  the  regular  army  of  his  country,  and 
died  when  about  seventy-one  years  of  age.  His 
wife  died  at  the  age  of  about  seventy-eight. 
They  were  the  parents  of  six  children,  all  but  one 
of  whom  lived  to  adult  age. 

The  subject  of  this  article  is  the  oldest  son  and 
second  child.  His  education  was  obtained  in 
the  public  school  before  he  was  sixteen  years  old. 
At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  became  indepen- 
dent of  parental  restraint  and  left  the  neighbor- 
hood of  his  nativity  to  work  out  his  own  fortune. 
In  the  winter  months,  from  that  time  until  he 
was  sixteen,  he  attended  school,  working  before 


and  after  school  hours  to  pay  his  board.  Subse- 
quent to  this  he  enlisted  in  the  Danish  army, 
where  he  served  two  years,  and  after  his  dis- 
charge returned  to  his  native  place.  There  he 
became  foreman  on  a  large  farm,  continuing  in 
that  capacity  eight  years,  when  he  changed  his 
location,  serving  in  another  place  a  period  of 
four  years. 

In  1877  he  married  Hannah  C.  Thorsmark, 
who  was  born  in  Schleswig,  January  20,  1846. 
They  left  Denmark  in  1881,  and  reached  Chicago 
May  30  of  that  year.  They  first  located  on  the 
North  Side,  and  then  removed  to  what  is  now 
No.  3740  Armour  Avenue,  subsequent  to  which 
they  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where  they  remained 
one  year.  Later  they  returned  to  Chicago,  where 
they  have  since  resided. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sterndorf  became  the  parents  of 
three  children:  Hans,  born  in  Denmark  in  1878; 
Mattie  J.,  born  in  Chicago,  died  at  the  age  of 


O.  A.  HANSEN.— N.  C.  MATHIESEN. 


743 


four  years;  and  Jennie,  born  in  Chicago,  Febru- 
ary 3,  1890.  Mr.  Sterndorf  has  established  a 
reputation  for  fidelity  and  conscientious  work 
and  has  served  various  persons  as  janitor  in  their 


establishments.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Walhalla  Danish  Society  for  about  fifteen  years, 
during  which  time  he  has  taken  an  active  inter- 
est in  its  work. 


OLUF  A.  HANSEN. 


0LUF  ANDREW  HANSEN.  This  promi- 
nent Danish-American  citizen  of  Chicago, 
who  has  achieved  success  because  he  was 
resolved  to  know  no  such  word  as  fail,  was  born 
December  27,  1869,  at  Svaneke,  on  the  island  of 
Bornholm,  Denmark,  where  both  his  parents 
were  born.  His  father,  Anders  Hansen,  was  a 
shipbuilder,  and  still  conducts  the  business  in  the 
same  yard  in  his  native  land,  although  advanc- 
ing years  and  an  accumulating  competence  have 
combined  to  bring  about  his  partial  retirement 
from  active  work.  He  was  in  the  naval  service 
of  his  country  during  the  Danish-German  War 
of  1864,  as  a  ship's  carpenter.  His  wife,  Anna, 
Mr.  O.  A.  Hansen's  mother,  is  also  still  living. 
She  bore  her  husband  four  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  are  yet  living.  Of  the  sons, 
two — Peter  and  Christian — are  shipbuilders,  and 
one — Anthon — is  first  mate  on  an  ocean  steamer. 
Oluf  A.  Hansen,  the  youngest  son,  a  prosper- 
ous business  man  of  Chicago,  is  engaged  in 
blacksmithing  and  wagon-making,  at  Nos.  240- 


242  West  Forty-seventh  Street.  After  leaving 
school,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  he  served 
an  apprenticeship  of  five  years  at  the  blacksmith's 
trade.  After  working  one  year  as  a  journeyman 
he  bade  adieu  to  parents  and  native  land,  and  set 
sail  for  his  new  home.  For  some  time  after 
reaching  Chicago  he  worked  for  day's  wages  at 
his  trade,  but  he  was  not  content  to  spend  his 
life  as  a  journeyman.  He  opened  his  first  shop 
at  No.  3757  State  Street,  and  after  carrying  on 
business  there  some  eighteen  months,  removed, 
in  1897,  to  his  present  location,  where  he  con- 
ducts a  large  and  profitable  trade. 

Although  a  man  of  warm  heart  and  social  dis- 
position, Mr.  Hansen  has  never  married.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  various  societies,  among  which 
may  be  named  the  Walhalla  and  Heimdal  Sing- 
ing Society,  and  has  served  as  assistant  cashier 
in  the  latter  organization.  In  politics  he  has 
always  supported  the  Republican  party  until  re- 
cently, but  is  now  wholly  independent  of  party 
dictation. 


NELS  C    MATHIESEN. 


CHRISTIAN  MATHIESEN.  By 
ry  birth  Mr.  Mathiesen  is  a  Dane,  yet  his 
|/3  adopted  country  has  no  more  devoted  son. 
He  was  born  August  25,  1867,  at  Branderup, 


North  Schleswig,  Germany,  the  second  son  and 
third  child  of  a  family  of  seven  children  born  to 
Mathies  C.  Mathiesen  and  his  wife,  Christina 
Petersen.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  died  in 


744 


JACOB  LUND. 


his  native  country,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one 
years;  his  mother  lived  to  be  about  sixty  years 
of  age.  Of  the  seven  children  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Mathiesen  three  attained  majority. 

The  early  life  of  Mr.  Mathiesen  presented  no 
features  materially  different  from  those  which 
attend  the  lives  of  other  Danish-German  youths 
of  his  circumstances.  He  left  the  public  school 
at  which  he  was  educated,  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  and  worked  upon  a  farm  until  he  was 
twenty-three  years  old.  Then  he  resolved  to 
seek  fortune  under  new  skies,  and,  accordiugl}', 
came  to  America. 

He  followed  the  steps  of  hundreds  of  his  coun- 
trymen who  had  preceded  him,  and  settled  at 
Chicago.  His  first  employment  here  was  in  and 
about  a  livery  stable,  and  he  continued  at  this 
work  for  some  nine  months.  He  next  learned 


the  trade  of  a  plasterer,  which  he  followed  three 
years,  when  he  bought  out  the  milk  business  of 
L.  H.  Holdt.  He  has  since  continued  in  this 
line  of  trade,  in  which  his  industry,  energy  and 
honesty  have  brought  him  deserved  success. 
About  four  years  ago  he  established  himself  at 
his  present  location,  No.  2531  Calumet  Avenue, 
where  he  carries  on  a  profitable  business. 

January  15,  1895,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Laura  Holdt,  a  sister  of  Jacob,  John  and  Lars 
Holdt,  biographical  notices  of  whom  appear  else- 
where in  this  volume.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mathiesen 
have  one  son — Ralph. 

Soon  after  reaching  Chicago  Mr.  Mathiesen 
joined  the  Walhalla  Society,  and  for  eight  years 
has  been  an  active  member.  He  also  belongs  to 
the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  being  affili- 
ated with  Court  Fearless,  No.  1 10. 


JACOB  LUND. 


(JACOB  LUND  is  by  nativity  a  Dane,  al- 
I  though  he  has  been  a  resident  of  the  United 
Q)  States  since  1891.  He  was  born  in  the  coun- 
try town  of  Kni,  North  Jutland,  July  10,  1867, 
the  youngest  of  five  sons  of  Anders  and  Sessel 
(Jensen)  Lund,  of  whom  four  are  yet  living. 
His  father  was  a  farmer  and  is  yet  living  in  the 
land  of  his  birth.  His  mother  died  in  Denmark 
at  the  age  of  fifty-nine  years. 

His  youth  and  early  manhood  were  passed  in 
the  country  where  he  first  saw  the  light.  Leav- 
ing school  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  started 
out  in  practical  life.  His  original  intention  was 
to  learn  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker,  and  for  one 
year  he  pursued  this  purpose.  He  found  it,  how- 
ever, little  suited  to  his  tastes  or  his  physical 
constitution,  and  determined  to  become  a  watch- 
maker and  jeweler.  He  was  accordingly  appren- 


ticed to  this  trade  when  sixteen  years  old,  and 
served  a  term  of  four  years.  For  a  little  time  he 
worked  as  journeyman,  but  on  reaching  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years  he  resolved  to  emigrate. 
This,  as  has  already  been  said,  was  in  1891. 

He  spent  a  short  time  in  Michigan,  but  soon 
perceived  that  Chicago  was  a  broader  field  and 
held  out  brighter  prospects  for  the  future.  For 
three  years  after  taking  up  his  residence  in 
this  city  he  was  employed  as  a  journeyman.  At 
the  end  of  that  period  he  found  himself  able, 
through  industry  and  prudent  economy,  to  em- 
bark in  business  for  himself.  His  first  store  was 
on  Dearborn  Street,  where  he  succeeded  so  well 
that  in  1898  he  removed  to  his  present  quarters, 
No.  3820  State  Street,  where  he  conducts  a  well- 
stocked  establishment  and  does  a  paying  business. 

He  was  married  in  March,  1897,  to  Miss  Nana 


K.  J.  LINDHOLM.— J.  J.  MARTENS. 


745 


Albech,  a  lady  who,  like  himself,  claims  Den- 
mark as  her  fatherland.  Their  only  child  is  a 
son,  Arthur  C.  A. 

Mr.  Lund  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Walhalla 


and  of  the  Danish  Brotherhood.  In  religious 
faith  he  is  a  Lutheran.  He  has  been  three  years 
a  naturalised  citizen,  and  sustains  the  principles 
of  the  Republican  party. 


KARL  J.  LINDHOLM. 


RARL  J.  LINDHOLM  is  the  eldest  of  the 
four  children  of  Ludwig  Lindholm  and 
Maria  Erickson,  natives  of  Stockholm, 
Sweden.  His  father  is  a  metal  worker  and  in- 
strument maker,  who  has  acquired  some  celebrity 
for  the  accuracy  of  his  workmanship,  among  his 
patrons  being  architects  of  national  fame.  Both 
parents  are  living,  as  are  also  all  their  progeny. 
In  his  boyhood  Karl  J.  Lindholm  attended  the 
high  schools  of  Stockholm,  his  course  therein  be- 
ing supplemented  by  a  training  in  some  of  the 
best  private  schools  of  the  Swedish  capital.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  was  apprenticed  for  a 
period  of  three  years  to  the  tailor's  trade,  and  at 
the  expiration  of  that  time  took  a  clerical  position 
in  a  wholesale  dry  goods  store.  There  he  re- 
mained two  and  one- half  years,  and  in  1891  he 
left  Sweden  for  America,  coming  directly  to 
Chicago. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  residence  here  he 
worked  at  his  trade,  and  then  opened  a  Swedish 
book  store  at  No.  5718  Wentworth  Avenue,  add- 
ing cigars  and  tobacco  to  his  stock  of  literature. 


The  venture  proved  only  moderately  successful, 
and  at  the  end  of  two  years  he  sold  out  his  stock, 
fixtures  and  good  will  to  engage  in  the  real  estate 
and  insurance  business  at  the  corner  of  Halsted 
and  Fifty-ninth  Streets.  In  this  line  of  trade  he 
has  continued  since  that  time,  although  he  has 
changed  his  location  to  No.  5915  Halsted  Street, 
where  he  has  had  an  office  for  the  past  three  and 
one-half  years.  In  business  circles  he  enjoys  an 
enviable  reputation,  and  in  private  life  is  highly 
esteemed . 

In  1896  he  led  to  the  altar  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Axel  M.  and  Anna  Erickson.  Mrs.  Lindholm 
is  by  birth  and  descent  a  Swede,  although  her 
parents  reside  at  No.  5951  Sangamon  Street, 
Chicago. 

Mr.  Lindholm  is  a  member  of  King  Oscar 
Lodge  No.  855,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons;  of  John  Erickson  Lodge,  No.  361,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows;  and  Court  Tem- 
ple, Independent  Order  of  Foresters.  In  some 
of  these  lodges  he  has  held  office,  and  in  all  he 
takes  deep  interest. 


JOHN  J.  MARTENS. 


(1  OHN  JOAKIM  MARTENS,  a  son  of  Charles 
I    Martens,  was  born  July    10,  1859,  in  the  old 
Q)  frame  house  on  section  27,  of  Leyden  Town- 
ship,  in  which    were  rocked   the  cradles   of  so 


many  members  of  the  Martens  family.  His  early 
life,  in  many  respects,  was  not  dissimilar  from 
that  of  his  brothers  and  cousins.  He  attended 
the  public  schools  until  he  was  eighteen  years 


746 


A.  P.  ANDERSEN. 


old,  and  after  taking  a  course  of  six  months'  in- 
struction at  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  Col- 
lege, settled  down  to  work  upon  his  father's 
farm.  Upon  the  division  of  his  father's  estate  he 
received  eighty  acres.  This  he  cultivated  two 
years,  when  he  sold  his  land  to  L,ester  Franklin, 
retaining  only  about  two  acres,  with  the  dwelling 
standing  thereon.  The  sale  was  made  in  1890, 
and  in  the  succeeding  spring  (1891)  he  opened  a 
general  store  at  Franklin  Park.  The  venture  did 
not  prove  successful  enough  to  meet  his  expecta- 
tions, and  in  1893  he  closed  his  store  and  en- 
gaged in  the  business  of  selling  coal  and  wood, 
which  he  has  conducted  from  that  time  to  the 
present. 

He  married  Elizabeth  Mary  Schmitf,  Decem- 
ber 22,  1897.  Mrs.  Martens  was  born  at  Har- 
lem, Cook  County,  April  19,  1879.  The  issue 
of  the  marriage  has  been  one  son,  born  Septem- 
ber 10,  1898,  and  named  George  Howard. 

Mr.  Martens  was  christened  and  reared  in  the 


communion  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  but  for  the 
past  twenty  years  has  been  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  River  Park.  He  af- 
filiates with  the  Republican  party,  but  is  in  no 
sense  an  active  party  worker. 

He  is  a  man  to  whose  nature  ostentation  is 
positively  repugnant.  His  tastes  are  domestic 
and  his  habits  methodical.  His  favorite  recrea- 
tion is  hunting,  of  which  he  is  devotedly  fond  and 
at  which  he  is  usually  very  successful.  During 
the  permitted  seasons,  when  duty  does  not  call 
him  to  the  performance  of  some  required  task,  he 
may  usually  be  seen  upon  the  prairie  or  in  the 
woods,  with  dog  and  gun,  intent  upon  this  pas- 
time. He  still  lives  in  the  old  home,  situated 
scarcely  a  hundred  yards  from  the  rude  cabin 
built  by  his  grandfather,  where  he  and  his 
brothers  and  sisters  first  looked  up  into  their 
mother's  eyes.  His  life  is  placid,  but  useful,  and 
his  worth  is  most  thoroughly  appreciated  by 
those  who  know  him  best. 


ANDERS  P.  ANDERSEN. 


Gl  NDERS  PETER  ANDERSEN.  The  gen- 
J  I  tlemen  whose  name  appears  at  the  head  of 
/  I  this  memoir,  is  one  of  those  Danish-Ameri- 
cans who  do  honor  alike  to  the  land  of  their 
nativity  and  the  country  of  their  adoption.  He 
is  a  well  known  and  prosperous  blacksmith  and 
horseshoer,  at  No.  320  Twenty-sixth  Street.  He 
was  born  May  27,  1858,  at  Bedsted,  near  Thisted, 
Denmark,  being  the  son  of  Neils  Christen  Ander- 
sen, of  that  place,  who  followed  the  same  trade. 
The  elder  Andersen  is  yet  living  in  the  old  coun- 
try, at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years,  after  a  life 
of  honorable  toil,  and  having  passed  through  two 
wars  and  served  in  the  army  fourteen  years.  He 
is  well  known  and  highly  esteemed.  His  wife, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Sophia  Petersen,  and 


who  is  yet  treading  life's  pathway  by  his  side, 
bore  him  nine  children.  Two  died  in  early  child- 
hood, and  of  the  seven  who  grew  to  manhood 
and  womanhood,  five  live  in  America.  Annie, 
who  came  to  this  country  eighteen  years  ago,  is 
the  wife  of  A.  D.  Nielsen,  and  has  her  home  in 
Nebraska;  Christ  resides  at  West  Pullman;  Peter, 
in  Iowa;  Maria  is  now  Mrs.  Peter  Arnstensen,  of 
Racine,  Wisconsin. 

Anders  Peter  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth. 
On  leaving  school  he  began  to  learn  the  trade  of 
a  blacksmith  from  his  father,  for  whom  he  worked 
four  years.  He  then  served  an  apprenticeship  of 
three  years  to  a  shoemaker.  For  eight  years  he 
was  in  business  for  himself,  when  he  sold  out 
and  emigrated  to  Canada,  settling  first  at  Toron- 


A.  P.  ANDERSEN. 


747 


to.  There  he  lost  the  moderate  accumulations 
gathered  through  several  years  of  hard  work  and 
self  denial,  and,  shaking  the  dust  of  the  Domin- 
ion from  his  feet,  he  came  to  Chicago,  having 
but  fifty  cents  in  his  pocket  on  his  arrival.  His 
first  employment  was  in  a  coal  yard  on  North 
Water  Street,  shoveling  coal  from  the  dock  into 
the  hold  of  vessels.  After  three  months  he 
secured  a  place  in  a  shoe  factory,  and  two  weeks 
later  a  position  as  a  carpenter  in  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad  shops.  He  held  this  one 
year,  when  he  found  more  congenial  work  in  the 
machine  shops  of  the  Deeriug  Harvester  Com- 
pany. He  remained  with  that  corporation  nine 
years,  and  in  the  year  1894  opened  his  present 
establishment,  to  which  reference  has  been  al- 
ready made. 

Before  leaving  Denmark  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage (in  1878)  to  Triene  Hormiller,  a  native  of 
the  same  place  as  himself.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ander- 
sen have  been  blessed  with  nine  children,  five  of 


whom  are  living:  Sophia,  Niels,  John,  Thomas 
and  Helen,  all  of  whom  were  born  before  the 
family  came  to  America.  Of  the  four  children 
who  died,  three  were  infants,  and  one  daughter, 
Catherine,  lived  to  be  fifteen  years  old.  Niels  is 
in  the  employ  of  the  Deering  Harvester  Com- 
pany, and  John  works  for  A.  F.  Kern. 

Mr.  Andersen  has  been  a  good  father,  afford- 
ing his  children  the  best  opportunities  which  his 
means  afforded  and — better  than  all  else — setting 
before  their  eyes  the  example  of  an  industrious, 
honest  life.  Nor  have  they  failed  to  appreciate 
these  advantages,  and  his  pride  in  them  is  abun- 
dantly justified. 

He  has  a  wide  acquaintance  and  extensive 
patronage  among  business  men  who  know  his 
mechanical  skill  as  well  as  his  moral  worth.  For 
two  and  a-half  years  has  been  a  member  of 
Walhalla,  and  has  held  office  in  the  order. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
and  of  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees. 


INDEX 


Abrahams,  Henry 285 

Ackhoff,  Henry 60 

Adams,  Dr.  Charles 549 

Adams,  E.  J 253? 

Adsit,  J.  M 123 

Alsip,  W.  H 283 

Amick,  Pleasant 493 

Andersen,  A.  P 697 

Andersen,  A.  P 746 

Andersen,  J.  P 356 

Andersen,  John  P 716 

Andersen,  N.  C 678 

Andresen,  Peter 472 

Anthony,  Elliott 375 

Apfel,  Philip 34 

Armour,  P.  D 295 

Arnold,  M.  A 645 

Axelson,  Martin 717 

Ayars,  C.  G 459 

B 

Bacon,  N.  B 215 

Bagnall,  William 56 

Bailey,  E.  W 133 

Baker,  H.  D 433 

Barnard,  G.  W 258 

Bassett,  O.  P 272 

Bauer,  Augustus 66 

Beaubien,  Alexander 392 

Beecher,  Jerome 509 

Benson,  C.  G 468 

Bernth,  C.  L 723 

Bischler,  Matthias 710 

Boberg,  C.  M 642 

Boesenberg,  C.  H 19 

Boesenberg,  G.  A 11 

Boesenberg,  H.  H 727 

Bollmann,  J.  A 218 

Borglum,  J.  F 13 

Brach,  Peter 42 

Bradwell,  J.  B 134 

Bradwell,  Myra 135 

Brennan,  Patrick 359 

Brown,  F.  A 613 


Brown,  N.  J 202 

Brown,  Thomas. , : 671 

Brust,  Peter 651 

Bryan,  Alonzo 630 

Bryan,  C.  P 293 

Buck,  F.  M 309 

Budde,  Henry 550 

Buhl,  Peter 636 

Bunck,  E.  C ..518 

Burhans,  Eugene 220 

Burley,  A.  G 227 

Burnside,  A.  W 205 

Buschwah,  Nicholas 289 

Byford,  Dr.  H.  T 494 

C 

Calkins,  A.  C 22 

Camp,  I.  N 346 

Capron,  A.  B 451 

Carlson,  J.  G 593 

Carman,  W.  H 67 

Carrington,  N.  S 561 

Carroll,  Michael 353 

Cary,  J.  W 131 

Case,  E.  W 427 

Castle,  E.  H 544 

Castle,  I,.  D 327 

Caton,  J.  D 115 

Chamberlin,  R.  H 194 

Chapin,  Newton 305 

Chavett,  Franklin 325 

Christensen,  Anton 706 

Christensen,  Jacob 358 

Christensen,  John 477 

Christensen,  Niels 700 

Clark,  Jonathan 183 

Clark,  L.  C 543 

Clark,  R.  R 229 

Clausen,  C.  J 693 

Clausen,  H.  P 732 

Clifford,  J.  0 273 

Cobb,  S.  B 143 

Code,  C.  N 10 

Colby,  John 361 

Colby,  Martin 694 

Cooley.C.  A 554 


Crawford,   H.  P 164 

Crawford,  John 292 

Crawford,  Peter 197 

Custer,  G.  G 184 

Cutler,  A.  J 279 

D 

Daniels,  E.  F 542 

Danielsen,  V.  A 676 

Darrow,  A.  H 367 

Dearlove,  George 291 

Dearlove,  G.  M 536 

DeKoker,  John 618 

Delsing.J.  S 39 

Derby,  W.  R 189 

De  Wolf,  Calvin 385 

Dickinson,  John 100 

Dieterle,  Christian 602 

Dillon,  T.  A 649 

Dollinger,  J.  A 304 

Dorsett,  D.  F 414 

Drechsler,  W.  H 524 

Driggs,  George 209 

Ducat,  A.  C 415 

Dupee,  C.  B Ill 

Dye,  Nathan 276 


Eberhart,  J.  F 151 

Eisel,  C.  W 580 

Esch,  John 516 

Evans,  E.  W 99 


Farwell,  M.  A 623 

Farwell,  W.  W 457 

Patch,  E.  P 566 

Fehn,  John 37 

Felton,  C.  H 489 

Fenton,  C.  H 707 

Feuton,  W.  J 667 

Field,  Marshall 303 

Field,  Sargent 64 

Fieldse,  Nels 615 

Filkins,  E.  A 245 


750 


INDEX. 


Fischer,  W.   G 637 

Fitch,  C.  M 388 

Fleming,  Matthew 725 

Foelsch,  Albert 28 

Fonda,  Dr.  D.  B 103 

Forsyth,  Jacob 87 

Franzen,  C.  A 502 

Fraser,  George 309 

Frink,  H.  F 122 

Frink,  John 139 

Fuller,  M.  W 127 


Gaden,  John 003 

Gage,  J.  N 223 

Gage,  L.  J 271 

Galloway,  A.  J 531 

Gardner,  P.  G 559 

Gauss,  E.  F.  L 172 

Gebert,  C.  J.  L 627 

Gebert,  F.  C 631 

Gebert,  F.  C.  F 709 

Gebert,  G.  F 682 

Gebert,  H.J.  P 708 

Gebert,  J.  C 665 

Gilbert,  John 605 

Glatnbeck,  John C99 

Goode,  Thomas 108 

Gordon,  W.  D 221 

Goudy,  W.  C 119 

Goudy,  W.  J 247 

Gough,  R.  S 299 

Grady,  C.  W 1 .590 

Gray,  Prof.  Elisha 79 

Greenebaum,  Henry 567 

Grennan,  James 589 

Gross,  Jacob 63 

Gross,  S.  E 383 

Gustafson,  August C46 

H 

Haas,  L.  F 463 

Hageman,  F.  C 378 

Hahne,  William 480 

Hallett,  R.  C 114 

Halsey,  Rev.  L.  J .105 

Hamilton,  William 483 

Hammett,  Edward 300 

Hann,  E.  H 21 

Hann,  H.  H 14 

Hann,  H.  F.  J.  P 520 

Haun,  L.  D 362 

Hannahs,  J.  M 85 

Hannis,  G.  W 519 

Hansen,  Christ 705 

Hansen,  C.   L, 715 

Hansen,  Edward 679 


Hansen,  F.  W 578 

Hansen,  J.  C 478 

Hansen,  J.  E 357 

Hansen,  Martin 622 

Hansen,  Martin 735 

Hansen,  O.  A  743 

Harlev,  John 513 

Harrison,  C.  H 307 

Harrison,  C.  H.,  Jr 563 

Haskell,  L.  P 552 

Hatch,  A.  F 294 

Hawley,  C.  M 343 

Haynes,  N.  S....' 397 

Head,  B.  F 321 

Heckler,   William 629 

Henderson,  C.  M 391 

Hervey,  Robert 237 

Heslington,  T.  W 212 

Heuck,  August 214 

Hill,  R.  S 173 

Hinckley,  S.  T 239 

Hockert,  Axel 661 

Hoffenblad,  L.   M 682 

Hoffman,  Mathias 557 

Hoffmann,  G.  1 614 

Holden,  C.  C.  P 419 

Holdt,  J.  H 27 

Holdt,  J.  P 725 

Holdt,  L.  H 731 

Hood,  C.T 193 

Hooker,  S.  G 688 

Horslev,  Peter 514 

Hoxie,  J.  R 71 

Hubbard,  Dr.  Theodore 275 

Huey,  C.  P 491 

Huntington,  Alouzo 430 

Huntington,  Charles 389 

Hurd,  H.  B 331 

Hutchings,  J.  A 207 

Hutchinson,  C.  G 234 

Hutchinson,  J.  O 553 

Hutchison,   Francis 538 

I 


Ingraham,  G.  S. 


.287 


Jacobs,  F.  1 573 

Jacobsen,  Anton 467 

James,  R.  L 407 

Jenkins,  John 208 

Jensen,  J.  A 715 

Jensen,  Rasmuss 728 

Jensen,  Rasmus 737 

Jenson,  J.  H 587 

Jewett,  E.  A 348 

Johansen,  N.  P 722 

Johnke,  Ernst 610 


Johnsen,  Andrew 658 

Johnson,  Capt.  Christopher 93 

Johnson,  F.  M 45 

Johnson,  J.  F 59 

Johnson,  R.  M 55 

Johnson,  W.  T 15 

Johnston,  Shepherd 312 

Jones,  F.  E.  R 155 

Jones,  M.  L 674 

Jones,  S.  D 4!H) 

Jones,  S.  J 159 

Jones,  W.  H 311 

Jorgensen,  H.  C 470 

Jorgensen,  M.  C 721 

K 

Kallum,  F.  T.  E 410 

Kane,  John 612 

Kaustrup,  P.  A 689 

Keeler,  W.  O 161 

Keith,  Edson 149 

Keller,  L.  A 523 

KelloggJ.B 323 

Kelso,  A.  W 162 

Kienzle,  Frederick 717 

Kimbell,  M.  N 528 

Kinyon,  Wayne 584 

Kipley,  Joseph 382 

Kirchhoff,  A.  B 512 

Kirchhoff,  C.  E 727 

Kirchhoff,  H.  G 734 

Kirchhoff,  Henry 598 

Kirchhoff,  W.  H 735 

Knudsen,  J.  A 741 

Knudsen,  K.  R 690 

Kuutsen,  Conrad 621 

Kolze,  Frederick 12 

Kolze,  H.  D 23 

Kosche,  Frederick 588 

Kotz,  Bernard 633 

Kotzenberg,  Charles 647 

Kozlowski,  Candidus 195 

Kristensen,  Peder 686 

Kroeck,  Philip 58 

Krueger,  Frederick 466 

Kuhl,  John 669 

Kummerow,  F.  M 675 

Kussel,  Philip 53 


Lacey,  E.  S 461 

Larimore,  Prof.  J.  W 91 

Larrabee.C.  R 464 

Larsen,  A.  J 473 

Larsen,  Charles 586 

Larsen ,  Christian 635 

Larsen,  George 677 


INDEX. 


Larsen,  Martin 707 

Lawson,  Peter 736 

Leahy,  J.  J 166 

Lengacher,  Jacob 31 

Leonard,  Jacob 684 

Lewis,  Leslie 78 

Lewis,  T.  E 297 

Lieb,  Hermann 575 

Lindholta,  K.  J 745 

Link,  Ferdinand 263 

Lochner,  Michael 401 

Long,  E.  C 537 

Loveless,  Bratnan 379 

Loyce,   Martin 521 

Ludlam,  Dr.  Reuben 497 

Lull,  A.  G 541 

Lund,  Jacob 744 

Lundberg,  Carl 721 

Lunt,  Orrington 503 

M 

Macauley,  John 65 

Mack,  Rev.  J.  A 496 

Magill,  C.  J 424 

Mahon,  D.  C 412 

Maltby.J.  A 449 

Manz,  Jacob 259 

Martens,  Charles 691 

Martens,  C.  H 606 

Martens,   H.  C 594 

Martens,  H.  G 30 

Martens,  H.  W 520 

Martens,  J.  J 745 

Massey,  H.  H 501 

Matthews,  P.   P 302 

Mathis,  J.  M 217 

Mathiesen,  N.  C 743 

Maxson,  O.  T 328 

McConnell,  Hon.  S.  P 177 

McCormick,  C.  H 167 

McCormick,  C.  H.,  Jr 487 

McUaniel,  Alexander 188 

McDole,  L.  A 620 

McEldowney,  John 484 

McGrath,  J.  J 471 

McKichan,  Duncan 666 

McLean,  A.  B 255 

McMahon,  Jaines 181 

Meilstrtip,  Emil 713 

Melcher,  S.  H 351 

Melzer,  Adam 201 

Merki,  John,  Jr 679 

Merz,  Gottlieb 349 

Metzger,  Adolph 591 

Metzger,  William 511 

Millar,  Alexander 683 

Miller,  B.  C.,  M.  D 83 


Miller,  W.  H 475 

Minard,  F.  V.  H 409 

Molbo,  Clemen 714 

Morris,  John 284 

Morrison,  F.  W 25 

Mortensen,  Peter 668 

Muller,  John 581 

N 

Naper,  John 371 

Nettstraeter,  William 219 

Neuberger,  Hugo 260 

Nichols,  C.  L 429 

Nielsen,  Albert 729 

Nielsen,  C.  A 713 

Nielsen,  F.  E 525 

Nielsen,  Jens 733 

Nielsen,  Niels 718 

Nielsen,  S.  N 577 

Nielsen,  Theodore 703 

Nielsen,  Ole 738 

Niemeyer,  William 35 

Noble,  T.  A 640 

Novak,  F.  H 165 

Nusser,  Frederick 38 

O 

Olleudorff,  Aaron 437 

Olson,  Gustave 729 

Ornberg,  C.  A 632 

Orr,  A.  C 399 

Ortmayer,  Andrew 317 


Palmer,  William 611 

Pardridge,  Edwin   431 

Parmelee,  E.  D 548 

Parsons,  W.  B 422 

Paulsen,  Anton 702 

Paulsen,  H.  C 366 

Pauly,  H.  G.  F 660 

Pearsons,  J.  A 112 

Peck,  F.  W 339 

Pedersen,  J.  M 680 

Pendergast,  James 582 

Peters,  Henry 681 

Petersen,  W.  C.  F 712 

Petersen,  H.  S 730 

Petersen,  S.  P 740 

Petersen,  Smith 364 

Petrie,  Philip 319 

Peugeot,  E.  F 262 

Phelps,  O.  B 140 

Phelps,  W.  W L'llG 

Pierce,  Franklin 47 


Piniiey,  D.  II 151 

Piper,  C.  E 268 

Polk,   Wesley 562 

Poulsen,  Lars 724 

Powell,  G.  N 109 

Pratt,  E.  H 404 

Price,  Cornelius 400 

Prindiville,  John 129 

Prosser,  T.  T 89 

Pullman,  George  M 231 


Ranney,  O.  D 527 

Rasmussen,  Alfred 711 

Rasmussen,  C.  R 711 

Rasmussen,  L.  S 607 

Rasmussen,  Ole 726 

Rasmussen,  Rasmus 672 

Ray,  W.  A 405 

Raymond,  Rev.  M 178 

Rea,  J.  T 626 

Redington,  E.  D 322 

Reehoff,  Edward 657 

Rexford,  Norman 481 

Rexf ord,  Stephen 250 

Rice,  J.  H 98 

Rich,  J.  W 583 

Richelsen,  A.  C 517 

Robertson,  John 329 

Robinson,  H.  M 125 

Rofinot,   P.  F 659 

Rofinot,  V.  F 709 

Rogers,  G.  M 235 

Rogers,  J.  G 147 

Rogers,  T.  S 558 

Rohde,  Anton 616 

Rollo,  R.  R 249 

Rollo,  W.  E 146 

Ruehl,  P.  G 619 

Rumsey,  J.  S 314 

Russell,  Menzo 196 

Russell,  J.  J 310 

Russer,  Henry 43 


Sanger,  J.  Y 439 

Sauer,  Adam 617 

Schaefer,  Maternus  505 

SchafFner,  Isaac 49 

Schmeltz,  John 600 

Schmidt,  Karl 41 

Schmidt,  K.  G 535 

Schnitzius,  Nicholas 61 

Schroeder,   George 579 

Schroeder,  W.  S 515 

Schroeder,  William 701 


752 


INDEX. 


Schulenlnirg,  J.  A.  A 664 

Schweinfurth,  Frank 17 

Scott,  Willard 423 

Selvig,  O.  F 720 

Senger,  August 673 

Sexton,  Stephen 254 

Sexton,  J.  A 251 

Shelhainer,  C.  E 643 

Shortall,  J.  G 447 

Shurtleff ,  Benjamin 101 

Simon,  Elizabeth 9 

Singler,  Nicholas 653 

Sixt,  Francis 204 

Skafgaard,  A.  C 469 

Skau,  Andrew 733 

Skinner,  S.  P 438 

Smith,  Amos 596 

Smith,  Dr.  D.  S 571 

Smith,  J.C.H 739 

Smith,  James 741 

Snow,  W.  B 540 

Snyder,  J.  F 411 

Soderberg,  C.  F 656 

Sohm,  A 556 

Sollitt,  John 199 

Sorensen,  C.  F 704 

Sorensen,  Rasmus 474 

Spalding,  Jesse 175 

Spalding,  W.  A 381 . 

Spaulding,  S.  G 243 

Spofford,  G.  W 373 

Spohrer,  Andrew 44 

Spooner,  E.  D 69 

Staade,  Carl 522 

Stafford,  J.  F 341 

Stanley,  W.  N 698 

Steenbergen,  Bastian 648 

Steinmueller,  Philipp 639 

Steiner,  August 641 

Sterndorf ,  Christian 742 

Stevens,  J.  V 191 

Stewart,  Gen.  H.  L 95 

Stiles,  C.  H 408 

St.  John  Everitte 485 

Stone,  F.  L 723 

Storms,  J.  L 40 

Swain,  E.  D 479 


Sweet,  B.   J 402 

Sweet,  J.  A 426 

Swett,  Leonard 73 

Symons,  Alexander 51 

Sytnons,  J.  S 62 


Taft,  O.  C 628 

.Taguey,  Thomas .278 

Taubert,  Conrad 608 

Taubert,  E.  L 705 

Taylor,  G.  L 355 

Teall,  E.  M 225 

Telling,  John 32 

Tempel,  Anton 52 

Thalmann,  Barnard 200 

Theobald,  Matthias 654 

Thiele,  Christian 564 

Thomas,  H.  W 441 

Thorsmark,  Christian .731 

Tiden,  C.  A 609 

Tobey,  J.  D 187 

Tobey,  Wales 163 

Toft,  G.  N 26 

Toll,  L.  R 360 

Tompkins,  Rev.  James 533 

Topp,  Johannes 738 

Toppan,  J.  S 394 

Trimingham,  R.  N 256 

Turn,  F.  J.  O 644 

Turner,  J.  B 170 

Tyler,  W.  0 281 

U 

Ubellar,  J.  L 50 

Unold,  John 551 


Vassmer,  F.  W 476 

Veith,  J.  H 663 

Voelker,  Christoph 18 

Voelker,  William 363 

Voltz,  Louis 555 


W 

Wagenberger,  J.  L 597 

Walter,  Lorns 687 

Warner,  Francis 269 

Warren,  Daniel 418 

Warren,  J.  M 337 

Waterman,  G.  W 330 

Webb,  A.  F 565 

Weber,   Henry 455 

Webster,  T.  H 118 

Weeks,  H.  K 685 

Wehrhan,  Frederick 354 

Weimer,   George 506 

Welander,  John 652 

Welfelt,  G.  W 670 

Wells,  p.  T 662 

Wentworth,  John 7 

West,  John 365 

West,  William 186 

Wheeler,  U.  H 435 

White,  Dr.  W.  S 508 

Wiedinger,  B.  M 156 

Wilber,  E.  J 213 

Wilken,  August 29 

Willard,  C.  W 655 

Wilson,  A.  C 638 

Wingate,  Albert 488 

Withrow,  T.  F 335 

Wohler,  Peter 222 

Wolf,  Heinrich 695 

Wolff,  J.  F 719 

Wood,  G.  A 634 

Woodrich,   Hans ..685 


Young,  J.  P. 


.500 


Zeis,  A.  R. 


.650 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


ALBUM  OF  GENEAOLOGY  AND  BIOGRAPHY   COOK 


